Tag Archives: daily devotional

June 20, 2013 · 8:46 AM

The Blueprints of Faith

In our small group last night, we were reading from Genesis 6 where God gave Noah the blueprints for the ark. He told him it was to be 450 feet long, 45 feet high and 75 feet wide. He told him what kind of wood to use, how many levels to have, how to waterproof the wood, to build stalls and even told him why he was to do it and how it would happen. I got a little jealous of Noah as I read all of that because he got a blueprint of exactly what God wanted from him with each step.

I’d love for God to do that for me. Instead, I feel more like Abraham who God told, “Leave your native land and go to the land that I will show you.” There were no blueprints, no reasons or navigational directions. He was simply told to pack his stuff, leave his relatives and everything he’d known for a land that he would be shown without being given a reason. I don’t know if he felt the doubt, frustration and fear that I do from being in those shoes.

At first, I started to think that Abraham was the one who really acted in faith. After all, he didn’t get a step by step guide like Noah. The more I think about it, the more I see how much faith it took from Noah to accomplish his task even with a blueprint. When God shows you something you’ve never seen or heard of and asks you to do it, that requires a lot of faith. Even with a blueprint, you are venturing into the unknown, the uncomfortable. It requires faith to start building.

Another thing I see with Noah is the sheer enormity of the project God asked of him. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with how much God asks of us, but just like with Noah, it starts with one board and one nail. It took him a hundred years to complete what God asked of him. As our group leader pointed out last night, imagine Noah on year 33. After all those years, he was only a third of the way done. He’s worked night and day every day for over 39 years and only has a little of the project to show for it. Most of us would have quit. By faith, Noah got up the next day and kept following the blueprints.

Whether God has given you a set of blueprints or has asked you to follow Him with blind trust, it requires faith on your part. Faith to pick up that first board or faith to pack your bags and take that first step. Which of these two do you identify with? Has God asked for endurance from you to see His plan through in the face of ridicule and a seemingly lack of progress? Has He asked you to leave everything you’ve known to do something He’ll show you later? Either way, it requires faith and He has faith in you to accomplish it or He wouldn’t have asked you. Take courage and do something today that moves you in the direction of what He asked you to do.

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June 19, 2013 · 10:10 AM

Get Up and Go

In the NBA Finals game last night, San Antonio was up by 5 points with less than a minute to go. The coach of the Spurs pulled Tim Duncan, the team’s best rebounder, so he could put more speed on the floor. The plan backfired. San Antonio missed two critical rebounds in the remaining seconds that gave the Heat the ability to tie the game sending it into overtime and ultimately win.

Each person on a team has a critical role. Each person in Christianity also plays a critical role. I mentioned yesterday how Peter was the one who got out of the boat, spoke up when a question was asked, chopped an ear off and preached at Pentecost. Jesus chose 12 men who were different because each had a role to play in the kingdom. Some were fishermen, some were tax collectors and he even chose a doctor.

Jesus was able to take those 12 men and turn the world upside down. He was able to spend three years coaching them, training them and teaching them before turning them loose. Not all of them were rock stars out in front of the crowd. Many were role players that fulfilled their calling through their abilities. None were stagnant though. Each of them gave their life for the cause of Christ.

Our churches are filled with people sitting on the bench. They have a great seat to watch what God is doing, but rarely jump in and help. It may be because they feel their abilities aren’t up to par with someone else’s. It may be because they’re not sure what their talents and abilities are. Whatever the case, it’s time we all got off the pew and started fulfilling our roles in His church.

The great commission wasn’t to go to church. It was to go into all the world preaching the Gospel and making disciples. We are to use our relationships, our abilities and our talents to share what God has done for us with the people we meet. It is our responsibility to go. It is our duty as Christians to make disciples so that they can repeat the process with someone else. We were not called to sit and listen. We were called to go and give.

You were created with a purpose. Whether you know that or not, you were. God has a desire and a plan to use you. It may not be on a stage in front of 20,000 people. It may be in a coffee shop in front of one person. Where ever it is and however it is, He is looking for your willingness to be used and to not hold onto the treasure He placed in you. We are to give away the love that He gave us. We are to live a life worthy of the call that He has given us. What will you do today with the love and message He has given you?

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June 18, 2013 · 7:47 AM

Coach Jesus

I ran into my junior high basketball coach this weekend. We were talking about the good old days and how things change. He was mentioning how much coaching has changed in the past few years. One of the ways it has changed is that kids don’t ask to be put in. I was shocked. I can remember being pulled out of a game to rest and arguing with him. “Coach, I’m fine! Let me stay in a little longer,” I’d say. When I was on the bench for a few minutes, I’d look down the bench at him trying to catch his eye.

