Tag Archives: christian living

June 16, 2015 · 5:55 AM

The Poor Kid At The Table

Since I am on vacation this week with my family, I’m reposting some of my favorite devotions from the past.

Yesterday, I went to lunch with several coworkers from different departments in the company. When they suggested an expensive place to eat, I hesitated at first. They said, “What’s the matter?” Then one remembered and said, “Oh yeah. Your department doesn’t budget for food like ours does.” I replied, “I have to think about dinner. I don’t want to spend my per diem on lunch.” Someone replied, “Come on, poor kid. We’ll figure something out.”
I haven’t been the “poor boy” at the table since I was a kid. All these emotions came running back to me. I remembered what it was like to be at the mercy of whoever had invited me to eat. I had to see what they were thinking of ordering so I could order something less expensive. There were a lot of lessons I learned being the poor kid at the table. Lessons that helped shape who I am today.

One thing it taught me was humility. When you’re the one who is depending on someone else, you learn all about humility. You don’t get what you want, you get what they allow you to have. It’s when we can afford to get what we want that we forget about humility. We forget how to depend on someone else. We forget how to depend on God. We tell Him, “I can do this,” and we save Him for bigger things in our life. We start to treat Him like a genie.

God never wanted to be a genie and He doesn’t want us to save Him for the big things in our lives. He wants us to know what it’s like to trust Him for everything. He wants us to know what it truly means to walk by faith. The problem is that walking by faith is scary after you’ve adjusted to a life of walking by sight. It’s at that point that we only look to God in the dark hours of our life. He wants to be there with you in the light and the dark, the good and the bad.

Another thing being the poor kid at the table taught me was appreciation. I learned to appreciate what I had. I wasn’t going to get anything new for a while. I had to appreciate and take care of anything new that I got. My mom would say, “Those have to last you until Christmas. That’s when we can get you new ones.” Those words would ring in my ear as I had to make decisions. Other kids got new stuff when theirs broke. They didn’t appreciate what they had. God wants us to be appreciative for everything He’s given us and not to be always wanting something we don’t have.

God gives each of us what we need when we need it. We don’t always get what we want. He said that when we’re faithful over the little things He’s given us, He’ll give us more. We have to learn to be humble enough to recognize that the little He has given us is enough. We also have to learn to appreciate it and take care of it by being faithful with it. When we learn to do those things, He knows we’re ready for more.  

There’s always another level for Him to take us to. Have we learned to be happy being the poor kid at the table so He can take us there? Or are we resentful that we’re in this position and are constantly trying to get to that next level on our own strength? I’ve tried it both ways. Yesterday reminded me that it’s ok to be the poor kid at the table. All I have is from God anyway. When I learn to accept what He gives, I’m really the rich one.

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June 11, 2015 · 7:19 AM

Quit Playing It Safe

I once had a boss whose favorite question to ask in an interview was, “Tell me a time when you took a risk. Did it pay off or not?” I asked him about it one time and he said, “I don’t want people working for me who are afraid to take risks. I’d rather have someone on my team who has taken a risk and failed miserably than someone who was too scared to even take a risk in the first place. At least the person who took a risk learned something. The one who has never taken a risk will never change his results because he’s too scared to try something new.”

He helped me to understand that taking risks is a Godly trait. Each time you or I step out in faith, it’s a risk. Will God step out and move on my behalf or will I fall on my face? We don’t know, but God asks us to do it anyway. I’ve seen God ask someone to take a huge risk and then allow them to fail. It sounds weird at first, but God needed them in a place of failure to be able to grow them beyond what the risk could have ever offered. His reward for their risk was delayed.

When you risk it all for God’s sake, you put yourself in a place that is totally dependent on God. Your risk speaks volumes to God. It says, “I’m not satisfied with what I’m producing for you. I want to do more for the Kingdom and I’m willing to risk what I have for a chance to offer you more.” It’s in those moments that your faith grows and produces more than it ever has. If you fall on your face, you let God know you’re not going to play it safe. If He catches you, the rewards are eternal.

