January 18, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Giving For His Glory
Passage of the Day: Genesis 41: 53 - 57 ... 53 Then the seven years of plenty which were in the land of Egypt ended, 54 and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. The famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. 55 So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, do.” 56 The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine became severe in the land of Egypt. 57 So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all lands.
My Journal for Today: Let me begin today’s journal entry, quoting from what Chuck Swindoll wrote at the end of his devotional for today: “With authority comes the need for accountability. With popularity comes the need for humility. With prosperity comes the need for integrity. … Joseph passed all three (of these) character tests with flying colors.”
After reading the passage for today, no one could logically, or even emotionally, dispute Swindoll’s contention above. Egypt and the surrounding lands apparently experienced one of the worst famines ever experienced by these people [see verse 56]. And here was Joseph, … exactly the right man in exactly the right position [obviously by God’s mercy and providence] to make a difference; and yes, he comes through with God’s flying colors. In verse 57 we read how Joseph, who not only didn’t hoard the proactively stored grain and food for himself or merely for Pharaoh’s court; but he opened the Egyptian storehouses for anyone who needed the food and for other neighboring lands who might want to purchase the excess to meet their needs. That’s humility, for sure. That’s accountability, to God and to his fellow man. And that’s integrity from God’s hand, through Joseph, to all who were in need.
Right now, as I write this, we are going through hard times economically. And in such times there are always those who have come into these times with more of God’s abundance than others. Some in the latter category of need are there because they have made poor economic choices. Some are in need because they couldn’t help it or because they couldn’t compete in a competitive world due to some handicap. And these times tempt and/or test those who HAVE to choose whether they are going to help those who HAVE NOT or merely to hoard the excess for themselves And as Swindoll indicates, Joseph came through this test of human temptations with the pure gold in his God-developed character. He prepared for the tough times; and when they came, he became a light of helpfulness in the darkness of privation.
I hope all can see, who read of Joseph, in the pages of God’s word, that he was an arch type of Jesus Christ. We see in, Joseph, Christlikeness like we never see in other Old Testament figures. Even great figures like Moses, David, or Solomon had their periods of human weakness and ill-begotten choices. But Joseph was a man like no others of the Old Covenant. He was like Christ; and we read from his life much of the character which we would read of in Christ in the New Testament. So, as we read his story, we need to pay attention to learn of the character of the coming Messiah who would become THE PERFECT picture of character for us.
And to close this entry, let me quote from Swindoll’s devotional, a prayer of aspiration to Christlikeness …
My Prayer Today: “Jesus Christ, I need You. I have all of this [Your providence] to account for; and I can’t take any of it with me. Please use me as you see fit.” Amen
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
2009 - Day 17 - Forgive And Forget
January 17, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Forgive and Forgen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 41: 46 - 52 ... 46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. 47 Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly. 48 So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. 49 Joseph gathered very much grain, as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was immeasurable. 50 And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah, priest of On, bore to him. 51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.” 52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
My Journal for Today: As Swindoll in his devotional book points out for today, this is an interesting passage written by the author of Genesis under the influence of the Holy Spirit. In it we read several very mundane and personal details about Joseph’s post-prison life, after he had been blessed by God and Pharaoh to become Prime Minister of Egypt as that country approached and prepared for a famine in the land.
As Swindoll helps me see, the first thing we see is that Joseph honored God by being monogamous, as was the Hebrew teaching – certainly not the Egyptian tradition for kings … nor even the Middle Eastern tradition of those days. Joseph, in his position as Prime Minister, could have taken as many wives or concubines as he desired, especially in his position of privilege and power. However, he resisted those temptations and remained monogamous, having two sons by one wife. This small detail reveals how Joseph ignored the world and concentrated on his faith in the One, True God.
Next there is the matter of why God, through the Author of Genesis, relates the details of the naming of the two sons. Actually Swindoll’s devotional doesn’t discuss one feature about the naming that God allowed me to see this morning. It is the fact that both of the names were Hebrew names and not Egyptian. I think that this is significant, showing us that Joseph desired to openly declare his Jewish heritage even with his position of influence in the Egyptian government. And names in the Middle Eastern culture were a big deal. By using Hebrew names, Joseph, openly declares that he and his sons were from the Family of God.
And then, as the text explains it; expositors, like Swindoll, help me to see that the two names for his sons were also declarations of meaning about Joseph’s character; and the first of these, Manasseh, which in Hebrew means “to be made forgetful,” speaks of how Joseph was blessed to be able to forget all the past ills which had befallen this man of God. Joseph didn’t choose to relent to the temptation to visit revenge upon all those in his past, like Potiphar’s wife, who had wronged him. No, he humbly chose to set those memories aside and concentrate on the future, looking to God’s providence as he had done in those years of testing in prison.
And finally, there was the name, Ephraim, which in Hebrew means “to be doubly fruitful;” and this speaks forcefully, I believe, of how Joseph viewed his life … that as being incredibly blessed. And yes, this even means that he saw all that had happened to him as being a blessing. Think about it. When a man can see all those years of servitude, slavery, and imprisonment as blessing, we see that Joseph was prepared by God for blessing and to be a blessing to those whom God would bring into his life. And this we will see unfold in even more of Joseph’s life in the upcoming days of devotionals.
I’m taken by this passage to remember that I must forget the ills in my life, trusting, as it says in Rom. 8: 28, that all of life’s circumstances work together for my good since I, like Joseph, believe in and follow the One, True God. And secondly, I see, from the naming of the boys, that I must, as it says in 1st Thes. 5: 18, always give thanks for all the blessings that God brings into my life … yes, even the challenges and tribulations of life; … because God is in control; and He will always be working for my good and to complete me, as it says in Phil. 1: 6, into the image of my Savior.
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to become Manasseh and Ephraim in my life as expressions of Your character in me. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 41: 46 - 52 ... 46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. 47 Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly. 48 So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. 49 Joseph gathered very much grain, as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was immeasurable. 50 And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah, priest of On, bore to him. 51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.” 52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
My Journal for Today: As Swindoll in his devotional book points out for today, this is an interesting passage written by the author of Genesis under the influence of the Holy Spirit. In it we read several very mundane and personal details about Joseph’s post-prison life, after he had been blessed by God and Pharaoh to become Prime Minister of Egypt as that country approached and prepared for a famine in the land.
As Swindoll helps me see, the first thing we see is that Joseph honored God by being monogamous, as was the Hebrew teaching – certainly not the Egyptian tradition for kings … nor even the Middle Eastern tradition of those days. Joseph, in his position as Prime Minister, could have taken as many wives or concubines as he desired, especially in his position of privilege and power. However, he resisted those temptations and remained monogamous, having two sons by one wife. This small detail reveals how Joseph ignored the world and concentrated on his faith in the One, True God.
Next there is the matter of why God, through the Author of Genesis, relates the details of the naming of the two sons. Actually Swindoll’s devotional doesn’t discuss one feature about the naming that God allowed me to see this morning. It is the fact that both of the names were Hebrew names and not Egyptian. I think that this is significant, showing us that Joseph desired to openly declare his Jewish heritage even with his position of influence in the Egyptian government. And names in the Middle Eastern culture were a big deal. By using Hebrew names, Joseph, openly declares that he and his sons were from the Family of God.
And then, as the text explains it; expositors, like Swindoll, help me to see that the two names for his sons were also declarations of meaning about Joseph’s character; and the first of these, Manasseh, which in Hebrew means “to be made forgetful,” speaks of how Joseph was blessed to be able to forget all the past ills which had befallen this man of God. Joseph didn’t choose to relent to the temptation to visit revenge upon all those in his past, like Potiphar’s wife, who had wronged him. No, he humbly chose to set those memories aside and concentrate on the future, looking to God’s providence as he had done in those years of testing in prison.
And finally, there was the name, Ephraim, which in Hebrew means “to be doubly fruitful;” and this speaks forcefully, I believe, of how Joseph viewed his life … that as being incredibly blessed. And yes, this even means that he saw all that had happened to him as being a blessing. Think about it. When a man can see all those years of servitude, slavery, and imprisonment as blessing, we see that Joseph was prepared by God for blessing and to be a blessing to those whom God would bring into his life. And this we will see unfold in even more of Joseph’s life in the upcoming days of devotionals.
I’m taken by this passage to remember that I must forget the ills in my life, trusting, as it says in Rom. 8: 28, that all of life’s circumstances work together for my good since I, like Joseph, believe in and follow the One, True God. And secondly, I see, from the naming of the boys, that I must, as it says in 1st Thes. 5: 18, always give thanks for all the blessings that God brings into my life … yes, even the challenges and tribulations of life; … because God is in control; and He will always be working for my good and to complete me, as it says in Phil. 1: 6, into the image of my Savior.
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to become Manasseh and Ephraim in my life as expressions of Your character in me. Amen
Friday, January 16, 2009
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
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
Thursday, January 15, 2009
2009 - Day 15 - Tender Mercies
January 15, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Tender Mercies
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: When I’m feeling down or depressed, I love phrases like, “It’s the darkest before the dawn.” It reminds me that things may seem like the night at the moment; but the sun is going to rise on a new day soon. And that is what we see in the outcome of Joseph’s dark days in prison. Because as we read in today’s passage, the sun came up on this hero of the faith BIGTIME!
He had been in the slammer for two long years, having been incarcerated unjustly by his former master, Potiphar. And then in prison he had been led to help the Pharaoh’s butler whom he asked to give a good word for him. However, the king’s cupbearer summarily forgot about it until Pharaoh needed a dream interpreted; and the butler, who had been reinstated as Joseph had predicted two dark years earlier, finally remembered Joseph’s ability to accurately interpret dreams.
And so, Pharaoh called Joseph, who interpreted a series of wild dreams for Egypt’s king. None of Pharaoh’s wise counselors had been able to do it; but Joseph was ready and up to the task, laying out a scenario for the king and predicting an upcoming famine in the land and the need for Egypt to prepare for the coming horrors by preparing ahead of time. And now, we enter the story as Pharaoh needs someone to manage the land in preparation for the famine; and somehow, with the help of God’s discernment, I believe, the king sees that Joseph is the man for the job.
So, in this wondrous moment of God’s intervening mercy, Joseph learns, as Swindoll writes in his devotional for today, “… a broken and contrite heart is not the end, … it is the beginning.” Here we see Joseph being a wonderful example of someone who waited and waited in faith in the dungeon of life, knowing that God was always in control and that the Lord would never leave him there in prison. Joseph’s faith had allowed him to go through the fire of testing so that the dross in Joseph’s life could be burned off. And now our hero had emerged as pure gold, purified and ready for a God-laden plan to unfold in his life.
And wow, it began with a bang. Pharaoh puts his own signet ring on Joseph, which Swindoll points out was like giving the young man (only 30 years old) the keys to the kingdom. It was the ultimate credit card, which would allow Joseph to travel anywhere and have the authority of the most high. Talk about going from the “pits to the pinnacle,” as Swindoll points out.
Have you ever been so down you couldn’t look up; and then you find yourself lifted up with a glimpse of glory? I have; and it’s so tempting in that high moment to be prideful … a dangerous scenario because God cannot pour His grace into a heart of pride (see Prov. 3: 34 or James 4: 6). The Apostle Paul was there. In 2nd Cor. 12, we read of Paul coming down from a wondrous spiritual high; and God had to allow Satan to give Paul some “thorn,” which was horribly painful, so that Paul would come to learn that the pain was a blessing from God to keep him humble enough to receive and use God’s enabling grace. And it is in this moment of revelation that we read Paul quote Jesus, Who says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in [your] weakness.”
I love that passage because it’s Jesus telling Paul (and me and all Christians) what Joseph had learned. That God can use anyone who recognizes and acknowledges their weakness and submits to God’s Spirit, seeking the grace that one will need to be used by God. And God can use a Joseph or a Paul who has been seasoned by the fires of pain and privation. And he certainly did with Joseph; and I hope we all realize that God can and will use any of us IF we surrender our lives to him as “living sacrifices,” as Paul wrote about in Rom. 12: 1-2.
My Prayer Today: Lord, I would rather not have to go through prison or a thorn to surrender and receive Your grace. I do so willingly and gladly now. Amen
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: When I’m feeling down or depressed, I love phrases like, “It’s the darkest before the dawn.” It reminds me that things may seem like the night at the moment; but the sun is going to rise on a new day soon. And that is what we see in the outcome of Joseph’s dark days in prison. Because as we read in today’s passage, the sun came up on this hero of the faith BIGTIME!
He had been in the slammer for two long years, having been incarcerated unjustly by his former master, Potiphar. And then in prison he had been led to help the Pharaoh’s butler whom he asked to give a good word for him. However, the king’s cupbearer summarily forgot about it until Pharaoh needed a dream interpreted; and the butler, who had been reinstated as Joseph had predicted two dark years earlier, finally remembered Joseph’s ability to accurately interpret dreams.
And so, Pharaoh called Joseph, who interpreted a series of wild dreams for Egypt’s king. None of Pharaoh’s wise counselors had been able to do it; but Joseph was ready and up to the task, laying out a scenario for the king and predicting an upcoming famine in the land and the need for Egypt to prepare for the coming horrors by preparing ahead of time. And now, we enter the story as Pharaoh needs someone to manage the land in preparation for the famine; and somehow, with the help of God’s discernment, I believe, the king sees that Joseph is the man for the job.
So, in this wondrous moment of God’s intervening mercy, Joseph learns, as Swindoll writes in his devotional for today, “… a broken and contrite heart is not the end, … it is the beginning.” Here we see Joseph being a wonderful example of someone who waited and waited in faith in the dungeon of life, knowing that God was always in control and that the Lord would never leave him there in prison. Joseph’s faith had allowed him to go through the fire of testing so that the dross in Joseph’s life could be burned off. And now our hero had emerged as pure gold, purified and ready for a God-laden plan to unfold in his life.
And wow, it began with a bang. Pharaoh puts his own signet ring on Joseph, which Swindoll points out was like giving the young man (only 30 years old) the keys to the kingdom. It was the ultimate credit card, which would allow Joseph to travel anywhere and have the authority of the most high. Talk about going from the “pits to the pinnacle,” as Swindoll points out.
Have you ever been so down you couldn’t look up; and then you find yourself lifted up with a glimpse of glory? I have; and it’s so tempting in that high moment to be prideful … a dangerous scenario because God cannot pour His grace into a heart of pride (see Prov. 3: 34 or James 4: 6). The Apostle Paul was there. In 2nd Cor. 12, we read of Paul coming down from a wondrous spiritual high; and God had to allow Satan to give Paul some “thorn,” which was horribly painful, so that Paul would come to learn that the pain was a blessing from God to keep him humble enough to receive and use God’s enabling grace. And it is in this moment of revelation that we read Paul quote Jesus, Who says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in [your] weakness.”
I love that passage because it’s Jesus telling Paul (and me and all Christians) what Joseph had learned. That God can use anyone who recognizes and acknowledges their weakness and submits to God’s Spirit, seeking the grace that one will need to be used by God. And God can use a Joseph or a Paul who has been seasoned by the fires of pain and privation. And he certainly did with Joseph; and I hope we all realize that God can and will use any of us IF we surrender our lives to him as “living sacrifices,” as Paul wrote about in Rom. 12: 1-2.
My Prayer Today: Lord, I would rather not have to go through prison or a thorn to surrender and receive Your grace. I do so willingly and gladly now. Amen
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
2009 - Day 14 - Humility When Promoted
January 14, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Humility When Promoted
Passage of the Day: Genesis 41: 16 - 41 ... Please read and study today’s highlight passage to which you are linked here.