I wanted to be back in the action. I wasn’t content to sit on the side lines and watch. Not much has changed I guess. I’m not content to watch things happen. I want to be a part of things, especially good things. I want to help out in ministries. I want to go to other countries and be the hands and feet of Jesus. I want to stand in front of people and tell them what a difference Jesus made in my life.

I think Peter was a lot like that. He was the first to volunteer and the last one who wanted to be sat down. When Jesus asked, “Who do men say I am,” it was Peter who answered. When the guards came to take Jesus, it was Peter who grabbed his sword and swung it. When they were in a boat and the storm was raging, it was Peter who asked to walk on water. When the Holy Spirit came down and the people gathered around the upper room, it was Peter who stood up and preached.

Was he perfect? No. Did he often have to be corrected? Yes. He wasn’t afraid to go out and do something for Jesus, even if he made a mistake. He’d rather make a mistake in ministry than to make the mistake of sitting on the side lines. It was the other eleven who stayed in the boat sitting on the side lines. Every one of them had the opportunity to get out of the boat and join Peter. They could have known what it felt like to have water under their feet.

I don’t want to be one of the eleven who sat around a campfire asking Peter what it was like. I want to be the one telling the stories. I want to be the one experiencing the miraculous. It all starts with a desire to do something for Christ. It starts with not being content to sit in a pew Sunday after Sunday watching as others experience a move of God. It starts with me saying, “Put me in, Jesus.”

Where are you? Are you content to sit in a pew with the other eleven? Are you willing to step out of the boat and to walk on water? Are you looking at the other end of the bench, staring Jesus down, trying to get His attention? I am! I want nothing more than for Him to look down the row at the members of His team, give me a head nod and say, “Chris, go check in. I need you on the court.”

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June 17, 2013 · 7:51 AM

Tethered by Faith

A few years ago, some friends and I were in Dallas when we decided to visit an amusement park. This park had things like bungee jumps instead of roller coasters. There was one that took you up in a crane and dropped you several stories into a net. I was dared to do it because we were all scared of that one. Not being someone who backs down from a date, I paid the money, put on the harness and got in the cage. As the crane got higher, I started second guessing my decision.

We got as high as the crane would go and the guy running it asked if I was ready. I got to the door of the cage, my harness was strapped to a wire to keep me from falling and he said, “Just lean out of the cage and the wire will hold you. You won’t fall until I release you.” Even though I knew that wire would hold me, it was hard to get out of that cage. I had to fall out backwards with my face to the sky. I struggled with how to do it. I thought about laying on the floor and rolling out. I even told him to push me out.

I finally succumbed to my fear and decided to trust the wire. I fell backwards out of the cage and sure enough the wire held me. Now I was dangling upside down with no turning back. I thought I was afraid before. Now I was terrified. I was no longer in control. As I spun around I could see Dallas, the highways, houses and more. The guy in the crane said, “Look at me.” I looked up at him and he said, “You can do this. I’m going to count to three and then release you to fall into the net.” I begged for mercy!

He said, “One.” I said, “Hey, let’s talk about this for a minute. Can’t we work something out?” He smiled and said, “Two.” That’s the last thing I heard because he pulled the cord and released me. I was free falling for about 10 stories now. At one point I remember telling myself, “Breathe!” I took in a deep breathe and then I hit the net. My adrenaline was pumping, my friends were cheering and I had a huge smile on my face. I did it.

In my life right now, I’m in that cage tethered to it. God is asking me to fall backwards out of the cage. It’s just as scary now as it was then. I’ve tried bargaining with Him like I did with the guy in Dallas. He smiles and says, “Trust me. I’ll hold you and keep you from falling.” While I struggle with what the best way out of the cage is, I ask, “Can’t you just push me?” Patient as ever, God says, “Faith is not me pushing you out, but you getting out willfully and trusting that I’ll catch you.”

It’s a struggle any of us who walk in faith deal with. We become more secure in the tools He uses than in Him. We are harnessed with the breastplate of righteousness and are tethered by faith yet we are afraid to trust Him to hold us when we step out. When we do step out and we’re dangling, He has us facing upward to remind us to look at Him. If our eyes are on the world spinning below us, we’ll be terrified. If our eyes are on Him, we’ll find peace even if we’re dangling out of the cage and can’t see the net.

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June 14, 2013 · 8:07 AM

Keep Running

I got to hear Kirk Franklin share his testimony last year. It was the first time I had seen him in person. He told the story of how he grew up without a father and how he always wanted to be there for his son. He told how his son ran track and he was watching him run a relay race. When the second guy on their team went to hand the baton to number three, he dropped the baton. The third guy picked it up and started heading for Kirk’s son.

