Tag Archives: christian living

August 2, 2023 · 5:43 AM

The Difference In A Day

My wife and I were just talking about the difference a day can make. I try to teach people the importance of doing a few things each day to help them attain their lifelong goals. The plan for that is that by doing them each day, in ten or twenty years you achieve something huge. However, God doesn’t need ten or twenty years to change your situation. He can do it in a day. When life gets hard or you need God to intervene, He can do in a day what would take you years. The Bible is full of these kinds of stories. Joseph went from being forgotten in prison to being second in command of Egypt in a day. David went from being homeless and running for his life to being king in a day.

In 2 Kings 6 and 7, Samaria was in a desperate situation. The king of Aram had besieged Samaria and their supplies had run out. People were resorting to cannibalism to survive. The king was mad at God and decided to take it out on Elisha. When he and his army officer arrived, he told Elisha that God had brought this misery on them. Then Elisha told them the next day flour and barely would be cheap. In verse 2 the officer said, “That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!” (NLT). That night the Aramean army heard chariots, became afraid and ran away leaving all of their supplies behind. The prophets words came true. God opened the windows of heaven and supplied their need with more than enough.

Philippians 4:19 says, “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” Whatever your need is, no matter how great or how desperate, God can supply it in an instant. Don’t look at Him with a limited view the way this army officer did. God can step into the darkest night and light it up. He can move in the most hopeless situation and bring restoration. Elisha looked to God in a desperate situation as the solution and not the problem. How do you view God in impossible circumstances? Do you see Him as the cause or the answer? Have faith and trust Him to turn it around in a day while you do what’s necessary to move in the right direction. He has the entire universe available to give you in order to meet your need. He can do it in a day. Only have faith.

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August 1, 2023 · 5:44 AM

Unmet Expectations

I’ve found that a lot of interpersonal problems are caused by unmet expectations. One person thought the other person should have done something. When they didn’t do it, they’re mad at them. The real issue though is hat they never told the other person that they had this expectation of them. In their mind it should be understood. Think about a time when you were upset or disappointed in someone. If you really look into it, chances are they didn’t meet your expectation. However, did you tell them you expected that? Relationships are hard because both people involved have a ton of expectations that they never express.

In 2 Kings 5, we read the story of a military leader named Naaman. When he got a dreaded disease called leprosy, one of his servant girls told him about a prophet in Israel that could heal him. His king sent him to Israel with a large tribute to pay the prophet for healing him. When he made it to Elisha’s house, Elisha sent out his servant to tell him to dip in the Jordan River seven times. Verse 11 says, “But Naaman became angry and stalked away. ‘I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!’ he said. ‘I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me!’” (NLT). There’s that unmet expectation. Since Elisha didn’t do what he expected, he wasn’t going to follow the order for healing. He almost missed out on his healing because of an unmet expectation. How many have we missed out on because God didn’t do what we expected and we pouted?

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.” We like to quote this verse, but honestly it’s telling us to trust God even when His requests aren’t what we expect. We’re not to lean on our own understanding or expectations. It’s easy for us to get mad at God for not doing what we expected, but the truth is that we must still trust Him even when He doesn’t meet our expectations. We must still love Him when He doesn’t answer the way we think He should. We have to keep following Him when we don’t understand. Faith trusts that God’s plan is greater than my expectations. If you’re mad at God or disappointed in Him because He didn’t do what you wanted, are you really trusting Him with your whole heart? Don’t let an unmet expectation stunt your spiritual growth or hinder your relationship with God.

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July 31, 2023 · 5:45 AM

Preparing For Blessings

Growing up in sports and then working in sales caused me to hear a lot of motivational sayings. One of them that I remember is from UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. He said, “When opportunity knocks, It’s too late to prepare.” If you’re out of a job, you prepare for the next one by having a resume ready. In football, teams practice a two minute drill in case they’re down and need to score in the last two minutes. Preparation helps you be ready to capitalize on the opportunity that’s at hand. We all pray for once in a lifetime opportunities, but how many of us put in the work of preparation for such? If we haven’t prepared, we could miss out on the blessings God is trying to give us.

In 2 Kings 3, the two kings of Israel and the king of Edom were headed to teach the king of Moab a lesson. He had quit paying tribute to keep the peace. They decided to do a sneak attack so they took the long way went through the wilderness where there wasn’t any water. After seven days, the men and animals were parched and morale was down. They called for the prophet Elisha to help. He told them that the valley was going to be filled with water in the morning, and that they wouldn’t hear wind or rain. They needed to dig as many holes as possible to catch the water. Even though the army was exhausted, they dug the holes. The next morning they were filled with water as the prophet said. They had plenty for themselves and their animals to be victorious in the battle the next day.

