August 1
I’m reading this morning in Psalms 25:7a: “Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth.”
When I think about my life before becoming a Christian, and all of the really stupid things I did and was involved in, I wonder why God allowed me to continue living. Let me hasten to say that I don’t have a police record, so I’m not talking about things for which I would have been arrested, but things that were certainly not in God’s will for my life or things which He would not have approved.
And, I think that most likely nearly all of us have this rebellious time in our lives at some point. We like to think we’re self-sufficient and masters of our own destiny when in fact we’re all seekers of something outside ourselves, something that is far greater than we are.
I’m very thankful today that God was so patient with me and that He eventually was able to love me back to Himself. When I consider the richness my life has experienced since I’ve become a Christian, I can endorse the writer of Ps 37:4: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the fondest desires of your heart.” Life is good because God is good.
July 20
I’m reading in THE ONE YEAR BOOK OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY about a man maned James Hudson Taylor, born in England in 1832. His parents dedicated him to missionary service in China, which he accepted as a young man and departed for China at the age of 21. At that time, there were 350 baptized believers in China.
Since no agency would endorse Taylor to work in China as a missionary, he started his own agency and named it the China Inland Mission. He recruited his prospective missionaries from the working class, not the universities. Fifteen newly appointed missionaries departed for China in 1866. By 1895 there were 641 and by 1914 their numbers had grown to 1,368 and the number of baptized believers had grown to half-a-million.
Unfortunately, civil war broke out in China and the Communists won. The Nationalists retreated to the island of Taiwan. The last CIM missionaries left the mainland in 1953 leaving behind about 1,000,000 believers. The church was persecuted by the Communists, so it went underground. Yet, by 1980 there were 2,000,000 believers.
In 2000, there were approximately 75,000,000 believers in China, a growth that has no parallels in church history. The Christian church in China is larger than the Communist Party in numbers. The seeds sown by the early missionaries produced fruit a thousandfold.
I Cor 3:6: “I planted, Apollo’s watered, but God was causing the growth.”
July 12
There is a really neat and meaningful message from Dr. Blackaby today in his devotional EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. The scripture he uses comes from Isaiah 49:15, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you.”
Scripture often uses graphic ideas from the daily lives of people to make a point. Here, the point is made that it is more likely that a nursing mother would forget her child than God would forget you! How likely is a nursing mother to forget her child? I don’t think that could be figured into probabilities. The number would be too large to comprehend.
When I worked as a volunteer at the hospital family surgical waiting room, one of our responsibilities was to escort families to either the recovery room or the discharge area. When I took a mother whose child had surgery to the recovery room, if she heard the child cry, she’d walk ahead of me to the child’s side. How did she know it was her child? There were many other patients in the room just out of surgery as well. She knew because it was her child!
July 11
In yesterday’s devotional by Dr. Blackaby, he was dealing with the hope that Christians have because of the work of Jesus the Christ. First, he states that hope for the Christian is not wishful thinking, but confidant expectation. I find that to be a most interesting way to put it.
We often say we “hope” this or that will happen, but when it comes to our relationship with Jesus and the hope we have because of Him, it ceases to be “hope” but the English language fails to have another word that will express the meaning and remove the element of doubt.
The “hope “of the Christian is assurance that all of the promises made in the scriptures will come to pass. Our hope is not speculation that our God might fulfill these promises, but that He will do it. Whatever “hope” we have in our lives will eventually become reality. God has never failed to deliver on His promises and certainly He has no reason to start doing that now.
If you do not have this “hope” in Christ, it’s never too late to be able to possess it. The hope a Christian experiences is a great comfort against all of the turmoil and uncertainty spread by the devil on a daily basis. Experience for yourself the hope that only comes from a relationship with Jesus.
July 5
I’m reading in Dr. Blackaby’s EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He’s dealing with where we should receive our joy and happiness. It should not be determined by what’s outside of us, but what’s within us, namely the Spirit of God.
In Acts 16:25, Paul and Silas are in prison, in the deepest dungeon, and are in chains. But rather than be despondent or discouraged, they were praying and singing hymns to God. A direct quote from Dr. Blackaby is “They did not blame God for allowing these things to happen.” What a great attitude! So often we wonder ‘why me?’. But the question should be ‘how do I respond to this in a way that will glorify my Savior?”
We should never allow the circumstances of our lives cancel the joy of knowing we are children of God, saved by His grace and will spend all of eternity in His presence. God has vowed never to forsake us (I Sam 1:5) and He will never lead us into a situation where He will not be there with us. Our joy should come from within, and never be controlled from what is without.
July 1
I’m reading, EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY by Dr. Blackaby. He is dealing with Romans 6:18, which says, “And having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.”
His main idea is that before we became Christian, we were enslaved to sin. At times, there was nothing we could do about it (Rom 7) and continued to do the very things we wanted to avoid. But, once we received Christ as Savior and were indwelt by the power of the Holy Spirit, we became enslaved to righteousness.
The immediate question becomes, since God will forgive anything I do now, do I have license to do as I please? Paul’s response is a very strong wording in Greek that is translated, ‘May it never be’! If this is our understanding of Christianity, we are completely and totally wrong. We are now under the power and influence of God and our actions should glorify His name daily.
The way we act and react in our lives daily will prove who we are and who is leading us. Righteous living for the Christians is not an option and producing the fruit of the Spirit is not multiple choice. We are the representatives of Christ in the world and are a testament daily to His power to change our lives for the better. Our freedom is not do as we please, but a freedom to live righteously and to draw others to Christ as a result.
