Tag Archives: Devotion

April 23, 2015 · 8:01 AM

True Satisfaction

Business guru Brian Tracy says that a person only feels good about themselves to the extent that they are in control of their life. When outside forces are disrupting their life, they aren’t in control and stress comes in. When they can afford to do the things they always wanted to, they feel good about themselves. While I believe it’s true for the most part with our physical lives, I think it’s opposite for our spiritual ones.

You will only feel satisfied with your spiritual life to the extent that you surrender to God. When you put aside your wants for God’s needs, you find a fulfillment like you’ve never known. You find satisfaction in your spiritual life. Conversely, when you know what God needs you to do, but you struggle with the decision, you find turmoil. When you ultimately pass on His request to satisfy your desires, it results in conviction and regret. 

There is a constant struggle in each one of us who are believers. Just because we have accepted Christ, it doesn’t mean that our sinful nature leaves. Instead, we have to battle it daily and crucify it. We will never be fully satisfied as believers until we surrender to the Spirit who lives in us.  Romans 8:7 says, “For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. (NLT)” It wants to do things that satisfy the flesh, so it fights against what God wants to do which is to deny the flesh. It creates a constant battle as long as we let it live.

Jesus told us to deny ourselves if we wanted to follow Him. In Matthew 16:25, Jesus said, “Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself. (MSG)” The only way to find out who we were truly created to be is through self sacrifice. We have to put our wants, our desires, our dreams and nail them to the cross. When we do that, we surrender to God’s will for our life, our spirit finds true satisfaction, our purpose is fulfilled and our lives come into harmony. Surrendering our mind and life to the Spirit is how it’s done.

Romans 8:6 says, “Letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. (NLT)” If you find that you’re not living in peaceful satisfaction, look to see who is in the driver’s seat of your life. Are you in control? If you, you’ll find that you’re constantly struggling between doing what God wants and what you want. Or is God in control? If you have let Him have free reign with your life, you will find an inner peace and satisfaction like you’ve never known. The key to being controlled by the Spirit is surrendering to His will. 

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April 22, 2015 · 7:15 AM

Qualified Through Disqualification

My son loves to watch “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” on my iPad. I think he loves Daniel Tiger so much because he sings songs that are easy for him to learn. My son started singing one of those songs recently when I was hanging a shelf in my room. He wanted to help, but the shelf was too heavy and too high for him so I asked him to sit on the bed and watch. He sang, “Everyone is big enough, big enough to do something.” I couldn’t help but laugh and said, “You’re right.” I handed him the screws to hold and had him pass me my level. He was big enough to help with that.

So many times in our lives we feel inadequate and under qualified. We take ourselves out of situations God has placed us in because we think we aren’t the right person for the job. We underestimate the value that we bring and we use that as an excuse to not do what God has called us to. Esther felt the same way. She was just a girl who won a beauty contest and became the king’s wife. She had no authority, no royal blood in her and was an orphan. She was the least qualified to stand before the king and get justice for her people.

Like anyone else in that situation, she made excuses as to why she couldn’t do God’s will. Her uncle, Mordecai, was unwilling to accept her excuses and sent her word that said, “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” He understood that when God calls us to do something, He qualifies us to do it. He puts us right where He needs us in order to do what needs to be done. It’s not up to us to use how we got into that position as a disqualifier.  It’s up to us to recognize why God has us where He does.

Each of us are qualified to do something for God. There are none of us who are perfect. None who are sinless. None who haven’t made huge mistakes we regret. God, in His mercy, doesn’t allow our past to keep us from doing His will. Instead, He embraces it and uses it to qualify us to carry out His will. What we think disqualifies us, God uses to qualify. What we think should keep us from helping Him is the very thing He wants to use. He uses the broken and scarred to help heal those with fresh wounds.

Don’t ever fall for the lie that you cannot be used by God because of something you’ve done. If you have been forgiven by God, then you are just the person God is looking for. You don’t have to sit on the sidelines and watch like I tried to do with my son. You can hold out your hands and let God use them to accomplish what He can only do through you. Who knows, perhaps you went through what you went through for such a time as this? He can use your scars to prove He heals open wounds. He can use your brokenness to show how He mends the broken-hearted. He can use you, no matter what. 

