Resolve

I am sorry about yesterday, my internet went out Sunday afternoon, and all I had was my phone, and that is a lot of typing to do on a phone.
Right now, I'm kind of feeling like the woman in today's devotion. Several years ago I had an implant put in, it is an electrical stimulator, similar to a pace maker, except there is a battery pack in my hip, with leads attaching to my spinal cord, the electrical impulses interrupt the pain sensations, so I hurt less. Even though the thing is wonderful, about eight weeks after having it put in, I had to go back, because the leads had pulled loose from the spine. For some reason this time, the anesthesia did not work on me, nor were they able to numb the areas using locals. So I was completely awake, and aware of each and every cut, pull, and tug they made on my body. Even as painful as that was, I go through worse pretty often. Anyway, now I have to go back again because the battery pack, has rubbed a hole through my skin, from the inside out. As much as I depend on this thing, I am tempted to tell them to just take it out, I'm tired of being operated on. My resolve has weakened, unlike this woman.
In Matt. 15:24-28, we find Jesus as He left Jerusalem, headed for Tyre and Sidon. When He was approached by a woman of Canaan. Now Canaanites were considered subhuman by the Jews, so when she asked Jesus to cast a demon out of her daughter, she was asking for a lot. Now we all know what Jesus did, he immediately said, Your daughter is healed. No, as a matter of fact, He told her He could only minister to the Jews. She did not back down, she did not turn around and go home, she worshiped Him, and begged even more. Jesus then said something very offensive, He said that you don't take your children's food and give it to dogs. Most of us would get mad and say a few things, and stomp off, not her. She said that is true, but even the dogs get scraps from the masters table. Jesus answered "O woman great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt". And her daughter was free from the demon immediately. Now we see what He was doing, He was testing her faith and resolve. Just as he test ours from time to time.
Do we pass the test, do we stick in there taking the insults, until He smiles and says well done thou good and faithful servant, or do we tuck our tails and run for what we think is safety? I just wonder what He is doing in my life right now, what's He doing in yours?

Trust and Obey

You never know when God is going to give you inspiration for something like this, last night at church we were singing an hymn, and I noticed the verse that went with it, and now here we are.
When we walk with the LORD, In the light of His Word, What a glory He sheds on our way, While we do His good will, and with all who trust and obey trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Let's look at Gen 5:22 and we'll see someone who trusted, and obeyed. God is giving us a lineage of Adam, and out of everyone He mentions, He picks one person to, mention something about their life, "Enoch walked with God". It's hard to believe that out of all those people that only one person, obeyed God. I believe that He is telling us that Enoch went above and beyond what is expected of a human, we after all are just dust, as the Psalmist says. So what was the end result of Enoch's walk with God, in verse 24 it says that even at the end of his life "Enoch walked with God: and he was no; for God took him".
That is the extent of what the Bible mentions of Enoch, no great battles won, no Jews taken out of captivity, nothing special, just that he lived, how long he lived, and his children. What was so special that God took him? He walked with God every single day. Day in, and day out, he consulted God before he made any decision, I doubt they had a written book about God, but if they did he read it daily. Everything he did, he did for the glory of God, he gave his tithe, he taught others about God. He did not have time for facebook, or tv, or email. He was the family member everyone hated to see coming, because they knew he would not shut up about God.
I know I don't walk with God the way I should, what about you? We need to spend more time worrying about what God thinks, and less time on what the world wants from us.

Esaias Said

Good Sunday morning to you, as you prepare to go to church and hear the Word of God preached consider a few things with me. In Mat. 15:7-9 Jesus says "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias (Isaiah), prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." In vain they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, as we go to church we need to make sure that our heart is right with God, and that our churches are based on Biblical doctrine, not what man thinks we are supposed to do.
If you turn over to Is. 29:13, we will look at what Isaiah said about the Israelites in his day. He said the people had removed their hearts from God because, "their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men:". We no longer have to worship out of fear, but because of His mercy and grace, we have so much more reason to keep our hearts turned toward Him.
God told Ezekiel to preach to the people and warn them about the coming captivity if they did not change their ways. However He also told Ezekiel what would happen when he did preach, in Ez. 33:30b-31 God says, "And speak one to another, every one to his brother saying, Come I pray you and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear they words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness". How many people today do you know that will go to church every Sunday, and sit and hear the Word preached, then walk out the door and turn their heart away from God once again?
I want to look at a couple of verses in Ps 78, starting in verse 34, the writer says that when God slew the people they returned to Him, and remembered that He was "their rock". Verse 36 says that even though they had returned to Him, they "flatter Him with their mouth, and lie unto him with their tongues". God knows when we lie to Him, so what is the point? Verse 37 tells why they acted this way, "For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in His covenant". They did not study His word, so their heart was not right with Him. The first part of verse 38 "But He being full of compassion forgave their iniquity...", He is a loving merciful, graceful God.
Even though He forgave them, their was still a price they had to pay, vs.46 "He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust" The writer is actually talking about crops, but there is a deeper meaning here also, He had a blessing waiting for them, but they turned their back to Him, so He gave it away, destroyed it because they did not deserve it. The writer also goes on to tell how they spent 40 years in the wilderness until all the original people had died, before He took them into the Promised Land.
How many times have I forfeited a blessing He had planned for me? How about you? As we go to church today, let's make sure that our heart is right with God, so we can receive the blessing He has in store for us, and so we don't lie to Him.

Everything's Allright!

I'm sure you remember the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors. Now if you turn over to Gen. 37:20-22, you see where his brothers discussed killing him, but Reuben managed to talk them out of it. In v24 "And they took him, and him into a pit". And v28 "they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph". Now, if you didn't know the story you would think that things could not get worse for Joseph, however when you read chapter 39 you will see where he was accused of rape, and thrown in jail. But, God took care of Joseph, as he had the opportunity to interpret some dreams. Of course God gave him the interpretation, he did not do it of his own. Chapter 40 though was not much better for Joseph. I think I know how he felt.
Look at ch. 41 though and we see where things get a lot better for Joseph, when the Pharaoh has a dream, and none of his sorcerers could interpret it. This is when Joseph's name came up, and he was called in front of Pharaoh. When he interpreted the dream, about 7 years of plenty, and 7 years of famine, he was made second in command, answering only to Pharaoh himself.
"And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt." ch.42:3, Joseph had a sense of humor like mine, so you know things were about to get very interesting. From 42:7 all the way through 44:34, Joseph played tricks on his brothers, pretending to think they were spies, and threatening to kill one or all of them. Flip over to 45:5, Joseph has finally told his brothers the truth, and he tells them "Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life". What the brothers meant for evil, God meant for good. And, in the first part of verse 8 "So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God".
When those times come when our brother's have put us in a pit, sold us into slavery, we've been accused of rape, and thrown in jail, just remember there is something that God has planned so that down the road we will be able turn the bad into a very large blessing.
When Jacob was told all that had happened, and how that Joseph was now second in command in Egypt, and it was Joseph that had given them the food. Jacob said "And Israel said, it is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die" 45:28. Jacob did not care about the food, or Joseph's position, it was enough that Joseph was still alive. But, that he was going to get to see him again, that was wonderful. So you see, even though the rest of the world did not care just how the food was available, as long as it was available, Jacob did not care about anything but Joseph. What is a blessing to one person, is meaningless to another except in the way that it makes things better for them, and it will make it better for them, if God is involved.