There’s a difference in taking a risk and making a calculated move. If you’ve got a 90% chance of success, that’s not really much of a risk. It’s a calculated decision made to look like faith. God is looking for those who are willing to go all in and risk it all for His Kingdom. In Matthew 25, he gave three different people three different amounts of talents. To the one who risked nothing because he was afraid, the master said, “That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? (MSG)”

Later on He said, “Get rid of this play-it-safe who won’t go out on a limb. (MSG)” God gets angry when we live life with the goal of arriving in Heaven safely with no bumps or bruises. He put the desire for risk in each one of us. We can either take a risk or allow fear to cause us to play it safe. If you know the parable I’m referring to, the ones who risked it all stayed with the master, but the one who risked nothing was cast into darkness. God calls us to live by faith, not by sight. What risks have you taken for His sake? What is He asking you to risk right now?

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June 9, 2015 · 7:48 AM

Your Words Matter

When I was the general manager of a store, I had to handle upset customers almost every day. I learned that my response to their anger could either diffuse the situation or escalate it. Many times I said the wrong thing or used the wrong tone and it was like pouring gas on a fire. One person got so upset with me that they came behind the counter, out their finger in my face and said, “You better call 9-1-1, you’re going to need them!” It was a scary moment, but as I looked back, my response is what triggered that emotion in them.

Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare. (NLT)” How we respond to others who are upset matters. Since the inventions of email, text messaging and social media, we have begun to say things to other people we never would have 15 years ago. We feel emboldened to say whatever comes to mind because we aren’t right in front of that person and in many cases we barely know them if at all. We escalate situations by our unfiltered, typed words instead of being worried if our conversation is leading them toward the cross or away from it.

I cringe as I read Christian’s comments on social media regarding the things of the world. I see escalated conversations by those who write with their emotions instead of having eternity in mind. Colossians 4:5-6 tells us, “Live wisely among those who are unbelievers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. (NLT)” The word gracious here means pleasant and winsome. We are to win others to the cross with our words not push them away.

Your words matter whether spoken or written. You have the opportunity to deflect an anger from those in the world or to dump fire on their anger. The world will never agree with the message of the cross because it stands opposed to the human way of life. It has been under attack for over 2,000 years and will continue to be under attack until the Lord returns. Jesus should be our model of how to respond. When the Romans crucified Jesus, his response wasn’t to argue with them. It was to forgive them. His response to an angry crowd who were killing him was, “Father forgive them.” He won over one guard who killed Him by how He responded. 

I keep that in mind any time there is a flare up on social media between the world and the Church. If I don’t have the right response, I keep my comments to myself. Proverbs 17:28 says, “Even a fool is considered wise when he keeps his mouth shut.” If what I have to say doesn’t lead someone to the cross and instead pushes them away from it, I’d rather not say anything. We are to live wisely in a world of unbelievers. Our conversation should lead them to salvation. People are watching what you post and how you live. Are your words leading others to the cross or away from it? Your words matter.

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June 8, 2015 · 5:48 AM

Your New Season (Video)

12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.

Philippians 3:12-13

If you are having trouble viewing this video, click here.

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June 4, 2015 · 7:39 AM

Producing Good Fruit

How long has it been since you looked at the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5? To me, they’re a measuring stick of where I am in my growth. I have to ask myself, “Is my life producing these fruits?” Paul told us that a life controlled by God’s Spirit would produce those fruits. If I’m not producing them, then I’m not being controlled by God. In that same chapter, he also described the fruits of the flesh. These describe what a life that is not controlled by the Spirit looks like. It’s important to look in the mirror often to see what your spiritual life looks like.

Each morning as I get ready for the day, I stop and look in the mirror to fix my hair and to make sure I look presentable before going out in public. The same thing should happen for us as believers. We should look at ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word to see what we look like. If we don’t like what we see, we need to make adjustments just like we would to our physical appearance. If you had bags under your eyes you could either cover them with make up (this doesn’t solve the problem) or get more rest.

Too many times when we look in our spiritual mirror and see something that doesn’t look right in our lives, we try to cover it up. We want to appear to others as having it together when really the problem is one of the heart. David tried to cover up his sin with Bathsheba. He didn’t want others to know he had committed adultery, so he brought her husband home from the war. When he wouldn’t sleep with his wife, David sent him back to be killed so he could marry her and make it look like they got pregnant on their wedding night. He went to a lot of trouble trying to cover up the physical actions of a spiritual problem.

