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  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, but allows us to learn from it.

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

What’s Next?    

The branch of the vine does not worry, and toil, and rush here to seek for sunshine, and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus. Hudson Taylor

Worry is the sin of distrusting the promise and providence of God, and yet it is a sin that Christians commit perhaps more frequently than any other.  John MacArthur

Do you ever worry about stuff?  Do you ever look at your life and ask yourself what’s next?  Why do we spend so much time in our lives worrying about what’s coming next?  It’s not like we have any control of any of it in the first place. 

The older I get the more I see how much time I have spent in this life worrying about things that never happened. It’s like borrowing trouble that never comes. 

I think we should change our way of thinking.  Instead of asking what’s next we should be saying God I’m ready for whatever happens.  I’m ready for whatever comes my way because I know You are there with me.  You aren’t going to give me more than I can handle.

 

I think many times we are so busy worrying about what might happen that we miss God speaking to us in the everyday things that happen in our lives.  God tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things will be added to you. One of my biggest struggles in life is not seeking Him first.  One of the best examples of trusting God is the birds of the air.  They don’t sew or reap nor do they gather and store provisions into barns.  God feeds them.  How much more does He care for us?  Are we not children of God? 

I love that the Bible is full of humor if you search for it. In Matthew 6:27 he says “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  I looked up what the measurement of a cubit is.  It is about 18 inches or 21 inches for a long cubit.  All of our worrying about what’s next will not make us grow taller.  God is saying stop worrying and trust Me.  I will take care of you as I do the lilies of the field and the birds of the air.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of the sin of worry.  When I worry I am basically saying that I don’t trust You for my needs.  I have learned that the more stuff I have, the more things I can find to worry about.  There are the finances to pay for the stuff, the money required to repair the stuff and the room to store the stuff that I worry about.  Help me to lighten my worry load.  If I get rid of a bunch of stuff there will be more room for time with You and I won’t worry about “what’s next”. 

Scripture:  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 6:25-34

God’s Peace    

If our minds are stayed upon God, His peace will rule the affairs entertained by our minds. If, on the other hand, we allow our minds to dwell on the cares of this world, God's peace will be far from our thoughts.  Woodrow Kroll

I started thinking about the peace that can be found in God.  When we dwell in His presence, we no longer worry about what others may think of us.  Why is it that we place more value on the opinion of others in this world than we do the opinion of the God who created us?   

I think we place so much value on what people on earth think because we want to be accepted by others.  We want to belong to a close knit family who love us through the challenges of life.  The problem with this is we look at others in our life as our source of strength.  The next problem is we expect them to always love us and be there for us but that doesn’t always happen.  If you can get one important piece of wisdom it is this: The people you surround yourself with are sinners and so are you.  If you keep that in mind, your interactions can be different.

The second thing is the God who created us didn’t make a mistake.  I was watching a show on TV about how food products are made.  One segment showed a lady with a hairnet, white coat and gloves who was picking out the bad or damaged fruit that was traveling down the conveyor belt before the good fruit traveled down the line to be placed in boxes.  They didn’t show what happened to the bad fruit, but the correlation here is that God doesn’t only select the good fruit, he wants the bad too.  He wants every one of us.  And guess what?  We are all bad fruit at one time or another, yet He still pursues each of us like there were only one of us.

You are worth God’s time.  When you finally realize that He wants you to come and lay it all at His feet; a peace that surpasses all understanding will be your reward.  If you take the shame, pain, sorrow and heartache and lay it at His feet, He will give you rest.  He will give you strength and He will give you peace.  All you need to do is ask.  The comfort of knowing that there is One who loves you without reservation and who is waiting for you to turn to him is beyond comprehension. 

    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, over the years I have learned that You are my refuge.  You are where I go when everything seems to be falling apart around me.  You are also where I go in times of great joy because You celebrate with me.  I give my struggles, sorrows, heartaches and pain to You.  I lay it at Your feet.  I praise You with all my heart for saving a wretch like me.  Thank You for the peace that I can only get through You.

Scripture:  Jesus Gives True Rest

At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:25-30

You Can Impact the World

If God only used perfect people, nothing would get done. God will use anybody if you're available. Rick Warren

Our church is doing a series of sermons on Impacting God’s World.  It is based on showing each person how they as an individual can impact the world and our communities. If you are like me you probably think “what can I possibly do to impact my community for God.” 

On Sunday we had a special guest speaker named Sean Sears.  He told his story and I must say it touched me in a profound way.  I think the main reason was because of the way he told it. I am going to give you the short version and if I make a mistake about something in the telling you can always go online to Lake Pointe Church and watch the video.  He tells it much better than I do.  If you think about it each of us tells our story better than anyone else.