When Kirk looked ahead at his son, who was now at a disadvantage, he didn’t see him give up. Instead he saw him readjusting his stance, timing the space between he and the other runners and preparing to receive that baton. When he finally got the baton, he ran as if he had a chance to win the race. He ran as fast as he could all the way to the finish line knowing he wouldn’t win.

That took character. Many of us would have jogged to the finish line. If we can’t win, what’s the point in trying that hard? No one in the crowd expected him to run that hard to the finish line. Well no one except his dad. His dad had instilled in him the value of never giving up. In a time when running fast didn’t really matter, the character that was taught to him came shining through.

You and I are in a race. I’m not talking about the race to the top of the corporate ladder. We’re in a race of faith. Paul likened our lives as Christians to race a few times. In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul said we should run to win the prize. You shouldn’t slow to a jog just because someone you looked up to dropped the baton. You shouldn’t slow down because you may have dropped it.

The truth is that none of us have been handed a perfect baton in this race. None of us are capable of running with it without dropping it. It’s what we do when we receive a dropped baton or drop it ourselves that matters. The easy thing is to give up and say, “I tried, but there’s no use now. If they can’t carry it without dropping it, how can I?” The hard thing to do is to pick up that dirty baton, wipe it off and keep running like you will win.

I played a lot of sports in high school. One school we used to play had a banner up that said, “Sports don’t build character, they reveal it.” The same is true in the faith. What you do when you or so done else messes up reveals your faith. You have the ability to get forgiveness for your mistakes, to start running again and to do your best to not do that again. Being a Christian isn’t about being perfect, it’s about getting back up and continuing to run after you’ve fallen or have been knocked down.

Proverbs 24:16 says, “The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.” What about you? Have you tripped recently? Are you jogging and taking it easy to the finish line? I want to encourage you to get up, pick up your baton and sprint towards the finish line. Run like you’re going to win, trust God for the victory. Don’t stay down when you trip. Get back up and join the race. The body of Christ is here to help you and your father is in the stands watching and cheering you on.

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June 13, 2013 · 6:59 AM

Wake Up!

I use a white noise app to help me sleep, especially when I’m at a hotel. It makes the noise of a constant waterfall to bleed out all other noises around. With it, I don’t hear people in the hall or in the room next to me. I become oblivious to just about everything going on around me and I can sleep. It’s very handy to have.

In a spiritual sense, there is a lot of white noise all around us. It is designed to keep us from hearing God speak to us and to help us fall asleep. It is a tactic used by our enemy to keep us from doing what we’re supposed to do. We don’t hear or notice things going on in the spirit realm because we’ve been lulled to sleep.

I Thessalonians 5:6 says, “So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.” Paul was telling us to be awake spiritually. Others have allowed the white noise of this world to put them to sleep spiritually. They aren’t paying attention to the signs of the times or to what is happening all around them because their eyes are closed. They wander through their spiritual life sleepwalking.

It’s time we wake up as the body of Christ. It’s time we quit sleeping and realize that it is still day and we must work while it is day. Jesus said, “The night is coming when no man can work.” We have a brief window to wake up and do real work for the Kingdom of God, yet most of us are sleeping because there is no urgency. We have no real desire to see others come to Christ or we’d be working like their lives depended on it.

When tragedy strikes, everyone has a sense of urgency and they rush to the scene to help others as quickly as possible. Adrenaline takes over and their bodies work through the pain and the weariness. That’s where we need to be right now. Our world is filled with orphans, widows, the poor, the needy and countless lost people. The harvest is ready, but there are only a few laborers working such a large field.

I pray that The Lord of the Harvest would send laborers to work. I pray that He wakes us up from our slumber and ignites a passion in each one of us to go out and share His love with the lost and the hurting. There are people all around each one of us each day who need us to be the hands, feet and voice of Jesus, but our eyes are closed to it. We are asleep and are taking it easy.

I think of the Titanic when it was sinking. If you watched the movie, the lifeboats were only half full. They reserved them for a select few while others drowned. They could have put more in those boats, but they didn’t. Instead, they floated to safety while thousands died a few feet away. We are no better than them when we sit comfortably in our lifeboats of salvation and do nothing to save those who are drowning. We need to wake up, hear their cries and lift them into the boats.

We have the answer. We have the ability. We are asleep though and aren’t doing much about it. What is the white noise in your life that is keeping you from hearing the cries of the lost? What is it that has lulled you to sleep spiritually so that you don’t hear those around you? What do you need to do today to wake up? What can you do to bring more into the lifeboats? It’s time we woke up and started working like there is no tomorrow.

