Safe!

Daily Reading:  Proverbs 29-30

Scripture Focus: The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. Proverbs 29:25

Devotional Thought: Fear is often addressed in the Bible.  God has desired from the beginning that we would trust him wholly, without fear or anxiety in our hearts.  With the fall of God’s perfect creation and the introduction of sin into the world, the hearts of men turned away from the Lord, and mankind has been struggling against one of our soul’s greatest enemies: fear.

The Israelites, surrounded by miraculous rescues, provisions, and encounters with God, still struggled with fear.  When Jesus came to the world, his disciples kept on fearing.  As we live in the “in-between” time before Jesus comes back again, we fear as well.  Will I be able to raise godly children in a godless world?  Pay my debtors?  Be free from addiction?  Fear seems to be a normal way of life, even for believers at times.

Why should we regard fear as a serious threat?  Fear is rooted in distrust of the Lord.  When we trust in the Lord, we are safe.  We have assurance that He hears our prayers, and we trust that He is sovereign over every detail of our lives.  But don’t take my word for it!  In Philippians 4:6, Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  Jesus says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan?” (Matt. 6:27).  “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship…” (Rom. 8:15).  “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear,” (1 John 4:18).  We have a blessed Savior who has set us free from the bondage of fear and given us safety in His name.

Jenny

Prayer:  Father, thank you for freeing us from the fear that so easily captures our hearts.  Help us to fix our eyes on you in times where fear threatens us, remembering that we are safe in Your arms.

Psalm of the Day:  1 Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! 2 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! 3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! 4 Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! 5 Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, 6 O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones! (Psalms 105:1-6)

An appetite for God

An appetite for God

Daily Reading:  Proverbs 27-28

Scripture Focus: One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet. (Proverbs 27.7)

Devotional Thought: Most Wednesday nights I go to the Feed Mill to get pie with some friends.  I have a bad habit of finishing off my friends' pie if they don't keep it closely guarded!  Once in a while, Rachael gets the Oreo pie.  It is sooo good!  But, if I eat too much of it - after having cleaned up my peanut butter pie - I find out that it starts to taste  bad.  Too much sugar!  When I'm hungry, though, it's delicious!

Did you know the same thing is true spiritually?  When we're 'full' nothing tastes good.  When we're hungry, everything satisfies.

God has a hard time getting through to us when we are full.  Our world is full of all kinds of things to fill our minds and hearts - television, internet, hobbies, relationships, entertainments, sports...  We are over-stimulated.  When we get so full with these things, there is no room for God.  We actually get to feeling sick!  It's even true that we can gorge ourselves on religious TV and by the time we get to church, we are no longer hungry!

But, oh when we're hungry, the Word of God and the fellowship of the saints and the songs of Zion satisfy us!  I've noticed that the self-sufficient have no need for God and are slow to respond.  There are those, however, who are hungry for peace.  They feast on God.  Others are lonely and eat the living Bread of Christ's presence.  Some are looking for meaning and find that Jesus satisfies.  And, most of all, those who are hungry for the eternal, the settled, the unmovable - in short those who are hungry for God - are able to feast on the goodness of the Lord.

Amen!

Prayer: Help me, Lord, not to fill my life up so much that there is no room left for you, no appetite left for the things of the Spirit.  May I, by your grace, hunger and thirst for righteousness and be filled!  Amen.

Psalm of the Day:  24 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. 25 Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. 26 There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it. 27 These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. 28 When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. 30 When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. 31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works, 32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! 33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. 34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD. 35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD! (Psalms 104:24-35)

Material for a vessel

Daily Reading:  Proverbs 25-26

Scripture Focus: Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel. (Proverbs 25.4)

Devotional Thought: Silver is refined in stages.  The silversmith heats the silver in fire, and the dross rises to the surface.  The dross then is skimmed off, and the silver is heated again - this time to a higher temperature.  More dross comes to the surface and is skimmed off.  This process is repeated until all the impurities are removed.  Only then is the silver ready to be worked into the finished product.

God does the same thing to us as he prepares us for the "finished product." 