He was a youth pastor and he decided to go to school to get a degree in education. His goal was to write instructional or teaching manuals for churches.  His goal wasn’t to go out and plant a church.  But that is exactly what he did in Massachusetts.  I think what impressed me most was how he talked about how unqualified he was to do it.  He reminded me so much of Gideon who was on the threshing floor sifting wheat and an angel spoke to him. 

“The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (Judges 6:12) Gideon's response was very modern. “If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” (6:13) When the angel tells Gideon that he is going to save Israel from the Midianites, Gideon said to the angel, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” (6:15) Yet the angel assured him that the Lord was with him and that he would overcome the Midianites.

He talked about going to Massachusetts to attend a conference.  He didn’t go there to plant a church.  When he got to the part about how he lived in a neighborhood where none of his neighbors were Christians, I could understand him questioning God.  He talked about how God spoke to him over and over again through the people in the neighborhood. 

I had never heard this Pastor speak.  He was funny and down to earth but what struck me the most was when he talked about how unqualified he was to plant a church and he choked up and cried when he started naming off the people in that very neighborhood who were baptized in the church he didn’t want to plant.  I sat and cried with him.  He would name off a couple and then get choked up and then name another couple and cry some more. 

I will say that I am no more qualified than this speaker who came to our church.  I have no theological training or formal education in the Bible.  I do believe that God will and does equip each of us to impact our community.  The thing is, we have to first place our faith in an amazing God who can do anything through us.  Too many times we don’t even dip our toe in the water because we don’t think we have the ability or knowledge.  The truth is we don’t but God does.  Can you imagine an angel appearing to you and saying, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.” 

The Lord is waiting for you to step out in faith.  He will equip you to be a mighty man or woman of valor.  You will be amazed at what God can do.  The people who impact the world for Christ are not always the most flamboyant or outspoken.  The ones He uses for the most impact are those who think they can’t and are willing to let go and let God lead.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for letting me see this speaker who touched my life in a profound way.  He told his story from a perspective that anyone could relate to.  I want to make an impact on this world for You.  I know I don’t have the worldly qualifications but I have You and that is all I need to make a difference in this world for You.

Scripture: Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal

And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal, torn down; and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. So they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And when they had inquired and asked, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it.”

But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down!” Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar.”

Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.  Judges 6:28-35

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

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

Thankful for Everything

The thankful heart sees the best part of every situation. It sees problems and weaknesses as opportunities, struggles as refining tools, and sinners as saints in progress.  Francis Frangipane

Do you have a thankful heart and, if not, how do you get one?  It’s not like you can go out and get a thankful heart transplant. 

I must confess that earlier this week my heart wasn’t very thankful.  On Monday I was driving to work and my brand new car started running rough and then the engine light came on.  Of course, I didn’t know what the icon on the dash was so I pull off the freeway into a parking lot and pull out the owner’s manual to see what that light could mean.  I am sitting there with all the things running through my head about what I needed to do.  I mean it is a brand new car and it shouldn’t have this kind of problem right?

That is not exactly right is it?  Is there some unspoken rule that says that if you buy a new car nothing will go wrong for the first year?  So I call Roadside Assistance and they send a tow truck to take my car to the shop.  I spoke with the service department yesterday and they tell me they are going to pull the engine to see what it wrong with it. The kicker is they may need to keep it in the shop for 2 weeks and I don’t qualify for a free rental car.  I had one of the ladies at work tell me she would be down at the dealership telling them they would give her a rental or else.

This is the point where most of us ruin a great opportunity to show someone else who God really is.  I could have taken this ladies advice and taken my frustration out on the Service Manager at the dealership and I must admit I considered doing just that.  Then something stopped me.  When the Service manager finished telling me that I wouldn’t get my car back for 2 weeks I just got quiet and then thanked him and asked him to call me when he had any new information. 

I called my husband and asked him if he could stop by the dealership after work to get several things out of my car and to see if he could get more details about what they think is the problem. 

Here is the blessing part.  As my husband was talking to the Service Manager he tells my husband to thank me for being so nice to him about the car.  He told my husband that he can’t tell you the number of times women come in and yell at them because they bought a new car and it is already in the shop for repairs. The second blessing in all this is that I didn’t trade in my old twelve year old Green Machine as my husband calls it because they wouldn’t give me anything for it when I bought the new one.  So I actually didn’t need a rental.