We are a Sacrifice

This morning I want to look at Romans 12:1-2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren BY the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, WHICH IS your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God". The only way we can present ourselves as a holy acceptable sacrifice, is by the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ, and His sacrifice on Calvary. But, even though when we accept Christ as our savior, we are immediately made acceptable, we must make a conscious decision to live in a way that can be considered holy. The question is, how do we know what is acceptable, and what is sin? The answer is in chapter 14:23b, "for whatsoever IS NOT of FAITH IS SIN". I believe that means that anything you do without praying about it, and getting an answer first, is sin.
Why do we need to spend so much time and energy worrying about if something is sin or not, or if we are living holy or not? Look at 14:8, "For whether we live, we live unto the LORD; and whether we die, we die unto the LORD: whether we live therefore, or die, we ARE the LORD's". No matter what we do, we are God's, and in verses 11-12 we see what this means. "For it is written, as I live, saith the LORD, EVERY knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God". When the day of judgment comes, even the most devout atheist will have no choice but to declare the glory of God, and then confess every aspect of his life. So how do we manage to live a holy life? Look at ch. 13:14 But put ye on the LORD Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof". If all of my thoughts are on Jesus, and I pray about each and every decision that I make, there will be no room for sin to enter my life. Unfortunately, I don't always remember, (Or want to remember), to pray about a decision.
Now for a little side note, however it does go right along with the rest of the devotion. Let's look at 12:17, "Recompense to no man evil for evil...". If someone does you wrong, don't get revenge, it's that simple. Verse's 20-21 go a little more in depth on this subject, "Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good". Have you ever heard the old saying, "kill them with kindness"? Same principle here. Nobody said it would be easy, however, if you pray about it, God will not only give you the strength, to do what is right. But, will give you the peace you need to feel good about it, He will also tell you what will have the most impact on that person. Remember, we are the only Christ people will see, by doing what is right toward someone who has done you wrong, that will be a testimony, and a witness to just how good God is. By doing so, you will be presenting your body a living sacrifice.

Do the Work

Today's scripture is 2 Tim. 4:1-8. I am going to go through and point out a few things in each verse, so if you want to read it all the way through, I would recommend it. At this point Paul is in prison, and is nearing his execution, so he writes to his beloved Timothy, with instructions on how to live, and what the last days would be like. Then he explains to Timothy the importance of doing God's work.
Let's start in v.1, "and the LORD Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing". The first thing we see is that God will judge us, so we need to ensure that we are doing his will.
"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." We are to be witnesses for Christ, always. We should tell everyone we meet what our LORD has done for us. There is one word I want to focus on here, reprove. Just what did Paul mean by reprove? Look over a couple of pages at Titus 2:15, "These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority, let no man despise thee". Basically we are supposed to be parents, not only to our kids, but to "young" Christians.
Now let's move on to v4, "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth,". For a different look at this, consider ch3:5 "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof;". Also 3:7 "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Paul is describing the movement of Apostasy, professed Christians who deliberately reject revealed truth.
"Endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." To "make full proof of thy ministry", means to use the spiritual gift that God has given you (teaching, preaching, evangelizing, etc...), constantly, and to "study to show thyself approved". To be knowledgeable, of God's word.
Verse 7, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith;". What else needs to be said about this verse?
However you might want to get comfortable, v8 is full of treasure for us. Look at the first word "Henceforth", this is a carryover from v7. Because he kept the faith, and fought a good fight, he knows he will be rewarded in heaven. Heb. 6:11b "to the full assurance of hope". "which the LORD...shall give me", Heb 11:6 "and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." One more verse here,
1 Cor. 2:9 "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him" I can't wait until that day, that I get to see what He has prepared for me.
There is one other thing I want to look at in this chapter, which is a slightly different topic than what we have been looking at. In v16 Paul says that everyone turned their back on him, and walked away leaving him alone. However, he prays that God will not hold it against them. There have been times in my life that one of my friends turned their back on me, and usually I was praying that God would punish them. How close to God must he have been in order to not only forgive them, but also ask God to forgive them.

A Tale of Two Chapters

Matthew chapter 24, and Mark ch 13, both give an account of Jesus describing the last days before His return. All verses (unless otherwise noted), will be in one of those two chapters. Starting in Mt. verse 5-8 Jesus says, "For many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet, For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places, All these are the beginning of sorrows," I don't know about you, but this sounds a lot like the world we live in today. Mk. v10 "And the gospel must first be published among all nations." Mt v14 puts it this way, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and THEN shall the end come." Do you understand why missions is so important? Any church that does not support missions in some way, needs to start.
In Mk. v11-13 Jesus goes on to describe all the ways Christians will be persecuted, and how even family members will turn against each other. Then in v14 He speaks of the visions described in Daniel ch. 7. Telling us that those things pertain to the end of the world, and not another time in history. Verses 15-21 describe how we are to flee to the mountains, and not turn back for any reason, because of the afflictions that will be suffered by the Christians. Now in v22, it actually continues this theme, however there is one phrase I want to point out, "to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect." Now, the word elect actually refers to those that are saved, however for some reason I want to think of it this way, "even those that were elected" (considering the state of politics these days, and not just this country).
Now I want to look at a Mt. v27 "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be,". What I want to look at is the phrase "as the lightning", at first glance it seems that He is describing how the light without warning appears, and spreads across the sky, until all is lite up, then it is gone just as quick as it appeared, and only takes a split-second. Which I am sure is correct, however as Paul Harvey would say, "now for the rest of the story". Look in Luke 10:18 "And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." I believe that He is giving us a glimpse of what happened way back before the earth existed, when Lucifer was thrown out of Heaven, with one big difference. In v31 He says "And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." I can just imagine, the blackness of nothing, when the quiet of broken by the booming voice of God forcefully saying, "Lucifer get out and stay out". Then the blackness is temporarily broken by a flash of lightning, then thousands more flashes, as Lucifer and his followers are physically thrown through the pearly gates. I believe that God is saying that we shall see a similar site, when He returns to take us home.
Mt 35,36 says "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words SHALL NOT pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." Isn't it great knowing that all the people that have tried, and all those that will try will never be able to completely do away with the Bible. It has always, and will always exist in one form or another, either in print or in memory. Without faith v36 could be confusing, even though the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are all the same being, the Father knows things that the other two don't know. Jesus is waiting on the Father to tell Him when it is time to get us, and I think He has as much anticipation for that day as we do.
I like the picture painted in Mt 40-42, "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your LORD doth come." Even though it is sad that not everyone will accept Christ, we know that it happens every day, someone goes to the grave after a lifetime of denying Christ, and even refusing to believe. But we should be doing everything we can to lead them to Christ. We need to be setting an example for them to believe in.
I can see it now, a man is sitting at his job at the Weather Channel, and is watching a large bank of monitors showing radar and satellite images. When all of a sudden, a flash of lightning starts over Jerusalem, and spreads over the rest of the earth. He stands up and shouts, "did you see that", as he turns around to look at the other employees. Half of them are looking at him with a puzzled look on their face, the rest are missing. Two construction workers are outside on a job site, when they see a flash of lightning streak across the sky, fingering out as it goes, one looks at the other just in time to see his hard hat fall to the ground. Immediately he wishes he had not told the other man that he was not interested in being a "Jesus Freak".
I hope you will take the time to read the two chapters entirely, and just think about how wonderful that day will be. I have one more verse, Rev. 22:20 Jesus said, "'Surely I come quickly', Amen. Even so come LORD Jesus." I also say come quickly LORD Jesus.