Proverbs 24:27 says, “Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house” (NLT). There are things we must do first in preparation for long term blessings. The ways we prepare differ according to the blessings we’re praying for. If you’re praying for a spouse, do everything you can to prepare to be the best spouse yourself. If you’re praying for financial blessings, then prepare by learning wealth management. No matter what blessing you’re asking God for, there are steps you need to be taking now in order to receive it. Otherwise you may squander what God gives you or miss out on it completely. What holes do you need to be digging in order to contain what God is going to pour out? His blessings may fall suddenly without any warning so you need to be prepared. Even though you may be exhausted and tired, you need to step out in faith and dig. The amount of blessings you will be able to retain are directly proportionate to the amount of preparation you do.

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July 26, 2023 · 5:23 AM

An Extraordinary Day

I’ve noticed that God tends to show up in the most extraordinary ways on seemingly ordinary days. I wonder how often I miss Him. I was on a mission trip to Haiti about ten years ago when we decided to challenge each other to look for Jesus. Each night we would sing worship songs, pray and share. It was during those share times that we would tell stories of extraordinary things that happened where Jesus showed up. When we started looking for Him in our daily interactions, we began to see Him working through people and in people. We saw prayers answered, people healed and needs met in unexpected ways. I found that the more I look for Jesus in my ordinary life, the more extraordinary things He tends to do through me.

In Exodus 3, Moses was in the middle of an ordinary day. It started like any other one for the previous forty years. He took the sheep out to graze on the mountain side. That’s when he saw an amazing sight. There was a bush on fire, but it wasn’t being consumed. “‘This is amazing,’ Moses said to himself. ‘Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it’” (verse 3 NLT). When he went to see what God was doing, he had a holy moment with God. His future changed in an instant. No longer would he be tending sheep in the wilderness. Now he would lead God’s people out of bondage. That life change happened in an instant on the most ordinary of days because he didn’t stay still when he encountered God.

Psalm 14:2 says, “The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God.” God is looking for those who are looking for Him. Will you keep your eyes open today to try to find Him? Today may have started like any other day, but it has the potential to be extraordinary if you will seek God today in the mundane. You may not be called to lead a nation out of slavery, but you may be used to help someone out of a bondage they’ve been in for years. You may not raise the dead, but you can make someone glad to be alive. I don’t know where you’ll see God or how He will use you. I just know if you seek Him and look for Him, you will find Him and He will use you. Don’t let this extraordinary thing pass you by.

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July 25, 2023 · 5:57 AM

A Double Portion

Do you ever hear a common phrase and actually stop to think about what it’s saying? There’s a phrase my wife and I hear often that has become a bit of a pet peeve. It’s usually said at funerals by a person who comes up to speak about the deceased. They’ll usually say something like, “If I ever become half the person they were…” Another way they’ll say it is, “I hope to accomplish half of what they did.” Think about that. If you were half or only did half, then the next generation only wanted to be half of you, they would only do a quarter of the first person. Why do we insist on going backwards? Why do we only aspire to be half of someone else’s legacy? It’s not Biblical, nor is it God’s intention for you to only do a portion of the previous generation.

In 2 Kings 2, we read the story of Elijah being taken to Heaven in a chariot of fire. All day long he’s going from place to place while his assistant Elisha follows him. At each city, he tells Elisha to stay there, but he refuses. Also at each city there are prophets who tell Elisha that Elijah is about to be taken to Heaven. In verse 9, Elijah asks Elisha, “‘Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.’ And Elisha replied, ‘Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor’” (NLT). Elisha didn’t aspire to be half of who elijah had been. He wanted to be twice the person. He didn’t want to do half of what elijah had done, he wanted to do twice as much. Guess what? He did! God honored what he spoke and gave him a double portion so he could accomplish twice as much.

1 Corinthians 9:24 says, “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!” Why would you on,y want to run at half the speed as someone else in a race? God is calling you and me to more. He wants to give us greater amounts of His Spirit and blessing, but if we only ask for half we’re missing out on all He has for us. It’s time you and I asked God for a double portion instead of a half portion. We live in a world that desperately needs what we have. We need the mantle of Elijah on us with a double portion of what God gave him. We need a double portion of the boldness that Early Church received at Pentecost. James 4:2 says that we don’t have things because we don’t ask God for them. Take time today to ask God to give you a double portion of what He has for you so you can accomplish all He created you to do and then some.

