Choose a Devotional Below:
Come Home-13-Sept Door Alarm-20-Sept Flip the Script-1-Sept It is Written-28-Sept La Familia-5-Sept Measured Success-29-Sept Perseverance-10-Sept The Meek-12-Sept Water Pump-18-Sept Willingness for Jesus-25-Sept
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Come Home
So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him (Luke 15:20, NLT)
This country has been founded on the freedom to worship the One true God. Because our founding fathers put God first in their lives and made Him the cornerstone upon which our society was built, a country with free people that lived according to Biblical principles was born. We have been blessed to a great measure because of this foundation, but sadly this country has changed. It is currently in a state of rebellion, just like a teenager enters rebellion. But our country’s problems are not the typical teenage issues of weird hair, piercings, tattoos, smoking, or drinking. Our problem is that we are emancipating ourselves- divorcing our Father. We are steadily removing God from every aspect of our life and we will soon pay dearly for it.
When we compromise from the truth, we tarnish the truth. And when we allow sin to remain un-confronted and make excuses for immoral behavior, we allow sin to grow. Finally, when sin is allowed to grow it gives birth to death (James 1:15). Our country has been quiet in the face of clear violations of God’s Word. We have allowed a holy covenant that consists of one man and one woman and God to be warped and twisted into something that is detestable in the eyes of God in the name of “equality” and “tolerance,” but is a state-recognized “union” of two people of the same sex really the same as the sacrament of marriage in a permanent and holy covenant (unbreakable lifelong promise) between two people of opposite sex and God? We allow delusional men to believe that they are female and vice versa. We have remained quiet as hundreds of thousands of babies are being murdered daily while still in the womb in the name of “woman’s rights,” but what about the right of that precious baby to live while still defenseless in the womb, or your daughter’s right to use the restroom without a creepy pervert wearing a dress? When did the lines blur from what is right and what is wrong? At what point did autonomy and selfishness overcome the conviction in our hearts when we do wrong?
Sin has a way of blurring the lines of right and wrong. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. (Romans 1:28, NLT) This teenage country throws a temper tantrum when they are told, “No, you cannot do that; it’s wrong.” And so, like a patient father would, our Heavenly Father has allowed us rebel. He is allowing our country to learn our lesson the hard way. He will respect our free will, even to the point of violence and death, but He will be waiting and watching for us to return to Him. We must return to our Father. He will meet us from a long way off (Luke 15:11-32), but we must come home.
Door Alarm
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (Proverbs 4:23, NIV)
On our way to another annual men’s rafting trip, we stopped at a donut shop to get some breakfast. Fourteen big guys all spilled out of a minivan and piled into this small donut shop, forming a line that went out the door and into the street. One of the men who was in the doorway kept the door open, rather than allowing the door to close in front of him. Now, the door to this donut shop was equipped with an alarm that sounded every few seconds when the door was ajar. This alarm let everyone know that the donut shop was exposed and unguarded- vulnerable to the outside world. Everyone stood there listening to that stupid door alarm, “Ding…Ding…Ding…” but no one closed the door. Unfortunately, leaving the door open let in the flies.
Every Christian has an alarm to their heart. The Holy Spirit triggers that door alarm and sounds off when the door to our hearts is left open and unguarded. He draws attention to an area of our life that needs to be addressed. Perhaps there is an action, attitude, or something else in our life that should be discontinued, repaired, cleaned out, and/or protected. Sometimes we may refuse to close the door to relationships that are unhealthy, or a behavior that we know God disapproves of, and the longer we leave that door open the more flies we let in.
If the Holy Spirit is sounding the alarm in an area of your life, do not ignore Him. If He is warning you that the door of your heart has been open to flies, pay attention and close the door. Close the door to everything that is not from God and reject every kind of evil, even the subtle things. If you do, your conscience will be clean, your heart will be protected, and you won’t have those annoying flies buzzing around, getting everything dirty. Pay attention to your door alarm. Guard your heart.