Each of us has a choice in how we deal with trials in our life.  In today’s scripture James tells us to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”  It doesn’t say count some of it joy or a few things joy.  It says ALL.  In Thessalonians it tells us to “pray without ceasing and in EVERYTHING give thanks for this is the will of God.”   It doesn’t say in a few things give thanks or pray every once in a while.  If we are to do God’s will we need to be following His Word.  

  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I had some challenges this week but You showed me through other people what it means to be thankful for everything.  I don’t always do this.  Help me to count it all joy when I face various trials in life.  If I am prepared to face the trials of life I will handle it well and give thanks for the lessons and wisdom learned through those trials.  

  

Scripture:  My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:2-5

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:14-18

Answered Prayer

Faithful continued prayer is one key to answered prayer. As James expresses it, "You do not have, because you do not ask God" (James 4:2) John F. Walvoord

Have you ever prayed for something and God answered?  If you have ever experienced it you know how unforgettable it is.  When we pray for something or someone we should keep several things in mind before we pray.

If we believe that God will answer prayer, we also know what a Great God He is.  The first thing we need to understand is that we must believe that God has the ability to answer.  If we go at prayer half-heartedly we aren’t going to get an amazing result.  If I don’t understand that our God can and will do what we ask or if I think I can do it better, then God won’t answer my prayer anytime soon. 

The second thing is, if I have sin in my life, and we all do, and that sin is unconfessed, then God won’t answer my prayer.  I have to come clean or confess whatever my sin is so that I present my petition to God with a clean slate.  If I am in the middle of my sin and have not confessed it then I am wasting my breath. 

     

The third thing we need to do is remind God of His promises.  Does God need to be reminded of His promises?  No, but we do.  When we remind God of what He has promised it helps us remember His promises.  Reminding Him is not for Him it is for us.

 

The final thing we need to remember is that we must be specific in our prayers.  If we are vague or not clear on what we are praying for, then how will we ever know if God answers our prayer?  We must also remember that prayer is not about obtaining things. Our main basis for prayer should be to fulfill God’s purpose.  If we are praying for stuff, or things of this world, don’t be surprised if God doesn’t answer.

      

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for giving me the ability to communicate with You through prayer.  Too many times I forget about Your promises and often I pray for material things that don’t matter.  Help me to pray believing You will answer, knowing You have the power to answer, confessing any sin in my life, knowing and understanding Your promises and help me to specifically ask with the understanding that Your will be done not mine. 

Scripture: And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Nehemiah 1:5-11

The Closer You Get the Worse You Look

As we get close to God, he is going to reveal things in our life that aren't pretty. We'll see the patterns of bitterness, anger, manipulation, and hurt that have cycled in our relationships. Chip Ingram

The closer I get to God the more I don’t like what I see of the sin in me and the more I want to change what I see.  It is a given and it is our inheritance that we received from Adam and Eve that we are sinners.  If we understand that we are sinners, it becomes more apparent when we start reading God’s Word because if we are sincere in our study, we will honestly look at ourselves as God sees us.  The truth will be revealed if we search for it.

Too many times we don’t want to go through the process, we just want the end results.  If we skip the process of identifying our sin, accepting it and then working to remove it, we will not get the benefit of what God intends for us. 

What if God had created an “Easy Button”?  I guess if you think about it, He gave Adam and Eve the “Easy Button”, but they didn’t use it.  Would we be any different?  Probably not.  If God allowed Jesus to be tempted in the desert, why would we think we would be any different.  Our trials are intended to teach us something.  Whether we get what that something is or not will depend on how much we know God and His promises.

 

If you spend time meditating on God’s Word, He will reveal amazing things.  He will transform you so that the closer you get the more like Christ you become. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for helping me to see the sinner in me.  Help me to be honest with myself about the sin in my life and to be bold enough to change.  I pray that others will be drawn to You because of the change in me.

Scripture:  The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.  Psalm 25:14-15

Accepting Responsibility    

"The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle." Col. John P. Stapp

Have you figured out that on our own we are kind of loose cannons?  I think we have all determined that every person on earth is a sinner.  If we know this intellectually, why do we have such a hard time acknowledging it to ourselves and to others?

The majority of the time when we sin we know it, (sometimes we don’t accept it because we are in denial), and every time we sin, God knows it.  The number one thing we need to do is understand our sin.  If we don’t understand that we are sinful and accept responsibility for our sinfulness, we are going to continue going down the same path sinning.

We blame others because we lost our job, we accuse the system of not treating us fairly, we take action against someone because they hurt us and we don’t look internally to what we might have done differently.  We blame someone else for our faults, our sin, and sometimes even God for the things that go wrong in our lives.