Photo by Todd Diemer on Unsplash

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July 24, 2023 · 5:39 AM

Neglecting The Altar

One of the things I’ve learned about homeownership is that you constantly have to maintain it to keep it from falling into disrepair. It’s often little things, but they pile up quickly if they’re not taken care of. I’ve even seen this in a new home. I knew someone who was going to buy a house. It was almost ten years old, but had never been lived in because the couple divorced before completion. They never could agree to sell it. When they finally did, there were so many problems, my friends walked away. On the other hand, Saltford Manor in England is considered to be the oldest continuously occupied house in the country. It was built around 1150. Because it has been maintained, it is still standing to this day.

In 1 Kings 18, Elijah challenged the profits of Baal to a duel on top of Mount Carmel. He brought out two bulls and told the other prophets to choose one, build an altar, sacrifice the bull and pray for Baal to send fire for the sacrifice, then he would do the same thing and pray to God. He told the people to quit wavering between two opinions. Either God is God or some other deity is. The prophets of Baal prayed and chanted for hours to no avail. Then verse 30 says, “Then Elijah called to the people, ‘Come over here!’ They all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down” (NLT). I couldn’t help but notice the altar had fallen into disrepair and been torn down. The rocks were there, but it needed to be rebuilt. I started thinking about how we often neglect the altar of God in our own life because of busyness and other priorities. A stone or two could be missing or the whole altar could be lying in disrepair. It’s time we rebuilt it.

Hebrews 2:1,3 says, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard” (ESV). We can’t afford to neglect so great a salvation from God that we have received. We need to get back to paying attention to what we have been taught, get back involved in church, renew our fellowship with other believers and return to our first love. When this altar falls into disrepair, it affects the rest of our life. We can spend a lot of time trying to find answers or even sacrificing the wrong things, but it won’t get us anywhere until we repair the altar to God in our life. Then God will answer and show up like He did for Elijah. It’s time to quit waving and put God back in His place in our life.

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July 20, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Embracing Limitations

I remember first hearing about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” when I was young. There was debate on whether it was a physical handicap that happened to him or a person who heckled him everywhere he went or something else. I believe God didn’t tell us what it was because we don’t need to know. I know it’s fun to speculate, but whatever it was it humbled him and limited his effectiveness in his mind. We know that he was surprised that after asking God three times to remove whatever it was that God didn’t remove it. God allowed whatever it was to bother him or limit him to continue so that Paul would be humble and learn to rely on God’s strength and wisdom instead of his own.

Think of something in your life that is happening or has happened that bothers you or feels like it’s limiting you. It probably consumes a lot of your thinking of how to get rid of it or to escape it. Has it caused an increase in your prayer life? Has it caused you to depend on and seek God more? If it has, then what looks like a curse, may actually be a blessing in disguise. I know it’s hard to look at something annoying or painful in our life and to see that as a blessing, but anything that draws us into a closer relationship and dependence on God is a blessing though it may not seem like it at the time. We like having an easy life and smooth sailing, but those things don’t produce mature believers. They produce overconfidence in our own abilities. One of my favorite quotes is that smooth seas never produced a skilled sailor.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, “then he told me, My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become” (MSG). Learning to take our limitations in stride is hard, but necessary in our maturity. Difficult things happen to everyone. How we respond matters. We can get angry and depressed or we can let them push us into greater dependence on God and His grace. When we embrace our limitations and thorns, we embrace God’s grace.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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July 19, 2023 · 4:11 AM

The Gateway To Abundance

I believe giving is the gateway to abundance because it is an act of worship, obedience and faith. Whether it is giving your time, resources or money, it comes from something you hold dear and of value. I remember early on in my marriage when we looked at the bills and our income. It was very tight. We had both been raised to give our tithe first before anything else. There was a moment of temptation to not pay the tithe so we could have some money until the next payday. However, we know that if you’re not willing to give when you have a little, you won’t give when you have a lot. It’s a matter of where we put our trust. We’ve made it a practice to give out of what we can no matter how lean.

In 1 Kings 17, Elijah had prayed that there would be no rain in Israel until they returned to God. The drought had dried up the brook he was getting water from. In verse 9, God told him, “Now go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay there. I have commanded a widow who lives there to feed you” (GNT). I don’t know when God spoke to the widow or how long it took Elijah to get to her village. What I know is that when he arrived, he asked her for some bread. She told him she was picking up sticks to make a fire to bake bread with her last bit of flour. After that, she knew she would starve to death. However, she gave that bread to him because of what was in her heart and what God had asked her to do. Because she gave, she had an abundance of bread for her flour never ran out until it rained and she could harvest again.