My Journal for Today: Having read and studied today’s passage from Genesis 41, we now begin to see the fruition of the refinement process Joseph was taken through in his life prior to this incident, … being thrown into the pit by his brothers, … being sold into slavery in Egypt, … being led to Potiphar, … having to flee from Potiphar’s wife, … being unjustly thrown into prison, … being exposed to Pharaoh’s butler and baker, … interpreting their dreams, … being forgotten for two years in prison after the predicted release of Pharaoh’s cupbearer, … and now being brought to Pharaoh, the butler having “coincidentally” remembered Joseph’s dream interpretation skills. All of this was the Refiner’s fire in action.
And after all of this, Pharaoh lays out this intricate series of dreams, requesting that Joseph discern their meaning. And in that moment we see how God had taken Joseph through all of the above travail to refine the ore of his soul into a character of pure gold. Now, in this moment of confrontation, Joseph could have promoted himself and demanded freedom and power; but this was not the case. Our hero of God’s story, quietly, but assertively, promoted only God as we read Joseph say in verse 25, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do: …”
God had prepared Joseph for just this moment; and God’s man came through in flying colors, laying aside the temptation of pride and the desire for compensation from the king. No, somehow – and I believe it was God’s Spirit of discernment – Joseph knew that God was in control and would bring about a God-led path if he, Joseph, would only be true to what God had revealed to him from Pharaoh’s dream.
And we see the result of God being in control and Joseph surrendering to God’s revelation. Pharaoh hears the dream, as discerned and revealed by Joseph, including God’s plan for Egypt to be spared the effects of seven years of famine; and “somehow,” again I believe being led by God’s prevenient grace, the king sees that the ragged prisoner standing there before him would be the perfect candidate to become the #2 man in Egypt, … his Prime Minister.
Have you ever manipulated a situation with self-imposed ideas to elevate yourself in someone else’s eyes; and then later you regretted it because of how circumstances backfired in your face? Well, I have; and Joseph certainly had that temptation before him. But the pure gold of his character, refined by the fires of life, was laid out for Pharaoh and Egypt to benefit from God’s plan for Joseph. At this point in our reading, we’re not privy to the wonderful story to come about the return of Joseph’s brothers into his life. Joseph certainly didn’t know what was to come in his future. He only responded truthfully and humbly to what God presented for him; and God elevated Joseph, helping Pharaoh to take Joseph from prisoner to power.
A lesson for us all … for sure!
My Prayer Today: Lord, I know the risks in this prayer; but help me to remain humble to your leadings and to avoid pride by elevating self over You, my Savior. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 41: 16 - 41 ... Please read and study today’s highlight passage to which you are linked here.
My Journal for Today: Having read and studied today’s passage from Genesis 41, we now begin to see the fruition of the refinement process Joseph was taken through in his life prior to this incident, … being thrown into the pit by his brothers, … being sold into slavery in Egypt, … being led to Potiphar, … having to flee from Potiphar’s wife, … being unjustly thrown into prison, … being exposed to Pharaoh’s butler and baker, … interpreting their dreams, … being forgotten for two years in prison after the predicted release of Pharaoh’s cupbearer, … and now being brought to Pharaoh, the butler having “coincidentally” remembered Joseph’s dream interpretation skills. All of this was the Refiner’s fire in action.
And after all of this, Pharaoh lays out this intricate series of dreams, requesting that Joseph discern their meaning. And in that moment we see how God had taken Joseph through all of the above travail to refine the ore of his soul into a character of pure gold. Now, in this moment of confrontation, Joseph could have promoted himself and demanded freedom and power; but this was not the case. Our hero of God’s story, quietly, but assertively, promoted only God as we read Joseph say in verse 25, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do: …”
God had prepared Joseph for just this moment; and God’s man came through in flying colors, laying aside the temptation of pride and the desire for compensation from the king. No, somehow – and I believe it was God’s Spirit of discernment – Joseph knew that God was in control and would bring about a God-led path if he, Joseph, would only be true to what God had revealed to him from Pharaoh’s dream.
And we see the result of God being in control and Joseph surrendering to God’s revelation. Pharaoh hears the dream, as discerned and revealed by Joseph, including God’s plan for Egypt to be spared the effects of seven years of famine; and “somehow,” again I believe being led by God’s prevenient grace, the king sees that the ragged prisoner standing there before him would be the perfect candidate to become the #2 man in Egypt, … his Prime Minister.
Have you ever manipulated a situation with self-imposed ideas to elevate yourself in someone else’s eyes; and then later you regretted it because of how circumstances backfired in your face? Well, I have; and Joseph certainly had that temptation before him. But the pure gold of his character, refined by the fires of life, was laid out for Pharaoh and Egypt to benefit from God’s plan for Joseph. At this point in our reading, we’re not privy to the wonderful story to come about the return of Joseph’s brothers into his life. Joseph certainly didn’t know what was to come in his future. He only responded truthfully and humbly to what God presented for him; and God elevated Joseph, helping Pharaoh to take Joseph from prisoner to power.
A lesson for us all … for sure!
My Prayer Today: Lord, I know the risks in this prayer; but help me to remain humble to your leadings and to avoid pride by elevating self over You, my Savior. Amen
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
2009 - Day 13 - The Turning Point
January 13, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: The Turning Point
Passage of the Day: Genesis 41: 1 - 16 ... Please read and study this passage to which you are linked here.
My Journal for Today: And after I read that this morning, Charles Swindoll in his devotional makes a good point. That day when Joseph woke up I doubt if he had an inkling that his day would be a turning point in his life. Swindoll reminds me that the day Moses would witness the burning bush probably looked like any other dull and dreary day in the life of a shepherd when he woke up. And young David, who was out there in the fields watching over his daddy’s flocks, on the morning before he was to be anointed king by Samuel as the king-elect, probably had no clue that the day was to be a turning point in his life.
I remember that day on April 13, 1983 when I woke up to head in to work. And little did I know that when I plunked in a cassette tape in my car’s tape player to listen on the way to work that what I was to hear, and what was to happen shortly thereafter, would change the course of my life forever – yes, even my eternal life. Because on that morning I heard a story and some things transpired shortly thereafter that broke me to the point of me being able to receive Christ as my Savior and Lord. Yes, for me that morning, which started out as just another day, was THE TURNING POINT for my life.
And for Joseph, his day, depicted in Gen. 41, when he woke up as a prisoner in a dungeon in Egypt, had spent two full years there and had been passed over by the very man he was about to see in Pharaoh’s court again. But as events unfolded, Joseph began to see that that things would never be the same for him again.
You’ve read it in today’s highlight passage above. Joseph was brought to the king’s court because FINALLY Pharaoh’s butler, prompted by the king having a dream which couldn’t be interpreted by all the Egyptian wise men, remembered that Joseph, two years before, had interpreted his dream accurately. And so, Pharaoh called for Joseph and laid out the dream, telling him, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.”
And don’t you just love Joseph’s humble witness, as he retorts, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” As Swindoll point out, most of us, being put in Joseph’s place would probably have said something like, “Yeah; good Pharaoh; … and if that dude over there (pointing to the Butler) had just remembered me two years ago, I would have been here a lot earlier to help you with your dreams” But there were no sour grapes from Joseph. No, this was a man, as we pointed out yesterday, who had been put through the caldron of heat for two years; and he was ready for this TURNING POINT moment. And his reply was cool and calculated … humble to the core, conditioned by his readiness from the previous two years.
I’m thinking about that this morning as I sit here in my quiet time with God. I say to myself, “What could happen today which could be a turning point for me or for someone else?” Yesterday, our cleaning lady told me that she’d like for me to help a friend of hers come to receive Christ into her life. Who knows, maybe on that day, God might use me to be part of His design in the turning point in someone’s eternal life. Yes, who knows? Well, God knows; … and that’s all I need to know.
My Prayer Today: Lord, I’m in your hands. If this is to be a turning point day; I’m ready! Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 41: 1 - 16 ... Please read and study this passage to which you are linked here.
My Journal for Today: And after I read that this morning, Charles Swindoll in his devotional makes a good point. That day when Joseph woke up I doubt if he had an inkling that his day would be a turning point in his life. Swindoll reminds me that the day Moses would witness the burning bush probably looked like any other dull and dreary day in the life of a shepherd when he woke up. And young David, who was out there in the fields watching over his daddy’s flocks, on the morning before he was to be anointed king by Samuel as the king-elect, probably had no clue that the day was to be a turning point in his life.
I remember that day on April 13, 1983 when I woke up to head in to work. And little did I know that when I plunked in a cassette tape in my car’s tape player to listen on the way to work that what I was to hear, and what was to happen shortly thereafter, would change the course of my life forever – yes, even my eternal life. Because on that morning I heard a story and some things transpired shortly thereafter that broke me to the point of me being able to receive Christ as my Savior and Lord. Yes, for me that morning, which started out as just another day, was THE TURNING POINT for my life.
And for Joseph, his day, depicted in Gen. 41, when he woke up as a prisoner in a dungeon in Egypt, had spent two full years there and had been passed over by the very man he was about to see in Pharaoh’s court again. But as events unfolded, Joseph began to see that that things would never be the same for him again.
You’ve read it in today’s highlight passage above. Joseph was brought to the king’s court because FINALLY Pharaoh’s butler, prompted by the king having a dream which couldn’t be interpreted by all the Egyptian wise men, remembered that Joseph, two years before, had interpreted his dream accurately. And so, Pharaoh called for Joseph and laid out the dream, telling him, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.”
And don’t you just love Joseph’s humble witness, as he retorts, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” As Swindoll point out, most of us, being put in Joseph’s place would probably have said something like, “Yeah; good Pharaoh; … and if that dude over there (pointing to the Butler) had just remembered me two years ago, I would have been here a lot earlier to help you with your dreams” But there were no sour grapes from Joseph. No, this was a man, as we pointed out yesterday, who had been put through the caldron of heat for two years; and he was ready for this TURNING POINT moment. And his reply was cool and calculated … humble to the core, conditioned by his readiness from the previous two years.
I’m thinking about that this morning as I sit here in my quiet time with God. I say to myself, “What could happen today which could be a turning point for me or for someone else?” Yesterday, our cleaning lady told me that she’d like for me to help a friend of hers come to receive Christ into her life. Who knows, maybe on that day, God might use me to be part of His design in the turning point in someone’s eternal life. Yes, who knows? Well, God knows; … and that’s all I need to know.
My Prayer Today: Lord, I’m in your hands. If this is to be a turning point day; I’m ready! Amen
Monday, January 12, 2009
2009 - Day 12 - Darkness Before The Dawn
January 12, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Darkness Before The Dawn
Passage of the Day: Genesis 40: 20 – 41: 1 20 Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21 Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. 41: 1 … 1 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river. [emphasis added in bold/red]
My Journal for Today: Yes, we revisit the same passage as was our focus yesterday; but this time the emphasis is on the short phrase in bold above. And my devotional author, Chuck Swindoll, uses the word picture of the process of gold being refined in fire by noting that Joseph had to endure two long, boring, hard years in the fires of this prison while God refined him for Joseph’s life ahead where he would need to be stronger and purer.
There’s no way to short cut the refining process; and we have to face the fact that God is the refiner. He, alone, is in control of the fire and the timing of the refining process; and as Joseph learned, it can be a long and painful process at times, often without any insight as to why the refining has been undertaken in the way it has or for the length of time involved. Also, during the refinement process, it can seem as if nothing is happening.
But something very important is happening. In the fires of life, in God’s timing, as Swindoll points out, “… we are being strengthened; … we are being established; … we are being perfected; … we are being refined into pure gold.” Joseph in these two years of the grind of prison was being refined in purity and shaped for greatness. And God, The Refiner and Shaper, knew exactly what Joseph would need for His, God’s, purpose ahead.
Swindoll reminds his readers in today’s devotional that Joseph was not the only one in the Bible who had to go through The Refiner’s fire. There was Abraham who had to wait on the birth of his son, Isaac. There was Moses who spent 40 years being refined in the desert as a shepherd before he saw the burning bush. And how about Elijah who waited in anguish by that brook; or Noah who waited 120 years for the rain while building that curious arc? And in the New Testament there was Paul who had to spend three tedious years in Arabia being prepared for ministry after being knocked dramatically off his horse on that road to Damascus.
Getting the picture? As Swindoll insightfully points out, for the present time, the dull burn of life may seem like nothing’s happening; but be assured, the Refiner’s fire is at work. And if we submit to the fire, in God’s time and in His way, the dross of sin and self will be burned away, leaving the refined Christlikeness spoken of in Phil. 1: 6. So, I wait … often impatiently; but I wait to let God shape me into His image … for His purposes.
My Prayer Today: I may not understand Your timing or Your process or Your fire, Lord; but I trust that You are shaping me for Your future and Your glory. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 40: 20 – 41: 1 20 Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21 Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. 41: 1 … 1 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river. [emphasis added in bold/red]
My Journal for Today: Yes, we revisit the same passage as was our focus yesterday; but this time the emphasis is on the short phrase in bold above. And my devotional author, Chuck Swindoll, uses the word picture of the process of gold being refined in fire by noting that Joseph had to endure two long, boring, hard years in the fires of this prison while God refined him for Joseph’s life ahead where he would need to be stronger and purer.
There’s no way to short cut the refining process; and we have to face the fact that God is the refiner. He, alone, is in control of the fire and the timing of the refining process; and as Joseph learned, it can be a long and painful process at times, often without any insight as to why the refining has been undertaken in the way it has or for the length of time involved. Also, during the refinement process, it can seem as if nothing is happening.
But something very important is happening. In the fires of life, in God’s timing, as Swindoll points out, “… we are being strengthened; … we are being established; … we are being perfected; … we are being refined into pure gold.” Joseph in these two years of the grind of prison was being refined in purity and shaped for greatness. And God, The Refiner and Shaper, knew exactly what Joseph would need for His, God’s, purpose ahead.
Swindoll reminds his readers in today’s devotional that Joseph was not the only one in the Bible who had to go through The Refiner’s fire. There was Abraham who had to wait on the birth of his son, Isaac. There was Moses who spent 40 years being refined in the desert as a shepherd before he saw the burning bush. And how about Elijah who waited in anguish by that brook; or Noah who waited 120 years for the rain while building that curious arc? And in the New Testament there was Paul who had to spend three tedious years in Arabia being prepared for ministry after being knocked dramatically off his horse on that road to Damascus.
Getting the picture? As Swindoll insightfully points out, for the present time, the dull burn of life may seem like nothing’s happening; but be assured, the Refiner’s fire is at work. And if we submit to the fire, in God’s time and in His way, the dross of sin and self will be burned away, leaving the refined Christlikeness spoken of in Phil. 1: 6. So, I wait … often impatiently; but I wait to let God shape me into His image … for His purposes.
My Prayer Today: I may not understand Your timing or Your process or Your fire, Lord; but I trust that You are shaping me for Your future and Your glory. Amen
Sunday, January 11, 2009
2009 - Day 11 - Grace To Endure
January 11, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Grace To Endure
Passage of the Day: Genesis 40: 20 – 41: 1 ... 40: 20 Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21 Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. 41: 1 … 1 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river.