June 23
I’m reading this morning in II Kings 5, specifically the story about a man named Naaman, who was a military leader in the country of Aram. He was a great warrior and leader, but he had leprosy, an incurable disease that caused Jews to be outcasts and drove them to be beggars.
A little Jewish girl who was a servant in Naaman’s house told Naaman’s wife about the prophet in Israel who could cure leprosy. So, the King of Aram sent Naaman to be cured. When he arrived at Elisha’s house, Elisha sent a messenger and told Naaman to wash in the Jordan River 7 times. Naaman left in a huff because as he said, “I thought he would come out to meet me, I expected him to wave his arm over the leprosy and call on the name of his God and the leprosy would be gone.”
Isn’t this a reflection of how we approach God? We come with our expectations and pre-conceived notions on how God will act and react, and when He doesn’t we want to leave in a huff. But, in doing so we limit God’s desires and abilities to our own limited expectations. God has so much more planned for us if we’ll just listen and follow His lead.
Naaman did listen to the prophet, and after following his instructions, his leprosy was cured, and his skin was like the skin of a baby. We too need to listen to His instructions for our life and see how easy and fulfilling His will is for us daily.
June 14, 2022
I recently returned from a trip to South Africa where I worked, along with 9 others, at a place called the Door of Hope. This is a ministry started in 1999 that rescues abandoned babies in and around the city of Johannesburg. To date, more than 1,800 have been kept alive by this ministry.
While the original desire is to get the babies either back with their biological families or adopted, they care for roughly 70-90 babies on a daily basis. The ones who are not placed with their biological families will never know their biological parents or even their date of birth. The ladies who work tirelessly caring for these babies, name them and care for them as a mother would.
While there are numerous charities around the world doing work that would shame most of our meager efforts, this is one I know about and participate in. I would ask that you pray for the Door of Hope Ministries in South Africa and for the ministry they are performing. Sometimes it seems as if Satan himself is in the very midst of the efforts, but we also see such wonderful things happening. Who knows what one of these babies that started life abandoned will not become a great physician or business leader. At least now they will have that opportunity.
May 10, 2022
I’m reading in Dr. Blackaby’s EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He’s dealing with how we measure success and how we handle what we consider success. His scripture is Ex 33:15, “If Your presence does not go,” Moses responded to Him, “don’t make us go up from here.”
God has told Moses that He will send an angel to go with the people He has rescued from Egypt. Moses responds with the scripture verse above: If you aren’t going with us, don’t send us.
We are tempted constantly to choose success in this world as opposed to a sincere relationship with God. But worldly success can disappear in the twinkling of an eye as it did in the 1930s depression and as much success also disappeared during the COVID pandemic of the past two years. The Lord encourages us to find our success and happiness in a relationship with Him since the world cannot take that away.
Success in the world’s eyes is not necessarily an indication of a blessing from God. It may only be an indication that we have substituted our relationship with God for worldly success, which God will not honor.
April 26, 2022
Excellent devotional by Dr. Blackaby in his book EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He takes his scripture from Phil 4:11, “I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am” and is dealing with contentment and where it comes from. He begins with the statement, “Our world promotes dissatisfaction with our lives.”
I find this to be true, primarily because we live in a capitalistic society and for it to maintain its momentum, we have to keep feeding it with new spending. But, unfortunately what happens is we seek to find meaning and contentment in our purchases and it just isn’t there. We’re encouraged by the world to compare our standing and status in life with those around us, and there will always be someone with whom we will not measure up in possessions and wealth. So, we vow to strive to attain more stuff.
In the final analysis, stuff doesn’t satisfy our deepest needs. Nor does it offer contentment. Paul had enjoyed power and status among his people, but he also had known what the depths of a dungeon looked like firsthand as well as how it felt to be stoned almost to death. But his contentment didn’t come from his environment, but from his relationship with Christ.
Being content with what we have frees us to enjoy the good things God has given us. It also demonstrates our belief in the love of God and that He has our best interest in mind. Discontent stems from the sin of ingratitude and a lack of faith in the God who gave us life and sustains us daily. A grateful heart doesn’t have room for envy.
April 24, 2022
I’m a great believer in using different translations of the Bible. It doesn’t matter which one you use, it’s going to be a translation since we don’t have any of the original manuscripts, and none of the Bible was originally written in English.
Reading this morning in Ps 92:4 in the New Living Translation, “You thrill me Lord, with all You have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done.”
When I look back on my life, and how many times the Lord protected and rescued me from my selfish and futile way of life, I find this passage of scripture especially poignant and applicable to me. I could never wish any of you anything greater than our Lord blessing your life as much as He has mine.
April 19, 2022
I returned yesterday from 9 days in Poland, working with a team in constructing a building that eventually will benefit Ukrainian refugees. While there, the Pastor of the church where we were working, hired a local Polish man, about 35 years old, to help our team. He had been witnessed to by the Pastor several times but wanted nothing to do with religion.
As we worked, this young man, named Adam, remarked to the Pastor that he must be a very wealthy man to bring part of his staff from America to work on this new building. The Pastor told him that we were actually volunteers, not employees, and that we had paid our own expenses to travel and took time from our schedule to help with this project. Adam was quite taken aback by this revelation and just couldn’t believe his ears. “There is nothing like this in my world. Seeing this before my very eyes tells me there must be something special about this religion you preach.” Adam was in church on Easter Sunday, for the first time in his life. Please pray for Adam as he takes these first few steps in following Jesus.
This is called the ministry of presence. It’s why we went to Poland and why teams from our church go to Honduras and El Salvador and South Africa and Alaska. We could send the money we spend on airline tickets and accommodations, but then Adam couldn’t see how our Lord was working in our lives and in his life as well.