David had quit being led by the Spirit and was being led by his fleshly desires. He reaped the fruit of that choice. Since he wouldn’t look I hope a spiritual mirror, the prophet of God came and held it up. When he did, David recognized the spiritual problem. Instead of continuing to try to cover it, he dealt with the spiritual problem. In Psalm 51:10 he prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. (NLT)” He realized he needed s change of heart to change his ways.

We are not so different from David. We have fruit we are not proud of and we try to cover it up. You may not have a prophet come knock on your door to call you out like he did, but the problem still has to be dealt with. If you look at the fruit in your life and know you need to change, don’t try to cover the problem up. Deal with it at the source. Pray like David did that God would give you a clean heart, that He would put a right spirit in you and that you would live a life that is led by His Spirit. When you do that, you will produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.  

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June 3, 2015 · 6:48 AM

Your Greatest Strength

This morning, I’m remembering an old song by Steven Curtis Chapman called “His Strength Is Perfect”. It says, “His strength is perfect when our strength is gone. He’ll carry us when we can’t carry on.” Those lyrics still speak to me nearly 30 years later. All my life, when I have found myself on the floor crying out, “God, I can’t do it any more,” I’ve felt His peace and strength come over me. He had been waiting for me to quit trying to do the impossible without Him. He knows I’m a strong willed, stubborn person who has to get to that point sometimes before I remember the truth that His strength is made perfect in my weakness.

In II Kings 4, there was a widow who owed the debts her husband had created. She had done everything in her power to pay them off. She had sold everything she owned to pay it and it hadn’t been enough. The creditors were coming to take her kids as slaves in order to pay the debt. When she was out if her options, she went to Elisha the prophet. He asked what she had at home and she said, “Nothing at all except a small jar of olive oil.” He told her to get as many jars from her neighbors as she could, to fill them with oil from the small jar and then to sell the oil. The miracle came when she was ready to admit her inability to do anything.

In Mark 5:25-34, we read of a woman who had an terrible bleeding problem. She suffered from it for 12 years and had spent everything she had trying to get better. The doctors couldn’t help her, she was out of money and out of options. Then she heard Jesus was in town. She knew that He could do what she and the doctors couldn’t. She thought, “If I just touch the hem of His garment, I will get well.” She had come to the point where she realized that her own strength, her own ideas and her money couldn’t heal her, only Jesus could. She crawled through a crowd on her hands and knees to draw power from the One whose strength is perfect and she was healed.

In our own lives we spend a lot of money, time and effort trying to accomplish God’s will for our lives. We think that God has somehow chosen us to do what He’s called us to do because of our gifts or talents. God doesn’t need your abilities to accomplish His will. He needs your willingness to rely on Him. If you could do it in your own strength, it wouldn’t be a miracle. If you could make it happen, He wouldn’t get glory. That’s why the things He calls us to are greater than ourselves and our ability.

Don’t grow tired trying to manufacture the miracle. Don’t grow weary trying to perform the impossible. Your greatest strength is your weakness. In II Corinthians 12:9, God spoke to Paul and said, “My power is greatest when you are weak.” The Amplified version says His power is most effective in your weakness. God doesn’t need you to be strong. He needs you to be humble enough to admit you can’t do it on your own. When you come to that place, you open the door for miracles. 

To listen to “His Strength Is Perfect,” click here. 

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June 2, 2015 · 7:10 AM

Being Led By Obedience

Recently I attended the commencement ceremonies for my alma matter and a friend of mine had been asked to be the keynote speaker. He talked to them about how the Bible says they should dress for success in life. In one of his points, he made the comment, “Be led by obedience to God, not by opportunity.” I stopped and wondered how many times I had confused opportunity with the will of God. It’s natural to think when a great opportunity presents itself that it’s from God. More often than not, those times are tests of our faith to see if we are going to be obedient to what God wants or to do what’s expedient for ourselves.

If you know anything about the story of David in the Bible, you know that after he was anointed King, Saul began to hunt him down to kill him in order to preserve his royal lineage. In I Samuel 24, Saul was hunting David and went into a cave to relieve himself. What he didn’t know was that David and his men were hiding in that very cave. The opportunity presented itself to David to be able to take Saul’s life and assume the throne. It appeared that God had given him the opportunity to fulfill the promise He had made to him.

