Tag Archives: Devotional

September 24, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Seize The Day

  
“Follow me,” the call of Jesus, has gone out to everyone in every generation since He stepped foot on the earth. Since He was physically here, people have given excuses as to why they can’t. Some aren’t ready to rough it by giving up selfish pleasures. Others have priorities that take precedence in their lives. Some are waiting until they become financially stable before they follow Him. But others, like the disciples, drop everything and follow Him when He calls.

In Luke 9, Jesus experienced people with excuses. In verse 57, a person said, “I’ll go with you, wherever” (MSG). Jesus replied, “Are you ready to rough it? We’re not staying in the best inns, you know”. We don’t know how this person responded, but we can based on the rest of) the text we can assume he didn’t want to give up the security of his home for the security of Heaven. Like many of us, he valued the perishable things of this world instead of the imperishable.

In verse 59, “He [Jesus] said to another person, ‘Become my disciple, side with My party, and accompany Me!’ But he replied, ‘Lord, permit me first to go and bury (await the death of my father'” (AMP). Jesus refused and said, “First things first. Your business is life, not death. And life is urgent: Announce God’s kingdom!” (MSG). You see, he wanted to go home, wait for his father to die, collect his inheritance, and then follow Jesus. We carry the Word of Life in us, and as Jesus said, life is urgent! We can’t wait to share our faith. We must do it now.

Then another person said, “I’m ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home” (MSG). He wanted to sell his belongings, get the cash, and then follow Jesus. In verse 62, Jesus said, “No procrastination. No backwards looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.” We cannot procrastinate when we are called to follow Jesus. We are not guaranteed another day. Immediate obedience is what He’s looking for.

Which of these excuses have you given God? You don’t have time, so you’ll do it later? You can’t afford to do what God called you to? Your life isn’t at the right place right now? We’ve all given God an excuse as to why we can’t do what He’s called us to, but there’s still time if you have breath in your lungs. Pray that God would put an urgency in your heart to follow Him wherever and however He sees fit. Eternity is in the balance, and it can’t wait for some. Go out and give His life to everyone you meet today.

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September 22, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Return On Investment

  
Would you sell your house, your car, your collections and all your belongings for this machine? What if I told you that if you put sand in this machine, it would produce high-quality, precious gems worth thousands of dollars each? Would you do it then? Most people would because you would get a return on your investment of giving everything up. The things you would have to sell in order to purchase it could all be replaced once you get the machine.

In Matthew 13, Jesus proposed something similar to the people listening to His sermon. He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!” (NLT).

Like you, I’ve read these scriptures my whole life, and thought, “I’ve purchased the pearl of great price by giving my life to God.” As I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to realize that Jesus was asking each one of us if we are willing to give up everything for Him. Are we willing to give up our home, our belongings, our beds, our tables, our furniture, our things that give us a sense of security, all for him? Now, how do you think about the pearl of great value? Are you willing to give up all of that for it?

Be careful how you answer that question. Jesus asks us to give up even more than that in order to be His disciple. In Luke 14:25-27, Jesus had a large crowd following Him. He turned to them and said, “Anyone who comes to me, but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters – yes, even one’s own self! – can’t be my disciple” (MSG). It costs a lot to be a follower of Jesus. You may be asked to give up everything in order to be His disciple, but your return on investment is out of this world. Just like the machine above, you will get back everything you gave up if you’re willing to let go of it.

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September 21, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Second Chances

  
I was listening to Carlos Whittaker’s song “God of Second Chances” the other day. I tried to think of the people in the Bible who had been given second chances. David came to mind first. He had served God as king of Israel, wrote praise songs, brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem and then had an affair with a woman. He then had her husband murdered to cover it up. He asked God to forgive him and was given a second chance to continue serving as the king and spiritual leader of Israel.

Jonah was another person who was given a second chance. He had been called to be a preacher, but ran from that calling. After heading in the opposite direction of where God called him to, the Lord sent a violent storm to stop him. He decided he would rather die than to be a preacher, so he had others throw him into the sea. As he was drowning, a giant fish swallowed him whole. He had a change of heart while inside the fish, and God agreed to give him a second chance. He spared his life and with his second chance, an entire city was saved.

Peter was a person who also needed a second chance. After following Jesus for three years, he denied he even knew Jesus to save his own skin. Peter was distraught at what he had done. He didn’t get to ask Jesus for forgiveness at that point, but we know he was forgiven. Jesus found him after the resurrection and asked him to feed His sheep. Because of Peter’s second chance, the early Church was born.

In Matthew 18:21, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” (NLT) He was asking Jesus, “How many chances should I give someone?” Jesus replied, “No, not seven times, but seventy times seven!” (NLT) Jesus then told a story of someone who had been forgiven much, but wasn’t willing to forgive someone who wronged him a little. The person who wouldn’t give a second chance to someone else was given the initial penalty he deserved.

If God is the God of second chances, you and I are to be people of second chances. To be like Christ is to forgive even those who continually wrong us when they ask for mercy. In Matthew 6:15, Jesus bluntly said, “But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins” (NLT). Just like God will forgive you for as many sins as you commit, we are to forgive others for their many sins. God has a history of giving people second chances. You and I can start today and write our own history of being people who give second chances. 