April 5, 2022
I’m reading in Deuteronomy 28, and am reminded that God is, and always has been, serious about His chosen ones following His commands and expectations. This is never more vivid and clear than in these 68 verses. I think we all would do well from time to time to read this passage of scripture to remind us all we need to be as serious and as committed to His expectations as He is.
March 23, 2022
Excellent devotional by Dr. Blackaby in his book EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He’s dealing with the promise and commitment by His disciples not to deny Him when He goes through His arrest, mock trial, beating and crucifixion. All of them vowed that they would not deny Him, even to the point of death. But, as we all know, all of them deserted Jesus at His time of greatest need, and Peter, the disciple who often took the lead, denied he ever knew Jesus, and he did it three times.
How easy it is to go from the upper room experience to the depths of denial. Scripture, in several different places, makes the statement that someone was seeking the approval of man rather than the approval of God. The pressure to conform to the standards of the day are tremendous and few of us want to be an odd ball. But, as Christians, we are the odd balls of society. We give our time, efforts and resources to a God we cannot see or prove, but we know He is real. We see His handiwork in everything in our lives on a daily basis.
Going along with the crowd is favored. It’s difficult in many ways to stand alone, but that’s exactly what our Lord asks of us and expects of us. Will you, can you stand alone for what you believe is right?
March 9, 2022
I’m reading in the ONE YEAR BOOK OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY about a time when Christianity was forbidden. A young lady in Carthage (present day Tunisia) was born into a noble family. Her name was Vibia Perpetua, and she gave birth to an infant son. Vibia, her brother, and their personal slave were all Christians, but there is no indication if her husband was or not.
In A.D. 202, the Roman Emperor, Severus, issued the edict forbidding conversion to Christianity or baptism. The edict was scrupulously enforced in Carthage. While making preparations to be baptized, Perpetua and four others were arrested and put under house arrest. She was baptized, along with the others, and when they refused to recant their belief in Jesus the Christ and make sacrifices to the Roman gods, they were ultimately sentenced to death and put in a dungeon.
The group were herded into an amphitheater where a mad heifer mauled the women; then a leopard pounced on them; and finally, gladiators completed the sentence. In the final moments, Perpetua encouraged her brother and the others, “You must all stand fast in the faith and love one another, and do not be weakened by what you have gone through.”
We enjoy complete freedom of worship in the USA, and yet so many who claim to be Christian hardly darken the door of a church unless it’s a special occasion. Every Sunday should be special in the life of a Christian as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and His sacrifice for all of us.
March 3, 2022
Excellent devotional by Dr. Blackaby in his book EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He’s dealing with the importance of faith in the Christian’s life. His text is Heb 11:6a: “Now without faith, it is impossible to please God.”
Our relationship with God depends in large measure on our faith. We must believe that He exists, and that He is exactly who He revealed Himself to be in the Scriptures. We must also believe that He will respond to us when we earnestly seek Him. Regardless of how moral we are, the good works we might perform, the sacrifices we might make for His sake, if we do not have faith we will not please Him.
It is tempting to substitute religious activity for faith in God, but too many of us are wanting to walk by sight rather than by faith. We want to see all of the resources in place before we step out in obedience. That eliminates the need for faith.
While faith will not eliminate problems in the Christian’s life, faith will keep us in a trusting relationship with God in the midst of our problems. Faith has to do with our relationship with God, not with our circumstances. If we had all the answers, we wouldn’t need faith – the very thing that pleases God.
February 25, 2022
In Dr. Blackaby’s devotional, EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY, he’s writing about the Christian’s life being exchanged: Jesus’ life for ours. He makes the statement, “When Christ takes control, your life takes on dimensions you would never have known apart from Him.” This got me to thinking how different my life has been since I became a Christian as an adult; about all of the things that I do and have done that would not have been part of my life without Jesus.
I had a friend named Geoff Morcom when I was living and working in South Africa. He was originally from Australia and worked for the Baptist Union of South Africa and we spent a good deal of time together. Geoff had a favorite saying, especially about people who had limited knowledge and experience. His saying was, ‘they don’t know what they don’t know.’ I think this has great application here. Those who have never known Jesus in a personal relationship really don’t know what they have been missing. So much of the stress of life is gone, the fear of the future is no longer an issue, and so much meaning has come into life that one is never bored.
If you’ve never known the peace of God that passes understanding, you really don’t know what you don’t know. There are dimensions of life with Christ that one can never know apart from Him. What do you have to lose? Fear, anxiety, uncertainty, a lack of peace?
February 18, 2022
Leviticus 8 is about God talking to Moses on how to go about making things holy so they can be used in the tabernacle that had been constructed in the wilderness as the Hebrews made their way from Egypt to Palestine.
Detailed instructions are given about Moses’ sons, sprinkling oil on all the utensils in the Tabernacle, making offerings for a variety of situations and how to prepare the meat to be eaten. At the conclusion of all these instructions, the statement is made that it was done “…..just as the Lord had commanded him.” (Lev 8:9, 13, 17, 21, 29 NLT)
Scripture is filled with specific instructions on an endless variety of things that affect our lives and how, if we follow them, they will make our lives not only fuller, but also filled with meaning and purpose. It makes me wonder if we too can say that we did just as the Lord had commanded?
February 8, 2022
An excellent devotional by Dr. Blackaby in his book EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He’s dealing today with anxiety, one of the major health issues in America. The scripture reference for his devotional is Phil 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
Several things make this passage really stand out: first, Paul was writing from prison. Then, his country was occupied by a foreign power and ruled by corrupt leaders. Some folks were trying to undermine all Paul had accomplished in starting churches, and he was suffering physically and was facing execution. Here, Dr. Blackaby injects a thought that I think captures what Paul was trying to say, “Yet Paul said there would never be a crisis so troubling that God could not bring peace in the midst of it!”