There are several things that can happen when we sin.  We do what I call DHC.  We deny it, hide it and cover it up.  Then we are going along thinking we have fooled everyone and then Murphy’s Law happens.  “If anything can go wrong it will.”  The irony of living under God’s Law is that when unfortunate things happen, and they will, we don’t blame someone else or God.  We accept that living in a fallen world we are going to have trials and hardships and it is a fact of our worldly life.  We are better able to handle the circumstances that occur in this world if God is on our side.

If we accept God’s Law as truth, then we are better able to handle what life throws at us.  If we understand that Satan is throwing some of this stuff our way, we can better fight against the habit of blaming others for our sin.  What sin in your life is keeping you from a closer relationship with our Heavenly Father?  Toss it aside and turn to Him.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of sin.  I accept responsibility for my sin.  I want to be a better follower of Jesus Christ.  I need Your strength to keep me on the right path.  Please help me to accept responsibility for my actions and turn to You for guidance. 

Scripture:  My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:2-5

 

Final Exam

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”  Rick Warren

Do you remember when you were in school and it came time to take a test, pop quiz or final?  I think it is interesting that the words used for testing our knowledge are kind of alarming.  When you had a “pop” quiz you knew you were in trouble.  The majority of the time it meant you weren’t prepared and when they told you when your “final” would be, it kind of opened the door to anxiety and stress.  A pop quiz was intended to test your knowledge at that moment.  It was used to determine if you were listening in class.

 

If you think about it, a pop quiz wasn’t the final determination if you passed or not.  The final exam determined if you went on to the next grade. Our life as a Christian is full of pop quizzes and tests.  If we learn what we need to know from the Bible and live it we will pass the final.  The problem with pop quizzes and tests is that if we don’t know the material we will fail. 

The Pharisees and Sadducees were examples of a people who didn’t understand that their life was a test.  They continually tested Jesus without realizing that he was revealing to them the very answers that would be on the final test.  They wanted a sign from heaven that proved that Jesus was who He said he was. 

  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, we will go through many tests in our lifetime.  I pray for Your guidance so that I can pass the final test.  Help me to learn from Your Word and to show others that they too can pass the final as long as they turn to You for the answers. 

     

Scripture: Do not quench the Spirit.  Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.   1 Thessalonians 5:19-21

Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.  He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.  Matthew 16:1-4

Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation.”  Mark 8:11-12

Apply Your Knowledge

Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.  Charles Spurgeon

Has God’s Word changed you?  Many years ago I didn’t study God’s Word very much at all.  I had a basic knowledge of the Bible but I didn’t really apply my life to living what it said.  So if we are to become “Christlike” it will be necessary to live the Word.  If our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin can be removed, then we will need to practice the knowledge of Him.

How many people do you know who profess to be a Christian but their lives reflect a very different picture?  If I don’t live what I profess to believe then I am not a good example of who Christ is.  If I can quote scripture, but my life doesn’t reflect the words I speak, then I am not reflecting Christ.

One of the great ironies of this concept is that the more knowledge we get about God, the more we are expected to apply it to our everyday living. The Bible is not meant to be read and then set aside so that we can live our life the same way.  We are to be changed into his likeness or to become more like Him.  Our life and the way we live and treat others should be a reflection of Christ.  I am the first to point out that this is not easy.  I have sinned over and over again and there are times in my life when I reflected anything but Christlike behavior. 

I believe that is why God calls on us to confess our sins.  When we acknowledge that we messed up, it shows others our human nature.  It also creates a humble character in us.  If I am unable to confess to you my sinful state, then you may never see God or Christ in me.

How many times have we seen pastors, preachers and ministers fail and fall because they tried to hide the sin that plagued them?  The knowledge we have about God needs to be applied to everything we do.  There is a wealth of knowledge in the Bible that will teach us how to handle any situation we face in life, but it will not help us if we only use it as a doorstop.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You have provided me with an amazing Book that will teach me all I need to know to become like Christ.  I need your help to apply it to everything I do in my daily life.  When I apply Your knowledge to my life I will learn to live with wisdom and show others You.  I praise You my heavenly Father and Jesus Christ Your Son. 

