June 28, 2011 … Integrity Will Be Vindicated

Passage of the Day: Daniel 6: 21 - 24 … 21 Daniel answered, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent His angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in His sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.” 23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. 24 At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

My Journal for Today: In the 21st Century, … in these days of blatant and open political and legal oppression of Christian values and ideals, it can be discouraging to stand with integrity as a believer in Christ in battle after battle for a country founded on Christian principles now being denigrated and degraded by men like those Daniel faced from the court of King Darius. That’s why it is most encouraging to latch on to the truth of this historical story of Daniel being delivered from the lions.

John MacArthur clearly states the principle … that “… God will always vindicate His people.” We don’t always know when or how the vindication will occur; but it WILL happen … even if that occurs in Heaven.

It had to have been a major downer for Daniel to know he was in the “right” and still was put into the lion’s den by a King with whom he had built a strong and lasting relationship of trust. But Daniel, I’m sure, remembered how God had delivered him in the past as well as his three young friends years before from the fiery furnace; and Daniel’s integrity of faith would be with him as he entered that den of lions. Would he be delivered from death? Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, I’m sure Daniel believed that God would be his deliverer; but he could not know whether he would be delivered from the mouths of those lions or into the hands of God for eternity. But Daniel knew and believed, with integrity, that His God was his deliverer.

Now it’s true that deliverance from anti-God oppression these days may not be as quick or as dramatic as it was for Daniel; but Christ’s oppression on the cross, which resulted in His death and resurrection, has sealed our future where we, who have faith in Him, will be delivered and live with Him forever in heaven. Perhaps God has set our nation adrift as it teaches about a godless culture in Romans 1. But we, who claim Christ as our Lord and Savior, have the hope which overcomes the oppression from any circumstances; and it allow us to believe in the truth that all things work together for the good of God’s chosen ones (hopefully you recognize that from your memory of Rom. 8: 28).

My Prayer Today: We are so blessed, Lord, to stand with you as did Daniel. Amen

June 3, 2011 … Integrity Triumphs Over Pride

Blogger's Note: Just a little late getting in this AM because I've had trouble getting internet access at my college where I've traveled with my wife for our 45th class reunion @ Wabash College. But now, having done my devotional earlier this AM, let me post my journal entry for this date.

Passage of the Day: Daniel 1: 3 – 4, 6 … 3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility – 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. … 6 Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

My Journal for Today: It doesn’t take a Rhodes Scholar to see that our passage today cuts across time. In today’s world we see movement by the power elite – i.e., those in control politically and culturally – to exercise their positions of worldly authority, beauty, or popularity, trying to reshape the culture to fit their image of worldly glory. Today’s world, like the Babylonians of old, would love to see Godly values (i.e., Christianity) get sucked in and decimated by the Hollywood hype and media mystique, … brain washing all of us, including Christians, to lay aside our Godly values. In fact “the world,” dominated and engineered by Satan, would like to eliminate every vestige of “God” from the public’s eyes/ears.

Therefore, it would be good for all who lay claim to Christian values to learn from the witness and lives of the four young Hebrews introduced in today’s passage. These lads became models of Godly integrity by standing strongly in their faith, … holding on to their values and Godly disciplines even at the risk of their very lives. And we will see more of this, hopefully causing us to take stock of our own Christian integrity this month. We will see if Christ in our lives prevails over such taunts from the world involving power, pleasure, and position, … even in the face of worldly pressures and power plays,.

So, will we stand as our four heroes of the faith; or will we wilt to the world? [see 1st John 2: 15 – 16]

My Prayer Today: I will always win, Lord, when I recognize and reflect You. Amen

May 27, 2011 … Confidence in the Face of Death

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

My Journal for Today: As I read today’s verse, I can’t help but reflect on the last few years of the life of my earthly Dad, who went to be with Jesus in spirit just a few of years ago. My Dad suffered a lot physically and emotionally in his latter years, the last few being in a nursing care facility in his home town of Lebanon, IN. These latter days of his life, Dad became a role model of God’s grace on display in the life of one who suffered much in a broken down body.

At Dad’s memorial service, I read from a passage he used to enjoy having me read for him that last year when I would go to visit him. It was 1st Corinthians 15: 35 – 57; and I’ll leave it to you to check out this hope-filled passage. But the hope found in God’s promises of a new body in this passage was greatly comforting to my Dad as he languished with emphysema, osteoporosis, dysphagia (swallowing difficulties), and other ailments. In the 1st Cor. 15 passage Paul describes the new body my Dad will one day (in God’s time) have in the new Jerusalem.