My Journal for Today: Okay, yesterday, and repeated today, we were reminded about the story of our protagonist, Joseph, being passed over and forgotten by the cupbearer when Pharaoh’s butler was released from prison. Joseph had confidently told him of God’s interpretation of the dream which would have this man being forgiven by Pharaoh. And when the cupbearer was released as the dream had indicated, Joseph had to have thought, “Well, here’s my ticket out of here.”
But as Swindoll in his devotional book for today reminds us, Joseph waited and waited and waited. For TWO LONG YEARS he waited; and it would have been very human for him to think, “What gives, God? Why am I being left behind in here?” But he didn’t think that. For those two years, as Swindoll writes, “This remarkable man … continued to wait – to trust – to hope – and to lean on God.” And any of us who have felt or now feel like we’ve been passed over or mistreated or put down, need to see this example of Godly patience in action. As we should know from the truth of 1st Cor. 10: 13 (and you really need to have that one memorized and internalized), God will always give us the grace of endurance if we believe and recognize that He would not have us go through any trial without our being able to, with His faithful help, handle the test.
As I said yesterday, and it’s worthy of repeating, … when we’re being tested by the trials of life, we have to intentionally go into an expectant waiting mode, knowing God’s truth (as we need to have verses like, and I repeat Romans 8: 28 or Proverbs 3: 5, 6 or a Hebrews 13: 5 deeply imbedded in our heart) that He will never abandon us and He always is using our life circumstances to prepare us for HIS future plans and to shape us into HIS image [see Phil. 1: 6]. Instead of relenting to the very natural tendency to say “WHY,” we need to be asking, “WHAT, Lord, do you want me to learn from this which makes me more like You?”
Oh, I know that’s a tough attitude to take or to have. Like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, we don’t want to have to take on God’s cup of trial or testing; but if it’s to be, we have to have our Lord’s, and Joseph’s, attitude of “If it’s Your will, Father, I accept it.”
Two more long years did Joseph languish in that prison where he had been thrown unjustly. Think about it … two more years in that dark, dank, dungeon. Yet, with God’s enabling grace, giving Joseph the power to endure, he waited as God shaped him by this experience. For what he didn’t know; but God’s grace of endurance did allow Joseph to trust that God was testing him through the caldron of life to burn off some dross from his soul, purifying and preparing him for some Godly purpose ahead.
Oh, how I pray that I can have this patient endurance when the tests/trials of life come in the future, no matter how harsh or unjust (from man’s viewpoint) they might be. May I wait and have the hope of a Joseph that I’m being prepared for God’s purposes in His time and in His way.
My Prayer Today: Oh, I don’t want tough trials, Lord; but if they are what You need to shape me to be more like You, bring them on; and give me Your grace of patience to endure. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 40: 20 – 41: 1 ... 40: 20 Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21 Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. 41: 1 … 1 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river.
My Journal for Today: Okay, yesterday, and repeated today, we were reminded about the story of our protagonist, Joseph, being passed over and forgotten by the cupbearer when Pharaoh’s butler was released from prison. Joseph had confidently told him of God’s interpretation of the dream which would have this man being forgiven by Pharaoh. And when the cupbearer was released as the dream had indicated, Joseph had to have thought, “Well, here’s my ticket out of here.”
But as Swindoll in his devotional book for today reminds us, Joseph waited and waited and waited. For TWO LONG YEARS he waited; and it would have been very human for him to think, “What gives, God? Why am I being left behind in here?” But he didn’t think that. For those two years, as Swindoll writes, “This remarkable man … continued to wait – to trust – to hope – and to lean on God.” And any of us who have felt or now feel like we’ve been passed over or mistreated or put down, need to see this example of Godly patience in action. As we should know from the truth of 1st Cor. 10: 13 (and you really need to have that one memorized and internalized), God will always give us the grace of endurance if we believe and recognize that He would not have us go through any trial without our being able to, with His faithful help, handle the test.
As I said yesterday, and it’s worthy of repeating, … when we’re being tested by the trials of life, we have to intentionally go into an expectant waiting mode, knowing God’s truth (as we need to have verses like, and I repeat Romans 8: 28 or Proverbs 3: 5, 6 or a Hebrews 13: 5 deeply imbedded in our heart) that He will never abandon us and He always is using our life circumstances to prepare us for HIS future plans and to shape us into HIS image [see Phil. 1: 6]. Instead of relenting to the very natural tendency to say “WHY,” we need to be asking, “WHAT, Lord, do you want me to learn from this which makes me more like You?”
Oh, I know that’s a tough attitude to take or to have. Like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, we don’t want to have to take on God’s cup of trial or testing; but if it’s to be, we have to have our Lord’s, and Joseph’s, attitude of “If it’s Your will, Father, I accept it.”
Two more long years did Joseph languish in that prison where he had been thrown unjustly. Think about it … two more years in that dark, dank, dungeon. Yet, with God’s enabling grace, giving Joseph the power to endure, he waited as God shaped him by this experience. For what he didn’t know; but God’s grace of endurance did allow Joseph to trust that God was testing him through the caldron of life to burn off some dross from his soul, purifying and preparing him for some Godly purpose ahead.
Oh, how I pray that I can have this patient endurance when the tests/trials of life come in the future, no matter how harsh or unjust (from man’s viewpoint) they might be. May I wait and have the hope of a Joseph that I’m being prepared for God’s purposes in His time and in His way.
My Prayer Today: Oh, I don’t want tough trials, Lord; but if they are what You need to shape me to be more like You, bring them on; and give me Your grace of patience to endure. Amen
Saturday, January 10, 2009
2009 - Day 10 - God At Work
January 10, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: God At Work
Passage of the Day: Genesis 40: 20 - 23 ... 20 Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21 Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
My Journal for Today: After I read verse 23 above, I want to say something like, “Aw, common, God, give the dude a break?” I know, and Swindoll points to the proven adage, that one grows the most and grows the strongest in trials rather than through times fit involving the “warm fuzzies” of life. Great Days with the Great Lives for today points to something I’m sure you know; and that is that many in history have become who they are in greatness due to the tests, trials, and tribulations of their lives. And nobody, certainly, is a better example of this than was Joseph.
Here, in today’s passage, we read of our hero trying to help out this cupbearer-butler for the Pharaoh, even asking the butler to remember Joseph, who knew of and was foretelling this cupbearer’s imminent release from prison. And how was Joseph treated? The dude goes off and forgets Joseph and his plight. As I said above, “Aw, common, God, what’s with this?” Have you ever felt like that? I’ll bet you have.
But then, as Christians, we think of the biblical truths of a Romans 8: 28 or Proverbs 3: 5, 6 or a Hebrews 13: 5; and we know that God was NOT forgetting Joseph. No, God was still at work in Joseph’s life and circumstances. When we face similar negative challenges, in life, we may not be able to perceive God’s WHY, especially when challenges come one after another in life; but somehow we have to come to the realization that God is in the mix with which we’re presented – no matter what it is or how often such things happen. And as we can say with 20/20 hindsight, reading ahead in Joseph’s life, he was being prepared, in attitude and spirit, for the confrontation which would take place with his brothers, who were to come back into his life.
How Joseph dealt with the attitude of that butler would have everything to do with how he would one day handle life when his brothers would show up again. But in that moment of time, when the butler simply passed over and forgot him, it had to hurt. How do we handle the “passovers” in life? Do we trust and know that God is in the midst of disappointments like that experienced by our model, Joseph? I hope and pray that I can grow to be like Joseph; because if I do, I know I’m growing into my goal of Christlikeness.
My Prayer Today: Oh, Lord, help me to see You when You lead me through the valley of the shadows as You did your child Joseph. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 40: 20 - 23 ... 20 Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21 Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
My Journal for Today: After I read verse 23 above, I want to say something like, “Aw, common, God, give the dude a break?” I know, and Swindoll points to the proven adage, that one grows the most and grows the strongest in trials rather than through times fit involving the “warm fuzzies” of life. Great Days with the Great Lives for today points to something I’m sure you know; and that is that many in history have become who they are in greatness due to the tests, trials, and tribulations of their lives. And nobody, certainly, is a better example of this than was Joseph.
Here, in today’s passage, we read of our hero trying to help out this cupbearer-butler for the Pharaoh, even asking the butler to remember Joseph, who knew of and was foretelling this cupbearer’s imminent release from prison. And how was Joseph treated? The dude goes off and forgets Joseph and his plight. As I said above, “Aw, common, God, what’s with this?” Have you ever felt like that? I’ll bet you have.
But then, as Christians, we think of the biblical truths of a Romans 8: 28 or Proverbs 3: 5, 6 or a Hebrews 13: 5; and we know that God was NOT forgetting Joseph. No, God was still at work in Joseph’s life and circumstances. When we face similar negative challenges, in life, we may not be able to perceive God’s WHY, especially when challenges come one after another in life; but somehow we have to come to the realization that God is in the mix with which we’re presented – no matter what it is or how often such things happen. And as we can say with 20/20 hindsight, reading ahead in Joseph’s life, he was being prepared, in attitude and spirit, for the confrontation which would take place with his brothers, who were to come back into his life.
How Joseph dealt with the attitude of that butler would have everything to do with how he would one day handle life when his brothers would show up again. But in that moment of time, when the butler simply passed over and forgot him, it had to hurt. How do we handle the “passovers” in life? Do we trust and know that God is in the midst of disappointments like that experienced by our model, Joseph? I hope and pray that I can grow to be like Joseph; because if I do, I know I’m growing into my goal of Christlikeness.
My Prayer Today: Oh, Lord, help me to see You when You lead me through the valley of the shadows as You did your child Joseph. Amen
Friday, January 09, 2009
2009 - Day 9 - A Positive Attitude
January 9, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: A Positive Attitude
Passage of the Day: Genesis 4: 4 - 19 Go to this hyperlink to read, study, and meditdate on this passage.
My Journal for Today: Norman Vincent Peale became a famous Christian author and speaker in the 1950s by writing a book entitled, The Power of Positive Thinking. Peale was the Joel Osteen of his day; and his positive thinking gospel became all the rage. Now, I’m not an advocate of the “word of faith” teachings which many so-called “Christian” thinkers and teachers put forth, from Peale to Osteen and others. However, in the life of Joseph and in this one passage, we see that having and exercising a positive outlook on life, coupled with a “surrender-mode” attitude in one’s relationship with God, can produce some remarkable outcomes.
What a positive attitude Joseph had, having been unjustly thrown into the slammer at the false accusation of Potiphar’s wife. And that’s in the context of having been thrown into a pit by his brothers and sold into Egyptian slavery. And still, when he was confronted by these two court officers, the butler and baker for the Pharaoh, what is Joseph’s first thought? Was it, “Hey guys, I know how you feel; life is a bummer, isn’t it?” No; almost reflexively Joseph notes these two men are down and out; and with positive gusto, he offers to help.
And as Charles Swindoll points out in his devotional entry for today, what Joseph does to help these men is solid evidence of a positive outlook on life. Because he offers to help these men interpret their dreams. Surely you know or remember what happened the last time Joseph attempted to interpret the dreams of others. It involved his brothers; and what happened? Yes, Joseph was thrown into, as Swindoll writes, “pit city” and sold down the river into Egypt as a slave. So, most of us, given such a history, would be quite fearful, negative, and guarded, being in prison with Joseph’s history, meeting these men who needed to have their dreams interpreted. But not Joseph; … he saw a need and with positive, almost reflexive responsiveness, he responded to help. That’s a God thing; and it was a God-driven choice … a positive choice … to exercise positive faith rather than negatively based fears.
A positive attitude (which I believe is a combination of humility and faith) does not create the power to help others. In others words, faith in action, as some would teach today, does not have power, in and of itself. No, rather, a positive attitude, with choices that act on that attitude, provide the platform to allow God to pour His enabling and empowering grace into the actions which are driven by the positive attitude. Joseph didn’t relent to the natural fears which most of us would have, given his past and present circumstances. Joseph rather becomes a model of being able to see needs and act because of his Godly attitude and his willingness to let God use him.
So, I’m confronted and convicted by this reading and study today. How about you? I have to ask myself, when I see others who are in need and I have a history to recognize their pain or suffering, would I balk and feel an avoidance response; or … would I be able to say, “I know how you feel, let me help!” ? I pray it would be the latter; don’t you? And I know that developing a positive attitude, a God-surrendered attitude (see Phil. 2: 5 and Romans 8: 31), is the foundation for such response.
My Prayer Today: Lord, develop in me a heart of Joseph … to see needs and respond in faith as You can use me to help meet the needs of others. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 4: 4 - 19 Go to this hyperlink to read, study, and meditdate on this passage.
My Journal for Today: Norman Vincent Peale became a famous Christian author and speaker in the 1950s by writing a book entitled, The Power of Positive Thinking. Peale was the Joel Osteen of his day; and his positive thinking gospel became all the rage. Now, I’m not an advocate of the “word of faith” teachings which many so-called “Christian” thinkers and teachers put forth, from Peale to Osteen and others. However, in the life of Joseph and in this one passage, we see that having and exercising a positive outlook on life, coupled with a “surrender-mode” attitude in one’s relationship with God, can produce some remarkable outcomes.
What a positive attitude Joseph had, having been unjustly thrown into the slammer at the false accusation of Potiphar’s wife. And that’s in the context of having been thrown into a pit by his brothers and sold into Egyptian slavery. And still, when he was confronted by these two court officers, the butler and baker for the Pharaoh, what is Joseph’s first thought? Was it, “Hey guys, I know how you feel; life is a bummer, isn’t it?” No; almost reflexively Joseph notes these two men are down and out; and with positive gusto, he offers to help.
And as Charles Swindoll points out in his devotional entry for today, what Joseph does to help these men is solid evidence of a positive outlook on life. Because he offers to help these men interpret their dreams. Surely you know or remember what happened the last time Joseph attempted to interpret the dreams of others. It involved his brothers; and what happened? Yes, Joseph was thrown into, as Swindoll writes, “pit city” and sold down the river into Egypt as a slave. So, most of us, given such a history, would be quite fearful, negative, and guarded, being in prison with Joseph’s history, meeting these men who needed to have their dreams interpreted. But not Joseph; … he saw a need and with positive, almost reflexive responsiveness, he responded to help. That’s a God thing; and it was a God-driven choice … a positive choice … to exercise positive faith rather than negatively based fears.
A positive attitude (which I believe is a combination of humility and faith) does not create the power to help others. In others words, faith in action, as some would teach today, does not have power, in and of itself. No, rather, a positive attitude, with choices that act on that attitude, provide the platform to allow God to pour His enabling and empowering grace into the actions which are driven by the positive attitude. Joseph didn’t relent to the natural fears which most of us would have, given his past and present circumstances. Joseph rather becomes a model of being able to see needs and act because of his Godly attitude and his willingness to let God use him.
So, I’m confronted and convicted by this reading and study today. How about you? I have to ask myself, when I see others who are in need and I have a history to recognize their pain or suffering, would I balk and feel an avoidance response; or … would I be able to say, “I know how you feel, let me help!” ? I pray it would be the latter; don’t you? And I know that developing a positive attitude, a God-surrendered attitude (see Phil. 2: 5 and Romans 8: 31), is the foundation for such response.
My Prayer Today: Lord, develop in me a heart of Joseph … to see needs and respond in faith as You can use me to help meet the needs of others. Amen
Thursday, January 08, 2009
2009 - Day 8 - Ministry In Pain
January 8, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Ministry In Pain
Passage of the Day: Genesis 40: 1 - 3 1 It came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. 3 So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined.