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April 21, 2015 · 7:06 AM

Turbulence Is Good

 

 On a recent flight, the pilot said there was turbulence ahead and that he was going to try a different altitude. We lowered several thousand feet and hit turbulence there. He lowered some more and we hit turbulence there too. He went up some and we started hitting turbulence there. On our whole flight, he was readjusting trying to miss the turbulence, but he was unsuccessful. No matter what we did, we kept hitting these bumps in our path. He finally came over the intercom and said, “As you can see, we are not going to have a smooth flight today. I’ve tried everything and we’re still finding these pockets. We won’t be able to go as fast as we wanted.”

The pilot, like many of us, tried to avoid disturbances in our path. He tried different things to get around them and couldn’t. Our first instinct when there’s a disturbance or turbulence in our path is to try to find a way around it, but is that really God’s desire for us? Are we to avoid problems and things that slow us down? I don’t think so. I dislike them as much as anyone, but I’ve learned they serve a purpose. I may not always see the purpose right away, but I’ve found that God uses them to shape who we are and to change our course. The path God has for us isn’t an easy one.

Jesus was preaching in Matthew 7:14 when He was talking about the path you and I should be on. He said, “But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. (NLT)” The Amplified version said it is “contracted by pressure”. That doesn’t sound like we are going to be able to avoid the bumps and have a smooth ride into Heaven. In John 16:33, Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble.” Jesus was pretty open to us about what life will bring as Christians. He said we would struggle, suffer and have tribulation, and also that He would not leave us in those times.

My nephew likes to say, “No pressure, no diamond.” He’s learning at an early age that pressure can be a good thing. It’s what brings out the best in us. God uses pressure pockets in our life to develop qualities that won’t develop any other way. He uses it to have us change altitude and course so we can be put into the path of someone who needs our help. There is a purpose and a plan for the turbulence in your life. To avoid it is to avoid what God wants to do in you and through you.

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April 20, 2015 · 6:08 AM

Climbing Mountains (Video)

People from many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of Jacob’s God.
There he will teach us his ways,
and we will walk in his paths.”

Isaiah 2:3 (NLT)

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

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April 16, 2015 · 5:56 AM

Faith That Works: Haiti Days 2 and 3

Our second and third days in Haiti were filled with work. We split the team up to get some maintenance things done around the property of the orphanage. We took a group of guys and went behind the main building to do dirt work. At the back of the property, there was a hill of dirt that sloped down into the cafeteria building. We spent three days with pick axes and shovels breaking up that hill and shoveling it into wheel barrows. We would take the wheel barrow of dirt and dump it closer to the building to level out the ground.

The sun was hot and we often tried to find shade from its heat. As it got higher in the sky, shade was increasingly more difficult to find. We drank plenty of water, but we kept at it. We were able to make it level where once it was not. I kept thinking of the scripture in Matthew 21:21 where Jesus said we could speak to the mountain and move it if we had faith. I was then reminded of James 2:17 that says, “Faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative or dead).”

  

Often we try to speak to the mountains in our lives asking them to move without ever picking up a shovel. We want God to do all the work while we simply “believe”. One of the things I shared with the team on these days is that God always requires a proactive action on our part before He moves. We must seek if we are to find. We must knock if the door will be opened. We must ask if it is to be given. We must draw near to God if He is to draw near to us. I have yet to find a place in scripture where we don’t have to be proactive before God moves. We can’t wait for God to do something. We have to step out in faith first.

On these trips over here, I remind the team that they are coming to put sweat equity in the Kingdom. We come to work and to serve. It’s hot and dirty, but God honors us and the work we do when we do it with a cheerful heart. Our second team was painting a pirate ship that was built for the playground. The first day of work on it was tedious. They had screw drivers and were digging rocks out from in between the boards before they could paint  it reminded me that God is in the nitty gritty details. We look for Him in the big picture, but we find Him in the small things.

  

On Tuesday afternoon, we were able to do a Bible lesson for the kids. After the lesson we took them on a nature walk / scavenger hunt outside the walls of the orphanage. As they walked down a dusty road, several of us were spread out along it. When they came to us, we acted out different emotions and the kids determined whether the actions were pleasing to God or not. After they found the last person, we continued walking to a dried up creek bed. There were mango trees all along its banks. The kids picked up rocks and threw them at the tree to knock down the mangos. 

We walked further down towards some other mango trees that didn’t require rocks. We picked mangos from the branches we could reach and gave them to the kids. Some mangos were ripe and others had more time left. The kids would bite through the skin and peel it back to get to the sweet pulp. We sat under the trees and laughed with the kids as they enjoyed them. It was an incredible afternoon that gave us a refreshing from our hard labor. The team was reenergized and and ready to work more the next day for these kids.