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September 18, 2015 · 5:30 AM

God Sees Your Tears

Crying is something that each one of does at some point in our life. Sometimes the tears come from a heart that is broken and sad. I’ve seen them flow when our heart is so full of joy and pride that it couldn’t be expressed enough in a smile. Other times, anger can bring them out. In any case, tears are something that God has given us as an overflow of emotion. Below, you’ll find several verses in the Bible that give us some examples of these emotional overflows and God’s responses to them.
  
1. You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

Psalm 56:8 NLT

2. My tears will pour out in a ceaseless stream Until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees us.

Lamentations 3:49-50 GNB

3. Ah, GOD, listen to my prayer, my cry—open your ears. Don’t be callous; just look at these tears of mine. I’m a stranger here. I don’t know my way— a migrant like my whole family. Give me a break, cut me some slack before it’s too late and I’m out of here.

Psalm 39:12-13 MSG

4. Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add to your life fifteen years.

Isaiah 38:5 AMP

5. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.

Psalm 126:5 NLT

6. The Lord saved me from death; he stopped my tears and kept me from defeat.

Psalm 116:8 GNB

7. My eyes are blinded by my tears. Each day I beg for your help, O LORD; I lift my hands to you for mercy.

Psalm 88:9 NLT

8. He who goes forth bearing seed and weeping [at needing his precious supply of grain for sowing] shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Psalm 126:6 AMP

9. In his life on earth Jesus made his prayers and requests with loud cries and tears to God, who could save him from death. Because he was humble and devoted, God heard him.

Hebrews 5:7 GNB

10. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.

Revelation 21:4 NLT

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September 17, 2015 · 5:48 AM

Being An Uplifter

In my job, I work with both management and their employees. Something I see more and more often is employees who take very little responsibility in situations and shift the blame to leadership. If something goes wrong, it’s management’s fault. They don’t take the initiative to repair the situation themselves. They offer malicious obedience so that when they fail, they have a scapegoat. Maybe you’ve seen this too. The is a problem in our churches too and, all of us are guilty of doing it. When things aren’t being done the way we think they should be done, we blame the pastor or leadership instead of doing things ourselves.

One of the most memorable stories in the Bible that captures this attitude comes from Exodus 17. The children of Israel had left Egypt and were wandering in the desert. They were hot and thirsty. Instead of looking to resolve the problem, they complained and blamed Moses. They said, “Why did YOU bring us out of Egypt? To kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” (GNB) They took no responsibility themselves. Ultimately, God spoke to Moses to travel to strike a rock with his staff, and water would come out of it. God did it as a favor to Moses rather than as a reward to the people.

In the following verses of that chapter, we see the characteristics we should display instead. While there in the desert, they were attacked by the Amalekites. Moses commanded Joshua to get some men and to go fight. He then went with Aaron and Hur to the top of a hill to watch the battle while holding his staff in the air. While his arms were up, the Israelites prevailed; when his arms were down, they began to lose. The problem was that holding up the staff for a long period became tiring and soon he could no longer hold up his arms.

Instead of complaining about leadership’s responsibility in the battle, Aaron and Hur found a rock for Moses to sit on. They then held his arms up for him as long as was needed until the Israelites had won. They recognized it wasn’t Moses’ job alone to lead the battle. They saw what needed to be done, without being asked, and they did it for their nation. In doing so, they provide for us a great example of how our lives should be. We can choose to be complainers, or we can choose to be uplifters. We can either blame, or we can be the solution. It’s up to each one of us to do our part in the church so that the body as a whole is successful. Will you be a complainer or will you be an uplifter?

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September 15, 2015 · 5:30 AM

To Know God

In Matthew 9, Jesus is at the home of Matthew eating with some unsavory people. The top religious leaders saw him dining with them and asked, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” (NLT) They asked it loud enough that Jesus heard them, which meant that Matthew and his friends heard. Jesus said, “Heathy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do.” Then he challenged them to go and find the meaning of the scripture that says, “I desire mercy [that is, readiness to help those in trouble] and not sacrifice and sacrificial victims. For I came not to call and invite [to repentance] the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God), but sinners (the erring ones and all those not free from sin)” (AMP).

I figured if Jesus wanted them to find the meaning, He probably wanted us to find the meaning as well. The original passage is found in Hosea 6:6. It says, “I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me” (GNB). The first thing God wants from any of us is an unconditional, constant love. A couple of verses back, He says His children’s love vanishes as quickly as the morning dew. The kind of love that irritates God is the conditional kind that depends on what He does.

God loves you no matter what you do, and He expects the same. Jesus was upset with the Pharisees who asked about His eating with sinners because they were the same ones who were astonished at His miracles and His teachings. When His actions didn’t meet up with their expectations, their love waned. What Jesus was pointing out to them in the Scripture He sent them to was that they really didn’t know God, and He would rather they know Him instead of knowing the Law.