Life's troubles are the fires that heat us up.  Sometimes these things are accidental and incidental, such as compromised health, job difficulties, strained relationships, financial setbacks, even misunderstandings.  As we grow in Christ, we face things that we didn't before.  We are tested far beyond what we think we can bear.  These trials are a necessary part of our sanctification.

We can't forget the next step, however.  Fire in and of itself will not purify silver.  The impurities remain unless removed.  There has to be a skimming. Anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, lust, greed and more... all these things are to be skimmed away.  We can't keep them!

There is another way for silver to be purified, however, and that is by the addition of nitric acid.  In this process the nitric acid absorbs the silver and carries it away from the impurities.  This is analogous to being filled with the Spirit so fully that there is no room for any impurities!

When we are purified, God has the material he needs for the "finished product."  The level of purification determines the level of usefulness to the silversmith and beauty in the object.  Let's allow God to purify us completely!

Prayer: "Purify my heart!  Let me be as gold and precious silver.  Refiners fire, my heart's one desire is to be holy, det apart for you, ready to do your will."  Amen.

Psalm of the Day:  16 The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. 17 In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees. 18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers. 19 He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. 20 You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about. 21 The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. 22 When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens. 23 Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening. (Psalms 104:16-23)

2018.08.28 Landmarks

Daily Reading:  Proverbs 23-24

Scripture Focus: Do not move an ancient landmark (Proverbs 23.10a)

Devotional Thought: When we moved onto Virginia Trail, I was plowing the yard to prepare it for seeding.  "Uh oh!  What was that?"  I jumped off the tractor and found that the plow had pulled up a boundary stake.  I tried to put it back where it belonged, but the hole was gone!  I didn't think about it for 8 years, but two years ago, a tree that was on the property line fell over.  It was an expensive proposition to cut it up and move it off.  I wanted some help.  I had to know exactly where the property line was but couldn't find the boundary stake!  Thankfully my neighbor remembered, and we worked out a deal that was not too expensive for either of us.

The writer of Proverbs warned against moving ancient landmarks.  His concern was to prevent people from taking advantage of the poor in court.  God is concerned for that, but he also has other landmarks that are even more important.

God gave us the Ten Commandments over 3000 years ago.  Those landmarks are meant for our good.  It is so tempting to move them, to change them.  But millennia of experience teaches us that that is not a good idea!  Life is lived better in obedience to those "Big 10"!

God also gave us the Law of love - to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength - and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  That's an ancient landmark stretching back to the time of Moses and being reiterated by Christ himself.  That ancient landmark has been moved, however, and too many people today, however, love only those they like.

Let's keep those ancient landmarks intact!  It's too expensive not to!

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.  Surely I have a delightful inheritance."  Help me to know and keep those boundaries intact.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day:  10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills; 11 they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches. 13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. 14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth 15 and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man's heart. (Psalms 104:10-15)

2018.08.27 Wrong Way!

Daily Reading:  Proverbs 21-22

Scripture Focus: Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. (Proverbs 21.2)

Devotional Thought: Several weeks ago, Lana and I were in the town where her mom used to live.  We had a couple stops to make, and they were not on our old normal route.  As we left one stop, I thought I knew where I was going, and I turned south on I-79, just like I was used to from there.  I thought I was right, but I really needed to go north.  Lana said, "I wondered why you were going this way, but I thought you knew what you were doing."

We can go through life that way, too.  We can think we are making all the right turns and discover that - oops! - we're going the wrong way! 

There are some things we can do:

·        Listen to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  I love to tell my grandchildren "The Monkey Story" about a little monkey who goes to the swamp to play.  Many of his jungle friends try to stop him, but he is determined to do what he wants, and he ends up on the back of an alligator! God gives us people in our lives who have been this road before, who know the pitfalls.  We need to swallow our pride and listen!

·        Respond to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  God nudges us along the way.  If we listen and "test the spirits," his voice grows stronger.  If we ignore his promptings, his voice fades away.