“Peace in the midst of it” is what God is all about. We are never assured in the least that once we become Christian, we will never have reason to be tempted to worry. We are never told that we will not be subject to the trials and troubles that life brings to all of us. But Jesus did say that we will never have a trial that we cannot also have peace in the midst of it.
We all have things in our lives that we cannot control, but we don’t have to have anxiety with it as well. There is nothing on this earth that is too difficult, too troubling, or too fearful for God. But it doesn’t help until we bring it to Him and leave it with Him.
January 31, 2022
John 20:20-21 tells the story of the resurrected Jesus with his disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. After they shared a meal, Jesus took Peter for a walk along the shore and asked Peter three times if he still loved Him. Peter’s reply was “yes” all three times. Jesus didn’t berate Peter for having denied Him, as all of the other disciples fled. He only wanted to know if Peter still loved Him.
Peter then asked Jesus what about John? Biblical scholars differ in why Peter asked this question. Some think he wanted to deflect the conversation in another direction, others think maybe Peter was jealous of John since he had stayed at the cross. But, why he asked isn’t nearly as important as to what he asked.
Jesus’ reply was Peter was not to worry about John, he was to take care of the actions of Peter. This applies to our lives as well. We may be jealous of the assignment others are given in church that seem more glamorous than what we are doing, or we may be envious of the success other Christians have enjoyed financially or health wise. But the reply of Jesus would be the same to us. We are to pay special attention to how the Lord has blessed our lives and equipped us to fulfill His will in our daily activities. Jesus will take care of John; we are to take care of our relationship with Jesus.
January 21, 2022
I’m reading in Dr. Blackaby’s EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY and he’s dealing with the lie that Satan projects on people that if you sin, you can’t possibly be of any use to God. Satan will do anything to keep you from serving the Father.
Pointing out your every sin and failure can bring a sense of defeat to us, which is exactly what he wants.
A good example of people who sinned and were still used by God would be the Apostles. We often give Peter a hard time because of his denying Jesus and deserting Him during His hour of greatest need. But, if you read the scriptures closely, especially Matt 26:56c, it says “Then all of the disciples left Him and fled.” Later, Jesus only asked Peter if he still loved Him. Once confession and forgiveness were accomplished, Peter became one of the most powerful voices in the early church.
The truth is this, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Sinning after you have been saved does not disqualify you from being an effective and powerful servant of God. Only you can do that.
January 14, 2022
Reading in Dr. Blackaby’s EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY, he’s dealing with something that can have an impact on any of us, even the most mature and dedicated Christian, and that is the tendency to replace relationship with ritual. Christianity is best defined as an intimate, growing relationship with the person of Jesus the Christ. It is not a set of doctrines, habits to practice, laws to keep or sins to avoid.
It’s so easy to degenerate into “religion” and go about our weekly or monthly meetings or rituals designed mainly to appease our guilt. God gave us prayer as a means of communicating, but so often this too becomes ritual, and we fail to set aside a time to listen as well as to voice our concerns. Any religious activity apart from relationship has the potential to become legalism. The danger is we become so comfortable with our “religion” we fail to notice God’s absence. It’s so easy to attend worship services, give an offering and yet not experience the presence of God.
Don’t settle for a religious life lacking relationship. When God is present in our lives, we’ll notice, and so will the world.
January 7, 2022
I’m reading this morning in the ONE YEAR BIBLE, Proverbs 1:18-19. The preceding verses are talking about people who entice us to join with them in sin. Verse 18 and 19 state: “But these people set an ambush for themselves; they are trying to get themselves killed. Such is the fate of all who are greedy for money; it robs them of life.” (NLT)
The meaning of these verses can be multifold. First, those who set traps for others are ultimately setting a trap for themselves, whether they are caught in this life or have to ultimately answer to God. I t also deals with the person who has a love of money or are greedy for money. The wording is very interesting: it robs them of life.
How many truly happy rich people have you ever known? It has been my experience that those who have enough money to be considered “rich” spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about how to invest it or how to keep it safe. They seldom have time to enjoy it because it has grown to possess their lives and becomes an end in and of itself.
Prov 30:8-9 gives wise counsel about possessions: “Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or, lest I be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God.” (NASB)
December 23, 2021
Only one more day until we celebrate Christ’s birth. This event makes it abundantly clear how much of an impact the coming of Jesus had on the world. The gospels of Matthew and Luke record this event and in Luke we find the following verse: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2:14 NASB)
In reading the Bible, and in quoting specific scriptures, it often occurs that we delete the parts we don’t like or that challenge our lives too much. This verse, when quoted, often leaves out the WITH WHOM HE IS PLEASED part. But, in reality, that is the part that makes it specific and relative. The peace of God is reserved for those who have a growing relationship with Him and are one of His children.
Scripture is specific that there is no peace for the wicked (Isaiah 57:21 NASB). Do we really expect to live a life that is completely self-centered all year and then have the peace of God during the Christmas season? The melancholy that enters so many lives during this special season is evident, but that attitude should be a vital part of our lives the entire year. It can happen only if God is pleased with us.
My wish for you this holiday season is that if you don’t know Jesus as your personal savior and Lord, you will take that step to begin walking with Him daily and that you would truly begin to know the peace that is available only through that relationship.
December 17, 2021
Excellent devotional by Dr. Blackaby in his book EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He’s dealing with Matt 7:24, the passage about building on a rock rather than sand. It comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, some of the most profound truths in scripture.