Not Where He was Supposed to Be

I had another passage planned, until about 2am, when I awoke with this one going through my mind, and I said "OK LORD", there is something here I need to know.
Let's start in 2 Sam. 11:1, I want you to pay attention to the phrase "at the time when kings go forth to battle". At this point in history, if the army went to war, the king was supposed to lead the way. David, was supposed to be on the battlefield, but he "tarried still at Jerusalem". The Bible does not tell us why he stayed back, so I take it that he did not have a good reason. How many times in my life that I should have went into battle, I should have confronted some problem in my life, and yet I sat back and did nothing.
Of course we all know the rest of the story, how David got out of bed late in the afternoon, went on the roof, and saw Bath-sheba bathing. First of all what was he still doing in bed that late in the day? Now at this point he has not sinned, had he immediately looked away, and retreated off the roof all would have been ok. But, David choose to look, he choose to lust after her, he choose to send for her even though he knew she was married. I can not tell you how many times I have chosen to continue, when I should have walked away.
Then the worst happened, she got pregnant, and it would have been hard to explain since her husband had not been at home in quite a while. So David came up with a plan to cover up his sin, then when that did not work, he had Uriah killed, so he could marry her.
Then in chapter 12, Nathan the prophet came unto David, and spun this tale of a rich man and a poor man. He told all the riches that the rich man had, and how the poor man had nothing except one little lamb. And, how the rich man went and took the poor man's lamb, I imagine by force, killed it and cooked it. David was furious, he said tell me who this man is so that I can punish him, he will give back four lambs. Nathan dropped a bombshell when in vs 7 he said, "Thou art the man." He then told David, because you were not where you were supposed to be, your family is cursed of God for all time.
David repented, but Nathan told him, even though God forgives you, because of the result of your actions, the child shall die. Which brings me to Heb. 10:30-31, "For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the LORD shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God." God said, Don't be fooled, if you sin I will punish you. The writer of Hebrews made a very profound statement, in verse 11, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God". God forgives those of us that ask for His forgivness. But, can you imagine being an atheist on the day of Judgment? But, a lot of times when we as Christians sin, even though we are forgiven, sometimes there are still consequences to our actions. Gal. 6:7 reminds us "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Sow evil, reap evil, so good, reap good. Here in the south we know what the words sow, and reap mean, but for those that may not, to sow is to plant crops, and to reap is receive the harvest of those crops.
David had forgotten one important point which we find in Phil. 2:13 "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." David did not follow God's will for His life, and had to pay the price. I have also several times, failed to follow His will for my life, and I too had to pay the price. I hope that other will learn from my mistakes and always seek out and follow God's will for their life.

This morning I want to look at Jonah, and point out some similarities to our lives. First of all we see that God had a job for Jonah, just as He as a job for each of us. But, like me Jonah said "No way am I doing that". So he tried to run away from God. He tried to run away from the omnipresent God. Because he was trying to run, he got himself in a mess. God allowed a storm to come up in order to get Jonah's attention. But God had also prepared a way to get Jonah out of the problem.
We are told that all things work together for good, so let's consider the men on the boat, because of Jonah's presence, and God calming the storm, those men turned their lives over to God. "Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD AND MADE VOWS". Even in disobedience, Jonah was a witness, and an example.
Of Course, true to His nature, once Jonah realized his mistake and prayed asking for forgiveness, God returned Jonah to his place, "And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land". Then God again told Jonah that He had a job for him. This time Jonah obeyed.
This isn't the end of Jonah's sin though, he obeyed God without complaint, even though in his heart, he was not happy about it. He preached according to God's word, and the people of Nineveh repented. Jonah was not happy about this, he wanted Nineveh destroyed. So he went upon a hill outside the city, and prayed for God to kill him. How many times in our lives have we been unhappy about God's will for us? God asked him, if he had a legitimate reason to be angry, Jonah could not answer.
So Jonah is sitting on the hill outside the city, waiting to see what would happen. It was hot, and Jonah was miserable, so God made a gourd to grow, and provide shade for him. But, the gourd was not just to provide shade, as it usually is with God, He had a lesson in store for Jonah.
"But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered." Jnh 4:7. God was not through, He also sent a strong wind, and it got so hot that Jonah fainted from the heat. Once again, he wished he could die. Then God asked Jonah if he had a right to be angry about the gourd, ch. 4:9b "I do well to be angry, even to death."
So God drops the bomb on Jonah in verse 10, "Thou has had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured...", vs 11 "And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons...?" Jonah, you are crying over a plant dieing, and yet you want me to kill 120,000 people. Can you imagine what went through Jonah's head right about now? Probably the same thing that has went through my head, when God pointed out to me, just how childish I was being.

I feel I must apologize, I came up with today's devotion at the last minute. I have been preoccupied, I had a really disturbing experience at "church" yesterday, and could not concentrate on the devotion, because I kept looking up verses that related to that event. Words can not express, the way I felt when I walked out of the service. I have never been in such an ungodly service in a Baptist church in my life.
Please pray that we are able to find the church that God wants us in.

Still Small Voice

Just how many verses in the Bible say, "God spoke to..." a person? Have you ever wondered just how God spoke to them? We know that He spoke to Moses through a burning bush, He had to get Moses attention first. There have been times He had to get my attention first also, but usually the times that He speaks to me, is when I get by myself, get in the right frame of mind and then start talking to Him first. I remember one time, I was driving down the road and started thinking about a major problem we were facing. It had been weighing heavily on my heart, so I started praying again. This time though, I was actually expecting God to do something, instead of just going through the motions. After a couple of minutes of constant praying, I heard this still small voice, in my right ear, that said "Calm down, don't worry I am taking care of it, just have a little patience". Sure enough a couple of weeks later the solution to our problems was in our mail box.
However, this devotion is not about God answering prayer, it's about that still small voice, and it's effect on us. This voice is first mentioned in 1 Kings 19:11-12 this start out with God speaking to Elijah, "And He said, Go forth and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And behold the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake; And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was no in the fire; and after the fire a STILL SMALL VOICE." How many times do we look for God in the big things, and He is not there? First Elijah obeyed and went to the mount, but then this horrible wind causing all kinds of destruction, then a earthquake, then a fire. Here was Elijah, waiting on God, and all that he could see around him was destruction. Can you imagine Elijah thinking, "Boy did I make a mistake coming here, I'm going to die." But, when the time was right, (God's time not ours), there was God. Ever wonder why He chooses a still small voice and not some great display? I don't know about you, but that voice is very comforting. Just knowing that God is making Himself known to me in such a loving way, calms all fears, quiets all storms, and quenches any fires. The reason for this is found in Phil. 4:7 "the peace that passeth all understanding". There have been a couple of times in my life I experienced this peace, and there is no way to describe it. But, it always happened at those times, I heard that small voice. In 1 Cor. 14:33 we find out that God is the author of peace, He created peace when there was no peace. If He created it, then gives it to us, it can only be perfect peace. A peace that man can not obtain on his own.
"In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore", Ps 16:11b. David was singing to God, and acknowledged that the only way to be truly happy is to be in God's presence. The Spirit of God is everywhere, the Spirit of God is with us all the time, however there are times, when God the Father Himself comes down to bless us with His presence. These are the times that are most comforting.
A couple of weeks ago I talked about the Shekinah Glory of God's presence, and how it made the house shake. Even then I believe those that were expecting God to come down were at complete peace. Just think about being in the presence of God's power, God's love, God's wisdom and tell me that it would not comfort you, and I'll tell you to get your heart right with God. Rev. 3:20 "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with Me". Notice the word "Behold", very important word, if you see it then you know to pay attention. If we hear God's voice, and we open the door and let Him in, He promises to come in, sit down and eat a meal with us. Praise God, I've got a roast cooking right now.
The presence of God in my life, what can I say about it? Those times when the Father came and spoke to me, were the most comforting times in my life. That feeling is addictive. Think about a small child, wakes up in the middle of the night, hearing a noise, and thinks it's a monster in the closet. So she start's screaming for her daddy. He runs into the room, turns on the light, sits down on the bed, and takes her in his arms, holding her tightly to his chest. She feels his strong arms around her, feels the slow rhythm of his heart, and smells his familiar odor, and instantly she is calm. She knows she is safe, her daddy is invincible, and he is not scared so why should she be. How much more should we be comforted when our Heavenly Father wraps His arms around us, and whispers in our ear, "Peace, be still".