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll reminds me of a truth in this day’s devotional from his book, Great Days with the Great Lives, from which I’ve been studying the life and times of Joseph this month. He points out that often believers, i.e., fellow Christians, find that God has “arranged,” by His awesome timing and Spirit-driven “engineering,” for just the right person or people to be brought into the life of someone who’s experiencing physical or emotional pain or need. Or maybe the Lord arranges for you, with just the right empathy or skill set, to be joined in God’s timing with another who needs what you can give to them to minister to their needs.
That is the case in today’s highlight passage from Gen. 40. Here were two key figures from Pharaoh’s court, his butler and baker, who had, for some reason angered the king; and Pharaoh, having the power to do so, threw these two in prison. And lo and behold, the two landed in prison with Joseph who, if you read on in Gen. 40, had just right God-given abilities to minister to these two. Now as it later turned out Joseph would only be able to reach out to give one of the two comforting news. To the other he would have to prophesy his death. But it was God who clearly brought these two men together with Joseph for God’s later purposes.
Have you ever been in need of comfort or help or direction; and all of sudden there was just the right person who came into your life to give you a lift or directions or help? Or maybe someone’s need was presented to you; and it was clear that God had brought this person before you because you were THE person who could minister to that one’s need.
I have been on both sides of this scenario; and I recall back to 1983 when I was in a spiritual wasteland, recognizing how spiritually weak I was. And one morning a Christian friend, who had heard me speak of my needs, loaned me a cassette tape where I “just happened” to hear a message by a quadriplegic young man who said that he got his strength from Christ. And on that very morning when I heard that tape on the way to work, I arrived at my desk to find a pamphlet lying there, which read, “I can do all things through Christ Who gives me the strength. … Phil. 4: 13.” I then looked at my digital desk clock, which read the month and the day as 4 – 13 [It was April 13th]; and in that moment of “coincidence,” which had been administered by two separate people who gave me the tape and the pamphlet with God’s timing to break me to my core, I went from being an agnostic to a believer; and my life has never been the same.
Never underestimate how God can bring you into the life of someone who needs exactly what you can offer that needy person. Or when you’re down or out, be praying for and on the alert for just the right person to be brought your way by God to address your needs. God’s good at that; so, let Him be the merciful and graceful God He is.
My Prayer Today: Lord, I praise you for your grace in doing for your children what we many times cannot do for ourselves. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 40: 1 - 3 1 It came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. 3 So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined.
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll reminds me of a truth in this day’s devotional from his book, Great Days with the Great Lives, from which I’ve been studying the life and times of Joseph this month. He points out that often believers, i.e., fellow Christians, find that God has “arranged,” by His awesome timing and Spirit-driven “engineering,” for just the right person or people to be brought into the life of someone who’s experiencing physical or emotional pain or need. Or maybe the Lord arranges for you, with just the right empathy or skill set, to be joined in God’s timing with another who needs what you can give to them to minister to their needs.
That is the case in today’s highlight passage from Gen. 40. Here were two key figures from Pharaoh’s court, his butler and baker, who had, for some reason angered the king; and Pharaoh, having the power to do so, threw these two in prison. And lo and behold, the two landed in prison with Joseph who, if you read on in Gen. 40, had just right God-given abilities to minister to these two. Now as it later turned out Joseph would only be able to reach out to give one of the two comforting news. To the other he would have to prophesy his death. But it was God who clearly brought these two men together with Joseph for God’s later purposes.
Have you ever been in need of comfort or help or direction; and all of sudden there was just the right person who came into your life to give you a lift or directions or help? Or maybe someone’s need was presented to you; and it was clear that God had brought this person before you because you were THE person who could minister to that one’s need.
I have been on both sides of this scenario; and I recall back to 1983 when I was in a spiritual wasteland, recognizing how spiritually weak I was. And one morning a Christian friend, who had heard me speak of my needs, loaned me a cassette tape where I “just happened” to hear a message by a quadriplegic young man who said that he got his strength from Christ. And on that very morning when I heard that tape on the way to work, I arrived at my desk to find a pamphlet lying there, which read, “I can do all things through Christ Who gives me the strength. … Phil. 4: 13.” I then looked at my digital desk clock, which read the month and the day as 4 – 13 [It was April 13th]; and in that moment of “coincidence,” which had been administered by two separate people who gave me the tape and the pamphlet with God’s timing to break me to my core, I went from being an agnostic to a believer; and my life has never been the same.
Never underestimate how God can bring you into the life of someone who needs exactly what you can offer that needy person. Or when you’re down or out, be praying for and on the alert for just the right person to be brought your way by God to address your needs. God’s good at that; so, let Him be the merciful and graceful God He is.
My Prayer Today: Lord, I praise you for your grace in doing for your children what we many times cannot do for ourselves. Amen
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
2009 - Day 7 - God's Strategy
January 7, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: God’s Strategy
Passage of the Day: Genesis 39: 20b - 23 But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
My Journal for Today: Have you ever been in a place where you FEEL that God has taken a hike; … like your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling; … like you’ve been left out to dry by your Lord? Aw, common; I’ll bet you have. I certainly have.
Well, others in the Bible were certainly in that place. I think of Elijah (in 1st Kings 19: 4) where he was in that “woe is me” place, asking for God to take his life. Jonah certainly felt abandoned by God down in the belly of that great fish. The great and powerful Moses got to a place where he wanted to die rather than go on. In the NT, Paul has the “woe is me” syndrome in Romans 7. All of these great men of the faith, came to a low place in their lives where they felt impotent and alone, not being able to see God at work in their lives. But not Joseph.
And that’s why I believe that Joseph is a type of Christ in the OT. Joseph ALWAYS put the will of the Father first in his life, no matter what the circumstances were. And in today’s passage we see that he’s been unfairly put in the slammer due to the scheming of Potiphar’s wife; and yet, he looks for God to do business in his life in spite of a woeful set of circumstances. And though this took place centuries before Joseph’s Messiah would come onto the scene in this world, somehow Joseph, I believe led by the Holy Spirit, was able to fulfill the later command of His Lord to “… seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” [You probably have Matt. 6: 33 memorized; don’t you?]
Joseph always was able to have faith that God was there with him and would guide him and deliver him. And that’s exactly what happened in this prison experience. And not only did Joseph prevail; he prospered. The prison warden put Joseph in charge of the other prisoners; and trusted him enough to not even supervise his interactions in the prison. And I believe this speaks volumes about how God can - and will - use His servants when they are tested/tried in the fires of life and have an attitude like that of Christ in the midst of the testing.
When we respond to dire circumstance with humility and childlike faith, as did Joseph and as did Christ, I believe God pours His enabling grace and power into the life of the faithful one. That’s why we read of Romans 8 following the downer Paul, who disclaimed woe in Romans 7. That’s why we read Psalm 51 and 32 documenting David’s rise back to the favor and power of the Lord after the Bathsheba debacle. But Joseph didn’t have those downer times, because he just never relented to “woe is me” FEELINGS. I capitalize the word “feelings” here and “feel” above in my first paragraph, because our selfish human feelings can be tripping points into an attitude where God cannot pour His grace and power into our lives, giving us the power to prevail during ill begotten circumstances.
Joseph prospered in his dire set of circumstances because he just trusted that God was in control and that His Lord would be with him there in prison. It’s an example, as I’ve written before, of whether we can truly believe such truths as Romans 8: 28 or 1st Cor. 10: 13 (which I hope you have in your heart by now). If we believed and surrendered our will and feelings to God, it gives our Lord the signal of obedience to pour all the enabling grace we need to prevail and even to prosper as Joseph did.
Right now, as I type this, 2nd Peter 1: 2 – 4 bubbles into my consciousness, which states …
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, ...
That’s God’s truth, which was spoken hundreds of after Joseph; but he still believed it and lived it in his day. The question is, "WILL I?”
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to be humble so that you can pour Your grace into my life and I can prevail, … even in the worst of circumstances. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 39: 20b - 23 But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
My Journal for Today: Have you ever been in a place where you FEEL that God has taken a hike; … like your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling; … like you’ve been left out to dry by your Lord? Aw, common; I’ll bet you have. I certainly have.
Well, others in the Bible were certainly in that place. I think of Elijah (in 1st Kings 19: 4) where he was in that “woe is me” place, asking for God to take his life. Jonah certainly felt abandoned by God down in the belly of that great fish. The great and powerful Moses got to a place where he wanted to die rather than go on. In the NT, Paul has the “woe is me” syndrome in Romans 7. All of these great men of the faith, came to a low place in their lives where they felt impotent and alone, not being able to see God at work in their lives. But not Joseph.
And that’s why I believe that Joseph is a type of Christ in the OT. Joseph ALWAYS put the will of the Father first in his life, no matter what the circumstances were. And in today’s passage we see that he’s been unfairly put in the slammer due to the scheming of Potiphar’s wife; and yet, he looks for God to do business in his life in spite of a woeful set of circumstances. And though this took place centuries before Joseph’s Messiah would come onto the scene in this world, somehow Joseph, I believe led by the Holy Spirit, was able to fulfill the later command of His Lord to “… seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” [You probably have Matt. 6: 33 memorized; don’t you?]
Joseph always was able to have faith that God was there with him and would guide him and deliver him. And that’s exactly what happened in this prison experience. And not only did Joseph prevail; he prospered. The prison warden put Joseph in charge of the other prisoners; and trusted him enough to not even supervise his interactions in the prison. And I believe this speaks volumes about how God can - and will - use His servants when they are tested/tried in the fires of life and have an attitude like that of Christ in the midst of the testing.
When we respond to dire circumstance with humility and childlike faith, as did Joseph and as did Christ, I believe God pours His enabling grace and power into the life of the faithful one. That’s why we read of Romans 8 following the downer Paul, who disclaimed woe in Romans 7. That’s why we read Psalm 51 and 32 documenting David’s rise back to the favor and power of the Lord after the Bathsheba debacle. But Joseph didn’t have those downer times, because he just never relented to “woe is me” FEELINGS. I capitalize the word “feelings” here and “feel” above in my first paragraph, because our selfish human feelings can be tripping points into an attitude where God cannot pour His grace and power into our lives, giving us the power to prevail during ill begotten circumstances.
Joseph prospered in his dire set of circumstances because he just trusted that God was in control and that His Lord would be with him there in prison. It’s an example, as I’ve written before, of whether we can truly believe such truths as Romans 8: 28 or 1st Cor. 10: 13 (which I hope you have in your heart by now). If we believed and surrendered our will and feelings to God, it gives our Lord the signal of obedience to pour all the enabling grace we need to prevail and even to prosper as Joseph did.
Right now, as I type this, 2nd Peter 1: 2 – 4 bubbles into my consciousness, which states …
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, ...
That’s God’s truth, which was spoken hundreds of after Joseph; but he still believed it and lived it in his day. The question is, "WILL I?”
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to be humble so that you can pour Your grace into my life and I can prevail, … even in the worst of circumstances. Amen
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
2009 - Day 6 - God's Unknown Ways
January 6, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: God’s Unknown Ways
Passage of the Day: Genesis 39: 19 - 23 19 So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his anger was aroused. 20 Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison. 21 But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. 23 The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.
My Journal for Today: Perhaps you think you’re having a bad time in life. Things have not gone your way. Maybe circumstances seem like they are Satanic oppression. Perhaps someone or some organization is treating you unfairly. And having read the passage above, I think you know where I’m going with this.
Yeah, … if anyone was treated unfairly; … if anyone had experienced unjust or unfair circumstances in life; … if anyone was ever at the mercy of oppressive forces in life, … it was Joseph. Sold into slavery by hateful, jealous brothers; … restricted in his freedom to live; … forced into prison by a scheming woman and a master who believed her lies. If anyone ever had human reasons to say, “Hey, what’s up, God?!;” it’s Joseph. But as Swindoll points out for our edification and growth in today’s devotional reading from Great Days with the Great Lives, we need to remember the words of Isaiah 55: 8 – 9, which states [NKJV]…
8 “ For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
9 “ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
If you believe, as do I, that this is God’s absolute truth (see 2nd Tim. 3: 16), we need to recognize and acknowledge the contrasts in this passage, as apparently Joseph knew and understood.
We base many of our perceptions of life circumstances on human fairness. Note I say “HUMAN fairness.” And there are times when we simply don’t get it … i.e., God’s ways. We don’t understand God’s thinking in the midst of trying circumstances. We want to cry out, “What’s going on, Lord?!” But we need to recognize that God is God and we are not! And we’re also confronted with the belief/faith challenge as to whether, as Christians, we believe and are going to accept the truth in Romans 8: 28. I’ll link you here to that one [hyperlinked]; but I hope you know it by heart.
Yes, as with Joseph, there are times when God’s ways are simply and inexplicably His; and we become challenged to believe that God is in control and that He’s working things out for our good … even if we are unfairly thrown into the pits of life. I hope you believe and live out the truth of Heb. 13: 5, which is quoted from the OT (Deut. 31: 6, 8 and Joshua 1: 5) that God is in control and He will never leave us nor forsake us. Apparently Joseph not only knew but believed and lived in these truths. Certainly how he lived onward and upward in the face of the challenges we’ve been studying in his life is an example of having faith in God’s sovereign control in life. But I have to ask myself, “Do I believe and live that truth?”
My Prayer Today: My Lord, you are God and I am not! Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 39: 19 - 23 19 So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his anger was aroused. 20 Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison. 21 But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. 23 The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.
My Journal for Today: Perhaps you think you’re having a bad time in life. Things have not gone your way. Maybe circumstances seem like they are Satanic oppression. Perhaps someone or some organization is treating you unfairly. And having read the passage above, I think you know where I’m going with this.
Yeah, … if anyone was treated unfairly; … if anyone had experienced unjust or unfair circumstances in life; … if anyone was ever at the mercy of oppressive forces in life, … it was Joseph. Sold into slavery by hateful, jealous brothers; … restricted in his freedom to live; … forced into prison by a scheming woman and a master who believed her lies. If anyone ever had human reasons to say, “Hey, what’s up, God?!;” it’s Joseph. But as Swindoll points out for our edification and growth in today’s devotional reading from Great Days with the Great Lives, we need to remember the words of Isaiah 55: 8 – 9, which states [NKJV]…
8 “ For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
9 “ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
If you believe, as do I, that this is God’s absolute truth (see 2nd Tim. 3: 16), we need to recognize and acknowledge the contrasts in this passage, as apparently Joseph knew and understood.
We base many of our perceptions of life circumstances on human fairness. Note I say “HUMAN fairness.” And there are times when we simply don’t get it … i.e., God’s ways. We don’t understand God’s thinking in the midst of trying circumstances. We want to cry out, “What’s going on, Lord?!” But we need to recognize that God is God and we are not! And we’re also confronted with the belief/faith challenge as to whether, as Christians, we believe and are going to accept the truth in Romans 8: 28. I’ll link you here to that one [hyperlinked]; but I hope you know it by heart.
Yes, as with Joseph, there are times when God’s ways are simply and inexplicably His; and we become challenged to believe that God is in control and that He’s working things out for our good … even if we are unfairly thrown into the pits of life. I hope you believe and live out the truth of Heb. 13: 5, which is quoted from the OT (Deut. 31: 6, 8 and Joshua 1: 5) that God is in control and He will never leave us nor forsake us. Apparently Joseph not only knew but believed and lived in these truths. Certainly how he lived onward and upward in the face of the challenges we’ve been studying in his life is an example of having faith in God’s sovereign control in life. But I have to ask myself, “Do I believe and live that truth?”