Dr. Blackaby points out that spiritual maturity doesn’t come easily, but only with consistent and determined effort. Building on sand is easy and quick, but once a storm comes there is grave danger. Building on a rock is not only more time consuming, it’s also hard work. But, once that storm comes, the house built on a rock will withstand the storm much better.
How can we tell if a person is building on a rock or sand? Look at how they react during the storms of life and how their situation is once the storm has passed. Trying to build during the midst of a storm is impossible, but shows us the need to use our time wisely when the storms are not blowing. And, note in this passage of scripture that the storms spoken of are the same for the one building on the rock as well as the one building on sand. Christians are not exempt from storms, but they are better prepared when they come.
December 10, 2021
In reading through the Bible using the ONE YEAR BIBLE, today’s New Testament reading is the book of Jude. It’s only one chapter, 25 verses, but the last two verses are especially poignant:
“To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
These two short verses should remind us that Jesus loves us and wants what is best for us. Also, that He wants to present us to His father “…with great joy…”. So many in the world today see God as a judgmental tyrant who seeks only to condemn us and somehow delights in punishing our every failure. Scripture doesn’t support that in either the Old Testament or the New Testament.
God’s character is one of a loving Father who wants what is best for His children. He has great expectations of us, and rightly so. As a result, He disciplines us when we wander away but rejoices when we return. Your own relationship with children is a great reflection of how God desires to relate to us.
December 3, 2021
Over the course of the years that I’ve been in full-time Christian service, I’ve encountered some very misguided folks who had the understanding that they were somehow equal with God. They would make statements like, “…..well, when I get to heaven, I’ve got a few questions I want to ask of God.” While that might give them some feelings of calling God to task, I fear that they don’t understand very much about God at all.
In chapter 10 of Daniel, he is standing on the bank of the Tigris River and sees a vision. His reaction to it is, verse 9, “…..I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground,” verse 10, “A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees,” verse 11, “…..I stood up trembling,” verse 15, “…..I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless,” verse 17, “How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone, and I can hardly breathe.”
You’ll remember the story of Daniel and the lion’s den and the handwriting on the wall. This great man of God, who refused the favors of Babylon to remain true to the dietary laws of his God, and who refused to worship the image set up by Nebuchadnezzar of himself, encountered a vision, not God, but a vision. He reacts like he did in the preceding paragraph and we think we’re somehow going to challenge God in ANY way? Surely God must have a laugh at anyone who has this attitude. If we have lost the vision of the majesty of God, it’s time we regained it and realize He is not our equal. He is the creator and sustainer of all that exists. We can approach Him only on our knees with our face to the ground, in gratitude.
November 19, 2021
Really good devotional from Dr. Blackaby in his book EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He’s dealing with us being part of something bigger than ourselves.
When we read scripture, God speaks to us in the context of what He has done in the lives of those who preceded us. We have nearly 2,000 years of Christian witness to draw on. The book of Hebrews makes this crystal clear as it lists so many who were part of God’s plan to re-establish His relationship with a fallen world.
The same God who worked through Moses and Elijah wants to work through us. This makes all of us part of something vastly bigger than ourselves. While we tend to live in the present, it causes us to lack a sense of eternity. We expect that anything God does through us will be completed while we can see the results. But God often completes His will through another person and even another generation.
Our responsibility is to follow the God who gave of Himself that we might have life today and life eternal. How He accomplishes that is not for us to dictate. We are part of something bigger than ourself and we should be very grateful that He uses us in His plans.
November 12, 2021
Read an excellent devotional by Dr. Blackaby in his book EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He’s dealing with how a Christian’s decision to follow God’s leading affects others. I know something of this first hand since, in following what I knew was God’s leading in my life, I led my family to move to South Africa.
It was not an easy move. We left everything familiar to us and all of our friends and family to relocate in a country that we knew nothing about. The language was English, which was one of our main concerns, but our oldest daughter was 14, not a good time to lose all of your friends. My wife and I talked more than once about sending her back to the States to live with friends since it was so difficult for her to make the adjustment. But, in time, God sent her a special friend who helped break the barriers of resistance and she ultimately made a wonderful transition. She has many friends in South Africa to this day.
The move wasn’t nearly as difficult on our younger daughter who was 11, and I don’t think Timothy, who was 6, knew we’d moved! When we left South Africa to return to the States, the children cried as much as they had when we left for South Africa.
All Christians need to consider that their following God’s will has an effect on others. We don’t follow Christ in a vacuum, but in following Him, it’s reassuring when we watch all of the pieces come together. I’m reminded of the lyrics of the song, JUST BE HELD, by Casting Crowns: “Your life’s not falling apart, it’s just falling into place.”
November 5, 2021
As I was doing my morning devotional and reading of the scriptures, it occurred to me that I’ve been studying this book we call the Bible closely since 1976, 45 years. It recently became evident to me that it all comes back to the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods besides Me.” Exodus 20:3 (NASB). This is our great struggle as Christians.
I read what was intended to be a joke in Reader’s Digest recently of a woman who was given a citation for speeding on an interstate highway. As the officer gave her the ticket, she said to him, “Looks like you could give a warning about the speed limit.” The officer replied, “We do, all along the highway. They’re called ‘speed limit signs.’ “
How many signs have we been given of late that we are allowing our gods to take the place of the only true God?
October 29, 2021
In Dr. Blackaby’s devotional EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY, he’s dealing with our battle with Satan. Many Christians feel that their first order of action is to share in this battle. But, as Dr. Blackaby points out, that battle has already been won, by Jesus when He made Himself the ultimate sacrifice at Calvary.