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June 12, 2013 · 7:15 AM

The Burden Center

As I was turning into my hotel in Baton Rouge last night, I noticed a sign that said “Burden Center”. I know now it’s an off campus Ag center for LSU, but I started thinking about a real burden center where you could come lay yours down and rest. How cool would that be? If you ever wanted to off load your burdens for good or just make them smaller, you could come to the burden center and do that.

Each of us carry burdens of some sort. Some burdens are so heavy that they crush you. They affect your mood, your outlook on life and even your personality. I’ve heard people say, “That’s my burden to bear.” They have given up hope that anyone will come along to share the load and to help them. They feel like they are the only one who can bear that load, so they carry it.

Usually when I have a load like that, I feel like I have to carry it because no one else can or will. I take the burden on my back purposefully and carry it as far as I can. The problem is that the longer I carry it, the heavier it seems. It’s like hiking up a mountain with a backpack. As I climb the mountain, the backpack doesn’t physically get larger or heavier, but the longer I carry it, the more I need a rest.

I have the option to do that when I’m carrying a backpack, but don’t feel like I do when I’m carrying a burden. All I want to do is rest, but burdens don’t let you. They consume your mind and suck energy right out of you. Jesus knows that all too well. He also knows that we’ll try to carry weights on our own. That’s why He has a burden center. His motto is found in Matthew 11:28. It says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

Ahh rest. Such a great thing, especially when you’re carrying a burden. I love how the Amplified version talks about rest. It says, “I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.” Now that’s a promise we should all take advantage of. I know I need my soul relieved and refreshed. When that happens, your outlook changes once again. You get your strength and life back to where God wants it.

What burdens are you carrying today that you think your the only one who can? Are you tired and ready for rest? Bring them to His burden center and give them to Him. If you truly believe He is in control of all things, then surely He can carry your burden for you and cause the outcome He wants. He’s asking for you to give it to Him, but the choice is yours.

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June 11, 2013 · 8:30 AM

Opening Doors

Yesterday my son was trying to open a door that was too heavy for him. He grabbed the handle and pulled back. He was trying so hard that he was squinting his eyes. He readjusted his feet and pulled with both hands. The door wouldn’t budge. He knocked on it, moved the handle some more and started pulling again. He turned his body away from the door and pulled trying to use his leg strength. Finally he said, “Dada” and gave me a come help me look.

I walked over, pulled on the door and opened it. He smiled and said, “Thank you, dada.” He’s learned what so many of us still haven’t. He’s learned to call out for help when he can’t get the next door open. He knows who has the strength when he doesn’t. He gave it a valiant effort in his own strength, but when he realized he couldn’t, he called out to the one who could.

I find myself trying to open doors in my life that I feel God wants me to walk through. In my own strength and ability, I’m not able to. Sometimes I’ll stand at that door knock, pull and readjust trying to open it. In the end, I have two choices. I can say, “God must not want me to walk through this door”, or I can say, “God, can you open this door please?” Too many times I choose the first option and miss a lot of blessings God has.

When I can’t open it in my own strength, I reason that God is somehow not wanting me to go through that door. Jesus told the parable of the man who had someone show up to his house late at night. He needed to feed them, but had not food. He went to his neighbor’s house to get food. The neighbor told him the door was locked and he should go away. Instead of leaving, he continued to knock and asked for help. The man finally relented and opened the door.

Prayer is the power in your life to opening the doors that God wants you to walk through. A life of faith isn’t walking through all open doors or doors that you can personally open. A life of faith is recognizing you don’t have the power and then praying to the one who does. God watches as we struggle and pull on the knobs of the doors in our paths. He’s waiting for us to call out to Him in our weakness. He wants to help, but He’s waiting for us to recognize we can’t do it on our own. We need His help. Then we can truly depend on Him.

What doors are you trying to open right now but don’t have the strength? How long have you been trying to open it? Admit your weakness to God and ask Him to open it. While there is power in prayer, there is more power in fasting and praying. If you’ve tried praying and it’s not opening, go to the next level. Jesus showed us that there is more power when we combine the two. Don’t give up on opening your door, knock harder on Heaven’s door.

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June 10, 2013 · 6:56 AM

Shackled to the Temporary

I had a dream last night that I died. As I was ascending to Heaven, I called out to God, “Wait! I can’t die. I haven’t had the chance to fulfill what you called me to.” God replied, “You had the chance, but you never took it. You focused on the things that didn’t matter and let them keep you from your calling. I had to find someone else.” With that, I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep for a while. My mind was replaying it over and over trying to find another ending.