My Prayer Today: My Lord, you are God and I am not! Amen
Monday, January 05, 2009
2009 - Day 5 - The Personal Ramifications
January 5, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: The Personal Ramifications
Passage of the Day: Genesis 39: 19 – 23 19 So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his anger was aroused. 20 Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison. 21 But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. 23 The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.
What must Joseph have been thinking when, after doing the right thing, he was incarcerated by his master, who believed the lies of his scheming and unfaithful wife. Yet, even then Joseph sensed and believed that God was in the midst of his circumstances; and he let God work out the details and did all he could to remain steadfast and be a good servant of his Lord.
Swindoll points out that ultimately the personal ramifications for impurity or infidelity are too high for any Christian to yield to temptation, especially like that Joseph had encountered, … the very personal temptation which sexual lures present in our lives. Swindoll writes, mostly to married Christian men, “The greatest gift you can give to your marriage partner is your purity, … your fidelity. The greatest character trait you can provide your spouse and your family is moral and ethical self control.” And to this, especially having been delivered by God from years of habitual sexual sin to lead BattlePlan Ministries, I would proclaim a very loud “AMEN!!!”
Even if one’s resistance of temptation is misperceived by the world, as it was in Joseph’s case. Even when one is unjustly punished by the world, as it was for Joseph; God will never abandon – and will actually honor – the steadfast believer who runs from temptation to glorify God. And we see that is what transpired for Joseph. God, in His timing, took a bad set of circumstances, i.e., Joseph’s conviction and incarceration, and raised up Joseph to serve the Lord in prison. And later, reading ahead to Gen. 41, we’ll see that these circumstances seasoned and grew Joseph to serve Pharaoh and to glorify God even more with a life of purity, self-control, and forgiveness.
Again Swindoll’s wise words from his devotional entry for this day: “Whatever your situation, no matter how alluring or pleasurable or momentarily delightful the bait looks, don’t linger. Claim the supernatural strength that comes from knowing Jesus Christ and, operating under the control of His power, stand strong in His might. … Determine to be a Joseph. Make up your mind to join God’s ranks - … resist. … Otherwise, you will yield. It’s only a matter of time.”
And these are very wise words. Having been there … and done that … on both sides of that fence, I know!
My Prayer Today: Steel me to resist the lures of my enemies, Lord. Let my life be a witness of self control in Your Name. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 39: 19 – 23 19 So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me after this manner,” that his anger was aroused. 20 Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison. 21 But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. 23 The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.
What must Joseph have been thinking when, after doing the right thing, he was incarcerated by his master, who believed the lies of his scheming and unfaithful wife. Yet, even then Joseph sensed and believed that God was in the midst of his circumstances; and he let God work out the details and did all he could to remain steadfast and be a good servant of his Lord.
Swindoll points out that ultimately the personal ramifications for impurity or infidelity are too high for any Christian to yield to temptation, especially like that Joseph had encountered, … the very personal temptation which sexual lures present in our lives. Swindoll writes, mostly to married Christian men, “The greatest gift you can give to your marriage partner is your purity, … your fidelity. The greatest character trait you can provide your spouse and your family is moral and ethical self control.” And to this, especially having been delivered by God from years of habitual sexual sin to lead BattlePlan Ministries, I would proclaim a very loud “AMEN!!!”
Even if one’s resistance of temptation is misperceived by the world, as it was in Joseph’s case. Even when one is unjustly punished by the world, as it was for Joseph; God will never abandon – and will actually honor – the steadfast believer who runs from temptation to glorify God. And we see that is what transpired for Joseph. God, in His timing, took a bad set of circumstances, i.e., Joseph’s conviction and incarceration, and raised up Joseph to serve the Lord in prison. And later, reading ahead to Gen. 41, we’ll see that these circumstances seasoned and grew Joseph to serve Pharaoh and to glorify God even more with a life of purity, self-control, and forgiveness.
Again Swindoll’s wise words from his devotional entry for this day: “Whatever your situation, no matter how alluring or pleasurable or momentarily delightful the bait looks, don’t linger. Claim the supernatural strength that comes from knowing Jesus Christ and, operating under the control of His power, stand strong in His might. … Determine to be a Joseph. Make up your mind to join God’s ranks - … resist. … Otherwise, you will yield. It’s only a matter of time.”
And these are very wise words. Having been there … and done that … on both sides of that fence, I know!
My Prayer Today: Steel me to resist the lures of my enemies, Lord. Let my life be a witness of self control in Your Name. Amen
Sunday, January 04, 2009
2009 - Day 4 - Run for Your Life!
January 4, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Run for Your Life!
Passage of the Day: Gen. 39: 6 - 18 [For the sake of space in this journal entry, I will leave it to any reader to digest and mediate on this passage. I will link you here to this passage . ]
My Journal for Today: Any readers with me have probably read the highlight passage cited today. And for those who are involved in the ministry I’m called to lead, BattlePlan Ministry, this passage reveals one of our primary battle strategies … to run for your life in the face of sensual temptations.
Swindoll: “The appeal of sensual lust works like a magnet, drawing two ‘sudden and fierce’ forces toward one another – the inner desire and the outer bait.” And our devotional author is right, … one cannot escape the lure of sexual temptation in today’s world. It’s all around us; and it continually and persistently baits us to succumb to its lure. This was Joseph’s problem from an aggressive and lustful pursuit from Potiphar’s wife. This lovely lass not only came on to Joseph; but she came after him; and finally, after Joseph had resisted her advances over and over, the wife of Joseph’s master, who had been stalking her prey for some time, got him into a very compromising situation. And Joseph’s reaction was a model of what ours should be. He cut … and ran!
In BattlePlan Ministries, we call this the “2.2:22” battle strategy. And this comes from a NT passage, 2nd Tim. 2: 22, which says, “Flee … youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness,… " In life and reality, fleeing any sin choice which lures our sensual sin nature should be our first line of defense. Joseph’s example should be our first choice of action when (not if) we are tempted toward sexual sin. That should have been David’s response when he looked over his balcony that day and saw the lovely Bathsheba bathing; but he pondered there, taking in that sensual sight; and we know the rest of that story and the results of David not fleeing from his own lustful heart.
We need not dwell on this. As the old Nike commercial used to say, “Just do it!” And if you know that you have a past history of falling prey to sensual temptations, do all you can PROACTIVELY to develop specific – yes, even written – battle strategies on how you’re going to avoid potential lures in your life. Some of these may be repetitive “triggers;” and if that’s the case you can do some preplanning to develop “cut-n-run” strategies. Yes, … there may be time when you have to stand and fight; and that lesson is for another day because Christians can fight and win such battles. But once again, the first thing to do is to RUN, RUN, RUN!!!
Swindoll has a very practical note at the end of his devotional today; and I reinforce what he writes with my experience as well. He posits, “I have discovered you cannot yield to sensuality if you’re running away from it. So? Run for your life! Get out of there! If you try to reason with lust or play around with sensual thoughts, you will finally yield. You can’t fight it. That’s why the Spirit of God forcefully commands, ‘Run!’”
I need say no more.
My Prayer Today: My Savior, this is a lesson to which I must continually surrender my will to Yours. So, Lord, show me the way to run first and think later! Amen
Passage of the Day: Gen. 39: 6 - 18 [For the sake of space in this journal entry, I will leave it to any reader to digest and mediate on this passage. I will link you here to this passage . ]
My Journal for Today: Any readers with me have probably read the highlight passage cited today. And for those who are involved in the ministry I’m called to lead, BattlePlan Ministry, this passage reveals one of our primary battle strategies … to run for your life in the face of sensual temptations.
Swindoll: “The appeal of sensual lust works like a magnet, drawing two ‘sudden and fierce’ forces toward one another – the inner desire and the outer bait.” And our devotional author is right, … one cannot escape the lure of sexual temptation in today’s world. It’s all around us; and it continually and persistently baits us to succumb to its lure. This was Joseph’s problem from an aggressive and lustful pursuit from Potiphar’s wife. This lovely lass not only came on to Joseph; but she came after him; and finally, after Joseph had resisted her advances over and over, the wife of Joseph’s master, who had been stalking her prey for some time, got him into a very compromising situation. And Joseph’s reaction was a model of what ours should be. He cut … and ran!
In BattlePlan Ministries, we call this the “2.2:22” battle strategy. And this comes from a NT passage, 2nd Tim. 2: 22, which says, “Flee … youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness,… " In life and reality, fleeing any sin choice which lures our sensual sin nature should be our first line of defense. Joseph’s example should be our first choice of action when (not if) we are tempted toward sexual sin. That should have been David’s response when he looked over his balcony that day and saw the lovely Bathsheba bathing; but he pondered there, taking in that sensual sight; and we know the rest of that story and the results of David not fleeing from his own lustful heart.
We need not dwell on this. As the old Nike commercial used to say, “Just do it!” And if you know that you have a past history of falling prey to sensual temptations, do all you can PROACTIVELY to develop specific – yes, even written – battle strategies on how you’re going to avoid potential lures in your life. Some of these may be repetitive “triggers;” and if that’s the case you can do some preplanning to develop “cut-n-run” strategies. Yes, … there may be time when you have to stand and fight; and that lesson is for another day because Christians can fight and win such battles. But once again, the first thing to do is to RUN, RUN, RUN!!!
Swindoll has a very practical note at the end of his devotional today; and I reinforce what he writes with my experience as well. He posits, “I have discovered you cannot yield to sensuality if you’re running away from it. So? Run for your life! Get out of there! If you try to reason with lust or play around with sensual thoughts, you will finally yield. You can’t fight it. That’s why the Spirit of God forcefully commands, ‘Run!’”
I need say no more.
My Prayer Today: My Savior, this is a lesson to which I must continually surrender my will to Yours. So, Lord, show me the way to run first and think later! Amen
Saturday, January 03, 2009
2009 - Day 3 - Temptations of Prosperity
January 3, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Temptations of Prosperity
Passage of the Day: Genesis 37: 36 ... 36 Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
Genesis 39: 1 – 6 … 1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. 2 The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. 5 So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field. 6 Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll, in his devotional entry for today, has hit a nail of truth right on the head; and it’s one I have to remain vigilant about continually. The truth is that the temptations of life seem to come much more readily and with more potency in times of success rather than in times of trial.
To make the point, Swindoll quotes F. B. Meyer, whom he believes writes insightfully, saying, “We may expect temptation in the days of prosperity and ease rather than those of privation and toil … not where men frown, but where they smile sweet smiles of flattery – it is there, that the temptress lies in wait! Beware!”
And to this wise man, I would say a hearty “AMEN!” However Swindoll’s January 3 devotional goes on and quotes the Scottish essayist, Thomas Carlyle, who, on this matter, wrote, “Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there a hundred that will stand adversity.”
And I say another “AMEN!” Like me, I’d almost bet (if I were a betting man) that any who read here can think of many lessons of life which you have learned from testing and trial; but it’s hard to conjure up any jewels of wisdom which have been uncovered from times of success … other than how some of our worst times of temptation have come during those times when we were riding high with success and self confidence.
For the Christian, as for a believer like Joseph, when we are feeling as if God has smiled on us with success, we should learn to hoist and fly the red flag of danger; because I believe that it is in these times of success, especially prosperity as viewed by the world, that we become the most vulnerable to our own pride. And I would hope by now that my readers here have learned the truth of Prov. 3: 34, which was quoted in the NT writings of James 4: 6 and 1st Peter 5: 6-7. Those would be good truths to bury deeply in your heart as they proclaim that “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Think about that. I would assume that you, like me, desire to have as much of God’s enabling grace as you can glean from your relationship with the Lord. Well, if we go by the truth of Prov. 3: 34, and we know that worldly success breeds pride, we should be in full DANGER ALERT when the good times roll in our lives.
It’s not that we should court privation or to avoid success as the world sees prosperity. But what we should be courting is Godly success and prosperity; and that is being able to carry out the will of God for our lives, … not being judged by worldly standards of success. In fact my own personal definition of success is as follows: … SUCCESS IS THE PROGRESSIVE REALIZATION OF GOD’S WILL FOR MY LIFE. I’m learning – now in my gray-haired years – to become vigilant and guarded when the circumstances of life pour worldly success my way. I want to know what God’s direction is for my life (see Prov. 3: 5-6); and if I’m following my Lord (see Luke 9: 23), I KNOW that I’m a success in God’s eyes.
So, how does one do that? Well, I have to believe that Joseph was a man of God’s word; because I know and I’ve lived in the truth of Joshua 1: 8. You go look that one up and meditate on Gods’ truth from this passage. It gives God’s prescription for success in following God’s will; and that certainly is a good way to begin or to be recommitted toward in this New Year. And it is to that end, I will pursue God’s will, in His way, from His word.
My Prayer Today: Lord, … help me to be vigilant and wary of worldly tokens of success. Stay with me in Your word so that I may find and stay the course with Your will for my life. In doing that, I know I will be a success in Your eyes. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 37: 36 ... 36 Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
Genesis 39: 1 – 6 … 1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. 2 The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. 5 So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field. 6 Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll, in his devotional entry for today, has hit a nail of truth right on the head; and it’s one I have to remain vigilant about continually. The truth is that the temptations of life seem to come much more readily and with more potency in times of success rather than in times of trial.
To make the point, Swindoll quotes F. B. Meyer, whom he believes writes insightfully, saying, “We may expect temptation in the days of prosperity and ease rather than those of privation and toil … not where men frown, but where they smile sweet smiles of flattery – it is there, that the temptress lies in wait! Beware!”
And to this wise man, I would say a hearty “AMEN!” However Swindoll’s January 3 devotional goes on and quotes the Scottish essayist, Thomas Carlyle, who, on this matter, wrote, “Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there a hundred that will stand adversity.”
And I say another “AMEN!” Like me, I’d almost bet (if I were a betting man) that any who read here can think of many lessons of life which you have learned from testing and trial; but it’s hard to conjure up any jewels of wisdom which have been uncovered from times of success … other than how some of our worst times of temptation have come during those times when we were riding high with success and self confidence.
For the Christian, as for a believer like Joseph, when we are feeling as if God has smiled on us with success, we should learn to hoist and fly the red flag of danger; because I believe that it is in these times of success, especially prosperity as viewed by the world, that we become the most vulnerable to our own pride. And I would hope by now that my readers here have learned the truth of Prov. 3: 34, which was quoted in the NT writings of James 4: 6 and 1st Peter 5: 6-7. Those would be good truths to bury deeply in your heart as they proclaim that “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Think about that. I would assume that you, like me, desire to have as much of God’s enabling grace as you can glean from your relationship with the Lord. Well, if we go by the truth of Prov. 3: 34, and we know that worldly success breeds pride, we should be in full DANGER ALERT when the good times roll in our lives.
It’s not that we should court privation or to avoid success as the world sees prosperity. But what we should be courting is Godly success and prosperity; and that is being able to carry out the will of God for our lives, … not being judged by worldly standards of success. In fact my own personal definition of success is as follows: … SUCCESS IS THE PROGRESSIVE REALIZATION OF GOD’S WILL FOR MY LIFE. I’m learning – now in my gray-haired years – to become vigilant and guarded when the circumstances of life pour worldly success my way. I want to know what God’s direction is for my life (see Prov. 3: 5-6); and if I’m following my Lord (see Luke 9: 23), I KNOW that I’m a success in God’s eyes.