Our assignment now is to trust in the victory Christ has already won and to resist Satan daily. If we spend all of our effort and time engaging this battle again, we’re only spinning our wheels in frustration. Our responsibility is to resist Satan in God’s power (James 4:7), and in doing so we acknowledge the battle has been won. We’re just involved in another skirmish with the outcome having already been determined.
In Eph 6:10-20 we are given the whole armor of God which is sufficient to withstand anything Satan can throw at us. We can become so preoccupied with fighting a battle that has already been won, we neglect to attend to our duties from day to day and thus eliminating any effectiveness we might have had in someone’s life.
We don’t need to fight this battle again. We only need to apply it to our lives on a daily basis.
October 22, 2021
In Dr. Blackaby’s EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY, he’s dealing with the condition of the heart. The gist of his devotional is that our heart needs to be right with God for us to be right with the world.
He makes this statement late in the devotional: “See that you don’t devote all of your energy to worldly concerns, rather than to pursuing your relationship with God.” It struck me that it is so easy to do that without really being aware that it is happening. We all lead lives that are busy and that have a myriad of things that want, and need, to claim our attention. But, in the final analysis, what we give our time to really becomes a type of god to us.
In the years I’ve been in Christian ministry, I’ve heard every excuse you can think of as to why people don’t attend worship services. It reminds me of the people who made excuses to Jesus as to why they couldn’t follow Him at that specific moment (Luke 14:18-20).
Grady Nutt, a Christian humorist who died in 1983, had a saying that he used and I think it’s true of all of us: “You’re going to do what you want to do when you want to do it badly enough.”
October 15, 2021
I’m reading Dr. Blackaby’s devotional EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He’s dealing with something that is increasingly evident to all of us; a society that continues to embrace an ungodly lifestyle and wants all of society to view it as being normal and acceptable.
It has been evident over the centuries that when people drift from following God’s values and guidelines, they sink into a lifestyle that is self-serving and degrading to those around them. Our great challenge as Christians is to avoid this and spend our energies and life serving those around us as our fulfillment of serving Jesus the Christ. This is in complete opposition to how the world at large thinks and acts.
As I view our world, it sometimes almost frightens me to see how similar we are to Sodom and Gomorrah and I have to wonder how much longer our holy and tolerant Lord will allow this to continue. Our only measure of comfort comes from being prepared for Christ’s return in our lives at any moment.
October 8, 2021
I’m reading in Jeremiah, specifically in 1:16, where God says through Jeremiah, “I will pronounce judgements on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.” The part that struck me was the last part, “…..worshiping what their hands have made.”
It’s not difficult to see people all around me on a daily basis who are almost possessed by their possessions. And, aren’t these the very things that God refers to as being made with our own hands? Are these not the very things God is talking about, our possessions that become so precious to us that they take the place of the living God who created us and provides our every need?
Scripture is filled with warnings from God to His people to avoid other gods, and in fact is the first of the Ten Commandments. The Old Testament prophets called on the people constantly to forsake these man made gods and worship the one true God. But, just like us today, we’re much more content to worship what we create ourselves.
Just like speed limit signs along the highway fails to stop speeding cars and trucks, warning signs that God gives us daily are ignored. The Israelites were warned by the prophets, and we have ample warning as well. Will we heed the warning signs or continue to worship what our hands have created?
September 30, 2021
Excellent guidance by Dr. Blackaby in his devotional EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. His text is I Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon Him, because He cares about you.”
Dr. Blackaby starts off by reminding us that becoming Christian doesn’t make all of our problems disappear. What it does do is give us access to God in the midst of any troubles that come our way in life, which they are sure to do. And, remember, Peter was writing to Christians who were facing persecution and could be betrayed at any moment which could result in torture or even death.
Casting our cares on God is a choice we must make. This can be a very difficult thing to do. We can’t divide our concerns into categories, those I can handle and those I submit to God. Our tendency is to be self-reliant, proud of our accomplishments. We may even nurse our worries and keep them in the forefront of our lives. But, this is not how God wants us to handle the concerns of life.
God sees us as children who need guidance and He is the one who sees the future and knows best how to guide us. It may seem like a copout to cast all our cares on God, but it’s what He wants us to do. Then, we are freed to live the life He means for us to enjoy.
September 24, 2021
I’m reading in the book of Ephesians, particularly in 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
We live in a world of self-centeredness and egotism. Virtually everything we see in advertising tells us to look out for ourselves first. We are to climb the ladder of “success” and let others do the same. We are in competition with everyone and everything around us. And, as you are well aware, this creates in us a tremendous sense of anxiety.
God tells us through Paul in this passage of scripture that we have a purpose in life; namely, “to do good works, which He has prepared in advance for us to do.” And one of the teachings of Scripture is that we are not to make others around us our servants, but rather ones which we will serve. Like so many teachings in Scripture, this is a total reversal of how society sees our purpose in life.
Christianity has always been at odds with the world, and always will be. We don’t have to be anti-social, but we also don’t have to be blind clones to the whims of society. We have a purpose in life. Our calling and duty are to fulfill it as best we can.
September 17, 2021
I was on the way home after delivering meals to some of our homebound and got to thinking about some of Jesus’ last words from the cross, which included these words: “Forgive them, Father, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
It occurred to me that Jesus wasn’t just talking about the people at the foot of the cross who were very much misguided; He was talking about me and you, and the world we live in as well. As I go about my daily activities, I often see people who never give even a passing thought to much of anything religious, let alone anything Christian. Sometimes it feels like we’re living in Sodom or Gomorrah with all the sexual promiscuity that is evident in our fallen world.