I'm going to just jump right in, then go back and give the introduction. In 2 Cor. 6:17, we are told, to "come out and be separate", Jesus said, "Go and sin no more". When today's devotion is over I am going to ask you to get on your knees and say a prayer for me. You see, my childhood growing up, all the way into my late teenage years things were not easy for me, and there was a long list of things that happened to me that gave me a desire for a certain sin. One that I just can not get rid of. I have spent most of my life praying that God would remove it from me, as He has with other temptations. However, I have received no word on it. With my physical health I have heard Him say "My grace is sufficient". But with this, I have never heard anything from Him. That does not mean He has not spoken, and I just did not hear.
Romans 6:15&16, says that just because we are under the forgiving grace of God, instead of the law of Moses, that does not mean that we should sin. It also says that who we allow to control us, is who will control us. Verse 2 same chapter ask "How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Yet I am just unable to put this in my past.
We are told to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God, therefore we must be holy and acceptable, which is the least we can do for Him, Rm 12:1. Verse 2 goes on to say that we should not be like the world, but we should renew our minds, so that we might be transformed into His likeness. I do this daily, and yet some days I do not have the victory.
"Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh" Gal. 5:16. Verse 24, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts". Some how these two verses just do not describe me, where this subject is concerned. I pray, read my Bible, pray even more, I seek God's will for my life, and do my best to know, understand and do His will. I don't know how I could walk more in the Spirit than I do. Don't misunderstand, when I decided to get my heart right with Him, and return to His fold, I lost all desire for any and every other sin I had been committing, but this one remains, now some 15 years later.
If you look at Gal. 6:7&8, we are told that "God is not mocked:", that we shall reap what we sow, whether it be of the flesh, or the Spirit. I do everything I can to not only sow to the Spirit, but to water, and fertilize what has been planted. I am not saying that other than this I am perfect, however this is the only thing I have a recurring problem with. Some days, I am just not strong enough to fight the temptation, I'll be praying that God will help me overcome it, and my mind will wander during my prayer. Until it has wandered to the point, I have forgotten all about praying, and I give in. I know that God wants me to have the victory, I just don't understand why I can't get it. So I am asking you to pray for me. I know that one day I will have the victory, I just want it to be on this side of the grave. Either that or for God to show me that He wants me to fight this for a reason. If I know He has a reason then I am happy to fight it, I just have not heard anything at all, and that is what makes it so hard to fight. Thank You.

Where is your house built

Working from yesterday's devotion, I want to look at Lu. 6:48. I actually like the version in Mt. 7:25 because it goes more in depth to the story, however Luke, even though he gives the facts and nothing but the facts, goes into better detail. The man who hears God word and obeys it, "is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock:". If you remember a week or so ago, we looked at 1 Peter 2:6, where Jesus is described as the cornerstone of the church, and Mt. 16:18 where we, the Christians are called the foundation and building of the church. Now in vs. 49, the man that ignores God's word, is like a man who built his house on sand, which is not a very stable foundation. Actually it can't even be called a foundation.
In 2 Cor 5:1 another a verse we've looked at lately, we see that in heaven we have a house "not made with hands". Jesus tells us in John 14:2 "In my Father's house are many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you." Think about it, right now Jesus is working to build me a mansion, and He could be building one for you too. If you have accepted Him as your LORD and Savior. Just believing that He exist is not good enough, the Bible tells us that the demons believe and tremble, but they are not saved because they believe. You have to make a conscious decision to trust Him, to follow Him, and to obey Him.

On a separate note, Heb. 3:13a "But exhort one another daily...", God finally answered my prayer. I had already decided to keep going, just for myself if no one else. His timing is not our timing, He wanted me to obey, because I knew it was the right thing to do, not because He put a big flashing sign in front of my face. So many times He does this, we should know what His will is, yet for some reason we are unsure about doing it, we are discouraged, lazy, or feel it is beneath us. So He allows us to be tested, and by not answering our prayer right away, our faith is strengthened, because we choose to do it because we know it is His will, not because He acts like a parent dealing with a child (us).

A House not built by hands

I have to thank a friend for today's devotional, I have been holding on to this verse for a few days, working on it some, but in no big hurry. Until yesterday she posted this on her facebook profile, and I said, "LORD, I get the hint". Isn't He good at "hinting" at what we need to do? Ps. 127:1 "Except the LORD build the house they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." In other words, if God is not in it, it will fail, it can do nothing else. But what I want to look at is the second part of the verse, "except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain", unless you have God on your side, you have no hope. Look over at PS 121:1-2, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. (I think the poetry in this verse is beautiful). My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth." Where does your help come from?
Now look over at the second part of ch 123:2, "so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God...". Remember when we looked at the word "wait" the other day? I know there are times I have trouble waiting on God, and He just has to remind me that I need to turn my eyes upon Him. Just like He had to do Peter, when he was walking on the water.
In Acts 5, we see where the high priest and his council, were questioning some of the apostles that they had in prison, and a man named Gamaliel stood up and addressed the council. In vs. 38-39 he says, "And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." If the work be of man, it will not succeed. If it be of God, there is nothing you can do about it, it will flourish. What else needs to be said?
One more thing I want to mention this morning, 2 Cor. 5:1 "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." When this old body dies and decays, I have a new body waiting on me in heaven, a "house" built by God, a body that will last forever, a perfect body. No more pain, no more allergies, no more hunger, no more sickness, Praise God I have a heavenly home waiting on me.

How much do you weigh

This morning I want to look at one of the scariest things God could ever say to a person, and something I never want to hear him say to me. Look at Dan. 5:26-28, Daniel is interpreting the dream Belshazzar had of the hand writing on the wall. I want to concentrate on vs. 27, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting". In other words Belshazzar came up short, he did not meet the standard, his life was evil, it did not even qualify to be called good. Because of this, God punished him.
God does not want any of us to be wanting, in Rm. 10:13, and Jn. 3:16 both we see where God said that "whosoever" is welcomed. All we have need is a desire to be like Him. In 2 Pet. 3:9 the Bible says, that God "is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Who is left out when God says "whosoever", and "all"?
Are we listening for God's call? In Mat. 4:19-20, 9:9, and Mrk 3:13 we see where Jesus called the 12 disciples, He walked up to them and said "follow Me", and they immediately dropped what they were doing, and followed Him. I know of several times in my life where He had to call me more than once. There was a few times He even, had to go beyond calling me, and had to get my attention before I would listen. What He wanted of me did not fit into my plan of things. He could have found me wanting, but He gave me one more chance. He is "longsuffering" toward us. However His patience will run out, as it did with Belshazzar.
Lu. 19:10 says that Jesus came to "seek and save". He is still seeking us, are we seeking Him? Are we found wanting? The choice is ours, God does not want to see any of us wanting, but He loves us enough to give us the choice. Look back at Dan. 5, after Daniel interpreted the dream, Belshazzar was so happy that someone had managed to interpret it, and because I don't think he believed Daniel, he made Daniel the third ruler in the kingdom. Then also because he did not believe he did not take any precautions, as a result the enemy snuck into the castle and killed him. Satan is like a roaring lion roaming to and fro seeking whom he may devour. If God weighed us today, would we be found wanting?

Be Still

There have been many times in my life that I faced a major battle. Whether it be a battle of faith, or a bad situation, or against another person, it was a battle that I knew I could not win. Of course when you are facing one of those situations that you know you can not overcome, it is very easy to get depressed and give up. However, I serve a loving God, and in His book He gave me a little note to let me know that I have nothing to fear. "Be not afraid nor dismayed...for the battle is not your's but God's." 2 Chr 20:15. Then He goes on in vs 17 to tell me what I am supposed to do in order to overcome the situation, "stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you".
That can't be all I'm supposed to do, can it? Surely I need to make some phone calls, I need to get on Facebook, and talk bad about that other person, don't I? The first part of vs 17 says, "Ye shall not need to fight in this battle". God is all powerful, He does not need our help. With our limited knowledge if we get involved, we are just going to make things worse, and negate the glory of God in the situation.
"Be still, and know that I AM GOD: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Ps 46:10 If He is God, and He is going to be exalted, then why should I get in the way. Rm 8:31 "If God be for us, then who can be against us". What else needs to be said? If no one, or nothing can stand against God, and the battle is His, why am I worried?
Look back at 2 Chr 20, move on over to vs 24 and 25, "Judah...looked unto the multitude, and behold they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and NONE escaped...and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much". The people of Judah, trusted God, and they obeyed Him, and He not only took care of the problem, but they spent three days carrying away riches, and precious jewels. He is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or (even) THINK".