So, how does one do that? Well, I have to believe that Joseph was a man of God’s word; because I know and I’ve lived in the truth of Joshua 1: 8. You go look that one up and meditate on Gods’ truth from this passage. It gives God’s prescription for success in following God’s will; and that certainly is a good way to begin or to be recommitted toward in this New Year. And it is to that end, I will pursue God’s will, in His way, from His word.
My Prayer Today: Lord, … help me to be vigilant and wary of worldly tokens of success. Stay with me in Your word so that I may find and stay the course with Your will for my life. In doing that, I know I will be a success in Your eyes. Amen
Friday, January 02, 2009
2009 - Day 2 - Lessons in Adversity
January 2, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Lessons In Adversity
Passage of the Day: Gen. 37: 5 - 36 [For the sake of space in this journal entry, I will leave it to any reader to digest and mediate on this passage, especially noting the verses referenced in today’s journal below. Let me link you to Genesis 37 - NKJV - for your mediation.]
My Journal for Today: For any readers here, I know that’s a long passage; and yes, reading through the Old Testament telling of Joseph’s life does take some time. But agreeing with Swindoll in his devotional for this date in Great Days with the Great Lives, we learn that following Joseph and his family teaches us some significant lessons, especially those of us who are parents or grandparents.
First, we read in today’s passage that families, especially parents, cannot allow passivity to creep into the parenting of children. Reading in Genesis 37 we see that Jacob, the head of his family, did little to intervene when he learned that Joseph had a dream which inflamed Joseph’s brothers. And anytime a parent allows a matter like this to fester and grow in a family, the result could, and usually does, lead to bad outcomes in time. And we certainly read what happens when Jacob set aside this issue of Jacob’s dream, merely keeping them in mind and taking no parental leadership to quell the envy which resulted. (see v. 10)
Secondly, v. 10 also shows us that Jacob knew of the envy of Jacob’s brothers for the younger Joseph; and as I’ve indicated, he did little or nothing to deal with this jealousy. Take it from experience, there is likely no greater emotional cancer that can destroy relationships any more that jealousy. And we see how this cancer, unchecked or abated by Jacob in his family, grew into a destructive force for Joseph’s brothers, finally leading them to sell him into slavery in Egypt. No parent can stand by in passivity and do nothing when he/she sees that envy or jealousy has reared its destructive head. Like any cancer it must be quickly and effectively cut out, even if it means ruffled or hurt feelings in the process.
But even learning those lessons from the negatives, we can speculate from today’s reference passage about one powerful process which showed itself when adversity came into Jacob’s family; and that was how Jacob and Joseph turned to God when they were overwhelmed with either grief, as in Jacob’s circumstances with his perceived loss of a child or with a horrible miscarriage of justice which Joseph faced when he was sold into slavery by his brothers.
Though it is not directly explained in today’s passage, we know from Hebrew tradition and religious culture that when a grieving Hebrew father tore his clothes and put on sack cloth to grieve (see v. 34), this was ALWAYS accompanied by prayer. And also in Joseph’s condition of family loss, I can only imagine, with the faith we know that Joseph exhibited in the Genesis account of his life, that he turned his condition over to God in prayer. And we’ll see, later in this study (reading ahead a bit as I have), that Joseph’s prayers would ultimately be answered in the reuniting of his family.
So, as a parent and grandparent, I learn from this passage, and the witness of these lives, that we parents cannot passively stand by and do nothing when we see a spirit of jealousy creep in to our family to damage the relationships of those in our family. We must act swiftly, and the most important part of this action should be prayer, surrendering our actions and decisions to God’s guidance and direction.
This, to me, as a Christian parent, is a lesson we learn from a truth like that from Prov. 3: 5 – 6, which exhorts believers to trust God, leaning on HIS leading, and decisively taking action to follow God’s lead. And all of Psalm 119 cries out to follow God’s word in this process, being obedient to its truth and letting God’s truth guide us out of passivity into Godly decisions and actions.
My Prayer Today: Lord, keep me from being passive when I see ungodliness growing in my family. Help me to follow the light of Your truth; and to lead in my family to honor and glorify Your Name. Amen
Passage of the Day: Gen. 37: 5 - 36 [For the sake of space in this journal entry, I will leave it to any reader to digest and mediate on this passage, especially noting the verses referenced in today’s journal below. Let me link you to Genesis 37 - NKJV - for your mediation.]
My Journal for Today: For any readers here, I know that’s a long passage; and yes, reading through the Old Testament telling of Joseph’s life does take some time. But agreeing with Swindoll in his devotional for this date in Great Days with the Great Lives, we learn that following Joseph and his family teaches us some significant lessons, especially those of us who are parents or grandparents.
First, we read in today’s passage that families, especially parents, cannot allow passivity to creep into the parenting of children. Reading in Genesis 37 we see that Jacob, the head of his family, did little to intervene when he learned that Joseph had a dream which inflamed Joseph’s brothers. And anytime a parent allows a matter like this to fester and grow in a family, the result could, and usually does, lead to bad outcomes in time. And we certainly read what happens when Jacob set aside this issue of Jacob’s dream, merely keeping them in mind and taking no parental leadership to quell the envy which resulted. (see v. 10)
Secondly, v. 10 also shows us that Jacob knew of the envy of Jacob’s brothers for the younger Joseph; and as I’ve indicated, he did little or nothing to deal with this jealousy. Take it from experience, there is likely no greater emotional cancer that can destroy relationships any more that jealousy. And we see how this cancer, unchecked or abated by Jacob in his family, grew into a destructive force for Joseph’s brothers, finally leading them to sell him into slavery in Egypt. No parent can stand by in passivity and do nothing when he/she sees that envy or jealousy has reared its destructive head. Like any cancer it must be quickly and effectively cut out, even if it means ruffled or hurt feelings in the process.
But even learning those lessons from the negatives, we can speculate from today’s reference passage about one powerful process which showed itself when adversity came into Jacob’s family; and that was how Jacob and Joseph turned to God when they were overwhelmed with either grief, as in Jacob’s circumstances with his perceived loss of a child or with a horrible miscarriage of justice which Joseph faced when he was sold into slavery by his brothers.
Though it is not directly explained in today’s passage, we know from Hebrew tradition and religious culture that when a grieving Hebrew father tore his clothes and put on sack cloth to grieve (see v. 34), this was ALWAYS accompanied by prayer. And also in Joseph’s condition of family loss, I can only imagine, with the faith we know that Joseph exhibited in the Genesis account of his life, that he turned his condition over to God in prayer. And we’ll see, later in this study (reading ahead a bit as I have), that Joseph’s prayers would ultimately be answered in the reuniting of his family.
So, as a parent and grandparent, I learn from this passage, and the witness of these lives, that we parents cannot passively stand by and do nothing when we see a spirit of jealousy creep in to our family to damage the relationships of those in our family. We must act swiftly, and the most important part of this action should be prayer, surrendering our actions and decisions to God’s guidance and direction.
This, to me, as a Christian parent, is a lesson we learn from a truth like that from Prov. 3: 5 – 6, which exhorts believers to trust God, leaning on HIS leading, and decisively taking action to follow God’s lead. And all of Psalm 119 cries out to follow God’s word in this process, being obedient to its truth and letting God’s truth guide us out of passivity into Godly decisions and actions.
My Prayer Today: Lord, keep me from being passive when I see ungodliness growing in my family. Help me to follow the light of Your truth; and to lead in my family to honor and glorify Your Name. Amen
Thursday, January 01, 2009
2009 - Day 1 - God's Training Manual
For the New Year …
An Introduction for my Devotional Journal: For five years I used one devotional book, Strength For Today, authored by John MacArthur in 1997. It has gotten a bit tattered and torn; but it served me well in these last few years to go deeper and deeper into my relationship with Christ; and I believe it did, in fact, help to build more strength into my Christian walk. I’ve used other good devotional books in the past, authored by Christian luminaries like Billy Graham, Oswald Chambers, Charles Spurgeon, A. W. Tozer, Joni Eareckson Tada, etc. However, this year I move on to a new book authored by Charles (Chuck) Swindoll, entitled Great Days with the Great Lives.
But some things don’t change. In my daily time with God each morning, it has become my discipline, beginning with morning prayer, to set my devotional table with one overriding prayer request. And in this regard I pray with expectation a prayer based on James 1: 5-6, where the brother of Jesus declares, “ 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." For any who might be reading along with me here, it is my desire, more than anything in my daily quiet time with God, to know Him more on that day than the day before; and over the years, He has shown me that when I come fervently seeking His mind and expecting that He will yield His wisdom to me, He fulfills the promise of those words above from James.
Secondly in prayer, each day I also go through a mental/spiritual ritual of “getting dressed” in God’s full armor, as spelled out in Ephesians 6: 13 - 18. Being the called leader of a world-wide outreach, Battle Plan Ministry, a ministry that is hated by Satan, it is essential that I go into each day fully dressed for spiritual warfare. Therefore, I fortify my battle readiness with this dressing discipline in prayer. I would exhort any devotional warrior to get ready for each day’s battle by putting on the full armor of God (ALL OF IT) and sharpening one’s Spirit Sword; because every day, the battle is on!
Finally, I let the Spirit of God guide me with prayers involving praise, thanks, and supplication which focus on my wife, family, ministry, church, and the many needs of those my life touches. And so, after my initial prayer time, I’m ready to enter into my daily time in God’s word, which has grown to give me an attitude of expectation each day, thinking, “Lord, bring it on! What are You going to bring to my heart and mind today that I can use for my spiritual battle, for growth, and to glorify You?” And He always – and I mean ALWAYS – shows up in my heart and mind to edify me through His word.
Now, as I said above, I will be using Chuck Swindoll’s devotional book to shepherd my daily quest to know God by letting His Spirit lead me through the Holy Scriptures which Swindoll has chosen to illustrate the biblical luminaries he has chosen for his devotional book, as well as those Scriptures God leads me toward in my daily study, the latter being many passages and verses I have memorized over the years. Therefore, my time every morning is always an exciting period of time for me; and I love to let God’s word convict me, shape me, direct me or even rebuke me [as it says in 2nd Tim. 3: 16 – 17 – one of those landmark memory verses which I hope you have memorized]. Sometimes these daily treks into God’s word can be painful; but they are always meaningful.
Now, as it has been my discipline in the past, I will be reading the daily devotional from my focus devotional, in this case Great Days with the Great Lives, meditating on what the author wrote for each day in the context of the biographical topics Swindoll has constructed in his book to help Christians grow in the reader’s (that’s me) relationship with Christ. Each day Swindoll uses a segment from God’s word, many times delving deeply into a passage of scripture to illustrate, in depth, many facets of some of the great characters of the Bible … like Joseph, who will be his focus character for January.
Usually in this daily study, as I’ve done in the past, one will not only find the verse or passage of the day instructive, but there may be a number of other passages of scripture which surface to edify a seeker like me (or maybe you) in building a stronger relationship with Christ. Delving into these scriptures and letting God’s Spirit guide my steps has always produced, with my devotional author’s help, a fresh look at the God, Whom I so desperately desire to know and serve. Each day, after reading from Swindoll’s devotional and mediating on God’s word, I will write my own interpretation [i.e., my journal entry], focusing in my journaling on what God was saying to me personally that very day. Each month, therefore, I will have a journal of God’s application from His word with Swindoll’s teaching and shepherding of the topic which he had chosen to use to help me (and other Christian readers) grow in my (our) relationship with my (our) Lord.
So, I (or if you’re reading with me, “we”) launch into this New Year to find God’s direction for my [our] life. As I journal here each day, I will imagine that someone significant in my life, LIKE YOU, is looking over my shoulder reading what I’m sharing. I will be praying that God will not only reveal His mind to me but that He will use what I write to edify and provide grace to all who might read after me.
Each day, what you read in this document, will reflect years of searching God’s word, which has been filtered through the insights of God’s truth and now with Chuck Swindoll’s help for this humble disciple to grow closer to my Lord. I pray that anyone who might read these entries will be edified as much as I know that I will be by God’s Spirit during my year with God in this upcoming year. … So, we begin with my January first entry [note posting in a separate entry]! … <’BB><
Administrative Note: All Scriptures quoted in my journal entries will be from the New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise referenced.
====================
This Month’s Topic: Joseph: A Man of Integrity & Forgiveness
January 1, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: God’s Training Manual
Passage of the Day: Genesis 37: 1 – 4 1 Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2 This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
My Journal for Today: Joseph is one of the great characters from the Old Testament; and our devotional author, Charles Swindoll, who will be using great Bible characters to illustrate great truths from scripture, has chosen Joseph to begin this trip through the truth of God to help us grow closer to God and be shaped by His Spirit in His image.
Above from Genesis 37, we read of Joseph as a teen shepherd. However, as Swindoll points out in his entry for this date, Joseph’s life was introduced earlier in OT Scripture in Gen. 30 where we read of a storm of angst brewing in Joseph’s family (in Gen. 30: 24 – Gen. 37: 2). Then one can read of the middle young years of Joseph in Gen. 37: 2 – Gen. 41: 46; and finally the later years of this Bible giant, from 30 until Joseph’s death, in Gen. 41: 46 – Gen. 50: 26.
As Swindoll points out, the life of Joseph, as I think we’ll see in the next days, is a character study which will teach us a lot about ourselves as well as to warn us or to exhort us on to Godly character traits which can serve us well in life. I think of other characters in the Old and New Testaments who have been so inspiring and revealing for my life, people like Moses, Daniel, Gideon, Esther, Elijah, Habakkuk, Peter, Paul, Barnabas, James, and others, which just bubbled to my consciousness as I was writing here. Reading and getting to know these characters has really impacted my life. As Swindoll is illustrating here, the study of Bible characters, like Joseph, becomes a TRAINING MANUAL FOR LIFE AND LIVING.
As Swindoll puts it, “That is what these divinely inspired biographies do: they distill truth and weave it into the fabric of every day living.” Then Swindoll quotes Paul from Romans 15: 4, which states: For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. And Swindoll reminds me that the revelation and description of these characters in the Bible, people like Joseph, would not be in Scripture, as we know it now, unless God the Holy Spirit wanted to use their life stories for our edification and our shaping into Christlikeness. Again, I point the truth of 2nd Tim. 3: 16 -17 to support this truth.
So, in looking at Romans 15: 4 (above), we see that God has given us all of Scripture, including the Old Testament, for study and life application, as Swindoll points in two directions: “… for present instruction, and second, for future hope.” So, I look forward to following Swindoll as we go deeper into the lives of the Bible characters, God has given Swindoll to become my (our) TRAINING MANUAL FOR LIFE.
My Prayer Today: Lord, use the characters of Your Word to illuminate Your character for me and use this character study as a manual for my life. Amen
An Introduction for my Devotional Journal: For five years I used one devotional book, Strength For Today, authored by John MacArthur in 1997. It has gotten a bit tattered and torn; but it served me well in these last few years to go deeper and deeper into my relationship with Christ; and I believe it did, in fact, help to build more strength into my Christian walk. I’ve used other good devotional books in the past, authored by Christian luminaries like Billy Graham, Oswald Chambers, Charles Spurgeon, A. W. Tozer, Joni Eareckson Tada, etc. However, this year I move on to a new book authored by Charles (Chuck) Swindoll, entitled Great Days with the Great Lives.
But some things don’t change. In my daily time with God each morning, it has become my discipline, beginning with morning prayer, to set my devotional table with one overriding prayer request. And in this regard I pray with expectation a prayer based on James 1: 5-6, where the brother of Jesus declares, “ 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." For any who might be reading along with me here, it is my desire, more than anything in my daily quiet time with God, to know Him more on that day than the day before; and over the years, He has shown me that when I come fervently seeking His mind and expecting that He will yield His wisdom to me, He fulfills the promise of those words above from James.