But scripture is equally clear that there will come a day when they will be called into accountability. Scripture plainly says: “…..at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…..every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Phil 2:10-11). This is also found in Isa 45:23.
As Christians, this doesn’t give us license to point our finger at non-believers and somehow feel that we are superior. It should be a wakeup call for non-believers who live their lives without a relationship with Christ. God has been patient with us as believers; let’s pray He will continue to be patient with non-believers in our world.
August 26, 2021
I’m reading in the ONE YEAR BIBLE, specifically in Psalm 34:19. The Psalmist writes: “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.”
Over the years that I’ve been in full-time Christian service, I’ve encountered a number of folks who had the idea that if they became Christian, all of their troubles would disappear. Those of us who have been Christian for any period of time will know that is not true. We are not protected by some invisible shield that is put in place by God, and it’s somewhat foolish to think that way. We are subject to all the troubles and ills that might befall anyone. The difference is we have a different sort of mechanism to handle these troubles and that is the presence of the Holy Spirit of God.
One of the great witnessing tools that we possess is how we, as Christians, handle the hard times of life. Do we doubt God and throw a tantrum because He has allowed adversity into our lives, or do we draw on His power to sustain us in the midst of the problems? Look at Job who lost virtually everything of any value to him, and the counsel of his wife was to curse God and die. But Job remained steadfast in his belief and God restored all Job had lost and then some. Job never knew he was a proving ground for God’s abiding love.
You will have trouble in this life. But, don’t despair, because Jesus says in John 16:33, “…..In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world”. (NASB)
August 19, 2021
I’m reading this morning in the ONE YEAR BOOK OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY about a man named Augustus Toplady, author of the hymn ROCK OF AGES. He was born in Surrey, England in 1740 and was the only child of a major in the English army. He never saw his Dad, who was killed in battle.
When he was 16, he and his Mom moved to Ireland where he went to hear a Methodist layman preach to a small crowd in a barn. While Augustus was an educated young man, the preacher could hardy write his own name. Yet God used this unlearned person to preach the gospel and open the doors of heaven to Augustus.
Augustus graduated from Trinity College and was ordained into the ministry of the Church of England just 2 years after graduating. He pastored two churches, but contracted tuberculosis, and as he fought the ravages of the disease, he wrote ROCK OF AGES, considered one of the most popular hymns in the English language. Augustus died at the age of 38.
I’ve heard so many people over the years complain of not being “prepared” or knowledgeable enough to be of service to God, but as we read scripture we find that God uses the simple to confound the wise. Our place is to allow God to use our availability and let Him take care of the results.
August 12, 2021
I’m reading Dr. Blackaby’s EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He’s dealing with God never failing to fulfill a promise and takes his text from Joshua 23:14. Joshua is about to “…..go the way of all the earth…..”
The Old Testament is about three times as voluminous as the New Testament. It covers a much longer period of time of course, and parts of it is repetitive. One of the reasons for the repetitiveness is the writers of the Old Testament continuously recount the miracles of God and the promises that He has continually fulfilled. The Israelites were freed from one of the most powerful countries on the earth, wandered in the desert for 40 years, had to conquer armies much larger and more powerful than their own. And, yet, all of this came to pass just as God had promised.
I fear that too often we focus on our problems rather than on the power of the God we claim to worship and depend on. We too need to spend time looking back over our own lives to see how faithful and powerful our God has been, and how often He has provided for us in ways that never seemed possible.
The future is the great unknown, but the God we serve knows the future and He has promised to be with us in that time as well. He has also promised to never leave us or forsake us. God’s faithfulness in your past should give all of us great comfort for the future.
August 5, 2021
I’m reading this morning in II Chronicle 34:21c. This period of history covers the kings of Judah and Israel. Josiah has come to the throne of Judah, and was one of the kings who was faithful to the Lord. He entered into a project to rebuild and restore the temple in Jerusalem to it’s original state, and in the process the Book of the Law was discovered.
King Josiah had the book read in his presence, and when he heard the words of the Law, he “…..tore his robes,” a sign of great distress. He instructed his leaders to inquire of the Lord what they should do. In verse 21, at the end of the verse, Josiah says “…..the people have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.”
This verse brought to mind how few people really know the word of God, and how few I know that actually read the word on a regular basis. How can we be expected to keep the word of God if we don’t know the word of God? When I first became a Christian and began reading the Bible on a regular basis, I often wondered to myself ‘why didn’t someone tell me about this?’ I was discovering new truths and direction and purpose on a daily basis. It has been one of the great rewards and treasures of my Christian life.
If you do not, or have not, read the Bible with some type of a consistent plan, I would urge you to begin that today. You’ll find treasures that will give you great comfort as well as challenge. The Bible is the very word of God, given to you for “…..teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” (NASB)
July 29, 2021
Over the course of more than 25 years in full-time Christian ministry, I’ve officiated at more than 70 funerals, and I’ve attended at least as many more. One of the funerals I conducted was for a baby only 7 days old, some of the others were for elderly people who had lived what we refer to as a “full and meaningful life.” In the final analysis all of them brought feelings of sadness and grief, and the inevitable “Why?”
It’s easy for us to question an event in our lives, especially the death of a family member or a very close friend. But, it’s really bordering on selfishness when we react this way. God, who is creator of all that is, sees the future and He acts and makes adjustments in our lives to create what will be the best outcome for us. We live in and can see only the present and can never know on this earth how our lives are being used of God to impact someone else in a way that benefits both of us.
Paul says in Romans 12:1 that we should make our lives a living sacrifice to God. That means that we are to give ourselves whole heartedly to God’s use and control. How many years we live on this earth is less important than how we invest those years in His service. Funerals remind us of our mortality which is why many people stay away from them. But, these bodies were never meant to be eternal. The next one will.