Today’s verse also reflects on this hope; but Paul was not as down about his temporal life at the time he wrote from a Roman prison to the Philippians living with the threat of his life, just as my dying father kept a hopeful spirit as death approached. Paul saw that for him to live in prison was his life in Christ; but if he were to die there, he would gain entrance into the resurrected life with Christ. So, this says to us that life in the here-and-now is life IN Christ; and the life eternal is life WITH Christ. What a “win – win” deal is that!!! I guess that’s why Paul quoted Job (from Job 13: 16) in Phil. 1: 19 …

SCRIPTURE: Phil. 1: 19 … for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.

Paul knew, as should all believers, that we, in Christ, will be delivered ultimately to be with Jesus and to be free of our earthly pains, trials, hardships, or temptations. And as Peter proclaimed in 1st Peter 4: 13, we can rejoice in any suffering – even those which might take us prematurely to be with Jesus – because such trials in this life prepare us for our eternal life with our Savior (know also Rom. 8: 28).

My Prayer Today: And to that, Lord, I simply declare, … HALLELUJAH!!! Amen

May 13, 2011 … Endless Preparation for Trials

[Blogger's Note: On 5/12/11 there was an interruption in service from this site; and I could not post here for two days. My 5/12 blog was posted and stored and is now available for reading. This post, for 5/13, is now being posted on 5/14. Then you will see my 5/14 devotional entry posted as well.]

Passage of the Day: 2nd Timothy 1: 7 … 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a Spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

My Journal for Today: It is all too easy for Christians to become oppressed by a spirit of fear when we see the strength and cunning of the enemy and we know and acknowledge our own weaknesses. Solomon wrote in Prov. 29: 25, however, that trusting God is the way to overcome the snare of fear; and in today’s verse we read Paul mentoring Timothy (and, by extension, you and me) to be lifted up and away from fear by the truth of God’s love and power, which we have through His Spirit.

Jesus promised His disquieted, confused, and fearful Disciples that in His physical departure from them He would provide them with His peace (see John 14: 27); and Paul instructs Christians on how to capture that peace (see Phil. 4: 6 – 7).

SCRIPTURE: John 14: 27 … Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

SCRIPTURE: Phil. 4: 6 – 7 … 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

To the extent that we can believe and apply the truths of the Apostle Paul, written to fellow Christians, above and the words of Jesus to His Disciples, we will live with that Spirit of love, power, and self-discipline to which Paul encouraged Timothy in today’s verse.

God’s word is loaded with truths and promises to lift us up and bolster our courage in the face of fears produced by the trials of life. I strongly exhort anyone who reads this to memorize and internalize a number of pertinent and powerful passages, which, when believed and claimed, will overcome fears and provide the faith to act with the power that God provides for believers.

May I suggest these scriptures, as well as those above: Isaiah 26: 3 … Isaiah 41: 10 … 1st Corinthians 10: 13 … 2nd Corinthians 12: 9 … and, my personal favorite, the verse which brought me to Christ [long story!], Philippians 4: 13. These passages, as well as today’s highlight passage, I have deeply embedded in my heart; and when I get anxious or fearful, I call them up (or rather God bubbles them into my consciousness) to give me the reassurance I need to handle the trials and troubles of this world and life. I pray that these truths will also do so for you.

But if you’re reading this and you’re willing to take a few minutes, may I refer you through this link to one of my favorite Christian songs, written and sung by Steven Curtis Chapman, who needed God’s perfect strength a few years ago when his teenage son accidently killed his little adopted daughter. Go to this You Tube piece and be lifted up by God’s strength as you worship the God of all strength. Yes, my friend, … God’s strength is perfect to overcome our weakness.

My Prayer Today: Dispel all my fears, Lord with Your truth. Amen

2010 – December 29 – To Those Who Overcome

Study from God’s Word… Revelations 8: 7 – 13: 18 … Passage for Reflection: Revelations 13: 10 … NIV This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.

My Journal for Today: Wow! Reading through Chapters 8 – 13 of Revelations can be – and for me, IS – a bit overwhelming with all the apocalyptic imagery involving the devil and his beasts which will bring horrible physical and spiritual oppression upon mankind in the great tribulation. And bringing all this into here-and-now perspective and application can be a bit daunting, to say the least. But this little verse in Rev. 13: 10, which is repeated, very close conceptually, in Rev. 14: 12 is reflective of why God gave John all these visions to write down for the churches in Asia-Minor of the day as well as for you an me.