Wait on the LORD

I want to take a familiar verse and look back toward the beginning of the chapter and do a little background study and see just what the verse means. I memorized this verse when I was very young, as a chorus, and I have always been taught that it means one thing, but I believe it also means something else.
Let's look at Is 40, starting at verse 6, I am going to start by just going to highlight several things in the chapter. The first few verses refer to man as grass, grass that withereth and dies when the Spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it. Then verse 8 says, "but the word of our God shall stand for ever". Man will cease to exist, but the word of God shall continue forever, I haven't decided if this shows our mortality, or God's greatness. Of course it shows both, but just what is the main message here?
Let's stop again at verse 11, again God is referred to as our Shepard, a loving Shepard that takes care of His flock. He feeds them, carries them, nurses them, and keeps them safe. "Who hat measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" vs 12. Oh the strength of the LORD, how great the size of our God. Vs 18 "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?" Vs 25 "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. (vs26) Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power not one faileth." By the power of God, not one star fails to shine.
Vs 27 and 28, "Why saith thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. How many times have I thought, "I can do this and no one will know, not even God"? Haven't I learned that God sees all and knows all? The Bible says this by saying that He "fainteth not, neither is weary", in other words, He has the strength to go everywhere, and see everything, we can not outrun God. I learned this the hard way.
"even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:", There is no telling how many times I have watched my 4 year old, and said "if I had just a quarter of his energy". Even so, come 9pm, he is falling asleep, but God never sleeps, He never gets tired.
Now for vs. 31 "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Let's start in the middle of the verse, "they shall mount up with wings as eagles". Look over at Ps 103:5 "Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's" Have you ever watched on tv, a eagle soaring through the sky. Just imagine how peaceful that is, there is no noise, no lines of people crowding you, just you and God. If that doesn't lift your spirit, I don't know what will. "Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things", who feeds you, who takes care of you? God takes care of us in every way, He gives you the things that you need in order to renew your strength, to help you feel the peace of your youth again.
Now just what is meant by "wait on the LORD"? I have always been taught that it means when you come to a decision, when you reach a crossroads in your life, or just a fork in the road, you are to sit down and wait on God to tell you what to do. This is true, however read the rest of ch. 40, and Ps 103:5, and Ph. 4:19 and you will see the definition of 'wait' is actually 'DEPEND'. Look at vs 31 again, "But they that DEPEND upon the LORD (for everything in their life), shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Are we Undefiled

What is it that makes us evil? Mat. 15:11 says that what comes out of the mouth is what makes us evil. Jesus then goes on to explain that what comes out of the mouth, is what is in the heart. Verse 19 says that "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication's, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:". How do these things get in the heart to start with? The things we concentrate on are the things that are in our heart. Spend time watching movies that show adultery, eventually you will forget how bad it is, then you will get to the point that you feel it's ok, then you are doing it. Spend time with people that stay drunk all weekend, then eventually you will be staying drunk all weekend.
The Bible tells us to "abstain from all appearance of evil." There are two reasons for this, one is because it could ruin your Christian testimony, just being around it (guilt by association). But, also because if you are staying away from anything that even appears evil, then you will not slip up and fall into actual sin.
Ps. 37:31 tells us "The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." Spend time in the Bible, and you will not fall into sin. Joshua 1:8 "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." Meditate on the Bible day and night, and the words of God shall be in your heart, and shall proceed out of your mouth, and you shall remain undefiled.
What are we meditating on today? What is proceeding out of our mouth?

The Whole Armor of God

It's almost 6am on Saturday, and I am sitting here drinking my coffee, and I got to thinking about Eph. ch 6, and the armor of God. We have all heard lessons, and sermons about why we need to put on the armor of God, but have you ever thought about how other people benefit from you wearing it? That is what I want to look at today. Lets start at vs. 10, "be strong in the LORD, and in the power of His might." If we are not strong in the LORD, how can we do anything else, how can we even wear the armor? Vs. 11-13 tell us what we are fighting against, when that person comes up and starts making trouble for us, for whatever reason, it is not them that is doing it, but Satan working through them. That does not mean they are possessed by Satan, or that they are a Satan worshiper. It just means that Satan has managed to trick them, and confuse them into thinking they are doing what is right. These verses also tell us that we need to have the armor of God so that we can overcome these attacks, otherwise we will be dragged down to a point where we are not useful for God's service, not until we can pull ourselves back up anyway. That happening would be bad for us, but how many non-Christians would be hurt because of our fall? The best testimony we have is how we live, and the unsaved are watching our every move, how many would say, "Christians are no better than I am", if they saw us fall?
Truth, why is it so important to the armor? How many Christians do you know that are living a lie? They show up for church Sunday morning, still hungover wearing the same clothes they wore to the bar Saturday night? Extreme example, but I do know people like this, then when you try to tell an unsaved person about Christ, they respond, "the only difference between me and that Christian is that I don't have to wake up early on Sunday. Why would I want to become a Christian?" We need to live the truth so that others can see Christ in us.
The breastplate of righteousness goes right along with truth. How can we be a witness if we are not living righteously?
Shoes of the gospel of peace, take us away from trouble, and allow us to remain calm when disaster strikes. Your plant closes and everyone is losing their job, everyone is panicking, and getting depressed, everyone but you. How much of a witness can you be at this time? "I know my God will take care of me, I have nothing to fear." How many non-believers will look at you and say "I want what he has."
Take the shield of faith, so that when Satan sends trouble your way, when life itself sends you lemons, you can maintain your composure. You can depend on the shoes of peace to take you to a safe place. When the world sees you immediately use your faith, instead of being knocked down and injured, it says so much more than our lips can say.
We can not put on any of the armor until we have the helmet of salvation. You have to be a child of God, in order to be issued your suit of armor.
Now to possibly the most important item, at least I think it is, the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Where do we learn the truth, or what righteousness is, or how do we find out the gospel of peace, where do we learn to use the shield of faith, or how to be saved? In the Word of God. In the Word of God we learn how to handle trouble, or disappointment. We learn what to do when Satan attacks, and how to pray for peace.
Think about this, if you were that old serpent Satan roaming around looking for a Christian to devour, and you spotted two, one that had the Sword of the Spirit and one without, who would you attack? The great thing about having the sword, not only can you protect yourself, but when a brother or sister in Christ is attacked, you can go to them pull out your Bible, and deal a death blow to Satan. It is also when he is attacking a non-Christian that you can use your sword to lead them to Christ, and really hurt him.
Let's look just a little farther into the chapter, vs. 18, praying always with perseverance and supplication for all saints. Our first line of defense is prayer, we could avoid so much just by praying, seeking God's will, and His protection, not for ourselves but for others. That verse does not say anything about praying for yourself, it says pray for others. Don't you think that if God knows that you care more about others than yourself, that He will protect and care for you?
We are also told in vs. 19 to pray for our pastor, the he "may open his mouth boldly, to make know the mystery of the gospel". Pray for your pastor to preach the truth, that he is not afraid to speak what God put's on his heart. Even if he knows that some will not like it. I'm sure we all know Christians that have got upset, because the preacher, preached against some sin they were committing. If the preacher makes you mad, then you need to get your heart right with God, not get mad at the preacher. I know some preachers that avoid some subjects because they know someone in the church is committing that sin, and they don't want to hurt any feelings, or make anyone leave the church. Pray the pastor has boldness to speak the truth, no matter what, even if he steps on your toes. And remember you don't wear the armor of God, just for yourself, but so you can be a witness, a comfort, and help to others.