Secondly in prayer, each day I also go through a mental/spiritual ritual of “getting dressed” in God’s full armor, as spelled out in Ephesians 6: 13 - 18. Being the called leader of a world-wide outreach, Battle Plan Ministry, a ministry that is hated by Satan, it is essential that I go into each day fully dressed for spiritual warfare. Therefore, I fortify my battle readiness with this dressing discipline in prayer. I would exhort any devotional warrior to get ready for each day’s battle by putting on the full armor of God (ALL OF IT) and sharpening one’s Spirit Sword; because every day, the battle is on!
Finally, I let the Spirit of God guide me with prayers involving praise, thanks, and supplication which focus on my wife, family, ministry, church, and the many needs of those my life touches. And so, after my initial prayer time, I’m ready to enter into my daily time in God’s word, which has grown to give me an attitude of expectation each day, thinking, “Lord, bring it on! What are You going to bring to my heart and mind today that I can use for my spiritual battle, for growth, and to glorify You?” And He always – and I mean ALWAYS – shows up in my heart and mind to edify me through His word.
Now, as I said above, I will be using Chuck Swindoll’s devotional book to shepherd my daily quest to know God by letting His Spirit lead me through the Holy Scriptures which Swindoll has chosen to illustrate the biblical luminaries he has chosen for his devotional book, as well as those Scriptures God leads me toward in my daily study, the latter being many passages and verses I have memorized over the years. Therefore, my time every morning is always an exciting period of time for me; and I love to let God’s word convict me, shape me, direct me or even rebuke me [as it says in 2nd Tim. 3: 16 – 17 – one of those landmark memory verses which I hope you have memorized]. Sometimes these daily treks into God’s word can be painful; but they are always meaningful.
Now, as it has been my discipline in the past, I will be reading the daily devotional from my focus devotional, in this case Great Days with the Great Lives, meditating on what the author wrote for each day in the context of the biographical topics Swindoll has constructed in his book to help Christians grow in the reader’s (that’s me) relationship with Christ. Each day Swindoll uses a segment from God’s word, many times delving deeply into a passage of scripture to illustrate, in depth, many facets of some of the great characters of the Bible … like Joseph, who will be his focus character for January.
Usually in this daily study, as I’ve done in the past, one will not only find the verse or passage of the day instructive, but there may be a number of other passages of scripture which surface to edify a seeker like me (or maybe you) in building a stronger relationship with Christ. Delving into these scriptures and letting God’s Spirit guide my steps has always produced, with my devotional author’s help, a fresh look at the God, Whom I so desperately desire to know and serve. Each day, after reading from Swindoll’s devotional and mediating on God’s word, I will write my own interpretation [i.e., my journal entry], focusing in my journaling on what God was saying to me personally that very day. Each month, therefore, I will have a journal of God’s application from His word with Swindoll’s teaching and shepherding of the topic which he had chosen to use to help me (and other Christian readers) grow in my (our) relationship with my (our) Lord.
So, I (or if you’re reading with me, “we”) launch into this New Year to find God’s direction for my [our] life. As I journal here each day, I will imagine that someone significant in my life, LIKE YOU, is looking over my shoulder reading what I’m sharing. I will be praying that God will not only reveal His mind to me but that He will use what I write to edify and provide grace to all who might read after me.
Each day, what you read in this document, will reflect years of searching God’s word, which has been filtered through the insights of God’s truth and now with Chuck Swindoll’s help for this humble disciple to grow closer to my Lord. I pray that anyone who might read these entries will be edified as much as I know that I will be by God’s Spirit during my year with God in this upcoming year. … So, we begin with my January first entry [note posting in a separate entry]! … <’BB><
Administrative Note: All Scriptures quoted in my journal entries will be from the New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise referenced.
====================
This Month’s Topic: Joseph: A Man of Integrity & Forgiveness
January 1, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: God’s Training Manual
Passage of the Day: Genesis 37: 1 – 4 1 Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2 This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
My Journal for Today: Joseph is one of the great characters from the Old Testament; and our devotional author, Charles Swindoll, who will be using great Bible characters to illustrate great truths from scripture, has chosen Joseph to begin this trip through the truth of God to help us grow closer to God and be shaped by His Spirit in His image.
Above from Genesis 37, we read of Joseph as a teen shepherd. However, as Swindoll points out in his entry for this date, Joseph’s life was introduced earlier in OT Scripture in Gen. 30 where we read of a storm of angst brewing in Joseph’s family (in Gen. 30: 24 – Gen. 37: 2). Then one can read of the middle young years of Joseph in Gen. 37: 2 – Gen. 41: 46; and finally the later years of this Bible giant, from 30 until Joseph’s death, in Gen. 41: 46 – Gen. 50: 26.
As Swindoll points out, the life of Joseph, as I think we’ll see in the next days, is a character study which will teach us a lot about ourselves as well as to warn us or to exhort us on to Godly character traits which can serve us well in life. I think of other characters in the Old and New Testaments who have been so inspiring and revealing for my life, people like Moses, Daniel, Gideon, Esther, Elijah, Habakkuk, Peter, Paul, Barnabas, James, and others, which just bubbled to my consciousness as I was writing here. Reading and getting to know these characters has really impacted my life. As Swindoll is illustrating here, the study of Bible characters, like Joseph, becomes a TRAINING MANUAL FOR LIFE AND LIVING.
As Swindoll puts it, “That is what these divinely inspired biographies do: they distill truth and weave it into the fabric of every day living.” Then Swindoll quotes Paul from Romans 15: 4, which states: For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. And Swindoll reminds me that the revelation and description of these characters in the Bible, people like Joseph, would not be in Scripture, as we know it now, unless God the Holy Spirit wanted to use their life stories for our edification and our shaping into Christlikeness. Again, I point the truth of 2nd Tim. 3: 16 -17 to support this truth.
So, in looking at Romans 15: 4 (above), we see that God has given us all of Scripture, including the Old Testament, for study and life application, as Swindoll points in two directions: “… for present instruction, and second, for future hope.” So, I look forward to following Swindoll as we go deeper into the lives of the Bible characters, God has given Swindoll to become my (our) TRAINING MANUAL FOR LIFE.
My Prayer Today: Lord, use the characters of Your Word to illuminate Your character for me and use this character study as a manual for my life. Amen
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Getting Close to Christ - Dec., 08 - Day 31
December 31, 2008 …
Passage of the Day: Colossians 1: 18 - 19 [see highlight verse in bold/red in the context of the entire passage] … 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, …
My Journal for Today: This is the final devotional study focusing on Christology on the final day of this year. As John MacArthur has chosen to focus his teaching to believers about Christ by using Col. 1: 15 – 19 in these last days of the year; and we read MacArthur in his Strength For Today entry, charging his readers to “… be encouraged to meditate on the glory of Christ as revealed in this passage.” He goes on to write “… doing so will help you be transformed into Christ’s image and will prepare you to behold His glory in Heaven.”
And as we enter into a new year, meditating on the glory of Christ is a wonderful and most practical resolution for next year. For, as we read in Col. 1: 18 above, Christ is the Head of His Body; and we, the Church, make up that Body. Christ is our source and/or our beginning. He is the first and preeminent One from all who have been or ever will be raised from the dead for God’s glory.
Therefore, as we close out one year and enter into another, God’s Spirit leads me in this moment to return to a 19th century hymn, … one that I have quoted several times in my devotionals this past year, with the chorus reading …
-------------
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
-------------
As I’ve said, and hopefully practiced in my devotional life, … given the preeminence of Christ in the heart of any believer, … there can be no more powerful or practical meditation than can be found in the words of that hymn and the hope we have in Christ especially for the New Year.
Everyday this month, I’ve exhorted any who are reading these devotional entries to “stay tuned.” And the only way that I would do this for the New Year would be to say “STAY TUNED to Christ” in your life as you surrender to God’s Spirit and allow The Lord to rule and reign in your heart.
My Prayer Today: I look longingly, Lord, on You for all things in this upcoming new year. Amen
Passage of the Day: Colossians 1: 18 - 19 [see highlight verse in bold/red in the context of the entire passage] … 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, …
My Journal for Today: This is the final devotional study focusing on Christology on the final day of this year. As John MacArthur has chosen to focus his teaching to believers about Christ by using Col. 1: 15 – 19 in these last days of the year; and we read MacArthur in his Strength For Today entry, charging his readers to “… be encouraged to meditate on the glory of Christ as revealed in this passage.” He goes on to write “… doing so will help you be transformed into Christ’s image and will prepare you to behold His glory in Heaven.”
And as we enter into a new year, meditating on the glory of Christ is a wonderful and most practical resolution for next year. For, as we read in Col. 1: 18 above, Christ is the Head of His Body; and we, the Church, make up that Body. Christ is our source and/or our beginning. He is the first and preeminent One from all who have been or ever will be raised from the dead for God’s glory.
Therefore, as we close out one year and enter into another, God’s Spirit leads me in this moment to return to a 19th century hymn, … one that I have quoted several times in my devotionals this past year, with the chorus reading …
-------------
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
-------------
As I’ve said, and hopefully practiced in my devotional life, … given the preeminence of Christ in the heart of any believer, … there can be no more powerful or practical meditation than can be found in the words of that hymn and the hope we have in Christ especially for the New Year.
Everyday this month, I’ve exhorted any who are reading these devotional entries to “stay tuned.” And the only way that I would do this for the New Year would be to say “STAY TUNED to Christ” in your life as you surrender to God’s Spirit and allow The Lord to rule and reign in your heart.
My Prayer Today: I look longingly, Lord, on You for all things in this upcoming new year. Amen
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Getting Close to Christ - Dec., 08 - Day 30
December 30, 2008 …
Passage of the Day: Colossians 1: 17 [see highlight verse in bold/red in the context of the entire passage] … 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, …
My Journal for Today: Today in his Strength for Today devotional entry, John MacArthur highlights and discusses something that is a bit overwhelming in scope for many Christians (well, at least yours truly!) … that Christ holds all that He has created together to fulfill His Covenant plan for all time (see Col. 1: 17). Thinking of the vast expanse of all Christ created in the universe (see John 1: 1 – 3), little ole me would seem to be a very small part of God’s grand cosmic scheme. And one day, as we read in 2nd Peter 3: 10 - 13, God is going to fold all His former creation by fire into nothingness, creating a New Jerusalem (i.e., new Heaven) for His church; and that includes little ole me. And though God is the Alpha and Omega and was/is the great I AM (see Micah 5: 2, Rev. 22: 13, and John 8: 58), He is MY Savior and Lord, making little ole me of infinitely great importance to Him and a very real part of why our Lord will bring down His new Heaven for His Bride (as was promised in John 14: 1 – 4).
Think about this in the grand scheme of the universe. God created little ole ME (and you) for HIS glorious purpose; and so, this makes it a very BIG deal for me to live my life in accord with His purpose (i.e., His will). Meditate on this further! Just as Christ, the Alpha and Omega, will sustain the whole universe He created; so, in His purpose and timing, He will sustain me (and you) as well as part of His very special plan for His Bride.
Really, bringing this into focus makes one realize just how important it is for us to live in pursuit of and vigilance for God’s plan for our lives. That’s what Peter discussed as he referred to Paul’s teachings on this matter (in 2nd Peter 3: 14 – 18); and most certainly it’s all about what Paul was preaching/teaching in a number of his New Testament letters … that our lives are to be lived in obedience to God’s will so that God’s plan for our lives can be fulfilled in our relationship with Christ.
As we enter this upcoming new year, are we, as Christians, aspiring to and living out God’s will for our lives? If not, there is no better place and time for us to make the commitment to do so than right NOW! I pray that I do that; and I pray that you do so as well. But we have one final day this year to concentrate on Christ and what He has done for us as believers; and I would predict that you’ve already said it for me – “… stay tuned!”
My Prayer Today: Hold me, Lord; and sustain me for Your design in Your time. Amen
Passage of the Day: Colossians 1: 17 [see highlight verse in bold/red in the context of the entire passage] … 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, …
My Journal for Today: Today in his Strength for Today devotional entry, John MacArthur highlights and discusses something that is a bit overwhelming in scope for many Christians (well, at least yours truly!) … that Christ holds all that He has created together to fulfill His Covenant plan for all time (see Col. 1: 17). Thinking of the vast expanse of all Christ created in the universe (see John 1: 1 – 3), little ole me would seem to be a very small part of God’s grand cosmic scheme. And one day, as we read in 2nd Peter 3: 10 - 13, God is going to fold all His former creation by fire into nothingness, creating a New Jerusalem (i.e., new Heaven) for His church; and that includes little ole me. And though God is the Alpha and Omega and was/is the great I AM (see Micah 5: 2, Rev. 22: 13, and John 8: 58), He is MY Savior and Lord, making little ole me of infinitely great importance to Him and a very real part of why our Lord will bring down His new Heaven for His Bride (as was promised in John 14: 1 – 4).
Think about this in the grand scheme of the universe. God created little ole ME (and you) for HIS glorious purpose; and so, this makes it a very BIG deal for me to live my life in accord with His purpose (i.e., His will). Meditate on this further! Just as Christ, the Alpha and Omega, will sustain the whole universe He created; so, in His purpose and timing, He will sustain me (and you) as well as part of His very special plan for His Bride.
Really, bringing this into focus makes one realize just how important it is for us to live in pursuit of and vigilance for God’s plan for our lives. That’s what Peter discussed as he referred to Paul’s teachings on this matter (in 2nd Peter 3: 14 – 18); and most certainly it’s all about what Paul was preaching/teaching in a number of his New Testament letters … that our lives are to be lived in obedience to God’s will so that God’s plan for our lives can be fulfilled in our relationship with Christ.
As we enter this upcoming new year, are we, as Christians, aspiring to and living out God’s will for our lives? If not, there is no better place and time for us to make the commitment to do so than right NOW! I pray that I do that; and I pray that you do so as well. But we have one final day this year to concentrate on Christ and what He has done for us as believers; and I would predict that you’ve already said it for me – “… stay tuned!”
My Prayer Today: Hold me, Lord; and sustain me for Your design in Your time. Amen
Monday, December 29, 2008
Getting Close to Christ - Dec., 08 - Day 29
December 29, 2008 …
Passage of the Day: Colossians 1: 16 [see highlight verse in bold/red in the context of the entire passage] … 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, …
My Journal for Today: I think we’ve all, on a clear night, have looked into the night sky, being awe struck by all the stars we see. And then to think that there are billions of galaxies, each of which have millions or billions of stars. Wow!
And the Apostle Paul, through the message of today’s passage to believers at Colosse, wanted to make it clear to Christians who had been exposed to heretical teachings about Jesus that it was Christ who had created all we see in the heavens. However, MacArthur writes something we all need to keep in mind, “Even more amazing is, not that man [sees the stars] or has gone into space, but that God came to earth. In Christ, the invisible God who created everything and everyone became visible to man. How sad that while man looks into space, he refuses to look at the One Who came to earth.” … To any Christian who reads this, do I sense an “AMEN?”
Certainly the lost refuse to worship the God-Man, the One Who became our Savior. But I’m afraid that even Christians all too often do not worship God with the awe Christ, our Creator, deserves. For those who reject Christ’s deity such ignorance of worship is understandable; but we who call Him “Lord” should come to our Savior, before His throne of grace, absolutely and utterly in awe. Think of it! We are able, because of God’s grace, to come to the very Creator of the universe with our any/all of our needs and to petition the exalted Lord Himself.