David’s men saw it as such and spoke to him about it in verse 4. They said, “Now’s your opportunity! Today the Lord is telling you, ‘I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do as you wish.” His men were led by opportunity instead of obedience and they gave him bad advice. I’m sure they were tired of living in caves and were ready to live in palaces. They saw this as their opportunity to get out of poverty. They knew David had been anointed the next King so this must have been God’s way of making it happen.

David took their suggestion that this was God’s will instead of seeking it out himself. He made a split decision that he regretted. He snuck up next to Saul and couldn’t kill him. Instead, he cut off a piece of his robe. He heard the quiet voice of God in his spirit over the overwhelming voices of his advisors. He chose to obey God instead by not killing him. His conscious bothered him for even cutting Saul’s robe. In verse 6 he said, “I shouldn’t attack the Lords anointed one, for the Lord himself has chosen him.” He knew the scriptures had said, “Don’t touch God’s anointed.” 

The Word of God should overrule any opportunity that presents itself. God will not ask you to do something that is contrary to the Bible. He may allow opportunities to arise in your life, but He will not ask you to chose them over obedience to what He’s already said. It takes wisdom, patience and courage to do what God says even if opportunities present themselves as God’s will for you. Always take time to seek out God’s voice over man’s when opportunity knocks. Don’t just assume it is God giving you what you want. Be led by obedience not by opportunity.
 

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May 28, 2015 · 6:09 AM

Lessons From Noah

All of the raining and flooding here in Texas has made me revisit the story of Noah in Genesis 6-8. While I’ve read it as an adult and heard it multiple times as a kid in Sunday School, I had never gone through verse by verse, version by version to break it down to see what things stood out to me. What I’ve found is that I’m not ready to build an ark yet, but I am willing to do the things Noah did that helped him to find favor with God in a time that no one else did. Out of everyone on the planet, he and his family were saved because of how he lived.

Genesis 6:6 says that God regretted even making man and putting him in His creation. Verse 8 says that Noah found favor in God’s eyes though. He was willing to be the only person who did what was right. In a world where desecration, outrage, infringement, assault and lust for power were the norm, Noah found favor with God because he was not willing to give into the desires of the flesh. He knew how God had wanted us to live. He was willing to be the only person who did what was right even if no one else was. He was willing to stand alone in his faith.

Noah was able to stand alone in his faith, endure ridicule and honor God when others wouldn’t because He spent time with Him. Genesis 6:9 says, “Noah walked in habitual fellowship with God. (AMP)” The only way your faith can survive hard times or times when you are the only one who is serving God is through habitual fellowship with Him. Noah made time for God. He walked with God. He talked with God. He made Him a priority each and every day by setting aside time to spend with Him. The Bible says that because of that, Noah found favor in God’s eyes.

Because He had that favor, a God was willing to save Him. He was willing to trust him with a plan that would take years to fulfill. He gave him the blueprints to build the ark and set him free to do the work. I believe another reason God saved Noah was because he was obedient. The last verse in Genesis 6 says, “So Noah did everything exactly as God told him. (NLT)” He didn’t try to put his own spin on what God asked him to do. He didn’t try to find other ways to interpret what God could have meant. He simply obeyed and because he did, God saved he and his family.

In Matthew 24:37, Jesus said, “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (ESV)” There will come a time again when people will be living like the people of Noah’s generation. In that time, God will look around for faithful people. He will look for those who are willing to live for Him when no one else will. The ones He finds will be the ones who walk with Him habitually and obey everything He tells them. You and I are called to be that type of person, if you can’t walk with Him and obey Him now, how will you be able to when evil takes over the world? The time to walk with God us now.

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May 27, 2015 · 7:06 AM

Psalm Of The Living

I’ve never understood why Psalm 23 is solely used at funerals. I believe it is a Psalm for the living. David didn’t write it for a deceased friend. He wrote it to thank God for being his guide in this life. David’s path had twists and turns, ups and downs just like yours and mine.looking back on his life, he realized where God had been right with him in the hardest of times and when God had brought rest when he needed it most. God still does that today for you and me. Let’s look closer at this Psalm today to see how it applies to our lives.