July 25, 2021
In my devotional reading, I came across Ps 12:7-8 again. I’ve looked closely at this passage before, but it struck me afresh how accurate it is in today’s society as it smacks of Sodom and Gomorrah in our world today. Here it is:
“You, Lord, will keep the needy safe, and will protect us forever from the wicked, who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race.”
Could this possibly be any more relevant? As a society we seem to be more concerned with political correctness than with God-centered lives. What not many years ago was prohibited, from the radio and TV airways, is so commonplace today it no longer has any shock value and the perverted is accepted as the norm. Any attempt at rejecting what is clearly in direct contrast with God’s will marks one as being narrow minded and judgmental.
Well, I think maybe we ought to be judgmental. We are slowly being so anesthetized to the depravity and sinfulness of our world that even as professing Christians we seem to be getting to the point to where we are unable or unwilling to stand up to what is acceptable and what is not. Have we become so programmed that we’re afraid of being ridiculed if we stand up for what we believe as Christians? If so, we’ve lost our right to be called the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
July 2, 2021
Reading in Henry Blackaby’s EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY, as he’s dealing with the situation when God says NO. And, I just finished reading Philip Yancey’s book “PRAYER: Does it make any difference?”
In reading these two items, one thing is abundantly clear: prayer is not an easy thing to understand. Sometimes God says YES, sometimes He says NO, and at other times He doesn’t seem to say anything at all. How do we as Christians understand this or use this to undergird our faith? Paul tells us to pray about everything (Phil 4:6), Jesus tells us to ask, seek and knock. So, how do we handle prayers that are not answered in the way we want or in the timeframe we want to dictate?
First, the purpose of prayer is to conform our life to God’s will and not to bend God to our desires. We cannot see the future, but God can and how He chooses to work in our lives today is to help conform us to what He has planned for our lives and how He wants to use our lives to impact others for His kingdom.
Secondly, if God were to answer our prayers as we pray, then He becomes a magic genie who answers all our short-sighted and, at times, requests with very selfish motives. Can we be mature enough to ask God to use our lives in a way that serves His purposes and, in the end, is best for us as well?
June 25, 2021
I’m Dr. Blackaby’s devotional EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He uses as his starting point Joshua 4:8, when the Israelites were told to bring a stone out of the Jordan River, one for each of the 12 tribes, and leave it as a marker, or reminder, of all God had done for them in the Exodus. We also find throughout the Old Testament, and into the New Testament, a re-telling or remembering of the acts of God in the lives of the Israelites. This is a critically important aspect remembering who God is and how He acts.
It’s very important in the life of the Christian as well. As we look back over our walk with God, there should be some very vivid episodes where we knew God was speaking to us, speaking through us, moving in our lives in a variety of ways. These events should not be taken lightly or discarded as we tend to become mundane in our worship experience. The glory of the Lord should always be before us, the majesty of God should always be in our thoughts and never fade.
Rehearse today and every day how God has taken you through the trials of life, has blessed your life with an abundance and gives you hope for the future. Don’t let the fire of your experience with the living God go out or become only lukewarm. We should set our markers and visit them often.
June 18, 2021
Very good and timely devotional by Dr. Blackaby in his devotional book EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY. He’s dealing with a very familiar passage of scripture, and yet one that is often misunderstood.
In Gal 5:22-23 we read, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (NASB)
Note that “fruit” is a singular noun, and “is” is a singular verb. The “fruit of the Spirit” is all nine of these attributes. We don’t get to pick and choose which ones we are going to display or make a part of our Christian walk. We are under the demands of Scripture to develop and nourish all nine. When we look closely at these traits, it’s going to be a struggle in a world that glorifies self-promotion, but as promised by Jesus, the Spirit of God lives within us to help us attain and display each of them in our daily lives. I can’t think of a better way to promote Christianity than to have these character traits as part of our daily lives.
June 11, 2021
I’m reading Dr. Blackaby’s EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY, and he’s dealing with the condition of the heart. The gist of his devotional is that our heart needs to be right with God for us to be right with the world.
He makes this statement late in the devotional: “See that you don’t devote all of your energy to worldly concerns, rather than to pursuing your relationship with God.” It struck me that it is so easy to do that without really being aware that it is happening. We all lead lives that are busy and that have a myriad of things that want, and need, to claim our attention. But, in the final analysis, what we give our time to really becomes a type of god to us.
In the years I’ve been in Christian ministry, I’ve heard every excuse you can think of as to why people don’t attend worship services. It reminds me of the people who made excuses to Jesus as to why they couldn’t follow Him at that specific moment (Luke 14:18-20).
Grady Nutt, a Christian humorist who died in 1983, had a saying that he used, and I think it’s true of all of us: “You’re going to do what you want to do when you want to do it badly enough.”
June 4, 2021
Many of you are aware that I work at the church where I am a member as the Parish Associate. This means that I’m responsible for visiting our homebound and the hospitals. In finding many of the residences of our homebound, I use the GPS on my iPhone. What a GREAT invention that is.
In using the GPS, I’ve learned a couple of things. First, you have to learn to trust it. When it looks like you’re not going where you want to, trust it to get you there. Secondly, it only tells you how to proceed until you get to the next intersection.
I got to thinking how similar that is to how God leads us to be in His perfect will. He only tells us how to get to the next intersection in our lives before He leads us to the next intersection. As we grow and mature in our Christian walk, have you learned to trust Him to lead you safely to the next intersection in your life? Will you trust Him to lead you to the final destination?
