Passage for Study: Acts 27: 39 - 44 … Acts 27 linked for study …
My Journal for Today: Pastor Swindoll is absolutely right as he writes in today’s devotional, "The best plan for surviving a storm is preparation.” A ship’s captain would never launch his vessel onto the open seas without going over the navigation charts and – these days – checking out the weather forecasts. If you’ve ever been on a cruise vessel, the first thing the crew goes over with the passengers are the emergency procedures. Think about those boring instructions which every flight crew goes over with the passengers on an airplane before the plane gets into the air; and I hope you pay attention to them before that plane takes off: because, though no plane or ship captain would ever want to go through what that pilot did by landing his plane in the Hudson River last year, he was well prepared for the emergency and all of his passengers survived because of his training and his pre-flight preparation. Because that pilot was so well trained and he knew exactly where to land that plane, those passengers all survived.
Today’s title for this devotional is the “Anchor of Reality;” and reality is an anchor as long as we, as Christians, carry that anchor into the reality of our future. As Swindoll points out, ”Passivity is faith’s enemy.” And to that I’d add a Pollyanna attitude that nothing bad will ever happen because we’re in Christ. No, the Boy Scouts have it right in their motto, which takes the anchor of reality into account as it declares … BE PREPARED!
My friend, what are you doing right now to prepare for a potential shipwreck or turbulent flight? When you get on a flight, are you lulled into passivity, apathy, and lack of attention as the crew instructs you on how to prepare for an emergency? Do you know where the nearest emergency exit is? Are you briefed and ready if the ship goes down in water to know where the flotation devices are; and do you know how to use them? Or have you been lulled into that “nothing bad will ever happen to me” attitude, which the enemy will use against you if/when a bad storm develops and the ship goes down.
That crew of that ship Paul was in all made it to shore because of the preparation they had taken just before ship broke up to surrender their leadership to Paul and to join him in prayer to the God of Abraham. My dear friend, what are you doing now, during the calm of life to prepare and make sure that you have the anchor of reality covered in the event your ship of life runs into a really bad storm? And if you’re in the storm right now, you may find, as Swindoll writes, that you’re having to use the pre-planning (or as we call it in our ministry – the “battle planning”) which you had done in the calm of life to deal with the storm.
Maybe you’re now having to find out that you have to humble yourself and find help from a competent Christian counselor to make it through a marital storm. Perhaps, you now recognize that those bad choices you made in the past, when you believed you could get away with some sin, have now come crashing down around you; and you have to take serious emergency procedures to save your marriage, your church, or your very life. That is why it’s best to humble yourself now and take preparatory actions to avoid the storms or to be prepared BEFORE they come your way. As my mentor used to tell me, ”Humble yourself now in your day-to-day worship of God, or He will humble you later when you’ve let pride take you down.”
And so, we need to ask ourselves …
• Am I taking decisive action to avoid the storms by having a disciplined DAILY devotional life and by having a written battle plan to avoid the potential pitfalls of life?
• Is my prayer life going deep to keep me humble and to deepen my relationship with Christ?
• Am I getting to know my God by studying Him through His word?
• Am I worshipping my God everyday by the choices I make, the people I serve, and the actions I use to honor our Lord?
Answers to these questions, by our life choices, will show whether we are carrying the anchors I written about in the last few days, the anchors of STABILITY, UNITY, RENEWAL, and then today, the anchor of REALITY.