Remember the seven letters Jesus dictated for John to send to the 1st Century churches, the intent of which, being canonized into Scripture, applies to any/all in the church today. At the end of each of the seven letters, Dr. Smith today helped me remember that there was a charge for the remnant of believers who had been scattered and were being persecuted in the world of that day; and that charge involved the challenge by God in today’s highlight text; and we – the church – are being charged to remain faithful with patient endurance; because our faith will be challenged by Satan, the world, and even our own flesh.

I challenge you to go back, as I did today, and read the end of each of the seven letters to the churches in Rev., Chapters 2 – 3; and you’ll read the promises of God for the believer “who overcomes and does [God’s] will to the end.” And you’ll see that each of the seven promises raises the specter of Dr. Smith’s poignant question to close his devotional today, which is, ”Do I have the depth of faith and commitment that would keep me faithful no matter what the consequences?”

Pretty good question as we close out the old year and enter a New Year, don’t you think?

Oh, we may not be dealing the level of horror and persecution as those 1st century Christians were facing; and we certainly are not involved with the terror Christians who were saved in the tribulation will face. BUT – the challenge for those believers, leveled in today’s highlight verse, is the same one which is put to any Christian today. Any type of physical, emotional, and/or spiritual circumstance, which causes us to reflect on our fears and challenge our faith, is going to call for us to exercise our faith and become OVERCOMERS.

What are you facing as we go into 2011 which gives you pause or maybe is terribly fearful? Are you dealing with cancer; or maybe you have a loved one who is? Are finances to a point of challenging your faith? Maybe you just can’t seem to conquer a recurring pattern of sin, which you know is an affront to God? What are our oppressive faith challenges going into 2011?

Well, no matter what our challenges or circumstances are, the book of Revelations was given to us, through John, so that we – God’s church – can realize that His ultimate promises will overcome anything Satan, the world, or even our own selfishness can throw our way. My fellow Christian, we can be overcomers; but we’ve got to become conquerors by believing God’s truth – such as His promises set forth in His word, … just as they are the Book of Revelations. If you cannot or will not lean, with faith, on God’s promises, my dear one, you are going to succumb to our spiritual enemies in 2011. But if you can – and will – determine to learn about and lean on God’s wondrous truth from His word, you, my friend are going to be more and more of an OVERCOMER into and through the New Year.

I do hope you, a reader here, will have a HAPPY OVERCOMER NEW YEAR in 2011.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, I declare my pursuit of overcomer faith in this new year. Amen

2010 – July 10 – The Confidence Game

Study from God’s Word… 2Kgs 18: 13 – 16; 2Kgs 20: 1 – 11; Isaiah 38: 9 – 20; 2Chron 32: 25 – 30; 2Kgs 20: 12 – 19 [Is 39: 1 – 8]; 2Chron 32: 31; 2Chron 1 – 8; 2Kgs 18: 17 – 25 [2Chron 32: 9 – 15 and Is 36: 2 – 10]; 2Kgs 18: 26 [Is 36: 11]; 2Kgs 18: 27 – 35 [2Chron 32: 16, 18-19 and Is 36: 12 – 20]; 2Kgs 18: 36-37 [Is 36: 21-22]; 2Kgs 19: 1 – 4 [Is 37: 1 – 4]; 2Kgs 19: 5 – 7 [Is 37: 5 – 7]; 2Kgs 19: 8 [Is 37: 8]; 2Kgs 19: 9 – 13 [2Chron 32: 17 and Is 37: 9 – 13]; 2Kgs 19: 14 – 19 [2nd Chron 32: 20 and Is 37: 14 – 20]; 2Kgs 19: 20 – 34 [Is 37: 21 – 35]; 2Kgs 19: 35 – 36 [2Chron 32: 21 – 22 and Is 37: 36 – 37]; 2Chron 32: 23; 2Kgs 20: 20 – 21 [2Chron 32: 32 – 33] … Passage for Reflection: 2nd Kings 18: 19 – 20 … NIV On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have strategy and military strength – but you speak only empty words.