When the first verse says that the Lord is our shepherd, it’s implying that we need someone to feed, guide and protect us. Sheep need help pretty often. The shepherd doesn’t get upset with the sheep for messing up or getting lost. He goes after them and brings them back to safe pasture where they can flourish. It’s a great image of what God does for each of us when we wander away from the path He has for us. He searches for us and returns us to where He wants us and can protect us from the enemy.

I like how the Message puts the next couple of verses. It says, “True to your word, you let me catch my breath and you send me in the right direction.” God knows that there are times in life when we get so busy that we need a break. He intervenes in our lives constantly trying to take us to those still waters causing us to lay down. He wants us to catch our breath and rest from time to time so we won’t burn out. When we’ve caught our breath, He points us in the right direction and sets us loose again.

Sometimes that path goes through the darkest of valleys, but we don’t have to be afraid. The New Living Translation says, “I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.” God doesn’t abandon us in the darkness of life. He’s right beside us enduring it with us. When we are in the valley, he is there with his rod and staff to protect and comfort us. He’s not way out ahead of you in the sunlight saying, “Come on! Hurry up and get here.” No. He’s right there with you in the darkness, by your side saying, “I know you’re hurt and I feel your pain. I won’t leave you here in this place.”

In verse five, the Message says, “You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing.” No matter who is against you or what life brings in the valley, God has a plan. He has times of refreshing ahead for you. He gives you what you need to sustain you in those times, then He takes you to place where you will know joy once again. He revived our heavy hearts and lifts our spirits. When we look up, we will see that our cup full of blessings is overflowing with God’s goodness. We don’t have to feel forgotten or lost because God still gives blessings in the darkness of the valley.

David wrapped up this powerful Psalm by saying, “I know that your goodness and love will be with me all my life. (GNT)” He knew because God had been faithful to him. He could trust God because God had never let him down even in the valley. We too can know that God’s love and goodness will be with us all the days of our lives. The New Living Translation says that God’s goodness and unfailing love will pursue us. He will not stop being with us or pursuing us with His love in this life. So you see, this is a Psalm of the living more than the dead. God is with you right now no matter what part of the path you’re on. Trust in Him and His plan. He’s watching over you like a good shepherd. 

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May 26, 2015 · 7:51 AM

Peace In Uncertainty

Have you ever noticed that the in depth weather report is at the end of the news? They might bring them out early to give you a tease about the weather, but they won’t give specifics until later in the broadcast. I’ve read many times that the weather is the most watched part of the news. I’ve always wondered why. They’re rarely right. The rest of the news is a presentation of facts that have happened and the weather is a prediction of what will happen. We are intrigued with possibilities and predictions more than the past.

I also think it’s interesting that the opposite is true when it comes to the Bible. We are more concerned with what’s happened than with what will happen. I would venture to say that Revelation is probably the least read book in the Bible. We care about the future of the weather, but not the future of mankind. I understand it’s very cryptic and hard to follow at times because a man two thousand years ago was trying to describe the world of technology and advancement like what we live in. 

Another reason I think people steer clear of it is fear. We fear what we don’t understand.we fear the wars and plagues that are coming. I’m convinced that God did not give John the Revelation to make us afraid, but to inspire hope and to give us peace. As believers, the book of Revelation reveals the final steps before spending eternity with Jesus. It is a reminder that no matter how bad things get in the world or in your life, God knows ahead of time what’s going to happen and that He and those with Him will be victorious.

I get hope in knowing that no matter what comes my way, God knew it in advance and has prepared me for it. He is not like the weather reporter who guesses at the future. He knows with certainty what will happen. We can trust His promise in Deuteronomy 31:8 that says, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; He will neither fail you nor abandon you. (NLT)” He knew we would be afraid of what the future holds. He knew that we would need Him right there with us so he made us that promise.  

Another promise I hold onto when the future is uncertain is Isaiah 43:2. It says, “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. (NLT)” Jesus even told us that in this world we would have trouble. He told us that hard times were coming. He then said, “I have told you all this (the future) so that you may have peace in me.” We don’t have to be afraid of the future, we can have peace.  

What’s your favorite promise from God?

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