      

Scripture: And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  Romans 12:2

So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.  If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.  John 13:12-17 

Power Outage  

The key is not money; organization, cleverness, or education. Are you and I seeing the results Peter saw? Are we bringing thousands of men and women to Christ the way he did? If not, we need to get back to His power source..." Jim Cymbala

This is Monday isn’t it?  This morning I left my house earlier than normal since it was storming and raining.  I arrive at the office and the door where I normally go to enter the building is glass and there is normally a hall light on.  I didn’t think anything about it because I could see computer screens in the first floor offices and they were on so the building had power.  So it is raining and there is no cover over the entrance and I walk up to the security keypad and my access key beeped but no light came on.  The door was still locked.  So I walk back to my car and sit to see if anyone else drives up and can get in.  I see a couple of guys go up to the front door and not come back out so I think, “great, I can get in that door.  So I get out of my car, it is still pouring, and I go to the main entrance, try my card and the door won’t open.  So I go back out to my car.

So I am sitting in my car thinking about how this is making me late to write my devotional, when a guy pulls up, gets out of his car, walks up to the door and it opens.  I get out of my car and walk up to the door and there are still no lights on in the hall but the keypad works and opens the door.  I get upstairs and lights are flickering, there is no air on and that white noise that they pipe into office buildings is gone.  It is so quiet.  The only noise comes from the few people who are here this early and the air conditioner that keeps trying to come on but keeps kicking off again. I run into one of the ladies that I work with and she tells me, “You may not have power in your office because the front half of the building is dark.  I walk down the dark hallway to my office and step into my office and my lights come on.  So we have a partial power outage.

We have become totally dependent on power.  There is not much that we do in life that isn’t controlled by electricity.  God is the best source of power and we often don’t think to use Him when we are most in need of it.  If we only have partial power we are not going to operate at maximum efficiency in anything we do in His name.  If I only have partial power I may be able to connect with someone who needs to hear about Him, but if I don’t know the scriptures to share with the other person, then I am operating with only a portion of the power that God wants to give me.  Where do you get your power?  God is the best source and all we have to do is believe in Him and ask.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, as I thought this morning about our lack of power at the office, it turned my thoughts to You.  You are an amazing power source and I often don’t take the time to tap into it.  “The God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to His people, Blessed be God!” Psalm 68:35

Scripture: But I will sing of Your power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.  To You, O  my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, my God of mercy.  Psalm 59:16-17

 

Habits

Remember that your character is the sum total of your habits.  Rick Warren

Have you ever tried to break a bad habit?  What about this?  Have you ever tried to start a good habit? 

The definition of a habit is “a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up. A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.  An established disposition of the mind or character.”

So we all know that we can have bad habits and good habits.  How do we focus on the good habits and get rid of the bad?

Almost ten years ago I had some bad habits.  Still do for that matter but I continue to work on them.  One of my bad habits was that I didn’t study my Bible regularly.  So I am going through life not studying my Bible regularly and then “BAM”.  Cancer.  Boy did that ever get  my attention.  All of a sudden my life was on the line and the future didn’t look so encouraging.

 

What I learned from this one experience was that God can redeem us and often does.  He can draw us away from the sinful habits in our lives and turn them into good.  The thing is we have to want to be closer to Him. If we don’t practice good habits we will remain in the bad ones. 

So nine or so years ago I decided to form a new habit.  I would get up early every day and devote time to reading my Bible and studying His Word.  I didn’t have enough confidence to write my own devotionals so I started sharing other people’s devotionals that encouraged me to continue this good habit. 

After a couple of years my sister encouraged me to think about writing my own.  I am not sure why she thought I could do that because I certainly didn’t see it and I really didn’t think anyone would want to read anything I wrote. 

This habit that started ten years ago has become my best habit.  I get up at 4:15am so that I can drive 37 miles and be at work an hour and a half early.  I don’t start work until 7:45am but I am at the office between 6:00am & 6:15am.  I can’t tell you the number of people at work who see me in my office when they arrive and then see me there when they leave.  They will come up to me and ask me if I ever go home.  I tell them the same thing when they ask.  "I come in early to spend time with God and to write a daily devotional."  

I don’t say this to tell you how great I am.  I tell you this because I formed a good habit that has stuck with me for 10 years.  I am very protective of my God time in the morning.  There are days when my alarm goes off and I think, man I could sleep in, leave at 7:00am and not be tired in the evening.  Then I think about not starting my day with the Lord and I just can’t do it.  This doesn’t mean that I don’t fail every once in a while, because I do. 

This habit has taught me to spend time with God no matter what the circumstances.  Start a good habit of spending time with the Father.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, you mean everything for my good.  Through a major trial in my life, You helped me to come back to You.  You are amazing Father and I thank you for the blessing of cancer because it helped me see you again.  Thank you for getting my attention in a profound way that forever changed my life.  You are my Rock. 

    

Scripture: Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.  Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.  Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.  And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.  2 Timothy 2:14-26