May 28-29, 2011 … Joy and Endurance in the Spirit

Blogger’s Note: Yesterday I was not able to post the devotional you read below because of travel schedules and my laptop battery lapsing while I traveled (long story!). I actually did the devotional for 5/28; but since I couldn’t post it online, I’m doing so today (5/29) along with my devotional for this date. For those who read along with my daily journal entries, I apologize for this lapse in planning/posting.

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May 28, 2011 … Joy in Spite of Death

Passage of the Day: [Repeating] Philippians 1: 21 … 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain …

My Journal for Today: Continuing with the same verse and theme from yesterday’s entry [5/27] , the Apostle Paul, according to John MacArthur in his devotional from Strength for Today for this date, had three reasons to be confident – even in the face of prison or other dire circumstances.

First, Paul had confidence in the power afforded by God through prayer … see Rom. 15: 30 …

SCRIPTURE<: Romans 15: 30 … I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

Secondly, the imprisoned Apostle just knew the Holy Spirit would sustain him in the face of his trials, which is Paul’s message in two of my favorite and most called-upon verses in my arsenal of memory verses, 1st Cor. 10: 13 and 2nd Cor. 12: 9, both of which I really hope any reader of this entry would have memorized and deeply embedded in your heart by now. Peter had also expressed the same confidence that God gives us all we need to face life (see 2nd Peter 1: 3). …

XRIPTURE: 2nd Peter 1: 3 … His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.

And finally, Paul had consummate confidence in Christ’s promises … that God had called him (Paul) into ministry (see Acts 26: 16 - 18) … that he would never suffer shame in Christ’s Name (ala Mark 8: 38) … and that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, would never abandon His sheep (after John 10: 27-28).

Paul knew, as should we, that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow and will never forsake us (Hebrews 13: 5, 8). And prayerfully, we can all realize that we can forever place our confidence in our God in moments of trial.

My Prayer Today: Lord, You are all I need. Amen

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May 29, 2011 … Endurance: The Value of the Spirit

Passage of the Day: 2nd Corinthians 4: 16 – 18 … 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary; but what is unseen is eternal.

My Journal for Today: Maintaining our bodily temple is certainly important. If fact, the Apostle Paul had also written to the Corinthians about that (see 1st Cor. 3: 16 – 17) …

SCRIPTURE: 1st Cor. 3: 16 – 17 ... 16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

However, as Paul declares in today’s passage, we should realize that our bodies, while being maintained in proper stewardship as God’s temple, are just temporary (see again 1st Cor. 15: 35 – 57 - linked here); and so, our primary focus should be on our eternal relationship with Christ.

Admittedly this can be challenging at times, because this latter focus is “unseen,” as Paul states in our passage for today. In Colossians 3: 2, he also exhorted the church that we need to “… Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” In all of this Paul recognized that the Christians of his day, as is the case today, were under great pressure by Satan, the world, and their (our) own flesh to concentrate on the temporal or corporal here-and-now, especially as the church was being persecuted. However, Christians must, according to Paul, grasp and cling to the truth that our hope is not in those elements we can see now, but in Christ and what is unseen in glory.

Peter was also helping the early church to grasp this truth by encouraging them (and now us) to understand that our sufferings would help them (us) prepare for the great eternal life ahead (see 1st Peter 5: 10) ...

SCRIPTURE: 1st Peter 5: 10 … And the God of all grace, Who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

And there is, of course, the uplifting word of God in Isaiah 40: 28 – 31, where we read that God will always provide the strength for a believer, who avails himself or herself of God’s grace, to meet the physical demands involved in the temporal challenges of life (and we’re also encouraged by Is. 41: 10, 1st Cor. 10: 13, 2nd Cor. 12: 9, and James 1: 2 – 3).

If we know and believe God’s word and promises in these passages, there is no trial or persecution which should dissuade us from our hope, Who is Christ.

My Prayer Today: Lord, You are the strength I need. Amen

2009 – Day 214.Aug 03 – Breaking Down the Walls

Passage of the Day: Esther 8: 15 – 17 … 15 So Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, with a great crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple; and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. 16 The Jews had light and gladness, joy and honor. 17 And in every province and city, wherever the king’s command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a holiday. Then many of the people of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews fell upon them.

