2009 – Day 346.Dec 13 – Anchor of Reality

Passage for Study: Acts 27: 39 - 44 … Acts 27 linked for study …

My Journal for Today: Pastor Swindoll is absolutely right as he writes in today’s devotional, "The best plan for surviving a storm is preparation.” A ship’s captain would never launch his vessel onto the open seas without going over the navigation charts and – these days – checking out the weather forecasts. If you’ve ever been on a cruise vessel, the first thing the crew goes over with the passengers are the emergency procedures. Think about those boring instructions which every flight crew goes over with the passengers on an airplane before the plane gets into the air; and I hope you pay attention to them before that plane takes off: because, though no plane or ship captain would ever want to go through what that pilot did by landing his plane in the Hudson River last year, he was well prepared for the emergency and all of his passengers survived because of his training and his pre-flight preparation. Because that pilot was so well trained and he knew exactly where to land that plane, those passengers all survived.

Today’s title for this devotional is the “Anchor of Reality;” and reality is an anchor as long as we, as Christians, carry that anchor into the reality of our future. As Swindoll points out, ”Passivity is faith’s enemy.” And to that I’d add a Pollyanna attitude that nothing bad will ever happen because we’re in Christ. No, the Boy Scouts have it right in their motto, which takes the anchor of reality into account as it declares … BE PREPARED!

My friend, what are you doing right now to prepare for a potential shipwreck or turbulent flight? When you get on a flight, are you lulled into passivity, apathy, and lack of attention as the crew instructs you on how to prepare for an emergency? Do you know where the nearest emergency exit is? Are you briefed and ready if the ship goes down in water to know where the flotation devices are; and do you know how to use them? Or have you been lulled into that “nothing bad will ever happen to me” attitude, which the enemy will use against you if/when a bad storm develops and the ship goes down.

That crew of that ship Paul was in all made it to shore because of the preparation they had taken just before ship broke up to surrender their leadership to Paul and to join him in prayer to the God of Abraham. My dear friend, what are you doing now, during the calm of life to prepare and make sure that you have the anchor of reality covered in the event your ship of life runs into a really bad storm? And if you’re in the storm right now, you may find, as Swindoll writes, that you’re having to use the pre-planning (or as we call it in our ministry – the “battle planning”) which you had done in the calm of life to deal with the storm.

Maybe you’re now having to find out that you have to humble yourself and find help from a competent Christian counselor to make it through a marital storm. Perhaps, you now recognize that those bad choices you made in the past, when you believed you could get away with some sin, have now come crashing down around you; and you have to take serious emergency procedures to save your marriage, your church, or your very life. That is why it’s best to humble yourself now and take preparatory actions to avoid the storms or to be prepared BEFORE they come your way. As my mentor used to tell me, ”Humble yourself now in your day-to-day worship of God, or He will humble you later when you’ve let pride take you down.”

And so, we need to ask ourselves …
• Am I taking decisive action to avoid the storms by having a disciplined DAILY devotional life and by having a written battle plan to avoid the potential pitfalls of life?
• Is my prayer life going deep to keep me humble and to deepen my relationship with Christ?
• Am I getting to know my God by studying Him through His word?
• Am I worshipping my God everyday by the choices I make, the people I serve, and the actions I use to honor our Lord?
Answers to these questions, by our life choices, will show whether we are carrying the anchors I written about in the last few days, the anchors of STABILITY, UNITY, RENEWAL, and then today, the anchor of REALITY.

If you’re ready for any storm of life because of the daily battle plan or preparation you’re making now to build your faith (i.e., your anchor), then you will not fear any storm which may be brewing ahead for which you cannot plan. And like the ship did when the storm hit Paul and his compatriots, you’ll be able to survive even a shipwreck because you had all the anchors you needed to keep you afloat or to allow you to swim ashore safely.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, when the winds of life blow calm now, keep me humble and ready for any storm ahead by the planning and actions I take now – everyday – to be ready for any storm which might come. Amen

2009 – Day 106.Apr. 17 – God Speaks --- We Respond

2009 – Day 106.Apr. 17 – God Speaks --- We Respond

Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 16: 14 – 23 … Link to passage for study …

My Journal for Today: As I read through today’s highlight passage from 1st Samuel and Chuck Swindoll’s devotional, inspired by this Scripture, the old Scout Motto popped into my head. You probably know it – BE PREPARED ! And that is the theme of the message in this journal entry.

Swindoll puts forth a three point lesson (leave it to a preacher ;>) for this devotional. First he says, “God’s solutions are often strange and simple; so, be open.” And Swindoll is right. We often have a tendency to take a simple command or direction from God and try to make it complex or complicated. How often, as with Samuel, having read about it in past devotionals, God had said to go where the Lord instructed. Samuel did exactly that, which resulted in finding young David in Jesse’s family. So, we, too, need to be open to God when He calls us … and to be ready, … no matter how strange the calling might seem. BE PREPARED!

Next, Swindoll posits, “God’s promotions are usually sudden and surprising; so, be ready.” Often, as I go through life, God somehow leads me back to this message. Just the other night at an Elder meeting in our church, one of my brother Elders gave a devotional with this very message, saying that all of the signs of Christ’s second coming are in place; and it could happen at any time; so, … my brother taught, we need to be doing as it says in 1st Thes. 5: 17, … to be in a vigilant attitude of prayer, contemplation, and readiness. So, … BE PREPARED!

Finally, my devotional author writes, “God’s selections are always sovereign and sure; so, be sensitive.” When God speaks, whenever or wherever it happens, we need to be tuned to His frequency; and I maintain that this can only happen when we are in what I call “surrender mode, “ disciplined into the habit of obedience to God’s word and His way. I firmly believe that knowing and following God’s word is how we stayed tuned to God’s sovereign will and timing. If we are not habitually in God’s word and getting to know it more deeply everyday, and if we rely on our own sensitivity to move through life, we are highly vulnerable to our own deceit-ridden hearts (see Jer. 17: 9). But when we seek God’s will from a disciplined and daily search into God’s word, I believe we become more and more sensitive to God’s way of doing business. Yes, again, … BE PREPARED!

In Revelations 19: 7-9 God’s word speaks of the coming wedding feast of the Lamb of God where our Bridegroom comes again for His Bride (which is you and me, the Church). And in this passage it speaks that we need to have our linens ready, which is our purity and obedience. This means that how we live daily, in pure devotion to our Lord, is our way of being ready for Christ’s return. So, I must ask myself, as should you, “Am I ready? Am I prepared? Any time my God speaks, do I hear? When He calls, do I come? And when He sends me, do I go?” If I can answer “YES” to those questions, I AM READY.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, prepare me for Your coming. It could be today! Amen