Tag Archives: christian living

January 7, 2021 · 5:30 AM

Does Prayer Work?

When I was a child, I went to vacation Bible school with my friend. On one day, the pastor came in and asked, “Can we change God’s mind?” In my eight year old mind, I had already figured God out, so I raised my hand. When he called on me, I gave an emphatic. “No!” He then asked me, “Then why do we pray for people and situations?” I didn’t have an answer. “Maybe we can change the mind of God,” I thought. That conversation changed how I viewed God and how I pray.

In Exodus 32, Moses went up Mount Sinai to get instructions from the Lord. He was gone 40 days, and the people began to wonder if he was coming back. They decided to create their own god out of gold from their earrings and other jewelry. They built a golden calf, then built an altar and worshiped it. God became angry and told Moses what was happening. He then told Moses that he was just going to destroy them all and start over. He was through with these stubborn people.

Moses quickly came to their defense. He reminded God of all the things He did to bring them out of Egypt. He didn’t want the Egyptians to take credit for their deaths. He then reminded God of the covenants He made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then in verse 14, the Bible says, “So the LORD changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people” (NLT). There it is! Right in the Bible in black and white. Moses changed God’s mind.

Whatever you’re facing today, your prayers can make a difference. They can change your situation and even the mind of God about what’s happening. Your prayers matter to God and He’s listening to them. Moses reminded God of the promises He made, and we can too. Don’t be afraid to ask God to change His mind. Who knows what He will do? What we do know is that prayer changes things, including God’s mind.

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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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January 6, 2021 · 5:59 AM

Becoming More Fruitful

In the 90”s, one of the t-shirts that was popular said, “No Pain No Gain”. They were referring to working out, but I believe that’s true in a lot of areas in life. People like complacency and they don’t like pain. Because of that, we often find ourselves in ruts doing the same thing day in and day out. The problem is that the processes in our lives can only produce so much, and many of us have been in a rut so long that we have reached a plateau and we’re coasting. The greatest motivator for change is pain. It’s not until we’re faced with pain of some sort that we change. When you change how you do things, you change the results you’re getting in life. Sometimes we get the choice to make the change, and other times God forces the change in our lives.

Joseph, in the Old Testament, is one of the most intriguing people in the Bible to me. When he was 17 years old, his brothers beat him up and threw him in a pit with the intention of killing him. Instead, they sold him as a slave where he was taken to a foreign land. There he made the most of his situation and became the highest producer in the household. The owner’s wife took a liking to him, but he held to his integrity even though life had dumped on him. He was thrown in jail where he was forgotten, but he continued to persevere in the pain. 17 years after his brother’s sold him, he became a free man, and then became second in command of the nation. He was a man who went through much pain, suffering and affliction, but you never read where he questioned God or doubted Him.

After he was married, he had two sons. Genesis 41:52 says, “He named the second [son] Ephraim (fruitfulness), for ‘God has caused me to be fruitful and very successful in the land of my suffering’” (AMP). God has a plan for our lives that contains suffering, but with that suffering comes the potential of fruitfulness and success. How do you respond to times of pain and suffering? I believe our response is what determines the extent of that fruitfulness. God will do whatever He needs to in our lives to get us to a place where we can be fruitful for Him and His purposes, but along with that comes the potential for greater things. Some of the most successful people you know have endured some of the hardest times. If you’re going through a season of pain and suffering like Joseph, take courage. God is working in your life to produce some amazing fruit. Ask Him for the strength to endure and the wisdom in how to make the most of it.

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January 5, 2021 · 6:03 AM

Implicitly Trusting God

I remember as a kid when someone would ask, “Do you promise?” I’d quickly give them a “Yeah.” Then, if they asked, “Do you pinkie promise,” I’d have to think carefully before answering that one. It was like I could promise something and possibly go back on my word and everything would be ok. However, if I went back on a pinkie promise, I’d never get their trust again. I guess it was around that time that I learned the importance of trust and keeping your word. I’ve carried that into adulthood. When I talk with someone who is new to a leadership role, I explain the importance of keeping your word. Without trust, you can never lead anyone. Think about it. Name any leader in your life that you will follow anywhere, and think of how much you trust them. The more you trust them, the farther you will follow them.

Abraham was a person who trusted God enough to leave his family to go to a land that God would show him. He trusted God when he was told he would have a son at 100 years old. He kept on trusting God when He told him that through that son, he would become the father of many nations. I think the greatest trust was shown when God hawked him to sacrifice that son. I love in Genesis 22:5 where he tells the servants, “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back” (NLT). Abraham trusted God’s promise enough that even if he sacrificed His Son of Promise, God was able to raise Him up and fulfill it. He knew that no matter what happened on that mountain, they were both coming back.