  

On Wednesday afternoon, we took a beach trip to jump off a cliff into the ocean. It was a long journey across the beach, over boulders, up rocky cliffs and over crevices. When we got there, we took a rest and began jumping in. Standing on the edge of the cliff looking down brought fear to many. It was a long way down to the water, but everyone who went up there faced their fears and jumped in. Fear paralyzes us and tries to prevent us from doing things. So many Christians stand at the edge of a cliff and never take the leap of faith. They’re scared to do anything for God, so they spend their lives in that place. 

God has asked us to live by faith and not sight because sight brings fear. It tells us the journey is too long, too hard and too far. It asks all kinds of questions that prevent us from taking those leaps of faith. If you’re in that moment of standing on the cliff with God calling you to jump, don’t stand there and think of everything that could go wrong. Step out in faith, trust God and jump. It will be the ride of your life. When you put action to your faith, it brings great power. 

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April 15, 2015 · 5:44 AM

Showing His Love: Haiti Day 1

 

 On our first full day in Haiti on this trip, we started off going to a church service with the orphans and the local community. As they sang songs of worship, it was incredible to watch young children raise their hands and sing. During times of prayer, many children would get down on their knees and face the benches they were sitting on. It was moving to see so many of them engaged in the service knowing that very few of them had probably ever been to church before coming to the orphanage. 

After church, the kids changed clothes and we got to play with them. One of the incredible experiences of coming on a journey like this is that you get chosen by the kids. They run through the crowd of the team looking up at each face and determine who their “blanc” is. For the rest of the trip, the children who chose you will find you each time you’re there and climb in your lap, hold your hands and love you. Watching it happen reminds me of how God seeks us out like the one lamb who got away. Once He finds us, He holds us and gives us unconditional, undeserved love.

As we were playing, a bell started ringing from the cafeteria and the kids immediately ran to go eat lunch. While they were eating, we took a walk into Maya to visit with some of the locals. On every other trip, they have come to us, but this time, we went to them. On our first stop, we encountered a man who was proud to show us his two bedroom home made of rock and mortar. It had a tin roof, dirt floors and no electricity. His face beamed as he showed us his handiwork. He then walked us over to a 3′ by 3′ house looking structure. He proudly proclaimed that is son built it. You could see from wall to wall how much his son improved each time. This father had now passed down the ability for his son to survive. 

After visiting a few more houses, we returned to the orphanage. We played with the kids some more and then went to the covered porch during the heat of the day. Several kids layer down on our team members to rest. As I looked on, I thought of how my own son loves to lay up against me or my wife. Doing so provides them with a sense of security and love. These orphans don’t have parents to give them that. It was a blessing to watch our time provide those emotional necessities to these children.

After playing some more, we then returned to our guest house in the city of Gonaives. The team cleaned up, ate dinner and then met for our own service. We shared stories of things that we had seen that touched our lives and how we saw Jesus in those things. We were reminded that Jesus shows up every day in our lives all around us. We will see Him if we take the time to look. We also have the opportunity to be His hands and feet to others if we will be available when the opportunity arises. 

God’s desire is to use each one of us daily to show His love to someone. There are hurting people that sit next to us, walk by us on the street and post on our social media feeds. It’s up to us as believers to reach out to them and show them the love of Christ. If you don’t, who will? Jesus said in John 13:35, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. (NLT)” How will you show love today to prove to the world that you are His disciple? 

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April 14, 2015 · 5:45 AM

Fully Submitted

I once had the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with a man who counsels kings, queens, presidents and corporate CEO’s. He said, “I want to start off our conversation with a question. ‘If you woke up tomorrow morning with $10 Million in your bank account, how would that change your life?'” That amount of money would certainly change most of our lives. You can’t come into that much money and not live differently than before. It’s the same when we give our lives to Jesus. You can’t invite him into your life and not be changed.

The message of John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter and Paul was “Repent.” It wasn’t, “Say a prayer and you’re a Christian.” The word repent in its original form means “A change of mind.” God asks us to change our mind from how we were living to a new way of thinking that in turns changes how we live. You can’t change your behavior unless you change your mind. The call to repentance was and is about changing how you live.