My Journal for Today: Let me go to the very end of Chuck Swindoll’s devotional for this date in his book. And it was today’s highlight passage from the Book of Esther which obviously inspired Swindoll to quote Psalm 30: 5, which declares, ... Weeping may last for a night. But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

And in today’s close to Chapter 8 of Esther’s story, we see a wonderful truth, which cannot be minimized in our lives today any more that it could be in the time of our Jewish Queen. And perhaps you need this truth in your life right now. Maybe you’re like the Jewish people were right before the Persian King provided protection and freedom for Esther’s people. Perhaps you’re down-hearted and depressed because of some pressing issue in your life. I think of a young Christian friend of mine, who is in prison now because of series of bad choices he made. I think of another recent acquaintance, another Christian brother, who is in the public eye of scrutiny and now faces a divorce. Both of these men, and perhaps you, are not quite in the place the Jews were in today’s scenario. But the hope described in today’s passage should give rise to the hope that is in the future for any Christian no matter what their down trodden state.

My friend, no matter how down your life may be at the foot of the cross, Easter is ahead. Nothing could be as bad as it was for our Savior, hanging on the tree of Golgotha; but for Jesus, and for anyone who has Christ as Savior and Lord, it may be Friday, … but … Sunday’s coming!

Right now, as I’ve read today’s passage and Swindoll’s devotional slant on this story, God’s Spirit has caused me to go back and meditate on Christ’s message of hope in His Temple declaration of Luke 4: 18-19, which was our Lord’s restatement of the fulfillment of God’s prophesy in Isaiah 61: 1-2. And it reads thusly, …

“ The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

As Swindoll rightly points out, Esther’s story, a segment in ancient Biblical history, is relevant for anyone who is facing intimidating circumstances; … for anyone who’s been scarred by damage or steeped in oppression; … or for anyone who seems to be incarcerated physically, emotionally, or spiritually. As Swindoll declares in bold type, the story of Esther is in the canon of Scripture because it loudly declares the message for any believer in Esther’s God, and especially for any believer in Jesus Christ, … There is hope!

And when you read today’s highlight passage or the declaration of Christ above from Luke 4 above, I hope you see that we all can rejoice as did the Jews in Esther’s story. Christ has set us free; and in Him, we are free indeed!

My Prayer for Today: Lord, in You, and only in You, do I find freedom. Amen

2009 – Day 79.Mar. 21 – Historical Joy

2009 – Day 79.Mar. 21 – Historical Joy

Passages of the Day: Exodus 12: 29 – 30 … 29 And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. 30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

Psalm 105: 26 - 38 … Link to Psalm 105 for study …

My Journal for Today: Today Chuck Swindoll focuses on the joy expressed by the elated Hebrew people as they recognized they had been passed over by the Angel of death; and they were leaving 400 years of slavery behind and heading toward the promised land of Canaan. Joy, joy, joy!!

And then Swindoll asks his devotional readers to compare that historical joy with the very personal realization of freedom when we left our chains of sin behind and walked from our slavery to self into the promised land of freedom in Christ; and I remember that day and time well. And yes, there great joy in my heart as I came to realize that this Jesus of Nazareth was THE CHRIST; and He had died for my sins, setting me free and giving me the grace to choose freedom rather than to wallow in my sinfulness. I still revel joyfully when I relive that morning when I was set free and began my walk toward the promised land of freedom in Christ.

Some of you, who read here, however, may not have had a clear time of passover and release into freedom as I did. Maybe you’ve been a Christian for as long as you remember, … maybe having come to Christ at a very young age. Maybe you’ve just come to forget the joy of being released from the prison of sinfulness and breathing freedom for the first time. I still remember that time, which was a little over 25 years ago; but Swindoll makes a good point for all Christians, whether they had a later life conversion or not. He asks us to remember that every day we can and should revel in the joy that there is more to our life than just being saved from our sinfulness.

Yes, any Christian at any time – like today – can (and should) live in joyfulness because God wants to move us even further out of our “Egypt” and away from the land of slavery to sin. Remember, fellow Christian, … God wants to lead us – everyday - toward His promised land of freedom. As Swindoll points out, God has given us a way – everyday – of celebrating joyfully the reality that we can, by His grace, choose to avoid sin and be free in Christ. Plan A for God, was salvation; but his Plan B in your life or mine is the walk to freedom which we should recognize and celebrate EVERY DAY of our lives as Christians.

So, let’s you and me join the voices of over 2,000,000 Jews at the time of the first Passover, singing God’s praises and joyfully thanking our Lord for setting us free on that Cross so that all who receive Christ as Lord and Savior can be freed from our bondage to sin; and we can march toward the promised land of freedom in Christ – FOREVER!

Yes, for sure … JOY, … JOY, … JOY !!!

My Prayer for Today: On this first day of Spring, as Your timing would have it, Lord, I walk to freedom, following You. Amen