My Journal for Today: Today, as you can see documented in what I’ve been led to read from God’s word by LaGard Smith, my devotional Shepherd this year, I’ve been led into parallel passages, which chronicle – from three separate books of the Bible – the interaction between King Hezekiah, the Prophet Isaiah, and Sennacherib, the then King of Assyria. And what transpires historically is one of those great stories of faith in Scripture. Perhaps you know the scenario. Perhaps you need to go back into the Books of 2nd Kings, 2nd Chronicles, and Isaiah to read it; but in these historical dealings, we see God responding to the pleas and prayers of a faithful and obedient servant of God, Hezekiah, with God protecting His people with a miraculous victory over a far superior enemy.

And we see how Sennacherib taunted God’s people and Hezekiah, mocking the one, true God [never a good strategy!]; and in response we see the humble response of Hezekiah, going to the Temple to pray first and then consulting the Prophet, Isaiah, who gives Hezekiah the message of assurance Hezekiah needs, trusting in God first [always God first!] for His protection and deliverance.

In today’s highlight passage we read the words of Sennacherib’s emissary to the Jews, deriding Hezekiah’s confidence in God; and from it Dr. Smith asks me and his readers whether we have strong confidence in our God, … even when the circumstances of life seem overwhelming. Dr. Smith, in today’s devotional, invoked the analogy of the confidence men of the day put in “the Titanic,” … confidence which we know now was misplaced. And we can be like the people of those days, seeking for our confidence and answers in things like our education, our scientific prowess, our economic status, or our political/military might. But when we see all of this being overwhelmed by such acts of God as a devastating tsunami or hurricane or we see our natural resources being polluted by acts of man such as the oil spill now going on in the Gulf of Mexico, where do we place our confidence for solutions?

It’s one thing to have confidence in God when things are on a roll for us and we are safe and sound and secure in our well-being. BUT, … when those people on the Gulf now see their livelihood falling apart because of the oil spill, do they have confidence that God can deliver them … that the one, true God will provide for them? Where, Dr. Smith asks today, do we put our confidence? Do we place it in our selves? Do we seek human, scientific, political, or military answers? Whom do we follow into the battles of life when all seems as it may be a loss?

Hezekiah answered by going to God. So, did Moses, Job, and even God, Himself, in Jesus’ prayers to His Father for the Father’s will. I always love reflecting back on the confidence the Apostle Paul had to say to the Corinthian Christians (found in 1st Cor. 11: 1), (paraphrased) “You can follow me, because I follow Jesus, the Christ.” And there, my dear one, is where we must put our confidence … anywhere, … under any circumstance, … anytime!!

My Prayer for Today: Lord, my confidence lies in You and only You. Amen

2010 – June 06 – When Prayers Get Desperate

Study from God’s Word… 1st Kings 22: 29-36 [2nd Chron. 18: 28-34]; 2nd Chron. 19: 1-3; 1st Kings 22: 37-40, 52-53; 1st Kings 3: 4-5; 2nd Chron. 20: 1 – 37; 2nd Kings 1: 2-18; 2nd Kings 3: 1-3 … Passage for Reflection: 2nd Chronicles 20: 12 … NIV [Jehoshaphat praying when Judah was being invaded by the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites] For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but are eyes are upon You.

My Journal for Today: Dr. Smith is right with his contention in today’s devotional that we’ve all likely been in some situation of desperation, where the circumstances were overwhelming and there was no place to go within our own selves, and where things likely seemed hopeless. That’s where Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, was in the readings from 1st Kings and 2nd Chronicles where I was lead to read in the OT today.

And the highlighted verse comes from 2nd Chronicles 20: 12, which was Jehoshaphat’s desperate prayer to God in the Temple, before the people of Judah, acknowledging that the armies of Judah (and God) were woefully inadequate to fight against the pagan armies which were invading their land. And this man’s prayer, as Dr. Smith aptly points out, is a model of how we should pray, both in attitude and wording specific to our circumstances, when we acknowledge that only God can take care of the situation.

As Dr. Smith points out, any desperate situation and our prayer to God in such circumstances requires three components. First, is our acknowledgement of Whom we serve, … i.e., recognizing that God is God and we are not. Secondly, we need to come to God with a thankful heart for what God has done in our past. A thankful heart is evidence to all and to God that we are truly humble; and only in humility can God pour His empowering grace (certainly never when we have a prideful heart [see Proverbs 3: 34]). And finally, any prayer of desperation is sealed with the open, honest, and vulnerable plea to God for His intervention.