Seek, not Hide

How do we experience the blessings of God? How do we have a close relationship with Him? In Ps 63:1 David says, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;". He says that "no matter how bad things get, he will try to find God, and His blessings." He goes on in verse 11 saying "every one that sweareth by Him shall glory:". David is confident that by keeping his eyes on God, he will overcome any adversity.
In Prov. 8:17, God says "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me." Isn't it good to know that God promises that if we will just seek Him, that we will find Him? What is the difference in "looking", and "seeking"? Have you ever seen a 10 y/o look for something, they step into the doorway, scan the room, and say "I can't find it". But, when we seek something, we will empty out all the drawers, move all the furniture out of the room, get a comb to go through the carpet, while holding a flashlight. Looking is walking around the yard, scanning the ground. Seeking is, crawling through the whole yard, then when you reach the edge of the yard, you keep going, crawling through the bushes, and mud.
God says that when He thinks about us, He thinks about giving us peace, and not doing evil to us. He then says that when we call His name, and pray to Him, He will hear us, and will listen to us. Not just hear us, but listen to us. Then He repeats, "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." Jer. 29:11-13. Three times now we hear God say, that all we have to do, is seek for Him, call His name, search for Him with all our heart, and He will make Himself known to us.
"But, this was the old testament, what does it mean for us today?", you ask.
Lu.11:9, is a good place to start. Jesus says that if we pray about it, we shall receive it, seek it and you will find it, knock on the door and it will be opened.
Col. 3:1 says "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." What does this mean? If we have accepted Jesus as our savior, then we should be doing everything in our power to live as Christ lived, and doing our best to please Him. The rest of the chapter goes on to explain how we should live, the things we should and should not be doing, the things that will allow us to live as Christ lived.
Finally in Heb. 13:14 tells us that as Christians we have no permanent home here on earth. Instead we are waiting on our home in heaven. We should be seeking the day that we are able to join Christ in paradise, in the throne room of God. What a glorious wonderful day that will be, when I hear Him say "Well done thou good and faithful servant".

The Comforter and Sealer

A few days ago I mentioned John 10:28-29, where Jesus says, that "no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand". He was speaking of those people who have made a decision to follow Him. There are so many times in this life that we are removed from the course that we are on. Your employer goes out of business, a relationship breaks up, a vacation falls through, or other plans fail. Isn't it good to know that no matter what, God will never let us go.
Back in February of 2002, my whole life changed course, after several months of declining health, I had to just completely quit my job. I was well on my way to owning my own business, I was working with my dad, and he was ready to retire which meant that the business would have been mine. This was a life long dream for me. But, it was not meant to be, and the opportunity was jerked from my grasp. I was devastated. Especially when I found out that this was not something that could be cured. I would never work again. I had always worked two jobs at at time, unless the one job I was working 50 or more hours a week. If I wasn't at work, I was out in the yard, working on the car, or in the flower bed, or in the shop building something. Now I would be forced to sit in the house, mostly helpless. For someone as independent and active as I was this was the worst possible news I could hear. It would have been enough to make me suicidal, except I remembered John 14:16 & 26, Jesus says that the Holy Ghost would come to us, and He would be our Comforter. No matter what happened He would be there to take away the pain, and help us recover emotionally. Praise God, He was there for me, and He not only took away the pain, but He has shown me that He has other work for me to do.
However, the Holy Spirit has more than one job. Not only is He THE Comforter, but in Eph. 1:13 the Bible says that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. Then in ch.4:30 it explains what it means by sealed. We are sealed unto the day of redemption. Ch 1:14 talks about the redemption of the purchased possession. When Christ died on the cross, He paid for our sins, He bought our account, when we accept Him as our LORD and Savior, we become His. The day will come when He will collect those of us that are His, He will redeem us to Himself, and He will carry us to Heaven where He is.
Isn't it good to know that once we are saved, we are always saved. When we become an adopted heir to Christ glory, we are sealed into that position, and no one can remove us. Not even ourselves. When we accept Him, our name is written in "The Lambs Book of Life", and once it is there it can never be removed. Then on the day of judgment, when our name is read, we will spend the rest of eternity with Christ, in His glory, at the throne of God.

A precious Cornerstone

This has always been one of my favorite themes in the Bible. I am not sure just what about it puts it in my favorite list, the top five anyway, but it has always added strength to my faith.
Is. 28:16, “Therefore thus saith the LORD GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” Notice that it is not just any stone, a stone that has been tried, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. I have done a lot of carpentry in my life, and even helped build a few buildings, and the first thing that you do is prepare the dirt. You have to make sure it is level, that it is solid, and that it is true (square). Once that is done you can start to build your building. The first step in starting the building is taking one block, brick, or stone and placing it in one of the corners. This is your corner stone, your starting point, the rest of the building depends on this stone to be placed correctly, and it must support all of the other pieces of building material. However, Ps 118:22 says “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner”. Why was this stone rejected, and if it was rejected how did it become the corner stone?
The answer to this is in Eph 2:19-22 “…Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together growth unto an holy temple in the LORD: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God…” We see that Jesus is the corner stone rejected by the world, then becomes the thing that makes the church strong, secure and stable. But, what did Paul mean by we are also builded? The answer is in Mt 16:18 “And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church:..” We, the believers, the Christians are the church. God through the Holy Spirit lives in each of us, the church is alive, just as Christ is alive.
The world spends their entire lives searching for something that can give them stability, and security, something that can provide them a place of refuge, and yet they reject the corner stone that can provide all these things to them. But, there are so many times as Christians, that we also reject the stability, and security that Christ offers. We try to build our own house, using ourselves as the cornerstone. I know I have done it more times than I can count, I will just move away from where God wants me, and try to build my own shelter. Of course the first time that any trouble comes my way, I collapse. Then I have to find that place God wants me and then get back there. Mt 18:18 goes on to say “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Does that mean that we will have no troubles? No, it just means when Satan shows up and throws his fiery darts at us, that they will not harm us. When our faith is strong, and our eyes are upon God, no matter what Satan tries to hit us with, he will not be able to make our building crumble, he will not be able to tear us down.

God the Father

How many times have you are someone you know said, "God has a sense of humor"? I'm going to show you some verses this morning that prove that He does. I have to thank Bro. Rob, my pastor for pointing this out in a sermon a few years ago.
First let's look at Ex. 32:11, this is right after the Isrealites had formed the golden calf, "And Moses...said...LORD...'thy' people, which 'thou' brought forth..."
How many times as a parent have you looked at your spouse after your kids did something wrong and said,"let me tell you what YOUR child did"? How many times did you hear your parents say the same thing? It's funny, when they are good they are hers, when they are bad they are mine. Of course, since I am just the step-parent, I can respond, "don't blame me for that". Of course they act more like me than they do her, but that is beside the point.
"Don't blame me for that", I am joking when I say that, because I know that I have had more influence on them than she did. This is exactly what Moses was doing, responding to God. Flip back a page and look at verse 7, "And the LORD said unto Moses,...for 'thy people which 'thou' broughtest out...". At this point God was so angry at the children of Israel, that He was ready to destroy them, and blamed their disobedience on Moses. Moses responded by reminding Him, that it was His idea to take the people out of slavery, it was His idea to leave them unchaperoned, and as God He should have known what they would do.
God was responding the way that we as parents respond to our children when they act wrong. How many times in the scripture do we see the phrase "God the Father", and other such parental names for Him? We see in these verses, that like us, God has a sense of humor when it comes to being a parent. Yes, He was ready to destroy the nation, but don't we experience the same feelings toward our kids sometimes? When Moses responded, "they are YOUR kids", He calmed down, and made a covenant with them, isn't that what we as parents do? Just another few verses that show that He is our Father, and that we can depend on Him.