If you’re ready for any storm of life because of the daily battle plan or preparation you’re making now to build your faith (i.e., your anchor), then you will not fear any storm which may be brewing ahead for which you cannot plan. And like the ship did when the storm hit Paul and his compatriots, you’ll be able to survive even a shipwreck because you had all the anchors you needed to keep you afloat or to allow you to swim ashore safely.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, when the winds of life blow calm now, keep me humble and ready for any storm ahead by the planning and actions I take now – everyday – to be ready for any storm which might come. Amen
Showing posts with label preparation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preparation. Show all posts
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
2009 – Day 295.Oct 23 – Out of the Shadows
2nd Passage for Study: Acts 11: 19 – 26 … Linked for your study …
My Journal for Today: Today Chuck Swindoll, by using this passage from the text of Acts 11, speaks to the Christian who may seem to himself or herself as being placed in the shadows of life, … one who may be in a dark, quiet place where nothing significant seems to be cooking in life. It’s like God has taken you out of the game of life and put you on the bench. Are you there? Or maybe you’ve been there in the past and you can identify with the story of Acts 11, how God went and got Paul, via Barnabas, and pulled Paul off the bench and put him into the game of soul winning.
Swindoll’s point today is made through stories like this one; and through the lives of many of the Saints he’s been reviewing in his book, Great Days with the Great Lives. If you would go back and review the devotionals for this past year, which Swindoll has been using, every one of these men and women, great action models of the faith, went through some period of preparation or waiting on God while they were honed and shaped into usable vessels for God.
Think about it. There was Joseph’s period of over two years in prison, seemingly unjustified, after his encounter with Potiphar’s wife. There was the 40 years Moses spent in the wilderness tending sheep. There was David’s two separate times where he was an obscure shepherd boy for his dad; and then there was the time he was running for his life in the caves of the Negev when Saul was after him. Both of these were times in darkness where David was benched; but we know how God used him following both of these times for great and Godly work. And I could go on; but here today is the story of the Apostle Paul, after his conversion, be benched for a period of time in Tarsus, while God readied him, humbled him, and shaped him to finally come to Antioch where the newly named “Christians,” many of them Gentiles, were being saved.
And God was about to say, “Get in the Game, Paul! Your time and place is now!” But he had to learn to wait on God, as did all of these great Saints of the faith mentioned above. Maybe that’s where God has you now, … waiting! Swindoll aptly quotes from Psalm 27: 14, which states, “ Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD! “ As Swindoll points out, having used the giants of the faith in his book, … in his words, … “ Waiting is one of God’s preferred methods of preparing special people for significant projects.”
Some of you have been there and now you’re in the game of God’s choosing; and you can say, “Amen!” to Swindoll’s teaching here. I certainly can. Before I became an Elder in my church (and even in the early years of my Elder apprenticeship), I wandered in my discipleship and waited for years, being readied for a time when I might be used by God for His glory. During that time, and maybe in your life now, I really wondered if God was ever going to take me off the bench and get me into the game; but He did; and if you’re in a waiting time in your life, “keep your head in the game,” as any coach would say for those who’re sitting on the bench. If God has you in waiting mode, it’s for a good reason, … it’s God’s reason.
So, in faith and using the patience God has given you as a fruit of the Spirit (see Gal. 5: 22-23), WAIT; … and be ready for God to one day say, as He did for Paul. “Now, get in the game; it’s your time to move for My glory!”
My Prayer for Today: Lord, thank you for all those years where You had me waiting in the wings, shaping me, … preparing me for the game of life, where I could be used for Your glory. Amen
My Journal for Today: Today Chuck Swindoll, by using this passage from the text of Acts 11, speaks to the Christian who may seem to himself or herself as being placed in the shadows of life, … one who may be in a dark, quiet place where nothing significant seems to be cooking in life. It’s like God has taken you out of the game of life and put you on the bench. Are you there? Or maybe you’ve been there in the past and you can identify with the story of Acts 11, how God went and got Paul, via Barnabas, and pulled Paul off the bench and put him into the game of soul winning.
Swindoll’s point today is made through stories like this one; and through the lives of many of the Saints he’s been reviewing in his book, Great Days with the Great Lives. If you would go back and review the devotionals for this past year, which Swindoll has been using, every one of these men and women, great action models of the faith, went through some period of preparation or waiting on God while they were honed and shaped into usable vessels for God.