Later, after Jehoshaphat had prayed desperately to God such a prayer in almost hopeless circumstances, the Spirit of the Lord came to one of the prophets in Judah, who spoke for God saying, “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”

My friend, if you’re in a desperate situation which requires surrender and a plea for God to intervene in your circumstances, take the course Jehoshaphat took, and come to God with the attitude expressed in God’s word from passages like Isaiah 41: 10, Romans 8: 31, or 2nd Tim. 1: 7 (and I’m assuming that you know and believe what these verses truthfully express). We should never hold onto anxiety; should we? (You know what it says in Phil. 4: 6-7.) No, we need not be hopeless or even anxious; because, as with Jehoshaphat, we have someone to go to Whom we can always rely upon in desperate circumstances [see 1st Peter 5: 7]. And there are no circumstances He can’t handle [as we know from Luke 1: 37]. The question is not whether these passages and promises, which uplift us in times of desperation, are true; it’s whether we believe them and are willing to come to our God, acknowledging Him for Whom He is, thanking Him for where He has led us to that point in life, and to plea in our desperation, believing that we’re praying to a God where nothing is impossible.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, You know my heart; and I truly believe and pray to the same God in Whom Jehoshaphat believed and prayed. Amen

2010 – April 20 – Confidence in the Lord

Study from God’s Word… Psalms 13, 17, 23, 26, 28, and 31 … Passage for Reflection: Psalm 26: 1 … NIV Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have a blameless life; … I have trusted in the Lord, without wavering.

My Journal for Today: In studying the Psalms, especially those of David, God’s ancient song-writer, we can run into some puzzling points of seeming confusion; and one of them is in the raw comparison of Psalms like Psalm 26 and 51.

On many of the Psalms of David, we don’t have time markers in our Bible . Some give us historical time stamps by what is said in the song. For example, when we know what David got into later in his life … all that business with Bathsheba, his putting out a hit on Uriah, and his cover-up of his sin for more than a years, it seems obvious to me that David penned Psalm 26 some time before Psalm 51 (or an even a later one in Psalm 32). Otherwise, how could David claim, in today’s highlight passage, that he “led a blameless life” or that he “trusted in the Lord without wavering?”

To me studying in the Psalms and historical Scriptures, like those found in 1st and 2nd Kings or 1st and 2nd Chronicles, we see the human complexity of a man, like David, who was labeled by God as a “man after God’s own heart.” And I can identify with David, in Psalm 26, being in a place in his life where he feels, deeply and internally, a strength of faith and confidence in His God. Then later, in Psalm 51, after he has failed deeply and is in the process of honest repentance, we read of how he owns up to his weakness and pleads for forgiveness and strength from God. Then, in Psalm 32 (not in my readings for today), we read of God lifting David back up again and restoring his confidence, … not only in God, but in himself as well.

Psalm 26 is a red flag of warning for me. It tells me that I mustn’t get overconfident of my own faith or personal strength. Peter, in the NT, was also a good example of one who felt confident in God and himself, … too confident to recognize his own potential to fall. And with David, when we read/study Psalm 51, we see he came to recognize just how he could let his guard down and how one unGodly choice could bring disaster into his life. But then, going to Psalm 32, we read how a loving, caring, and capable God can (and did) restore the weakened warrior to shine God’s light of strength in the midst of his own (and our own) human foibles. That’s what Paul discovered as well, when we read 2nd Cor. 12: 7-11, … that great passage of God providing His enabling grace in the face of mankind’s recognized and acknowledged weakness.

My friend, … It’s great to have confidence and be on a roll of spiritual victory with faith and confidence in our unseen, but ever present, God. But, dear one, be aware that we have an enemy who stalks those who get overconfident and lack vigilance (see Psalm 10: 9-10 or 1st Peter 5: 8). Almost everyday I recognize and pray against my own personal weaknesses, doing all I can to dress myself in God’s cloak of righteousness and His full armor, carrying his Spirit-sword, and going to the high ground of prayer for the battles I face everyday. I know that, even though I have great head-confidence in my God, I can be – and often am – blinded by my own selfishness or my fleshly desires. So, I need to be, like David, a man after God’s own heart; but at the same time, I need to be, like Paul, a man who recognizes that I am only strong when I allow God’s strength to cover my weaknesses.