Romans 4:20 says, “He (Abraham) was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.” Are you fully convinced that God is able to do what He promises? Remember earlier, I said that you can only follow someone as much as you trust them. That applies to your relationship with God as well. Are you trusting in what your situation looks like right now or in God’s promise? God is able to revive dead dreams, irreparable relationships and impossible situations if it means keeping His promise. Number 23:19 says, “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?” You and I can trust what God says implicitly. When we do, we can go farther than we’ve ever gone and live the life we were created to live.

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December 28, 2020 · 5:58 AM

Checking Our Motives

I was born and raised in church. My parents took me to Sunday School each week. Year after year I had heard the same stories taught by different teachers as I grew older, and I had memorized them all. Christianity began to move from my heart to my head. I began to see it as behavior based instead of relationship based. I remember talking to my dad about sin and all the behaviors you could and couldn’t do. I wanted to make sure I didn’t do any of them. I thought if I could memorize them all, I could know which behaviors to avoid so I could go to Heaven. That’s when he said, “Chewing gum can be a sin.” I was confused. He said, “Sin is as much an attitude as it is a behavior. If the rules tell you not to chew gum and you do so in defiance, you are sinning. James 4:17 tells us if we know what’s right, and don’t do it, it’s sin.”

In the Old Testament, King Saul was told to wait for the prophet to show up who would offer a sacrifice. When the prophet didn’t show up at the appointed time, Saul began to panic. His men were afraid and some began to desert him. He decided to offer the sacrifice instead. Just as he finished offering the sacrifice, the prophet showed up. He knew he needed to Lord’s blessing, but didn’t do it the right way. A few chapters later, he was told to kill even the animals as he destroyed a nation. When the prophet showed up, Saul said, “I have carried out the Lord’s command.” The prophet replied, “Then what is this bleating of sheep and goats I hear?” Saul said he was going to sacrifice them to God. In 1 Samuel 15:22, after rebuking Saul, the prophet said, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.”

Saul was doing the right thing by offering sacrifices, but his attitude was wrong in each case. Jeremiah 17:10 says, “But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve” (NLT). Man looks at behaviors to judge people, but God looks at our heart. He’s interested in our motives. You can do the right thing with the wrong heart, and it can be wrong. We can’t approach Christianity as a list of behaviors of right and wrong, thou shalts and thou shalt nots. It’s not your behaviors that get you into Heaven. It’s the grace of God through the blood of Jesus. God wants a relationship with you, and through that relationship, we’re changed from the inside out. We receive a transforming of our mind (Romans 12:2) as we become a new creation. We are saved by grace, through faith, and not of our behaviors. The Bible does tell us how we should live, but God is also looking at our heart behind the behaviors.

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December 23, 2020 · 5:59 AM

Pleasing God

I was able to attend a Christian school for junior high and high school. During my freshman year, one of my teachers told us to get our Bibles out and a pen. He had us open them up to Romans 7. We were instructed to read it once, then go back through it with our pen. Each time we read the words, “I, me, my, myself,” etc., we were to circle them. We were then told to read Romans 8. After we read it, go back through it and circle, “Spirit, God, Jesus, Christ,” etc. Once finished, we had to go back and count them in each chapter. There were a lot of circles in my Bible between the two. Towards the end of chapter 7, Paul wrote, “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong” (NLT). He then said he was a wretched, miserable person trying to live like a Christian on his own. He wrapped up that chapter by asking, “Who will free me from this life dominated by sin?” He then answered his own question with Jesus.

Chapter 8 starts off by reminding us that there is no condemnation for those in Christ. I love that he included that because so many times we condemn ourselves because we fall prey to what Paul was talking about in trying to follow Jesus by willpower alone. He then starts writing about the battle between the Holy Spirit and our flesh, and how they’re always at war because they have two different goals. One is to please yourself, and the other wants to please God. He then makes a bold statement saying, “For if you live by its (the flesh’s) dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.” It becomes clear at this point in the chapter that we must learn to let the Spirit lead our lives if we’re going to live how God wants us to. It becomes a matter of who we choose to listen to.

As I read Philippians 2, it talks about us needing to have the mind and attitude of Jesus. He lived a Spirit led life doing what God wanted Him to. After encouraging us to live the way God wants us to, he encourages us in verse 13 with, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” God is at work in you and me, helping us to live Spirit led lives. We don’t have to try to do it on our own. His Holy Spirit resides in us, guides us and works in us to build us up into the people He’s called us to be. If you’re struggling like Paul wrote about at the end of Romans 7, remember that Jesus is working in you to free you from the mindset that you can do it on your own. Let God do His work in your life. Give the Holy Spirit control. Then remember that there is no condemnation for you. There will always be a struggle with your flesh as long as you live in it, but God’s Spirit is in you, working to give you the power to live a life that pleases Him.