Think about it. There was Joseph’s period of over two years in prison, seemingly unjustified, after his encounter with Potiphar’s wife. There was the 40 years Moses spent in the wilderness tending sheep. There was David’s two separate times where he was an obscure shepherd boy for his dad; and then there was the time he was running for his life in the caves of the Negev when Saul was after him. Both of these were times in darkness where David was benched; but we know how God used him following both of these times for great and Godly work. And I could go on; but here today is the story of the Apostle Paul, after his conversion, be benched for a period of time in Tarsus, while God readied him, humbled him, and shaped him to finally come to Antioch where the newly named “Christians,” many of them Gentiles, were being saved.
And God was about to say, “Get in the Game, Paul! Your time and place is now!” But he had to learn to wait on God, as did all of these great Saints of the faith mentioned above. Maybe that’s where God has you now, … waiting! Swindoll aptly quotes from Psalm 27: 14, which states, “ Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD! “ As Swindoll points out, having used the giants of the faith in his book, … in his words, … “ Waiting is one of God’s preferred methods of preparing special people for significant projects.”
Some of you have been there and now you’re in the game of God’s choosing; and you can say, “Amen!” to Swindoll’s teaching here. I certainly can. Before I became an Elder in my church (and even in the early years of my Elder apprenticeship), I wandered in my discipleship and waited for years, being readied for a time when I might be used by God for His glory. During that time, and maybe in your life now, I really wondered if God was ever going to take me off the bench and get me into the game; but He did; and if you’re in a waiting time in your life, “keep your head in the game,” as any coach would say for those who’re sitting on the bench. If God has you in waiting mode, it’s for a good reason, … it’s God’s reason.
So, in faith and using the patience God has given you as a fruit of the Spirit (see Gal. 5: 22-23), WAIT; … and be ready for God to one day say, as He did for Paul. “Now, get in the game; it’s your time to move for My glory!”
My Prayer for Today: Lord, thank you for all those years where You had me waiting in the wings, shaping me, … preparing me for the game of life, where I could be used for Your glory. Amen
Sunday, June 07, 2009
2009 – Day 157.June 7 – Our Obstacle Course
Passage of the Day: 1st Kings 17: 5 – 7 … 2 Then the word of the LORD came to him [Elijah], saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
My Journal for Today: Today I read Chuck Swindoll’s devotional for this day in his book, Great Days with the Great Lives; and normally, I just use this as a guide for what God, the Holy Spirit, gives me to share as my devotional journal entry. But today, I was touched to the core by what Pastor Swindoll had to share; and I would discredit this fine teaching effort to do anything other than just quote what this faithful shepherd has to share. So, I quote this dear servant exactly as he has written the following about Elijah’s bootcamp experience.
Chuck Swindoll: Part of every boot camp experience is the grueling, grinding, and sometimes daunting obstacle course. It is neither fun nor easy, but its demanding discipline prepares the recruit for whatever situations he or she may face in the future, particularly under enemy fire. In the spiritual life, before we can truly benefit from “the hidden life” that God uses to prepare us for whatever future He has planned for us, we must overcome at least four major obstacles. I think of them as four rough membranes of the flesh: pride, fear, resentment, and long-standing habits. Conquering these layers of resistance will prepare us for the future and harden us for combat with the adversary.
In a very real sense, God has designed a boot camp for His children; but it doesn’t last just eight or ten weeks. Nor is it a weekend seminar we can take or a day-long workshop we can attend. God’s training course takes place periodically throughout the Christian life. And there, in the very center of obstacles and pain and solitude, we come to realize how alive God is in our lives – how alive and in charge. He will invade us, reduce us, break us, and crush us, so that we will become the people He intends us to be.
No matter how many years we walk with the Lord, we must still, at times, pass through our own Gethsemane. It happens every time He sends us to the brook to live the hidden life. It happens every time He disorients us as He displaces us; every time He pulls out all the props; every time He takes away more of the comforts; every time He removes most of the “rights” we once enjoyed. And He does all this so that He can mold us in the person that we otherwise never would be. He knows what He’s about.