Jesus put it another way. He said, “If any man wants to follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” I love how the Amplified version takes Luke 9:23 and really explains what Jesus said there. It puts it, “If any person wills to come after me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow me [cleave steadfastly to me, conform wholly to my example in living and, if need be, in dying also].” When Jesus said repent and follow Him, He wasn’t asking you to say a prayer. He was asking you to give up yourself and how you want to live.

There’s a missionary in Haiti I’ve met several times. He moved there over twenty years ago and never went back to his home country. He is involved in pastor get a church, orphan care, running a school, feeding the helpless, running a bakery and water purification shop, helping deaf girls learn sign language and so many other things. When asked why he does so much and how could he never go back home, he responded with, “My life is not my own. When I said, ‘Yes’ to Jesus, I gave up my life.” Those words should challenge us in how we live.

He understands what it means to follow Jesus by taking up his cross and denying himself. You may not be called to leave your home country and live in a third world country the rest of your life, but you have been called to change how and why you live. The call to repentance is a call to change your reason for living. It’s a call to give up what you want for what God wants. Philippians 2:5-6 says we need to have the mind of Christ who gave up what He wanted for what the Father wanted. He was and is our example of daily taking up our cross. He showed us how to submit to what God wants.

If you think back to the $10 Million question earlier, just like you can’t come into that kind of money and not be changed, you can’t have a real encounter with Jesus and not be changed. When you say, “Yes” to Jesus, your whole life and way of thinking should change. I liked that question he asked, but I think the question you and I should think about today is, “If you woke up tomorrow morning and had fully surrendered your life to Jesus, how would your life change?” Think about it and then surrender your will to His. You’ll find there’s no better life to live than one that is fully submitted to Him. 

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April 9, 2015 · 7:37 AM

Mercy And Grace

  

As I’m driving somewhere with my preschool son in the car, most of the time he will say, “Dada, I NEED your phone.” I typically respond back, “You don’t NEED IT. You want it.” I wonder if that’s how God sees us with our prayers sometimes. We often cry out in desperation, “God, I NEED this answer to prayer!” The truth is that many of those NEED prayers are truly want prayers. We WANT it very badly and are desperate to get the answer, but the truth is, a lot of those prayers are not really needs. 

I’ve been reflecting on Hebrews 4:16 quite a bit. It says, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. (NLT)” I’ve quoted this scripture in many of my prayers, but I haven’t really broke it down until recently. I know that if I approach God’s throne of grace in prayer, He hears me. I often assume that because He hears me, He should answer according to the way I’m praying. That line of thinking has led to a lot of disappointment misdirected at God. 

The verse says that at His throne of grace, we will receive mercy. When I hear that, I think of blind Bartimaeus outside of Jericho. He heard that Jesus was passing by and knew that He healed people. Bartimaeus yelled out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! (NLT)” Jesus called him over, had mercy on him and healed him. When we approach God’s throne of grace, we are often crying out for God to have mercy on our request. Sometimes, He calls us over like Bartimaeus and grants us mercy and other times He gives us grace.

The last part of Hebrews 4:16 says that we will find grace to help us when we need it most. In II Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul talks of a thorn in his flesh that he asked God to remove. Instead of giving him mercy by removing it, God replied to him, “My grace is all you need.” God told him He wasn’t going to answer his request for mercy, but instead He would give him the grace to help him when he needed it most. He does the same for us. He gives us grace that is sufficient when He doesn’t answer our petition for mercy.

I don’t know what makes God choose grace over mercy so often. I wish I did. What I do know is that when He chooses grace, it’s enough. He has promised that whatever I face, He will give me grace that is sufficient to endure. He will be strong when I’m weak. He will carry me when I can’t seem to find the strength to move forward. Each time I approach God’s throne of grace, I know that I will either receive mercy to grant my request or I will receive grace to help me through the situation. Either way, I know that God has heard my plea and is giving me just what I need in order for Him to fulfill His purpose.

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April 8, 2015 · 7:33 AM

Encourage One Another

When I was younger, there was a Christian group called Prism. All their albums were named after colors. On their “Yellow” album, the had a song called “We Will Always Be With The Lord”. They created the lyrics for that song out of I Thessalonians 4:18. Paul had just described what happens to the dead in Christ and what will happen to believers who are alive when He returns. The Church was under severe persecution when he wrote this letter to them and he wanted to encourage them in their struggle. While most of the Church today isn’t being persecuted for their faith, it’s still a good practice to encourage each other.