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December 22, 2020 · 5:58 AM

A Place Of Encouragement

2020 was a crazy year. Pretty much everyone’s plan for the year was shot deadline by Covid-19. Everyone was affected by it in some manner. Some experienced loss of income, some loss of home, some loss of family members and some loss of relationships. In times when we’ve needed to be around others for their support and encouragement, we’ve had to face the hardships alone. Churches, businesses, restaurants and places where we gather with others we’re all shut down. Gallup did a poll in November, like they do every year, on mental health. Almost every demographic showed people’s mental health ratings go down and the total population reached a new low. However, people who attended church regularly, were an outlier. They did not show decline in mental health.

Churches had to get creative in providing ways for us to gather this year because of all the requirements and guidelines. On one of the first few weeks of the shut down, almost every church used Facebook Live to air their services. I remember it overwhelmed their system and they couldn’t handle the amount of videos. Small groups began to use Zoom in order to meet. For Easter, families were encouraged to dress up and join live streaming services in their homes with families. Just like the Early Church, people began to gather in homes instead of buildings. The Church in essence went back to its roots this year and provided connection for people when everything else in their lives was disconnected. Pastors understood the importance of finding ways for people to meet safely, whether virtually or in person, because we were created for connection and relationship.

I heard Hebrews 10:25 quoted several times this year. It says, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near” (NLT). Whether you assemble virtually or in person, you need to be getting together with other people and encouraging each other. Clearly this has been a mentally tough year on people. God’s design for you to be connected to a body of believers was built to withstand Covid-19. He provided a vehicle in the Church for believers to meet and stay connected throughout the centuries. It has survived persecution, pandemics and people who have tried to stop it. If you are one of the ones who feel like your mental health has declined this year, let me encourage you to get connected to a church and attend regularly. You will find hope and people who will love you and encourage you.

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December 21, 2020 · 5:53 AM

Growing In Grace

If you ever see my son, most of the time it feels like he’s wearing high water pants. No matter what we do, we just can’t seem to keep pants that fit him. He’s constantly growing and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. We always joke with him about it asking him if he can stop it or grow younger instead. Even as a child he knows that you can’t stop growth and that it happens naturally. It’s the same thing in the animal kingdom, with plants and most living things. They naturally grow and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. God designed physical growth to be natural, but he made other types of growth to require effort in order to create it. If you want to grow your knowledge, you need to apply effort in education. If you want to grow your muscles, you need to apply effort in working out. There are many things like this in life including your spiritual growth.

One of the main concerns of the writers of the New Testament was our spiritual growth. It’s not the type of growth that occurs naturally like physical growth. It’s like the others where it requires effort and discipline on our part. They wanted us to know that there’s more to Christianity than just accepting Jesus as our savior. That’s the beginning of a lifetime of growth. Sadly, for many Christians, the stop there or just past that point in their growth. They fail to adopt spiritual disciplines that will help them grow closer to Christ and to become more like Him in their life. The writer of Hebrews, Peter and Paul all addressed Christians to encourage them to move from milk to meat and to go from infants to mature believers (Hebrews 5:12-14, 1 Peter 2:2, 1 Corinthians 3:1-3).

Peter addresses is again in 2 Peter 3:18. He wrote, “But continue to grow and increase in God’s grace and intimacy with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” (TPT). Growing into mature believers is our goal, but it requires that we do more than go to church once a week. It requires reading the Bible, doing Bible studies, spending time in prayer, reflecting on Scripture, sharing our faith and applying what we’ve learned. If we do these things, we will grow in God’s grace and in our intimacy with Him. The point of sending His Son to save us was the restore the relationship between us. Growth in relationships don’t occur naturally. It requires that we spend time getting to know the other person. The more our relationship grows with someone, the more we adopt parts of their personality into our life. The same is true when we grow our relationship with God. We become more like Him and that’s His desire for each of us.

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December 17, 2020 · 5:30 AM

Wrong Assumptions

Have you ever made the wrong assumption about something? If we’re honest, we all have. There was a guy who wanted me to hire him for sales, but he didn’t dress the part for the interview. Everyone else showed up in a suit, but this guy wasn’t even wearing a tie. When I asked questions, everyone sat up, looked me in the eye and gave confident answers. Not this guy. He slouched in his chair and barely looked up at me when answering. He seemed to lack the confidence to be in sales, but he had all the answers I was looking for. My wife suggested it was easier to train him how to present himself rather than to teach someone else the core values I was looking for. I hired him, and he was one of the best hires I ever made.

