August 30, 2011 … Living One Day At A Time

Passage of the Day: Matthew 6: 34 (see in bold/underlined) … 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

My Journal for Today: When one reads the focus verse for today, it almost reads as if Jesus is asking us to refrain from planning for our future. However, this is not the case. According to Dr. MacArthur from his devotional book, Strength for Today, Martin Lloyd Jones wrote, “Although it is very right to think about the future, it is very wrong to be controlled by it.” And therein lies the rub.

The key word when Jesus says, “… do not worry about tomorrow,” is, of course, the word WORRY. Oh, how Satan desires us to go into worry mode, which discourages or paralyzes us, and causes us to believe the incredible lie that God is not in control … that Jesus, our Lord, is not our sovereign God. I once heard our Pastor jokingly say that there was a Greek term referring to that lie; and it is “BALONEY!” ;) I’ve never been able to find that term in the Greek dictionary; but I think you get what I’m trying to say.

You’ve actually heard this theme several times this month if you’ve been following these August devotionals of mine; but hopefully redundancy teaches. It does for me. Jesus, in his magnanimous hillside sermon, was/is giving us, His disciples, very practical advice on the avoidance of worrying about the future. He is not saying that we can’t or shouldn’t look into the future; but our primary focus should be on faith for today and reliance on God for the future. If we plan for the future, thinking of God first (i.e., the message of both Prov. 3: 5, 6 and Matt. 6: 33), God will likely be smiling. However, when we look to the future, worrying out of selfishness or fear, that is to disbelieve that God has us covered with His love, mercy, and grace; and Satan smiles. For us to worry about our future is to fall into Satan’s trap of believing that God is not in control of our well-being. And to that, I want you to say that pseudo “Greek” term above. Say it with me, loudly …BALONEY!!! Now, my friend and fellow Christian, smile, knowing that God is in control; and knowing that He loves us and will provide for our every need.

If we worry about tomorrow, it will cause us to lose our joy for today. And choosing to lose our joy, (and joy is always a choice, not a feeling) due to self-driven anxiety, is sinful. God has a victory for any believer today; and any fear that comes from anxieties about tomorrow is a lie from hell trying to let our own deceit-ridden heart steal God’s victory from us. Jesus has never and will never change (see Hebrews 13: 8). Just as He is today, He’ll be there tomorrow to show us the way (again see Prov. 3: 5 – 6, a verse which you should have memorized) But even more importantly, He’s with us today in any circumstance in which we find ourselves (see Deut. 31: 6, 8 and Rom. 8: 28, 31).

Yes, plan for tomorrow; but never worry about it; because tomorrow is God’s.

My Prayer Today: All I need is You today, Lord … and for all my tomorrows. Amen

August 24, 2011 … The Sin of Worry

Passage of the Day: Matthew 6: 25 … “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”

My Journal for Today: John MacArthur, makes a stark statement when he writes for this date in Strength for Today, “To worry about the future is to sin against God.” That’s pretty clear; isn’t it? And though this will likely could be convicting to many who read this (it was for me!), MacArthur is dead-on, flat-out right!! In fact, I’ll go further to say that worrying about the future, with regard to financial well-being or personal security, may be the one category of sinfulness shared by MOST Christians.

What’s wrong with this, you may ask? Well, being concerned about the future and to seek God’s guidance in planning for it is one thing; but worrying about it is a matter of trust; isn’t it? Worrying about God’s provision may be our way of saying to God, “Lord, I believe that You died for my sins; but I just can’t trust You to provide for my needs.” Isn’t that what we really say to God when we worry about our lives?

Common … let’s admit it! To worry (i.e., holding deep anxiety) about anything is an affront to God. In fact, it strikes out at the very character of God and denies the validity of His word and His promises. Think about it! How can we, as believers, say that Paul was writing truth in Phil. 4: 19 when we hold doubts that God is going to supply for our needs? And worrying about our future is to say that our circumstances are bigger and more powerful than God can handle.