Elijah went to Cherith as an energetic spokesman for God – a Prophet. He emerged from Chrerith as a deeper man of God. All this happened because he was left beside a brook that dried up. Alone, but not forgotten. Tested, but not abandoned.
Wow! What could I add to that? Nothing, I assure you; but I pray that, like me, you are enlightened by Pastor Swindoll to realize that God is giving us all our boot camp obstacles, as He did with Elijah, to prepare us for what lies ahead and to prepare us to be his witness in this world, … a witness who can shine His light and glorify the Holy Father.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, thank You for the obstacles You put us through to shape our witness for You. Amen
Passage of the Day: 1st Kings 17: 5 – 7 … 2 Then the word of the LORD came to him [Elijah], saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
My Journal for Today: Today I read Chuck Swindoll’s devotional for this day in his book, Great Days with the Great Lives; and normally, I just use this as a guide for what God, the Holy Spirit, gives me to share as my devotional journal entry. But today, I was touched to the core by what Pastor Swindoll had to share; and I would discredit this fine teaching effort to do anything other than just quote what this faithful shepherd has to share. So, I quote this dear servant exactly as he has written the following about Elijah’s bootcamp experience.
Chuck Swindoll: Part of every boot camp experience is the grueling, grinding, and sometimes daunting obstacle course. It is neither fun nor easy, but its demanding discipline prepares the recruit for whatever situations he or she may face in the future, particularly under enemy fire. In the spiritual life, before we can truly benefit from “the hidden life” that God uses to prepare us for whatever future He has planned for us, we must overcome at least four major obstacles. I think of them as four rough membranes of the flesh: pride, fear, resentment, and long-standing habits. Conquering these layers of resistance will prepare us for the future and harden us for combat with the adversary.
In a very real sense, God has designed a boot camp for His children; but it doesn’t last just eight or ten weeks. Nor is it a weekend seminar we can take or a day-long workshop we can attend. God’s training course takes place periodically throughout the Christian life. And there, in the very center of obstacles and pain and solitude, we come to realize how alive God is in our lives – how alive and in charge. He will invade us, reduce us, break us, and crush us, so that we will become the people He intends us to be.
No matter how many years we walk with the Lord, we must still, at times, pass through our own Gethsemane. It happens every time He sends us to the brook to live the hidden life. It happens every time He disorients us as He displaces us; every time He pulls out all the props; every time He takes away more of the comforts; every time He removes most of the “rights” we once enjoyed. And He does all this so that He can mold us in the person that we otherwise never would be. He knows what He’s about.
Elijah went to Cherith as an energetic spokesman for God – a Prophet. He emerged from Chrerith as a deeper man of God. All this happened because he was left beside a brook that dried up. Alone, but not forgotten. Tested, but not abandoned.
Wow! What could I add to that? Nothing, I assure you; but I pray that, like me, you are enlightened by Pastor Swindoll to realize that God is giving us all our boot camp obstacles, as He did with Elijah, to prepare us for what lies ahead and to prepare us to be his witness in this world, … a witness who can shine His light and glorify the Holy Father.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, thank You for the obstacles You put us through to shape our witness for You. Amen
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
2009 – Day 68.Mar. 10 – Covering Home Base
2009 – Day 68.Mar. 10 – Covering Home Base
Passage of the Day: Exodus 4: 18 … 18 So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
My Journal for Today: Today we have an extension of our discussion from yesterday on Moses’ communication of God’s big plan to his father-in-law and family. And Swindoll, in discussing this, lauded Moses as an exemplar of humility, sensitivity, and grace in the way he communicated this incredible set of circumstances to his family, especially to Jethro who had adopted him. This plan of God’s was to be a big deal for Jethro and the family; and Moses was so gentle and caring in the way he laid out God’s plan for him.