It’s easy to look at someone and make judgments about them because they don’t measure up to our expectations. That’s what happened to Jesus. He was born in the right town, but the people expected great fanfare for the Messiah. He became a great teacher, but He didn’t teach what they thought He should teach. They assumed He would fight the Romans and free Israel, but when that clearly wasn’t His plan, they assumed He wasn’t the Messiah and crucified Him. They thought they had God’s plan figured out, but their assumptions were wrong. They’re not alone.

We all make incorrect assumptions about who God is and what His plan is. One of the biggest misconceptions is that God is angry and is waiting for us to do something wrong so He can zap us. John 3:16-17 says, “For this is how much God loved the world—he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it!” (TPT) God didn’t send Jesus to condemn you to Hell. He was sent to reconcile you to God. He loves us so much that He didn’t conform to our expectations, but instead died in our place so that we could live eternally in His place. If you’ve made the wrong assumptions about God, Christmas is a great time, to change your mind.

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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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December 10, 2020 · 5:30 AM

Christmas Cards

Just the other day my son was asking why no one mails him anything. Each day he sees us open the mail. Most of the time what we are opening is bills, but this time of year, there are lots of Christmas cards. Each year there seem to be fewer and fewer cards, and each year the cards are saying less. When I was younger, each card had a hand written note. As I grew up, people started putting family newsletters inside. Now, it’s just the name of the family.

Yes, I’m lamenting about the current status of Christmas cards. Since the invention of email, personal letters in Christmas cards, and otherwise, have almost become extinct. Very few people write personal letters anymore. There’s something encouraging about a personal letter that you don’t get from an email or a signed card. Personal letters often bring joy to the recipient. I imagine that’s where the tradition of sending Christmas cards came from.

Much of the New Testament is really just personal letters sent by the apostles to encourage others. In Acts 15, the apostles sent a joint letter answering questions about how believers should behave. Verse 31 tells us, “When the people read it, they were filled with joy by the message of encouragement” (GNT). That’s what letters do. They fill people with joy and encouragement. No wonder my son wishes for mail.

2 Corinthians 3:2 says, “You yourselves are the letter we have, written on our hearts for everyone to know and read.” Each of our lives should be a personal letter to the world written by God. It should encourage others and bring them joy. Jesus was God’s love letter to us. His birth announced that God heard our cry to be joined with Him. Now, His Spirit lives in us and we are His love letter to the world. Make your letter personal and let it bring joy to all who read it.

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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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December 8, 2020 · 5:53 AM

Being Truly Satisfied

One of the shows I love to watch on TV is “Alone”. It’s a true survival show unlike many other ones out there. They take 10 survival specialists, drop them off in late September somewhere where it’s going to have extensive time below zero and leave them with only ten items to survive on. They have to build a shelter, gather firewood, find food and fight the mental battle of loneliness knowing all they have to do is push a button and they can go home to warmth and family. Many contestants go weeks eating nothing or very little. When they do get food, it’s incredible to see how appreciative they are. It’s also heartbreaking at times watching them break down missing their loved ones. You’re rewarded at the end by having their spouse show up to tell them they’ve won and getting to see their joy.

I like to tell people that you can only experience as much joy as you have sorrow. You can only experience as much satisfaction as hunger you have known. Also you can only know as much healing as your brokenness. The greater your valley, the more wonderful your mountain top experience will be. Many of us spend a lot of time, effort, energy and prayers to get out of the valley, but I believe God uses them to show us greater depths of His grace and to bring us closer to Him on the mountain tops. When you’re so broken that you can only rely on Him to rescue you, you find complete dependence on Him. When you’re so hungry to hear from Him, you learn to block everything else out and listen. When He answers, it’s that much sweeter and your faith grows.

In Luke 6, Jesus was surrounded by people desperate for a word from God, for healing and for the Messiah. He began to speak to them about what really matters. In verse 21 He said, “How filled you become when you are consumed with hunger and desire, for you will be completely satisfied. How content you become when you weep with complete brokenness, for you will laugh with unrestrained joy” (TPT). Jesus reiterated our need to hunger after Him and His Word. He expressed the importance of our dependence on Him. Those words are in stark contrast with how we live today. We snack all day long so we won’t feel any hunger pains. We’ve been rewarded for being self reliant since we could first put food in our own mouth as a baby. To draw close to Christ and to really know Him requires that we unlearn those things, embrace our hunger for Him and our brokenness. He is our only satisfaction and our only true healing. When we get to the places of desperation, we need not despair. We need to trust in Him and we will learn the true meaning of joy and satisfaction.

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