We have to be careful of the same trap. We cannot let our love for God depend on expectations we have of Him when we don’t fully know Him. God knows that the more we know Him, the more we love Him. The more we love Him, the more we will have a readiness to help those in spiritual danger. They are the ones who need our help the most. Jesus knew it, and He wanted us to know it too. The heart of God beats for the lost, and He’ll do what it takes to reach them, even if it doesn’t make sense to others. When we truly know Him, our heart beat for the lost like His.  

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September 14, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Getting Wisdom

Wisdom is something each of us should desire to have in our lives. It helps us to make the best decisions regarding our life and actions. Google defines it as, “The quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement.” It’s more than just knowledge; it’s how to use your knowledge in the most effective way. There are people with a lot of knowledge that have very little wisdom. It’s important that you and I get wisdom.

In my life, I’ve only found three ways to get wisdom: praying to God for it, asking those more experienced for theirs and making mistakes. Of those three, praying to God for wisdom seems to be the easiest for me to do. God knows how flawed I am and where the limits of my wisdom lie. There are no secrets between us because He sees everything. I rely on James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally” (NKJV) I’ve asked Him many times in my life for it, and I’m sure I’ll ask many more.

Asking others for their wisdom seems to be harder. As I get older, I want to prevent those coming behind me from making the same mistakes I did. I try to offer unsolicited insight and wisdom to them, but just like I wouldn’t listen when wisdom was offered to me, they won’t listen either. Pride and stubbornness stand in the way of getting wisdom from other people. We’d rather fail than to ask someone else for their help. When we fail, we get wisdom the costliest way of all. At a minimum, it costs us double the time, double the effort, and double the energy to get what we could have received freely.

As discussed earlier, getting wisdom is more important than getting knowledge. Proverbs 16:16 says, “Get wisdom—it’s worth more than money; choose insight over income every time” (MSG). Getting wisdom should be more important to us than getting money. That’s a powerful statement in today’s world. Money comes and goes, but wisdom stays with you a lifetime. If God or others are willing to freely give you wisdom that’s worth more than money, sit down and listen. It’s a lot cheaper and easier than getting it the hard way.

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September 11, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Words Of Comfort

Life can be very unpredictable. Things can be going well and then the rug gets pulled out from under us. I heard someone say, “All people are in one of three places: in a trial, coming out of a trial or heading for one.” Life is a series of ups and downs. No one gets to stay on top of the mountain forever, no matter what they say on social media.

In my own trials and tests, these scriptures have brought me comfort; I hope they do the same for you.
  
1. From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me. 

Psalm 61:2-3 NLT

2. May the Lord himself, who is our source of peace, give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all.

II Thessalonians 3:16

3. When I walk into the thick of trouble, keep me alive in the angry turmoil. With one hand strike my foes, With your other hand save me. Finish what you started in me, GOD. Your love is eternal—don’t quit on me now. 

Psalm 138:7-8 MSG

4. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their distress and troubles. 

Psalm 34:17 AMP

5. Be brave. Be strong. Don’t give up. Expect GOD to get here soon. 

Psalm 31:24 MSG

6. God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. 

Psalm 46:1 NASB

7. I sought (inquired of) the Lord and required Him [of necessity and on the authority of His Word], and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. 

Psalm 34:4 AMP

8. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time. 

Psalm 34:19 NLT

9. Call to me when trouble comes; I will save you, and you will praise me. 

Psalm 50:15 GNB

10. My mind and my body may grow weak, but God is my strength; he is all I ever need. 

Psalm 73:26 GNB

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September 9, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Developing Endurance (Video)

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.

Romans 5:3

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

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September 8, 2015 · 5:30 AM

Valuing The Imperishable 

I recently went with our church’s youth group to serve an inner city mission. This ministry doesn’t just serve the needs of those who live on premises, but they also serve the community around them. We were there to help them organize, clean, do yard work, and to serve lunch. About an hour and a half before lunch, people began arriving in the lobby to wait for the food to be served. Some were individuals and some were families who needed a little help. They come each day for a meal that won’t cost them anything.

In John 6, Jesus fed 5,000 with only five loaves of bread and two fish. The people were ecstatic about the free meal, but also realized they were a part of a miracle. The next day, they went looking for Jesus, who had gone to the other side after walking on water to the boat. When they got there, Jesus called them out. In verse 26, Jesus said, “You’ve come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs—and for free” (MSG). People were looking for a free meal, but Jesus was wanting them to be hungry for spiritual food.

In verse 27, He said, “Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last” (MSG). The people at the mission waited a couple of hours for food that would only satisfy their hunger for a few hours. Don’t get me wrong, they needed the food and there was lots of ministry going on during the lunch, but the people went for the physical food rather than the spiritual food.

Our human nature seems to crave the perishable things of this world instead of the imperishable. You and I have to teach our minds to expend our energy and time on the things that matter for eternity. We have to re-teach our minds to value the things of God. You’ll know that you’re valuing the imperishable when you make time for things like spending time in prayer, reading God’s Word, and serving your neighbor. That’s the food that satisfies more than a few hours, and that’s worth waiting for.   

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