In Luke 6:38 Jesus promised, “Give to others, and God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands—all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God will use for you.” We like to quote the first part of that, but it’s the last sentence that gets me every time. The same measure we use to give is what God uses to bless us with. When people ask me about how they should give, I always ask, “How do you want God to bless you?” We want God’s abundance and overflow, but it comes from our giving. It’s not about the amount. It’s the heart of the giver and the sacrifice that’s made. There’s a lot we can learn from this widow who had no income. God used her to bless the prophet and to show us the gateway to abundance.

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July 18, 2023 · 5:42 AM

Embracing Uncomfortableness

To celebrate the Fourth of July, we went to an outdoor concert at a nearby amphitheater. Before we left, I went into my gadget drawer and got out a fan that hangs around my neck so I could keep cool. It’s got me thinking about how many crazy inventions there are that are designed to keep us comfortable. The problem is that a recent study shows that the more comfortable we’ve made ourselves, the less happy we’ve become. Did you know that being uncomfortable is actually good for you? Without being uncomfortable, chances are you’re going to remain where you are and achieve very little. Comfort is a tool the enemy uses to keep us from growth and from following God’s voice.

After Moses had murdered an Egyptian, he fled Egypt for 40 years. Moses then became comfortable being a shepherd in Midian, but God met him in a burning bush and called him back to Egypt. He gave every excuse under the sun why he couldn’t or shouldn’t go back. Egypt was uncomfortable to Moses. It meant facing the things he had run from. Why would God ask him to leave his comfort zone? Because the cries of His children there were more important than one person’s comfort. We know that even though Moses was uncomfortable in going, he did it anyway. The result was freedom for millions of slaves and one of the greatest displays of God’s power ever recorded.

I believe God is calling you and me to a place of uncomfortableness. It can feel,scary because of all the unknowns. However, I want to remind you that 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (NLT). The spirit of power, love and self-discipline are greater than the spirit of fear. Which spirit are you embracing? Doing God’s will is never going to be comfortable. You’re going to have to step out into unfamiliar territory. You’re going to have to challenge the way things are if you’re going to bring freedom to the captives. Instead of embracing our comforts, we’re going to have to start embracing uncomfortableness. Don’t let fear or uncertainty hold you back. You’ve been called to a life of faith and you’ve been given the power, love and self-discipline to do it. You just need to embrace it.

Photo by Anil Xavier on Unsplash

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July 12, 2023 · 5:51 AM

Doing Something Great

I grew up seeing Billy Graham crusades on TV. I read and heard about ministers like D. L. Moody, Charles Finley and A. W. Tozer. I was impressed by their ministries and the impact they had made. The number of souls they had won combined is staggering. Years later, I went to see Reinhard Bonnke preach. Afterwards people flooded the altars wanting to be saved. Seeing them and reading about them put a desire in me to do something great for God. I began consuming the Bible and learning as much as I could about it and God. I’ve studied the great revivals in history. It’s incredible to think how culture changed completely and how periods of time, like the Renaissance, were products of people doing something great. What I’ve also learned is that before any of us can do something great for God is that first we must allow Him to do something great in us.

I love the story of Nehemiah. Israel had been conquered and taken to a foreign land where they had lived in captivity for decades. The new king had allowed them to return to their land, but only a few did. When a few had returned to the capital Susa in Persia, Nehemiah asked how things were going in Jerusalem. They replied, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire” (NLT). At this moment, God did something great in Nehemiah. He broke down and wept for days at the condition of his homeland. God birthed in him a burden to restore the walls of Jerusalem. His job was no longer satisfying and all he could think about was returning and restoration. Because God did something great in him, he was able to accomplish something great for God.

I love the prayer David prayed in Psalm 51. Though it was birthed out of repentance for sin, the words have the ability to birth something great in us. In verse 10 he prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.” I believe a prayer like that gives God permission to change our heart, our spirit and our life. It gives God permission to give us His burden. The men I read about and studied all had moments in their lives where they surrendered everything to God and picked up His desires. What we see and read about are the effects of what God did inside of them first. Every great move of God has begun with people who have allowed God to first do something great in them. If you want to do something great for God too, surrender your will to His first and then give Him permission to do something great in you.

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