My Prayer for Today: LORD, I have ultimate confidence in You; but little in me. Help me to walk, in Your steps, Lord, having confidence that Your path is my path. Amen

2009 – Day 350.Dec 17 – Genuine Faith

Passage for Study: Genesis 22: 3 – 8 … Genesis 22 linked for study …
Secondary Passage: Hebrews 11: 8 – 19 … … Hebrews 11 linked for study …

My Journal for Today: When you read through these passages, Swindoll is right that we can easily get wrapped up in the emotions of the scenario, especially those of us who have children, as we empathize and simply can’t imagine how/why Abraham responded in faith the way he did to the test God was putting him through. I, for one, would be the first to have cried, “Why God!” in this scenario. So, we ask how Abraham could be so faithful to his God by going up to Mount Moriah to offer up his ONLY son as a living sacrifice.

Well, the answer really is in common logic, operating in concert with the maturity of Abraham’s faith. Abraham simply had a highly developed trust in His God by intimately knowing His God. He knew God could not lie; and God had promised that Isaac was to be God’s seed of promise for a nation of people; and the only way that could happen would be for Isaac to live. Abraham also knew that God was God, Who had the power over death. And so the logical conclusion was that God could, and would, make sure that no matter what transpired on that mountain, God would provide a way for Isaac to cheat death and live to carry out God’s covenant with Abraham. Hence, we read old Abe responding quietly and logically to Isaac’s question about where the lamb was for the sacrifice that day. Isaac’s father simply, and logically, responded in Genesis 22: 8, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.”

And so, we read what real faith is all about in this story; and real faith is measured by choices which fulfill the command Jesus gave to His disciples, when He said, (in Luke 9: 23), “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” And the only way a follower after God can deny self and take up a cross like sacrificing his son would be to truly know His Lord and to trust that God would only lead him in such a way as to provide a way – God’s way - even when there does not appear to be a way.

I’m going to repeat something here I’ve come back to often in my devotionals. And it’s something which I learned from my dear mentor years ago, … something which has become my mantra of faith over the years. And my friend, if you can internalize the truth here, it can help you have the faith of an Abraham in the face of seemingly overwhelming situations. My mentor taught me that to know God is to love God. And to love God is to obey God. And to obey God is to serve God. And to serve God is to be blessed by God.

My dear one, Abraham knew His God, loved His God, and obeyed His God; therefore, Abraham knew to simply serve God in that obedience, no matter what God led him to do. And ultimately Abraham knew – in faith - that if he served God faithfully, God would bless him by providing a way, even though there seemed no way. That, my friend, is the promise of two verses from God’s truth which help me follow God’s way – as much as my growing faith can muster. And those two verses are Proverbs 3: 5 – 6 and 1st Cor. 10: 13. I hope you have these passages memorized and internalized; because they will help believers when doing things God’s way seems illogical to the world and even when they seem impossible to us. I won’t quote those two truths here. I hope you go back and meditate on these two passages; and if you don’t know them, memorize them; and then join me to do all we can, by living – in faith – from these truths, to know God, to love God, to obey God, to serve God and to live with God’s blessing – as did Abraham.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to have the discipline to know You in such a way that I can have the faith of an Abraham when things seem senseless in this world, knowing that You will always provide a way for Your children. Amen

2009 – Day 269.Sept 27 – Incapable of Comprehending

Passage of the Day: Job 42 … Linked for study …

My Journal for Today: Today’s message is a tough one to swallow. No matter how mature we are in our faith, I don’t think we’ll ever be any different than Job here in Chapter 42. Yes, Job finally gets the message that God is God; and he finally understands – to a certain degree – the truth we’ve revealed in earlier devotionals this month from Isaiah 55: 8 -9 … that God’s ways are simply way above our comprehension. However, in some respects, my fellow believer, we’ll never be able to fully grasp the WHYs and WHEREFOREs of God.

And Swindoll is right … that this very weakness in our nature as humans is just the way we are. Again I say … “God is God and we are not.” And Pastor Chuck speculates that it is actual part of the futility of this truth that helps us. I guess you’d call it the “ignorance is bliss” part of our nature. Let’s face it. Would it really help for us to be able to understand why God allows planes to fly into buildings or why a wonderful Christian contracts terminal cancer or why a little babe is killed in a senseless drive-by shooting?

I think of Christ’s own disciples who walked with Him for three years; and like Peter, most of them truly believed that this man was God’s very Son, the Messiah, and the Savior of mankind. But even with them seeing the Lord perform great and wondrous miracles, … even with some of them seeing Him transfigured in Heaven, they still didn’t get it when they saw Him crucified. Peter, the most ardent of the disciple believers even denied his Lord; and they all ran in fear from the garden showing their disbelief, given the circumstances of life coming down around them.