Flip the Script
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24, ESV)
In the literary world, it is said that if a book makes you feel anything at all, it’s a good book. I tend to agree with that. I love reading because authors make me feel like part of the story. Some of the most memorable stories that we read are the ones that captivate us and draw us into every detail of the story. They make us feel the character’s pain, joy, pity, empathy, excitement, anger, anticipation, fear or empathy. The literary greats have a way of making us feel connected, like we are part of the story. But, as great as some books may be, the very lives we are living are some of the most powerful masterpieces of human storytelling that have ever been told, and we get to live it every day!
Your life is a story, and it may change so fast and furious that you get lost before you see the plot. Or, it may have a series of dramatic moments and a twist at every corner. Your story may fall into place, exactly as expected, or it may not be until the very last page that all of the missing elements will be tied together. But every one of our life’s stories form a beautiful tapestry of us, told by the Greatest of all storytellers. Every single life story is unique and carries with it its own unique elements.
God is writing a story in your life that will be a testimony of His love and justice, grace, righteousness, mercy and holiness. He is writing a story that will end where He triumphs over evil and in which you are the main character- an individual record-breaking blockbuster about you and your life’s experiences. The Author of life itself continues to write in your life right now, in-fact. You may be in a scary scene rite now with evil chasing you and popping up at every turn, but the Hero has already defeated the villain. The beginning and the end have both been written already. It is the middle of the story that you are living in color right now. And if you just keep turning the page you will see this chapter end and a new chapter begin.
Every individual’s story is a unique and priceless literary masterpiece. There has never been, nor will there ever be, another book like it. Every one of the Lord’s stories is a best seller, complete with its own unique characters and elements, and sits on a special spot on His bookshelf. Some books have more action and suspense while some have pretty imagery or poetry. Others still are intense heart wrenching tales of loss and loneliness, but every single story that has been written is a precious work of art to be enjoyed for the beauty it is. Enjoy the day that you are living because there is none like it. Enjoy every page and every chapter you live, because they are all written especially for you, and they are written in His blood. Enjoy your story, because the Lord wrote it.
It Is Written
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13, ESV)
It happened again. You blew it. You were tempted to sin and, hook line and sinker, you sinned. I’m certainly not about to excuse a sin, but I’m not going to lambast you to death either. I want you to see the hope through your failures. The next time you reflect on a failure, remember this: it is not a sin to be tempted, it is a sin to stay tempted.
If you think you will go through this life without temptation you are sorely mistaken. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that God will provide the way of escape so we can endure the temptation. Jesus Himself was tempted but He never sinned. When temptation came to Jesus, He immediately rejected it and quoted Scripture. Three times Satan tempted Jesus, and three times Jesus fires back with, “It is written…” (Luke 4:1-13)
The next time you are tempted to sin, remember: it is written, “…God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Don’t stay tempted, reject it and remember the example of Jesus. It is written.
La Familia
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25, NLT)
When we are born, we are born into a family that bears the responsibility to feed, nurture, love, protect, comfort, and teach us as we grow to maturity. Even if they do not embrace their responsibilities, or do not succeed in their responsibilities, family responsibilities remain.
Our fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers all have a part to play in our development and share in that family responsibility. Families are supposed to share a home that protects us from the harsh outside world and provide us with a warm and loving environment. Families eat, laugh, cry, hurt, and forgive together- they live life together. Additionally, our families do not dissolve once we have grown into adulthood. Our roles as family members may change in time, but they never dissolve. We are family forever. In much the same way, our Heavenly Father’s family gathers together, protected and sheltered from the outside world. We strengthen, encourage, teach, and admonish one another just as families do, and our responsibilities never dissolve.
Some people say, “I can be a Christian and never go to church.” Strictly speaking, I guess that may be true, but to be an obedient Christian you must. You must share. Share in His meal, His life, His death, and His resurrection. Share in the hope of what is to come. Share in the suffering of your brothers and sisters. Live through the ups and downs- the happiness and the hurts. Live life together as a family, because if you never visit your family you are missing out on us, and we are missing out on you. Come home and let’s live life together, because we are la familia.