My Blessing

First I want to thank all of you who prayed for me, I made it to church yesterday morning, and God blessed my soul. I heard an evangelist, he was one of those that walks the aisle, shouts, stomps, snorts and everything else. It has been a long time since I heard preaching like that. That is exactly what this world needs, more preaching like that.
He preached from a passage that I have been reading over for my own study. I really needed to hear this sermon. God knew I would be there, He knew that He had laid this passage on my heart earlier in the week, and He knew just how much I needed to hear it. Isn't God good to us?
In 2 Kings ch. 4 starting at verse 1, we see the story of the widow's oil. There are so many lessons in this story, it would take me two months to cover them all. So I just want to mention a few things, and let you read the story for yourself and let God show you His glory in it.
The first thing we see is a woman that is at rock bottom, her husband is dead and she can not pay the money he owed so the creditors are coming to take her kids. So she goes to the man of God, (that is a lesson in itself, go to God). Elisha asks her what she has in the house, she looks and tells him nothing. Well I do have a little oil. Elisha know that "little is much when God is in it". So he tells her to go borrow vessels from her neighbors. (This shows action on our part). She OBEYS. He then sends her in the house and tells her to shut the door. Why shut the door? To protect her from the worlds influence, disappointment, discouragement, etc... She OBEYED. God filled the need, and no more. When the vessels were full, the oil stopped flowing. How many times have we prayed for a Cadillac when a Ford would be enough? Then wondered why God did not answer our prayer. How many times has God blessed us, and we missed it because we wanted something more. My bills are paid (for the most part), we have food to eat, clothes to wear, and we are healthy, what else did God promise? I have to learn to be happy with what God has given me, and not obsess over the things I can't buy. I just wanted to do so much more for my family than this, but that was not God's plan. I have to learn to rejoice over the small things.
As I said this is something I was studying for my own benefit, but God blessed my heart so much yesterday that I had to share the blessing with you.

A day in my life

I missed posting yesterday, because I was laid up in too much pain to move. I had to lay down, because it hurt to bad to sit up. Days like that it would be real easy to lose faith in God. Like anyone else, I have those thoughts of why, why would God let me suffer like this, why me, what did I do to deserve this? And a lot of other thoughts that as a Christian I should not have. Days like this I have to remember a few verses that give me comfort, and direction. I am going to share this with you, because I need to hear it again.
I start with Job, as he was arguing with his "friends" about whether or not he was suffering because of sin, Job says "even if God kills me, I will still trust Him". This tells me that I should not give up. I should not let my faith waver. Then in John 13:7, Jesus tells Peter "You do not understand what I am doing, but in the end you will understand". This should be good enough for me. But, when you are in sever pain, you don't care about what will happen later, you just want to stop hurting NOW. So I look over to Acts 1:7, and again Jesus says "Your not supposed to know, or understand what God is doing". At this point my faith starts to get a little stronger. At least until the next wave of pain hits. This is when He reminds me of what He told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for whatever you are going through". He also tells us that He will never put more on us than we can handle. Just knowing that no matter what I am suffering through, I can handle it, gives me hope. There are times though, that the pain is so bad, I wonder if I can handle it, I wonder if it will kill me. I have prayed that God would kill me, so that I could have peace. Every time it has gotten that bad, after I prayed, I felt the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, come down and sit next to me, and put His arms around me. Almost immediately I went from wanting to die, to having a peace that is describable.
I am then reminded of 2 Cor 3:18, we are told that when the LORD returns, on that glorious day, we will be changed, we will all have perfect bodies just as Jesus does. There will be no more pain, no more suffering. I will finally understand why God has allowed me to go through this. I will look eye to eye with the people that have been blessed because of my suffering, and at that time I know it will not only be ok, but I will be glad to have suffered the things I have. I will tell God thank you, for allowing me to serve you.
I have to pray daily that the next time the pain gets that bad that God will, remind me of these things. That He will not let me forget, and He always does.

Thank you all for your prayers, and if there is not a devotion posted by 8:00-8:30am, you will know that I am having a bad day and need your prayers urgently.

Peter in the dog house

I have learned over the years, that all of us, even the most devout of Christians are going to have a weak moment of faith. At some point we are all going to fall in our daily walk with God. In Mark 8:27-33, we see where even Peter did not understand the will of God, and as a result he tried to change the outcome of things.
Let's start at the beginning, Jesus asked the disciples, "who are the people saying I am?" The answer, a resurrected prophet. He asked this question to lead into the next question,"Who do YOU think I am?" Peter then showed great faith by proclaiming Jesus, to be the "the Christ, (the Redeemer, the Son of God etc...)"
Then Jesus went on to explain to the disciples, everything that had to happen in order for the sin debt to be paid. Like most of us, Peter did not want to hear this. God's plan of salvation did not match his idea of what it should be. Not only that but he loved Jesus, and did not want to lose Him. So Peter decided that it was his job to tell God, how things were going to go. He told God that God was wrong. I can't tell you how many times, I have tried to do this. If things were not going the way I thought they should, I would tell God, that He needed to make things work the way I wanted them too. I am glad to know that, even a man of faith such as Peter, could make the same mistake I made. I don't feel so bad about myself, when I realize I am in good company, in that dog house.
Jesus told Peter the same thing He has always told me, "Get behind me Satan. You do not, and can not understand the things of God. You are thinking like a human, I am God."
Of course we all know that you can not count Peter out at this point. After all he is the one that went on to preach on the day of Pentecost, and saw 3000 people saved. By this time, he understood what Jesus was telling him that day. The thing is, we need to strive to have faith in what God tells us, even when we don't understand. We should not wait until after we see proof before we believe. Heb. 11:1 tells us that faith is believing in the things we have not seen. Verse 6 tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please Him". Where do we get the faith that we need to please Him? "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith..." Heb 12:2. Not only does God requires us to have faith to please Him, but He gives us the faith He expects us to have. All we have to do is ask and He "giveth to all men liberally".

The House Shook

I heard a sermon several years ago that made an impact on me, not so much because of what it contained, but for the possible implications. Let me start by giving a little history. When Israel left Egypt and Moses went up on the mount, there was a thick cloud that came down and covered the top of the mount. Then during the time in the wilderness, the Israelite's were led by a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. This cloud was the very presence of God.
In 1 Kings ch 8, we read the story of how Solomon brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. If you remember Solomon had just completed building a permanent Temple to house the Ark. If you look in verse 10, we are told, that once the Ark was placed in the temple, actually look back at verse 6 for a moment. "And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto 'HIS' place". Not "unto it's place", but "HIS" place. Now look back at verse 10 and 11, we are told that once the ark was placed in position, and the priest left the building, that a cloud filled the house of the LORD, and that the priest could not minister because the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the LORD. This is called the Shekinah Glory, which means "the glory of the presence of the LORD God".
Now to the meat of today's devotion, Acts 4:31 "And when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost..." The Shekinah Glory came down and the whole house was shaken. The glory of God was so great that the house could not contain it. There are so many lessons here, not only the greatness of God, but the answer to a prayer made physically known.
For years now, every time I walk into a church service, I pray that the Shekinah Glory of God will appear, I pray that the church building will be shaken, that the church people will be shaken. After all the church is not the building, but the people. I desire more than anything else, to be in God's presence to the point that not only am I shaken emotionally and mentally, but the the physical building can not contain His presence. There have been a lot of times that I knew that I was in the presence of God, and there is no better feeling than to know that He loves me enough to allow me that honor. But, can you imagine not only feeling Him next to you, but to look around and see the effects of His presence.
Imagine this, you are sitting in church, the pastor is preaching the Word, when you feel the presence of God, then you look up, and see the light fixtures starting to sway. Then you feel a vibration in the pew, you look around and see that you are not the only one to notice. You then notice the cloud filling the building, a peace comes over you that can only be explained by God's presence. You start worshiping God, and then you see other people heading to the alter.
There is no way our human minds can comprehend the greatness of that occurrence. Just the thought however, is enough to make my heart leap for joy inside my chest. Even though I know that this does not have to happen for God to make His presence known, even though I can and do worship Him continually without the building being shaken, I would still love to be that much in His presence, not just spiritually but physically. What about you, would you like to experience the Shekinah Glory? Are you praying for it?