·        Know the Word of God.  But we can't just hear or read it; we have to do it!  As we do so, we will understand it more and more.

Listen for the voice of God.  He knows your heart better than even you do!

Prayer: As the Psalmist prayed centuries ago, "Search me, O God, and know my heart.  Try me and know my thoughts.  See if there be any crooked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting."  Amen.

Psalm of the Day:  1 Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, 2 covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. 3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; 4 he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire. 5 He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. 6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. 8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. 9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth. (Psalms 104:1-9)

2018.08.26 Whatcha Want?

Daily Reading:  Proverbs 19-20

Scripture Focus: Desire without knowledge is not good... (Proverbs 19.2a)

Devotional Thought: Have you ever gotten something you wanted only to discover that... well, you didn't really want it after all!  As a matter of fact, you would do anything to get rid of it!  That's desire without knowledge.  There are different reasons that's not good:

·        When you think you want something, but you don't understand it...  Nobody likes to be the recipient of a bait-and-switch scheme.  It's really maddening, though, when I'm the one who baits and switches myself!  I've prayed for certain things only to get them and wish I never had prayed for them!  Know what you're asking for!

·        When you don't know what you want...  Life can get pretty frustrating when you have a vague sense of lack, but can't really name what it is you want.  It's hard to scratch an itch when you don't know where it itches!  When we come before the Lord in prayer, we need to be prepared to answer Jesus' question, "What do you want me to do for you?"

·        When the one who can satisfy your desire doesn't know what you want...  When I was growing up, my favorite uncle - Cedric - used to ask me, "Would you like ____?"  If I would say, "I don't know,"  Uncle Cedric would say, "I don't know either."  And I wouldn't get what I wanted!  If I wanted something, I quickly learned to be specific and to ask.  Yes, God knows what we want, but sometimes he answers through others.  If we need help and we know a sister or brother can help us, then we need to ask!

If desire without knowledge is not good, then desire with knowledge must be good.  Let's make sure that our desires are good, that they are informed by knowledge.

Prayer: Lord, you have created me with the capacity to desire.  Sanctify my desires, Lord.  I put them on the altar of surrender.  Help me to "earnestly desire the greater things."  Amen.

Psalm of the Day:  15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, 18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. 19 The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! 21 Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! 22 Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul! (Psalms 103:15-22)

2018.08.25 BFF

Daily Reading:  Proverbs 17-18

Scripture Focus: A friend loves at all times... (Proverbs 17.17a)

Devotional Thought: Solomon, the writer of most of the Proverbs, knew of the friendship between his father, King David, and Jonathon.  He also knew of the deceit and intrigue of palace politics, topped by his brother Absalom's coup against their father.  Solomon knew the value of friendship.  He knew that a "true friend loves at all times."

This scripture makes me think about our Friend, Jesus:

Faithful.  Jesus is faithful to his Father's will in the face of the deepest temptations and the fiercest trials.  And, he is faithful to us, for he will never leave us nor forsake us.

Reliable.  Jesus testified at the end of his life that he had finished the work God gave him to do.  He went where God told him and did what God told him.  He is true to his promises to us as well.

Involved.  I could have used another word that starts with 'I' - incarnate.  Jesus wasn't satisfied staying in heaven.  He came and entered our world to be a part of our lives, every part of our lives.

Empathetic.  Because he came and entered into our experience, he knows the struggles we face and is able to "deal gently with the ignorant and wayward."

Near.  He is not far off, observing us from a distance.  As the song goes, "He's as close as the mention of his name."  When we are struggling against the wind and the waves of life, we find him walking on the water to come to our aid.

Devoted.  His is not a relationship of duty or drudgery.  He loves us, so much so that he gave himself to die for us on the cross.  Again, an old song comes to mind: "If that isn't love..."

Thank God for our Best Friend Forever, Jesus!

Prayer: We do thank you, O Lord, for your Son, our Friend.  Jesus calls us friends.  What amazing love!  "This alone is our complaint, that our love is weak and faint. Yet we love You and adore; O for grace to love You more."