Measured Success
Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. (1 Timothy 4:15, ESV)
How do we measure improvements? If we are trying to lose bodyfat, we measure the amount of excessive body weight that we lose in a particular time frame. We make a concerted effort to change our eating habits, increase our physical activity, and focus our attention on improving our overall health. Chances are, if we do not see gradual improvements, we have not really been trying all that hard and we have only cheated ourselves. We can measure the improvements in our spiritual health in a similar way.
The beginning of our Christian walk is the starting point- day one of a diet. We place our souls in almighty hands of Jesus Christ, but all too often that is where people stop walking and start sitting. They start day one of the diet and never move on to day two. God desires us to continually walk in our faith and never to rest on our laurels. God wants us to become more like His Son every day (Romans 8:29), so it is imperative that we continually improve in our Christian faith. This means that we improve our diet and cut out the unhealthy habits and we strengthen ourselves. We make a concerted effort to increase our time in the Word of God and to increase our time in prayer and worship so that our overall spiritual health will improve.
We have a few ways to measure our successes in these areas. Our ability to shut our mouths and open our ears should steadily increase, while our sudden outbursts of anger and course language dramatically decreases (James 1:19). Our genuine love for one another should increase and our demeanor should be that of a patient and gentle man (Galatians 5:22-23). If you have not seen improvements in these areas, ask yourself if you have actually been working at them. If you have not, you are only cheating yourself.
Perseverance
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5, NIV)
Chickens are stupid. They will look up when it rains and drown themselves, that’s stupid. Chickens are also cowards. They startle easily and run away from anything that moves. We use the word “chicken” to describe a person’s unwillingness accomplish a goal or task that requires courage, faith, or fortitude, but even a stupid cowardly chicken has perseverance.
When a chic is born, it is surrounded by a tough exterior that provides nutrients and a safe environment for the baby chic to grow. When the chic has outgrown its environment it pecks at the shell, from the inside out, until the shell breaks. If the baby chic pecks only once and gives up, it dies in the shell. If the shell is removed without the chic pecking at it, the chic dies in the shell. The only way for the baby chic to survive is to peck at the shell, on its own, repeatedly until it breaks through. It has already been given the strength needed to succeed, it just needs to persevere.
The life that God has given us is filled with blessings and beauty, but it is also filled with difficulties that we are to overcome. And let us run with endurance (perseverance) the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus… Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. (Hebrews 12:1-3, NLT)Difficulties in this life are seasons that we must go through in order to be strong enough to break through that tough shell and survive outside of it. If we do not go through those difficulties we will not be strong enough to survive- we will die in our own shell. So, let’s be thankful for the difficulties and hardships that God allows in our lives, learn from them, and grow from them. You have already been given the strength to persevere, you just need to do it. If a stupid cowardly baby chic can do it, so can you.
The Meek
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity. (Psalm 37:8-11, NIV)
What does it mean to be meek? We can look in numerous translations, dictionaries, and commentaries and come up with other words like “gentle, quiet, or submissive,” but for the proper definition in its proper context (which is always most important) and its most practical application, we need look no further than Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus shows us that meekness really is simply power under proper control.
Jesus Christ has always held the infinite power of God in His fingertips, yet He refused to lose control for even one second. His meekness was seen as patience and longsuffering in the reception of injuries, but never harsh or mean. Jesus’ complete control is evident in every situation, unwavering and steadfast. This meekness also produces peace and looks upon those who injure with pity. Even at the end of His life, while nailed to a cross, mutilated and mocked, Jesus showed pity and mercy for the very people that were murdering Him. His power, passions, instincts, and impulses were under complete control and disciplined to the very end. Submission is yet another aspect of meekness that is often overlooked. It is the attitude of the disciple to the teacher, a son to father, the servant to the master, or the completing the gruesome act of going to the cross of Calvary and laying down your life in complete obedience to your Father.