Really, I agree with Macarthur in his devotional entry for this date when he contends that worrying is a sign that a “Christian” doesn’t really know God; … because if one truly knew God deeply and intimately … if He knew and believed God’s word and His promises, … he would never doubt what God has said to us about His provisions and His power to meet our needs. Therefore, there would never be a cause to worry.

So, what is God’s prescription for the believer who worries? It is really quite simple. He would say to the anxious Christian, “Come … get to know Me. … To know Me is to love me. … To love Me is to obey Me. … To obey Me is to serve Me. … And to serve Me is to be blessed by Me.” And so, to know God as intimately as possible should be the goal of every believer who desires to eradicate worry from life.

My Prayer Today: O, Lord, I want to know You more today than yesterday … more tomorrow than today! Amen

August 23, 2011 … Letting the Fog Lift

Passage of the Day: Matthew 6: 25 … “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”

My Journal for Today: Take in the word picture of Jesus in today’s verse, where The Lord exhorts His followers to avoid worry; and then let me share with you the picture used by John MacArthur in his Strength for Today devotional entry for this date.

MacArthur paints the word picture of worry being like a fog. Fog is a shroud of cloudiness, created by just a little bit of water dispersed into billions of droplets which hangs in the atmosphere to block our vision, often in the wrong place and at the wrong time. And in much the same way, worry, which is usually born out of very little substance, often descends upon our hearts, clouding our minds and crippling or paralyzing our choices. … Can you identify?

Remembering the context of Matthew 6, i.e., the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was teaching to people, most of whom didn’t know from whence their next meal would come. It would not have been uncommon for these people to have their minds clouded by worry over their next meal. So, the admonitions of Jesus in today’s passage would have been a hard saying for these people … probably much more so than for many affluent Americans, who so often worry about whether we have enough money or things to be secure or to “keep up with the Joneses.” How often do we let our anxiety about financial matters become a mind-paralyzing fog, causing us to grope for directions in life, especially these days when the world economy seems to be in free-fall?

That’s why MacArthur’s word picture of worry being a fog is so pertinent to our lives. We try to see through the fog of our own greed or obsessive security worries; and we can’t see where we need to go, … rather than following the advice of our Lord to walk step-by-step, following God’s will, which, if we let it, will lead us, like a fog horn of purpose/direction, out of the fog and into His light.

Our fog of greediness or insecurity is really a matter of whether we really believe the classic passage [which I hope you have memorized], Proverbs 3: 5 – 6: … 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Do we really believe this truth from God’s word, as well as that in another memorable verse from the Apostle Paul, Phil. 4: 19? Because if we do, there will be no fog of worry. We will know – that we will know that we will know – that God will provide … that we will always have what we need to live … that we can always follow God where He leads without fear. The question for us today is … do we believe these truths? And … do we live them?

My Prayer Today: I trust You, God; and I see clearly. Amen

2010 – October 26 – No Worries Today!

Study from God’s Word… Matthew, Chapters 5 – 7 and portions of Luke 6 from which we read Jesus’ famous and beloved “Sermon on the Mount,” likely delivered to a crowd of followers on a hillside just outside of Capernaum … Passage for Reflection: Matthew 6: 34 … NIV 33But seek first [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things [the essentials of life] will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

My Journal for Today: Dr. LaGard Smith in his devotional entry for this date in The Daily Bible Devotional focuses on one of the teaching points Jesus emphasized in his Sermon on the Mount which was the focus of my devotional reading from The Daily Bible in Chronological Order today. And there is probably not one teaching from that great exposition about the kingdom of God where mankind transgresses any more than on the matter of stress, worry, or misplaced concern.

Who reading here with me this day would not have to admit – or confess – participating all too often in needless worry? And Dr. Smith asks a series of challenging questions which will likely nail you with conviction as much as it did me. He points to how many pills or drugs could/would be eliminated if we didn’t fret as much as we do. How many countless hours are wasted on worries about the stock market or the potential for terrorism in our world? How much of our health or well being is damaged because of our sinful worrying. And yes, my friend, it is sin we’re speaking of here, isn’t it?