And yes, in these waning December days there will be a little more opportunity to learn more about Him; so, as I’ve said each day this month, “Stay tuned!”
My Prayer Today: O, Lord, please forgive my pitiful worship. You are the Great I AM; and I bow before You this day. May I live for You as well. Amen
Passage of the Day: Colossians 1: 16 [see highlight verse in bold/red in the context of the entire passage] … 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, …
My Journal for Today: I think we’ve all, on a clear night, have looked into the night sky, being awe struck by all the stars we see. And then to think that there are billions of galaxies, each of which have millions or billions of stars. Wow!
And the Apostle Paul, through the message of today’s passage to believers at Colosse, wanted to make it clear to Christians who had been exposed to heretical teachings about Jesus that it was Christ who had created all we see in the heavens. However, MacArthur writes something we all need to keep in mind, “Even more amazing is, not that man [sees the stars] or has gone into space, but that God came to earth. In Christ, the invisible God who created everything and everyone became visible to man. How sad that while man looks into space, he refuses to look at the One Who came to earth.” … To any Christian who reads this, do I sense an “AMEN?”
Certainly the lost refuse to worship the God-Man, the One Who became our Savior. But I’m afraid that even Christians all too often do not worship God with the awe Christ, our Creator, deserves. For those who reject Christ’s deity such ignorance of worship is understandable; but we who call Him “Lord” should come to our Savior, before His throne of grace, absolutely and utterly in awe. Think of it! We are able, because of God’s grace, to come to the very Creator of the universe with our any/all of our needs and to petition the exalted Lord Himself.
And yes, in these waning December days there will be a little more opportunity to learn more about Him; so, as I’ve said each day this month, “Stay tuned!”
My Prayer Today: O, Lord, please forgive my pitiful worship. You are the Great I AM; and I bow before You this day. May I live for You as well. Amen
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Getting Close to Christ - Dec., 08 - Day 28
December 28, 2008 …
Passage of the Day: Colossians 1: 15b [see highlight verse in bold/red in the context of the entire passage] … 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, …
My Journal for Today: Today’s verse, again from Colossians 1, tells us much about the preeminence of Christ as the God-Man. Paul was writing to the Church about heretics in his day who wanted to deny Christ’s deity, much like the Jehovah-Witness cult would today, using today’s verse as support for their beliefs, saying that the reference to “firstborn” would indicate that Jesus of Nazareth, being a firstborn human, could not therefore be the eternal God.
However, as MacArthur indicates in his Strength for Today entry for this date, such an interpretation and/or translation of Col. 1: 15b, ignores the Greek meaning for the term “firstborn,” which is “prototokos.” This term can, as Jehovah’s Witnesses contend, mean the firstborn in a family, whether human or animal. However, when it refers to royalty or positional authority, in this case referring to Christ’s position in and over creation, it takes on a broader, more encompassing connotation. In the latter case it refers to ranking by inheritance or position; and here Paul is referring to Christ’s ranking as THE ONE with the right of inheritance over all creation.
If any rational person were to study Col. 1: 15 – 17, he/she would see that the context clearly argues against any who would say that Christ couldn’t be God because of His human birth. Rather, we can declare from this text, with Paul, that Christ, though born a human, was, is, and always will be The One from Whom all creation emanates.
I don’t know about you, but this study in Christology this month has been most edifying, reminding me of Who Christ is and what He has done for all mankind in His incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, glorification, and intercession. Just a few more days; but stay tuned for a bit more about our Lord; and learning anything more about The Christ is worth the effort.
My Prayer Today: You are THE ONE, Lord! Amen
Passage of the Day: Colossians 1: 15b [see highlight verse in bold/red in the context of the entire passage] … 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, …
My Journal for Today: Today’s verse, again from Colossians 1, tells us much about the preeminence of Christ as the God-Man. Paul was writing to the Church about heretics in his day who wanted to deny Christ’s deity, much like the Jehovah-Witness cult would today, using today’s verse as support for their beliefs, saying that the reference to “firstborn” would indicate that Jesus of Nazareth, being a firstborn human, could not therefore be the eternal God.
However, as MacArthur indicates in his Strength for Today entry for this date, such an interpretation and/or translation of Col. 1: 15b, ignores the Greek meaning for the term “firstborn,” which is “prototokos.” This term can, as Jehovah’s Witnesses contend, mean the firstborn in a family, whether human or animal. However, when it refers to royalty or positional authority, in this case referring to Christ’s position in and over creation, it takes on a broader, more encompassing connotation. In the latter case it refers to ranking by inheritance or position; and here Paul is referring to Christ’s ranking as THE ONE with the right of inheritance over all creation.
If any rational person were to study Col. 1: 15 – 17, he/she would see that the context clearly argues against any who would say that Christ couldn’t be God because of His human birth. Rather, we can declare from this text, with Paul, that Christ, though born a human, was, is, and always will be The One from Whom all creation emanates.
I don’t know about you, but this study in Christology this month has been most edifying, reminding me of Who Christ is and what He has done for all mankind in His incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, glorification, and intercession. Just a few more days; but stay tuned for a bit more about our Lord; and learning anything more about The Christ is worth the effort.
My Prayer Today: You are THE ONE, Lord! Amen
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Getting Close to Christ - Dec., 08 - Day 27
December 27, 2008 …
Passage of the Day: Colossians 1: 15 [see highlight verse in bold/red in the context of the entire passage] … 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, …
My Journal for Today: Today’s highlight passage to the Colossians (and to all believers) from Paul states, “He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God.” Hebrews 1: 3 states, “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.” And Jesus Himself declared (in John 14: 9), “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” This was true for all those men and women who were blessed to see the live Jesus as He walked the earth. However, as John MacArthur rightfully points out, Christ has been the “image of God” from all eternity, not just from the time of His incarnation, that event of all times which we have just celebrated at Christmas.
As the God-Man, however, Jesus presented all mankind with an exact human “eikon” (Greek for “likeness” from which we get our English word “icon”) in the flesh of the invisible God. He was the invisible God in visible humanity. And now we know that Christ’s claim that He was/is the “I AM” of the Old Testament (see John 8: 58) was true. Jesus of Nazareth was/is God in the flesh, which Paul forcefully and often proclaimed, as he did in today’s text (see also Col. 2: 9 and Titus 2: 13). And that is the image that we, as Christians should reflect as we aspire/attempt to walk in Christlikeness [see Eph. 4: 1-2 and Phil. 2: 5]. When Christ commanded us to shine His light through our good (i.e., Godly) works (as He did in Matt. 5: 16), we need to look no further than to the God-Man model of Jesus Christ to see what kind of light we should be shining into this sin-darkened world so that the lost as well as sinful Christians can see Christ in our lives, glorifying the Father in Heaven.
What about you? Will you join me this day, tomorrow, and into the New Year with the goal of shining the Light of Christ in what we think, say, and do? And to that end, stay tuned as we finish our December study of Christ so that we can be brighter lights in the New Year.
My Prayer Today: O, Lord, shine Your Light through me. Amen
Passage of the Day: Colossians 1: 15 [see highlight verse in bold/red in the context of the entire passage] … 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, …
My Journal for Today: Today’s highlight passage to the Colossians (and to all believers) from Paul states, “He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God.” Hebrews 1: 3 states, “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.” And Jesus Himself declared (in John 14: 9), “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” This was true for all those men and women who were blessed to see the live Jesus as He walked the earth. However, as John MacArthur rightfully points out, Christ has been the “image of God” from all eternity, not just from the time of His incarnation, that event of all times which we have just celebrated at Christmas.
As the God-Man, however, Jesus presented all mankind with an exact human “eikon” (Greek for “likeness” from which we get our English word “icon”) in the flesh of the invisible God. He was the invisible God in visible humanity. And now we know that Christ’s claim that He was/is the “I AM” of the Old Testament (see John 8: 58) was true. Jesus of Nazareth was/is God in the flesh, which Paul forcefully and often proclaimed, as he did in today’s text (see also Col. 2: 9 and Titus 2: 13). And that is the image that we, as Christians should reflect as we aspire/attempt to walk in Christlikeness [see Eph. 4: 1-2 and Phil. 2: 5]. When Christ commanded us to shine His light through our good (i.e., Godly) works (as He did in Matt. 5: 16), we need to look no further than to the God-Man model of Jesus Christ to see what kind of light we should be shining into this sin-darkened world so that the lost as well as sinful Christians can see Christ in our lives, glorifying the Father in Heaven.
What about you? Will you join me this day, tomorrow, and into the New Year with the goal of shining the Light of Christ in what we think, say, and do? And to that end, stay tuned as we finish our December study of Christ so that we can be brighter lights in the New Year.
My Prayer Today: O, Lord, shine Your Light through me. Amen
Friday, December 26, 2008
Getting Close to Christ - Dec., 08 - Day 26
December 26, 2008 …
Passage of the Day: Colossians 1: 15 – 19 … 15 He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, …
My Journal for Today: Okay, we move from Paul’s strong declaration of Christ’s humanity and deity in Philippians 2 to another passage where the Apostle stood strong for the reality and truth of Jesus Christ being the God-Man.
Today, in our post-modern culture, Christians are often challenged by those who deny Christ’s deity, just as Paul was when Epaphrus, the evangelist/founder of the church at Colosse, apparently wrote to Paul about the same type of ill-informed heresy we see now in our post-modern world. Paul writes, from prison in Rome, to his Christian brothers/sisters in Colosse, his spirited defense of true Christian doctrine to help Epaphrus and other Colossian believers to understand that teachings or beliefs which de-emphasize the preeminence of Christ and emphasize human knowledge/understanding are nothing but heresy, concocted by man to elevate himself and to humanize God. As we read in today’s text, Paul stood strong for the truth of Christ’s deity and authority over all things. Actually, today’s passage is a powerful exposition of God’s truth concerning Christ’s deity and preeminent authority as LORD of all.
When we, as assertive believers, witnessing our faith, are confronted by those who choose to ignore the evidence of history and reject the deity of Christ (as I did for many years, calling myself “agnostic”), we, who know and believe the truth, must stand as was exhorted by Peter in 1st Peter 3: 15 – 16, when he wrote, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have [in Christ]. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” And today in our highlight passage in Colossians 1, we have a role model presentation of such a defense of the faith.
For years I did all I could to discount the witness of Christians who tried to stand for their faith when I challenged them with my doubts and questions. I would not listen to their testimonies of how Christ had brought them to a place of faith in His deity or from their stories of His transforming grace. But finally, in 1983, one such testimony of a young quadriplegic man who found His strength in Christ’s grace brought me to a place where I could reach out and find the truth of Christ’s Lordship. But it took many Christians, standing for their faith over many years to break through my veneer of egoism. So, you may encounter those, as I was, who will discount the truth of Jesus being God in the flesh. But stand in your faith! Stand like Paul did for the Colossians, telling the truth of Christ and how He has shaped and changed your life.
There’s great power in a personal testimony. In fact, one might argue about biblical interpretations, claiming (though falsely) that the Bible is irrelevant. But no one can argue with a strongly stated testimony. My testimony is mine! And no one can tell me that my belief in Christ has not changed my life. At 39, I was a hardened and cynical agnostic, deeply entrenched in habitual sin for most of my adult life. My marriage was almost broken; and my career was near the breaking point as well because of my spiritual weakness. And then came Christ; and my surrender to follow Him as my Lord changed everything. And here I am today, writing this as an Ordained Minister of the Gospel and an Elder in my church with a wonderful, renewed marriage and fulfilling life of ministry. Only Christ, and His Lordship in my life, could have shaped the person that is Bill Berry today. A mocker or disbeliever can misinterpret Scripture or foolishly deny the deity of Christ to my face; but, no one could tell me that my story isn’t true! And I hope that you will take any opportunity you might have into this upcoming New Year to declare to those who challenge Christ in your life so that you can let your story tell the truth about Christ’s deity and how He is transforming you.
And with that in mind, we will be exploring more of Paul’s exposition of Christ’s Lordship in his letter to the Colossians; so, yes, … stay tuned!
My Prayer Today: I will stand for You always, Lord. Amen
Passage of the Day: Colossians 1: 15 – 19 … 15 He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, …
My Journal for Today: Okay, we move from Paul’s strong declaration of Christ’s humanity and deity in Philippians 2 to another passage where the Apostle stood strong for the reality and truth of Jesus Christ being the God-Man.
Today, in our post-modern culture, Christians are often challenged by those who deny Christ’s deity, just as Paul was when Epaphrus, the evangelist/founder of the church at Colosse, apparently wrote to Paul about the same type of ill-informed heresy we see now in our post-modern world. Paul writes, from prison in Rome, to his Christian brothers/sisters in Colosse, his spirited defense of true Christian doctrine to help Epaphrus and other Colossian believers to understand that teachings or beliefs which de-emphasize the preeminence of Christ and emphasize human knowledge/understanding are nothing but heresy, concocted by man to elevate himself and to humanize God. As we read in today’s text, Paul stood strong for the truth of Christ’s deity and authority over all things. Actually, today’s passage is a powerful exposition of God’s truth concerning Christ’s deity and preeminent authority as LORD of all.
When we, as assertive believers, witnessing our faith, are confronted by those who choose to ignore the evidence of history and reject the deity of Christ (as I did for many years, calling myself “agnostic”), we, who know and believe the truth, must stand as was exhorted by Peter in 1st Peter 3: 15 – 16, when he wrote, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have [in Christ]. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” And today in our highlight passage in Colossians 1, we have a role model presentation of such a defense of the faith.
For years I did all I could to discount the witness of Christians who tried to stand for their faith when I challenged them with my doubts and questions. I would not listen to their testimonies of how Christ had brought them to a place of faith in His deity or from their stories of His transforming grace. But finally, in 1983, one such testimony of a young quadriplegic man who found His strength in Christ’s grace brought me to a place where I could reach out and find the truth of Christ’s Lordship. But it took many Christians, standing for their faith over many years to break through my veneer of egoism. So, you may encounter those, as I was, who will discount the truth of Jesus being God in the flesh. But stand in your faith! Stand like Paul did for the Colossians, telling the truth of Christ and how He has shaped and changed your life.
There’s great power in a personal testimony. In fact, one might argue about biblical interpretations, claiming (though falsely) that the Bible is irrelevant. But no one can argue with a strongly stated testimony. My testimony is mine! And no one can tell me that my belief in Christ has not changed my life. At 39, I was a hardened and cynical agnostic, deeply entrenched in habitual sin for most of my adult life. My marriage was almost broken; and my career was near the breaking point as well because of my spiritual weakness. And then came Christ; and my surrender to follow Him as my Lord changed everything. And here I am today, writing this as an Ordained Minister of the Gospel and an Elder in my church with a wonderful, renewed marriage and fulfilling life of ministry. Only Christ, and His Lordship in my life, could have shaped the person that is Bill Berry today. A mocker or disbeliever can misinterpret Scripture or foolishly deny the deity of Christ to my face; but, no one could tell me that my story isn’t true! And I hope that you will take any opportunity you might have into this upcoming New Year to declare to those who challenge Christ in your life so that you can let your story tell the truth about Christ’s deity and how He is transforming you.
And with that in mind, we will be exploring more of Paul’s exposition of Christ’s Lordship in his letter to the Colossians; so, yes, … stay tuned!
My Prayer Today: I will stand for You always, Lord. Amen
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