It was just a few verses later in I Thessalonians 5:11 that Paul again reminded the believers to encourage each other. He wrote, “So encourage each other and build each other up. (NLT)” He knew that each one of us have a deep internal need to be encouraged. It’s our responsibility to encourage each other as believers and to not tear each other down. If another believer needs encouragement, they should be able to find it within the Church. They shouldn’t have to go looking elsewhere.

A few months back, our small group used one of our Wednesday nights to enact something I learned from Brian Tracy’s “New Psychology of Selling”. It’s called the “20 Idea Method”. You take any problem you have, convert it into a question and come up with 20 ideas as to how you can answer it. This method ignites the creative side of your brain and gives you new ways to do the things you’ve always done. Most people never implement new ideas and therefore get the same results their whole life. You can’t expect growth or progress doing what you’ve always done. 

We asked the question, “What are 20 ways we can encourage others?” The first few answers came easily, but as we got closer to 20, we struggled. We pushed ourselves to keep going until we did. Many people in the group wrote them down or took a picture of the white board we used. Coming up with ideas is great, but the real power is in implementation. When we began to put into practice these simple ideas of encouraging others, it changed us as well. When you encourage someone else, it turns out you get encouraged as well. It’s mutually beneficial. I think that’s why Paul was so clear in his desire for believers to encourage each other. 

If you need encouragement today, try finding someone who is having a more difficult time than you and offer them encouragement. If you are riding an emotional high today, spread the wealth and give out encouragement like you’ll explode if you don’t. There isn’t anyone out there who doesn’t love being encouraged. Each one of us have the need to hear, “You’re going to make it through this and I’ll help make sure of that.” Don’t just look at someone who is struggling and say, “Take courage! It’ll all work out.” Go over to them and offer tangible help. Pray for them. Give them a verse that has helped you. Offer to carry their load. Be a person who listens instead of gives advice. Buy their lunch. Words often fall flat, but actions build up.

I’d love it if you wrote in the comments one way you could encourage someone today. It will give others different ideas on how they can encourage someone who needs it.

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April 7, 2015 · 6:50 AM

Three Steps To Spiritual Intimacy

In my own experience, I’ve found it takes three things in order to lose weight: a strong determination, exercise and good food choices. When I’ve had these three things working together, I’ve been able to lose weight. Without them, I tend to gain weight. I’ve also found that spiritual growth and intimacy with God takes the same three elements. When I put my focus and energy into these three areas, I experience intentional growth and closeness with God. When I lose sight of them, I tend to drift along spiritually. 

The first thing I’ve found that I’ve needed is a strong determination. I have to choose to want to grow and to get closer in my relationship with God. The moment you decide to move closer to God, you will begin to see lots of barriers in your way. If you have not fully committed to pushing forward, you will lose sight of the goal and turn back around. Any time I start to feel discouraged and want to quit moving forward, I remember II Chronicles 15:7. It says, “But you must be strong and not be discouraged. The work that you do will be rewarded. (GNB)” Keep your eye on the reward and encourage yourself to keep going.

Next you will need to begin exercising your faith if you want to see improvements. Just like physical exercise, spiritual exercise is not easy. It involves stretching yourself, making commitments that others won’t and cutting out certain areas of your life that waste your time or push you away from God. Fasting is a great example of spiritual exercise. It denies your flesh what it wants and spends time in prayer and reading God’s Word in its place. You choose how long the commitment is and what it involves. I’ve found that having someone to fast with keeps me accountable and improves the results. I Timothy 4:8 says, “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come. (NLT)”

The third part is the toughest for me. Making the right choices on my spiritual intake. There are so many things that are bad, but just like regular food, some of my favorites are not good for me. Putting in the wrong types of food are detrimental to the goal. You can take one step forward in exercising and two steps back in spiritual food consumption. What you put into your spirit through TV, movies, books and music matters. Each one either feeds your spirit junk food or proper nutrition. Making the right choices determines the growth and intimacy you will see.

I read a quote from Jeanne Mayo that has had me thinking quite a bit. She said, “Salvation and grace are free, but closeness and intimacy with God are not. They will cost you.” Unfortunately, most of us are content to live with the free gifts of salvation and grace. That’s not God’s desire. James 4:8 says, “Draw close to God and He will draw close to you.” He wants us to move closer to Him. He wants us to have intimacy with Him. The question is: Do you have the will power and determination to pay the cost through spiritual exercise and what you feed your spirit to make it happen?

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