And no, Jesus is not preaching about appropriate concern for you’re the well being of your kids or necessary planning for you to be a good steward of God’s providence. What our Lord is emphasizing here is the selfish – and yes, sinful – worrying and fretting that is birthed by our lack of faith in God’s providence and His love for His children. Do we really think God, our heavenly Father, is not big enough or caring enough to provide for His kids? So, Jesus was preaching to show His followers (and that includes you and me, I assume) that any time or mental effort we waste on worry is really a matter of choosing to focus on self rather than relying on our Savior.

And I’m not going to go off at length any more about this here this morning. I’m just going to take my conviction and be determined to move toward the reality and truth expressed in our Bible in passages like Isaiah 26: 3 … 1st Peter 5: 7 … and Proverbs 3: 5-6; because if I live in the reality of these truths, I will move toward God’s peace and away from any selfish, frivolous concerns or worry which stand in the way of a deep/abiding relationship with my Lord.
How about joining me today in a day of boycotting of self and resting securely in the love of God?

My Prayer for Today: Lord, today I rest in YOU and let YOU take control of my ship. Amen

2009 - Day 25 - Calming Response

January 25, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Calming Response

Passage of the Day: Genesis 43: 15 – 23 … 15 So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my home, and slaughter an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.” 17 Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. 18 Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may make a case against us and seize us, to take us as slaves with our donkeys.” 19 When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of the house, 20 and said, “O sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food; 21 but it happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in our hand. 22 And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” 23 But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

My Journal for Today: Yesterday, we looked at intentionally moving toward and super-naturally developing a vertical perspective on life (i.e., a faith-based attitude) rather than reverting to one’s own natural, horizontal perspective (i.e., a fear-based attitude); and we noted that to develop the latter, we need to decide to surrender self to God and exercise faith over fear, first intentionally, and then long enough until a vertical surrender to God becomes our second nature.

In today’s passage (above) we read the result of both perspectives. Joseph’s brothers, having been returned to Joseph’s presence, certainly are illustrative of a horizontally developed, fear-based attitude which led to their guilt and anxiety in the presence of Joseph. And in Joseph’s servant, to whom the brothers poured out their story of fear, we see the results of being under the influence of Joseph, who was the exemplar of a faith-based, vertical perspective on life.

We don’t have the name of this servant, who listened to the story and recognized the anxiety of Joseph’s brothers. However, we read of his response to the men’s fears. He spoke words that would calm the men and dispel their fears. But how would such a servant of Joseph, and an Egyptian at that, be able to speak to them in this way, actually witnessing to them about the God of Abraham. Well, of course, it had to have come from the influence and teaching of Joseph, who had become a model of faithfulness to his God.

Here was a man who knew how to turn the men’s horizontal fears into a vertical perspective of faith. First, he invoked the Hebrew concept of “shalom” to these men. Note, in Gen. 43: 23, Joseph’s steward, after hearing of their fears, invokes the Hebrew greeting of “Shalom” (i.e., “Peace be with you), which had to have had a calming effect on these men. Then this faithful witness for Joseph, who very likely had become a believer under Joseph’s influence, knows exactly what to say – telling the men the truth – to dispel their anxiety; and in his words we read of the Egyptian’s witness of their own “Elohiym,” their God Almighty, which undoubtedly helped the brothers to see that they were in a save and friendly place. Then came to ultimate calming touch, as Simeon, who had been held by Joseph as leverage to promote Benjamin’s return, was returned to them unharmed (and likely relating how well he had been treated in their separation).

The point here is that the vertical perspective on life, as we discussed in yesterday’s devotional, which is grounded in surrender to God, yields faith rather than fear, dispelling anxieties which comes from our human-based horizontal outlook on life. Joseph – and in today’s case his Egyptian servant – are clear examples of letting faith dispel fear and living in such a way as to let God pour His grace into our lives, as He had into Joseph’s life for all the years he had been in Egypt. Joseph’s brothers are examples of the opposite, which is fear-based, horizontal thinking, developed out of years of trying to dispel guilt by denial and defensiveness.