Who are you?

Yesterday, I talked about making some dumb decisions. Anyone that knows me very well knows that I have made some real dumb decisions. Actually I would not even call them decisions, you actually have to think in order to make a decision, and a lot of mine I was just acting and not thinking. If you have read my testimony, you have already read this, but for those who haven’t I’m going to retell it, and for those that have, maybe tell it a little different way.
There was one day a couple of people I knew, asked me if I wanted to go to a party with them, that night. The truth was they needed a ride, not that they were being friendly. So we get to this party, I am sitting on the couch with the drinkers. I drank my fair share however; I did not do any kind of drugs, no coke, or meth, not even marijuana. I had gotten, well let’s just say I wasn’t feeling too much pain. When in my right ear, I hear this still small voice say “All of you are in danger PRAY”. Even at my level of intoxication, I knew immediately who the voice was. I had not prayed in several years, but it did not stop me from starting. Nothing will make you sober up quicker than praying, when the Holy Spirit enters your body, the alcohol is gone. After I started praying, I started wondering “are the cops going to raid us”, “is a car going to run through the side of the house”, and several other things, but my wondering came secondary to praying. I knew that if God was telling ME to pray, it was important.
Then I heard some people running down the hall, a few people came running into the living room, and basically screamed “Who is praying?” Someone else asked what they were talking about; they said that they had been in the back room summoning a demon. This was something they often did, however this time the demon told them that it could not enter the house because someone was praying for protection. That protection even included hiding the identity of the person praying.
Matt. 10:1 tells us “He gave them (the apostles) power against unclean spirits”. Mark 1:24 and 3:11 tells us that the demons recognized Jesus as the Holy One of God, and that He was come to destroy them. We see in Mark 5:1-13, after Jesus cast out some demons, they had to get His permission before they could enter into pigs.
Please do not think that I want any kind of glory from this, I wish I could say this never happened. However I made a dumb decision and put myself in danger. But the Bible says all things work together for good, and there is no way for me to know who might have been possessed that night, had I not been there to pray.
It is only by the grace of God that I was not like the seven sons of Sceva, a chief priest of the Jews. In Acts 19:11-17, we see where the boys got jealous of Paul, and tried to cast out demons in the name of Jesus. The demons responded by asking “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” Casting out demons is not something that just anybody should attempt. It is very dangerous. I don’t know how my faith was strong enough that night, unless it was just because I knew that if God was depending on ME, someone who had not prayed in years, someone that was drunk, then it had to be important, not too mention hearing that still small voice will do wonders for your faith. I just wonder if my faith is that strong all the time.

My uncle starting looking into the Chauncey genealogy several years ago. He searched on the internet, libraries, and even took trips to check out information. We, being the good southern family with roots in Georgia and Tennessee, were certain he would discover our southern roots. Jonathan was devastated to find out that one of our ancestors is honored for the Civil war with a large monument, only it was for fighting for the Yankees. Now my son has never been prejudice about color of skin, nationality, etc. But for some reason, it was very important to him so be Southern bred and born. Finding out his genealogy was a great disappointment to him. He holds on the fact that the Hightower and Goins blood is at least Southern.

For the Jewish people, this was a bigger deal than a kid wanting to be from the south. God's promises were given to the Jew, they were expecting God to make of them a great nation through this Messiah. So Matthew starts by giving the genealogy of Jesus. I want to focus on the women mentioned.

Pherez (Phares) by Tamar (Thamar) - Now Tamar is the first woman mentioned in the genealogy. (Genesis 38) What a terrible story of man's vile sinful nature. Yet God included it in His Word and in the ancestry of His Son. It is a story of deceit, dissobedience to God's Law, immorality, and incest. Yet God used these people in the ancestry of the Mesiah. It only proves the sinfulness of man and our great need for a Savior.
Salmon by Rahab - Rahab is the second woman named in the ancestry of the Messiah. Her story is found in the book of Joshua. Rahab was condemned to die. Her people were wicked, ungodly people. God had told Israel to destroy them. Rahab heard they were coming. She knew that she was condemned along with her people. Yet, she believed that the God of Israel was all powerful and that He was the "God in heaven above, and in earth beneath". She dared to hope that He might have mercy on her. When God brought the spies into her life, she acted on that faith and saved their lives and asked for mercy for herself and her family. God granted that request when she obeyed the Israelites command to put a scarlet rope from her window so that the soldiers would know that mercy was to be extended to Rahab.
Boaz by Rahab - This is the third woman mentioned in the line of the Messiah. The Book of Ruth is written about this relationship. Ruth was not an Israelite by birth, she was a Moabite. Having just learned about Israel's journey to the Promised Land, you will remember that they were the enemies of God and Israel. Because of the lack of faith on the part of Elimelech to supply his family's needs, he took them to live among the enemy Moab. Living in that land, their sons married Moabite women. In spite of the fact they were living with the enemy, there was something about this family that touched the heart of Ruth. When Elimelech and his sons died, Naomi wanted to return to her people - God's people. Ruth was determined to go with her, stating that where Naomi went she chose to go. Where Naomi lived, she chose to live. She chose to make Naomi's family her family and most importantly she chose Naomi's God to be her God. Her faithfulness to that choice led her to a rich, righteous, related man named Boaz. Boaz became her kinsman redeemer.
Through Tamar, we saw the awful sinfulness of mankind and his desperate need for a Savior.
Through Rahab, we see the mercy of God on the sinner. No matter how great the sin, the sinner who repents and believes will receive mercy from God. Rahab shows us a merciful Savior.
Through Ruth, we see the grace of God in giving a Redeemer to pay the debt we could not pay.
Who knew that a boring genealogy could be so amazing? God was so meticulous in His plan of salvation, that even the people in the ancestry point to His great love for us and His desire to save all who come to Him in faith.

Dumb Decisions

I have often wondered why I made some of the dumb decisions that I have made. I'm going to start off today looking at two people who made a dumb decision, Acts 5:11. Actually we need to back up to 4:32. People were giving to the work of the church by faith, (this is a good place to start discussing Faith Promise Missions Tithe), but a certain man, Ananias and his wife Sapphira decided that it would be a good idea, to lie to God.
The problem was not that they held back part of the price of the land, but that they lied about it, in order to look good. They were more worried about what man thought about them than what God thought about them. This is an extreme case, but it is exactly what happens when we decide we can fool God.
As I said in the beginning, I've often wondered why I made the decisions, I have made. There never was any question really. I knew why, I just did not want to admit it. Prov 3:5-6 tells us that in every thing we do, every thing we think, we are to trust God, and realize that He is God. He is in control, and that He only wants whats best for us. However, as a young person, and a teenager I did not do this. Why not? Why did I not trust and acknowledge Him? The answer is in James 1:22-25, I was a hearer, and not a doer. I had a form of Godliness, but no substance to back it up. I said what a Christian teenager should say, I went where a Christian teenager should go, I did the things a Christian teenager should do, however I did not think the things a Christian teenager should think. I was trying to live as a Christian under my power, not God's power. I had trusted Him as my Savior, I was a Christian, I had just never developed the deep faith I needed.
My entire childhood, and teen years, there was things that happened, situations I was in that had wounded me. You see, I had failed to put on the whole armor of God. Eph. 6:11-18, describes what the Christian needs to do, what to wear in order to live for God, and avoid the pitfalls Satan puts in our way.
It is not for me to know the reasons, God choose to allow these things to come into my life, nor is it my place to complain about them. It is my place to follow my own advice here today, to live for Christ, and to trust Him to meet all, yes all my needs. That's physical, spiritual, and emotional needs.