And my friend, we’re no different. We may believe in our God’s love and mercy and grace in our heads; but when we walk into a scenario somewhat like our righteous hero, Job, we get just as confused and disoriented as Job had been prior to Chapter 42. And we can only hope that our maturity finally rests on our faith in the truth of that verse we keep returning to in this series of devotional, Romans 8: 28, that one I really hope you have memorized and internalized … that [from my memory] “…our God works all things together for the good for those who love our God and whom are the called according to His purpose.”

Do you really believe that, my dear one? Because if we do, we will respond as did Job in Chapter 42; and we’ll simply acknowledge – BY FAITH – that The Father knows best … that God will restore us sometime and in some way; … but we’re going to have to know that it will be His way and in His time. Job finally got it; and God was merciful to allow our hero of the faith to experience that restoration in his human lifetime. But my friend, our faith just may have to be greater than Job’s. Oh, along the way in life, God may give us little glimpses of our Glory; but while we live, we will likely never be able to see what Jesus’ disciples saw, … the Living Lord coming back bodily to show them of His resurrection. We may not be able to see God’ justice being worked out in our lifetime for all the injustices we see occurring in our world. And we may never be able to explain WHY God allows us to have to fight ill health or financial woes or some obsessive/compulsive drive to sinfulness.

But I’ll say it again, my friend, praying that we’ll all at least understand that God is God though we are not! And our God loves us … yes, even when we fight the rigors of cancer. And God’s mercy is new every morning, … yes, even when we see some elderly woman beaten on a dark street in our city for $24. And God’s grace saved me, … yes, even though I had spit in His face for 22 years living in a double life of horrible habitual sin.

Yes, … it is in faith we must come to Him. It is in faith which we must receive His grace, even when we cannot explain it nor understand it. And it IN FAITH we will one day stand before Him perfectly glorified and sanctified by His going to that cross for our sin. I pray now that we get it.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, at least in this moment, I see it. I get it. Help me to hold on to this reality of faith when I face the world today. Amen

2009 – Day 236.Aug 25 – Now I Know

Passage of the Day: Job 3: 1 - 26 … Linked for study ...

My Journal for Today: Okay, one last go around with Job, Chapter 3. And I have to admit, I think I’ve had enough with Job’s lament; and I want to move on to see how Job – and I – need to march forward after life cascades downward to the point where I’m confused or depressed. I get the idea that Satan had brought our hero to a place of utter despair. And I can see that he has admitted that he doesn’t even know why God let him be born. But Swindoll wants to make one more sweep through this topic to drill home the reality that we understand that God is not under any obligation of promise to insure that we understand His plan or His purpose for our lives. And I can see that it’s an important point!

God’s desire is simple; and it’s all wrapped up in the words, “Trust ME!” And we simply must grasp – while we can - the foundational truth that faith has no meaning if we’re always able to understand all that God will allow into our lives to help us become more like His Son. But the one thing I can fully bank on … eternally; and that is the ultimate promise which is found in our Lord’s death for us on the cross. We can bank everything on that one … that God sent His Son to live, die, and be raised again for our sin. We can trust that … and really that’s about all we can trust.

My wife’s favorite Bible verse is Proverbs 3: 5-6, which I hope you can just rattle off responsively from your memory. You know it, … “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understand. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him; and He shall direct your paths (or “will make your paths straight).”

Do you really believe that, friend? Do you live it, … especially when devastating circumstances befall you? You know … that passage in Prov. 3 makes all kind of sense now; but I don’t know that my attitude would be any different from Job’s in Chapter 3 if I had lost my whole family and everything temporal in my life and I was sitting there covered in painful boils. So, right now, while I can discern the truth, in my castle of safety and security, I need to declare – for the record – AGAIN – that God is God and I am not! And I need to say to you that He will always be in control and He always knows what is best for me. And now that I’m safe to say this, I declare to anyone here that whatever my God chooses to do for or with His church – and yes, with me – is for the best. Did you get that? Do you believe it?

I just pray that when push comes to shove, I will be able to declare that truth again and live in the faith of God’s promise of eternity in heaven. My hope is in Christ … and really nothing else. Oh, may I live that out for the rest of my life.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, hold me in your graceful arms, especially when I’m shrugging “Why?” Amen