I hope you, as I have, clearly see the difference; and we can become like Joseph and his servant, believing in God to the point we see things first and foremost vertically, in faith, rather than letting our very natural fears overtake us.

My Prayer Today: Lord, in the moments of life which produce anxiety, help me to see that You are in control and I am a child of the King. Amen

2009 - Day 16 - Don't Panic ... Trust

January 16, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Don’t Panic … Trust

Passage of the Day: Genesis 41: 41 - 46 ... 41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he set him over all the land of Egypt. 44 Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” 45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. 46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt.

My Journal for Today: Revisiting the same passage as we studied yesterday, Chuck Swindoll, in his devotional book, takes different view of the scenario I analyzed from the perspective of God’s intervention yesterday. Swindoll asks how this scene of the 30 year old becoming Prime Minister would have been viewed by the farmer in the field or the slave in the stone quarry of that day. He speculates, and accurately I believe, that this man of his time would have wondered why this young Hebrew dude would be elevated to the rank of 2nd in command in Egypt so suddenly.

Swindoll says such a man many have been saying or thinking, “Who does he (Joseph) think he is? Who did he bribe to get all of this?” And given this historical scenario, I certainly would be tempted to wonder what’s going on. Hey, right now I wonder what’s going on with a lot of the happenings in this world. Like Habakkuk did in his times, I wonder what God is doing allowing all the evil to unfold in our world – and even some carried out by so-called “christians.” Why does God let this evil be so pervasive in our culture and world. So, who am I to say that the man in the field in Joseph’s day should so easily have faith in something they can’t understand from the mind of God.

When Joseph became the Prime Minister of Egypt, that man in the field didn’t have a clue about where God had taken or was taking Joseph. He didn’t know about Joseph’s history … about how God had prepared and refined Joseph through all those trials in his life … how God had prepared Joseph to be right there at that time to save Egypt from a coming famine … how God was preparing Joseph for his future revisit of his brothers (more to come on that – stay tuned if you’re studying with me!).

When Habakkuk raised his questions to God about what was going on in his world (see Habakkuk, Chapter 1), God had to reveal to this Prophet that He, the Lord, was even going to allow the world to get far worse than it was at the time of Habakkuk’s lament. And often, as now in our world, we see bad stuff happening; and as it says in Isaiah 55: 8 – 9, we just don’t have insights into God’s mind and we don’t see the present, and most certainly the future, as God sees things.

But Habakkuk learned this lesson [see Hab. 3: 17], as should we. He learned what Joseph had come to learn at the point of our passage for today. They learned that no matter how bad things seem or may be projected to be for the future, God is in control; and we must avoid panic and trust, as we should know from Deut. 31: 6 in the OT and Hebrews 13: 5 in the NT, that God will never leave us, nor forsake us. No, as it says in Deut. 31: 8, God is even – and always – going on ahead in the lives of true believers to shape a God-ordained future for us.

The question is, do we learn from our lives that we must trust in a God, Who is God; and do we know that we are not God? Oh, from my own life, how many times have I wanted to be in control when I feel out of control? But there are times, like those times when Joseph was in prison, or when Habakkuk was so confused by the evil he saw in the world, or when I see stuff like pornography becoming so pervasive in our world; yes, there are times when we don’t – or won’t – have a clue as to what God is crafting in our world. So, we must simply follow His directions from His world and follow the prescription of Joshua 1: 8 or Proverbs 3: 5,6 or Phil. 4: 6-7 [and I hope you’ve memorized and internalize those passages].

In times like Joseph was in, even though the man in the field was clueless; … in times like we face today, when I’m clueless as to God’s design for the future, I’ve simply got to stay cool … and trust my God.

My Prayer Today: I do, my Lord. You are God, dear Jesus; and I am not! And I yield it all to You. Amen