In short: meekness is a willingness to allow God to direct all of your power, all of your attitude, and all of your will for your life for His purposes. It is choosing to place your power under God’s control. Place your power in God’s control. Allow your will and power to be under God’s proper control. Be meek.
Water Pump
If we make it our habit to confess our sins, in his faithful righteousness he forgives us for those sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9, ISV)
Boats are designed to occupy and navigate the water. They are captained in the calm, as well as violent raging of the most hostile seas. They bear the burdens and survive inclement weather, sudden impacts, and even incompetent navigation, but there is one thing that will sink even the most superior and well captained of sea fairing vessels almost every time. The primary reason that a boat sinks in not poor design, improper navigation, or even turbulent weather; it is water intrusion.
When Christians willingly live in disobedience to the Lord, they allow the world’s influence to seep into their lives, just as water seeps into a boat. This intrusion may be sudden, or it may be slow, but the damage is always the same: it rusts and rots from the inside out. The water intrusion increases and so does the damage, until the boat becomes so weak, corroded and burdened that, if left untreated and unrepaired, it will sink. It can happen to anyone without even realizing it. Once we may have been dedicated to Jesus but little by little, the chilling waters of the world crept in, and we allowed it to happen. We became occupied with the things of this world rather than the things of Christ, or we allowed a past hurt to weaken us and tear us open, refusing to heal, leaving us vulnerable to more internal damage. Somehow, we became more concerned with the football game than our God-given family. We became more concerned with a beverage than healthy living as God’s temple. We look into the screens of our phones more than the faces of our children. We became more concerned with our recreational time than with spending our time with our Creator. We felt the sting of a friend and stopped being friendly. The world crept in.
Most ships have a failsafe to guard against this water intrusion as soon as it happens. They have been equipped with pumps that continuously run and pump out any water that may have crept in. In the same way, Christians have been equipped with the pump of confession and repentance that allow God to continually remove the world’s influence, wash us clean, and repair our damage. Don’t allow the waters of this world to creep in and sink you. Keep your water pump running.
Willingness for Jesus
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:34-39, ESV)
From time to time I read a powerful story that really illustrates a person’s unimaginable resolve for Jesus, and it forces me to ask myself, “Am I willing to go to that extent for Jesus?” Often these powerful and personal stories leave me heartbroken and on the verge of weeping. Here is one such story:
“She stood outside the doorway of the church intrigued by the love and joy displayed by those inside. The missionary had asked her to come in, but she had politely declined. This was a hostile area in the Philippines, and her father had strictly forbidden her to have anything to do with ‘those Christians.’
Unknown to the little Filipino girl, the missionary was praying fervently for her soul. Finally one Sunday morning, the little girl accepted the invitation to attend the Sunday school class. There she also opened her heart to Jesus and became a child of God. The missionary presented her with a beautiful white dress, representing the fact that Jesus had washed all her sins away.
The next Sunday the little girl was nowhere to be found. Concerned for the girl, the missionary travelled to her home village. Arriving at her home, she found the young girl lying in the dirt. Her white dress was torn, filthy, and soaked in blood. The girl’s father hadn’t shared the missionary’s joy in his daughter’s new-found faith. In a drunken rage he had beaten her, repeatedly kicked her, and left her to die.
The missionary gently lifted the fragile girl and carried her back to the church where a doctor rushed to help. But there was nothing he could do. He removed the ragged dress and cleaned her up, but her injuries were too severe. The missionary stayed with her, trying to comfort her during her final hour.
Upon regaining consciousness the little girl made an unusual request. She insisted on holding in her hand the white dress the missionary had given her. They explained that it was torn and soaked with blood and dirt. With the simple faith of a child she whispered, “I just want Jesus to know that I was willing to bleed for Him.”7
I wonder if we are as willing to bleed for Jesus as this little girl was.