And Swindoll points out two sets of principles we can all learn from this Bible story in the life of Moses. And the first of these is somewhat redundant from yesterday in highlighting the need to be very sensitive in communicating a God-ordained course change to others in your life who might be effected by the change. Swindoll reminds us that we are the ones who have gotten God’s calling; and others have not. They will not feel the same tug on the heart that the called one will feel. In fact, they may have a tendency to see only how that change in the life of the called one will affect them or the risks it might bring about for their loved one who is proposing the change. Therefore, Moses here is a great example of being very sensitive and simply giving out the basics of where God is leading with the Lord’s new directions.
The second principle is related to the first. When God calls, providing the calling for a new direction in life, He will open the doors of hearts and set out the providence to make things happen for His own glory. If God’s plan is truly the way of the Master, the Lord is going to smooth the way and lay out the resources for His plan to be carried out. There are other examples of this in Scripture, like how Nehemiah’s calling to go back to Jerusalem from Babylon was shaped and smoothed by God to soften the heart of the Babylonian king and to provide the resources for Nehemiah to change his life course completely to move as God directed. And here we see the same thing. God called, Moses answered; and when he went to Jethro, giving the Old Sheik only sketchy information, Jethro was all go – primarily, I believe, because it was God’s Spirit leading the way to provide for that attitude from Moses’ daddy.
So, we learn a good lesson from this. When God sets out a radical plan for our lives, if it’s truly God’s plan, the hearts of those who are affected will be prepared, even though we should be gentle and sensitive in laying out the change for them. And also, if it’s truly God’s life-changing plan, He will provide the resources and the directions for God’s plan to happen. Doors will fling open and provisions will come forth; and all the called one must do is walk through the doors and receive God’s grace along the way to make the plan happen for God’s glory.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, when You call; help me be ready to go. Amen
Passage of the Day: Exodus 4: 18 … 18 So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
My Journal for Today: Today we have an extension of our discussion from yesterday on Moses’ communication of God’s big plan to his father-in-law and family. And Swindoll, in discussing this, lauded Moses as an exemplar of humility, sensitivity, and grace in the way he communicated this incredible set of circumstances to his family, especially to Jethro who had adopted him. This plan of God’s was to be a big deal for Jethro and the family; and Moses was so gentle and caring in the way he laid out God’s plan for him.
And Swindoll points out two sets of principles we can all learn from this Bible story in the life of Moses. And the first of these is somewhat redundant from yesterday in highlighting the need to be very sensitive in communicating a God-ordained course change to others in your life who might be effected by the change. Swindoll reminds us that we are the ones who have gotten God’s calling; and others have not. They will not feel the same tug on the heart that the called one will feel. In fact, they may have a tendency to see only how that change in the life of the called one will affect them or the risks it might bring about for their loved one who is proposing the change. Therefore, Moses here is a great example of being very sensitive and simply giving out the basics of where God is leading with the Lord’s new directions.
The second principle is related to the first. When God calls, providing the calling for a new direction in life, He will open the doors of hearts and set out the providence to make things happen for His own glory. If God’s plan is truly the way of the Master, the Lord is going to smooth the way and lay out the resources for His plan to be carried out. There are other examples of this in Scripture, like how Nehemiah’s calling to go back to Jerusalem from Babylon was shaped and smoothed by God to soften the heart of the Babylonian king and to provide the resources for Nehemiah to change his life course completely to move as God directed. And here we see the same thing. God called, Moses answered; and when he went to Jethro, giving the Old Sheik only sketchy information, Jethro was all go – primarily, I believe, because it was God’s Spirit leading the way to provide for that attitude from Moses’ daddy.
So, we learn a good lesson from this. When God sets out a radical plan for our lives, if it’s truly God’s plan, the hearts of those who are affected will be prepared, even though we should be gentle and sensitive in laying out the change for them. And also, if it’s truly God’s life-changing plan, He will provide the resources and the directions for God’s plan to happen. Doors will fling open and provisions will come forth; and all the called one must do is walk through the doors and receive God’s grace along the way to make the plan happen for God’s glory.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, when You call; help me be ready to go. Amen
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