The only ending God is interested in is me fulfilling what He’s called only me to do. He created me for a specific purpose. He created you for a specific purpose too. Somehow life gets in the way of doing what we were made for. We swap His priorities for earthly priorities. We get ourselves shackled into the things that don’t matter and dream of doing what really does matter.

It’s not a fast transition. It happens over time. “I’ll do what God wants me to do after I…”, we say. What happens is we spend a lifetime doing what we want while always promising to do what God wants next and then wonder where time went. Each time we pass on what God wants, we tighten those shackles a little more. We bind ourselves to the things that have no eternal value whatsoever. We treasure the temporary and dismiss the eternal.

I don’t want to live that way. I Corinthians 3:13 says that when I get to Heaven, God will take all the things I’ve built in my life and put them in fire to see what has value. If I’ve done the things that have eternal value, I’ll receive a reward. If I focused on temporary things, they’ll all be burned and I’ll have nothing to show for my time on earth. I don’t want to be standing there looking at a pile of ashes on that day.

That motivates me to find and seek out the things that will last for eternity. That makes me want to do work for God’s Kingdom. That resets my priorities and refocuses my attention on what truly does matter. Each of us have the opportunity to do what matters for eternity. Each of us are called to “go”. When Jesus left this earth, He didn’t pick out a few of the disciples standing there and tell them to “go into all the world.” He told all of His disciples to go.

Where are you going today? Wherever that is, you have the ability and the opportunity to do something that will survive that fire. You have a choice to make. You can choose to do what matters for eternity or you can choose to do something temporary and tighten those shackles a little more. I choose to do what matters so when the time of my death comes, I won’t be calling out to God to send me back so I can do what He called me to. I want to go knowing that I’ve done what He asked and knowing that I’ll hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

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June 6, 2013 · 8:29 AM

Ministering in Love Languages

At church last night, our group was discussing a church in Austin, Texas that had someone who ministers to the homeless in that area come in and speak. At the altar call, he didn’t ask anyone to come down and get saved. He didn’t ask anyone to come down for prayer. He asked that each person would pray and ask God if they should give their shoes to the homeless. If they felt they were, they were to come to the front, take off their shoes and leave them there.

I started thinking about that and the book “The 5 Love Languages” by Dr. Gary Chapman. In it, he describes five ways that people give and receive love: words of affirmation, acts of service, quality time, physical touch and gifts. Then I started thinking, if those are the ways people receive love, shouldn’t we the Church be showing love to the lost in their love languages? The story in Austin was showing love through gifts. For a lot of believers, this is the easiest way to show love because we give out of our abundance and then move on with our lives. What if we continued to give gifts until it came from our necessity and not our abundance?

Words of affirmation are another one that doesn’t require much of us, but we hardly do it. I was having a rough day recently and had a lot on my mind. As I stopped to pump gas, my mind was working. A lady on the other side of the pump said, “Hey, you should smile every once in a while. It’ll do wonders!” I snapped out of my thought coma, looked at her and smiled. She said, “See. Doesn’t that feel better?” She got in her car and drove off. Her words of affirmation changed my mindset. It made my day better. We can do that too.

Where things start to get difficult are the remaining three. I once heard it said that many people spell “love”, T-I-M-E. Quality time is not something we usually want to do with “the least of these”. We’d rather give something that costs us less. The problem is that those who receive love this way are left out when we’d rather take the easier route. If we truly care about the lost, we need to find ways to spend quality time with them, invest in a relationship and share the love of Christ with them.

I like acts of service when reaching out to the lost. I call it “putting sweat equity in the Kingdom”. Give a day of your time, labor and talents to someone who needs it. This speaks volumes to those who receive love this way. Find a widow or elderly couple nearby who need yard or house work done and help them. Find a single mom who needs help and offer to help her. Find a ministry who is doing one of the other love languages and help them. It requires your time and effort, but is well worth it.

Finally, there is physical touch. Jesus was good at this. He laid His hands on people and touched them. He wasn’t afraid to go up to lepers and touch them. They were considered unclean and people were forbidden to touch them, but Jesus did it anyway. Who are today’s “lepers”? Who does society deem “unclean”? They need us to reach out to them, hug them and to share God’s love with them.

The book shows that we typically give love in ways we like to receive it. In a relationship, you have to learn someone else’s language to keep their “love tank” full. In ministry, I think that if you’re good at giving love in your language, that’s the area you need to show love to others in. Each church should have ministries that give love to others in these five ways. It will allow those in the church who give love those ways a place to plug in. It will also allow the church to share love in the ways that people in their community receive it. Think of the difference that could make for your church and God’s Kingdom.

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