8/1/16                                                       God’s Protection                                                  1
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

SCRIPTURE: PSALM124:1-5 “¹ If the Lord had not been on our side let Israel say—
² if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, ³ they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; ⁴ the flood would have engulfed us,   the torrent would have swept over us, ⁵ the raging waters would have swept us away.                                                 COMMENTS : Psalm 124 reflects on how vulnerable we are and just how dependent we are upon Him. That isn’t meant to grip us with fear and anxiety but to encourage and build our faith and ability to trust Him for greater things and help. I am discovering His help to be closer when He seems far away. Consider biblical examples that follow that same pattern. Why does He allow Himself to seem so far from us when He asked us to trust Him the most? Is He trying to trick us or is He being mean for some selfish reason? What do you think? There is something about acting on our faith when help seems so unlikely that exercised and builds much faith and endurance and wisdom in our souls. It is a mystery but one that repeats and rings true to every Christian that takes the time to notice and stay in obedience. Just as Christ allowed Peter to be overcome with fear while walking on the stormy Galilean Sea, He allows us to experience similar fears and temptations that satan uses to try to make us loose trust and faith in Him. Yet problem wasn’t Peter getting out of the boat, but in taking his eyes off Christ. He was fine as long as he kept his eyes on Christ and kept walking towards Him, even though he was venturing further and further away from the boat and it’s protection and further into deeper water. I don’t know about you, but reality of that story is making me realize there is a lot more God still has for me to learn and grow in my walk with Him, and a whole lot more challenging ways He is preparing me to trust and obey Him. You and I are kidding ourselves if we think we are good enough or obedient enough or are old enough to no longer need stretched in our faith. God wants obedience, which can be just as difficult for a 65 yr old Christian as it is for a 16 yr old teenage Christian. But at least the 65 yr old and Christian for 55 years has more experience and scripture in his mind and heart to convince him to trust Christ more, so he should be better equipped and able to resist temptation and fall prey to temptation. Well, satan has a way of testing us no matter how young or old we are because he is very familiar with our weaknesses. Afterall, he has had several thousand years to polish his skills at temptation and persuasion. But God is God and doesn’t need to polish His skills and has successfully helped the faithful since creation. So who are we going to follow and who are we going to turn our back on? That is a daily choice we make every time we encounter temptation. Run to Him for help. He is near and willing and ready. All we have to do is put our hand in His and keep our eyes on His. Then step out of the boat and walk towards Him. Sounds easy but just got to do it….step out of the boat…. So, what is the boat you and I need to step out of today? Tomorrow?                                                                                                                                                                                 8/2/16                                 Divine Love and Grace: At God’s Initiation                            2   Scripture: Luke 15:20 “²⁰ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.””

COMMENTS: This devotion was published during Lent, but this is a good time to reflect on it’s message. Advent is a distant memory but we are over ½ way to next Advent time. Lent too is a distant memory. Both reflect on just how much God’s love showers us day after day. If God seems so distant from us, it is because we have our back to Him. He is so evident in creation and all He does every day from the sun coming up to the stars shining in the sky. Yet circumstances and environment man damages or spoils can keep us from seeing and enjoy what God has done and continues to do. We have such a hard time seeing things from God’s eternal vantage point and perspective. We are overwhelmed with problems and concerns and needs. We can’t understand why He waits or delays or responds differently than we asked. We ignore or miss how God is working to bring good to not only us, but others in our field of influence through our hardships. We missed seeing the value of periods of testing. Yet we, like Job, are tested and can have a great area of influence for good if we remain faithful trusting God, especially during the storms of dark trials, who has our best interest in mind and Who is in control. Job couldn’t see the debate between satan and God nor see how God would use satan’s limited ability to hurt Job to strengthen and bless Job as well as countless millions his story would positively impact in the many centuries after.   How many received God’s mercy and are now in heaven from learning from Job’s time of faithful suffering. How many have been able to faithfully endure suffering due to Job’s example and story? We won’t know until we get to heaven, but then we will discover the perfect way God did just that. We will be able to add our story to his and the many impacted by him over the centuries. What an experience that will be!   What do you think Job will say when we ask him if was worth the time of suffering and grief and pain? He will say OH YES, IT WAS SO WORTH IT! And then there are all the millions of other stories just as amazing and powerful we will be able to learn and discover their impact on us too. Then His ways will be clear and we will fall to our knees in AWE and worship. So why not get a head start and be in awe and worship for what we already know about Him and His ways? Such will only help and strengthen us to get through trials we are enduring today and prepare us for what we will face tomorrow. A far better way than worry or trying to figure it our on our own could ever do, right? Besides, worshipping Him is more enjoyable anyway, right?

                                                                                                                                                                   8/3/16                                     GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES                     3                           Acts 7:54-60    “⁵⁴ When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸ dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹ While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

COMMENTS :   Today’s is a difficult study and scripture to embrace and accept. Stephen was bold and faithful in sharing Christ’s message of redemption and salvation. Stephen did not try to defend or protect himself from the unfair pain and death he was condemned to face. He was innocent of the crimes he was judged of but guilty of being faithful to Christ, who they also condemned and killed. If we were to ask Him if it was worth it today, he would say OH, YES!! Christ rewards for the faithful are boundless, not only in heaven but in souls of those who also accept Christ because of that faithfulness.   Let’s face it, if our faithfulness helps our children and grandchildren and friends and relatives and neighbors choose Christ, nothing else would hold a candle to that reward, right? Especially 50 or 100 years from now as we fellowship and share in heaven. That is the perspective Stephen had and still has, and what needs to be ours as well, as hard as it is at times to remember…. His reward is still growing as we are blessed and accept or are drawn closer to Christ from hearing his story.  

8/4/16                                        The Lord’s Tough Love                                       4                               As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.   Revelation 3:19

SCRIPTURE: HEBREWS 12:3-11 “³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. ⁴ In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵ And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, ⁶ because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”^{[a] 7} Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? ⁸ If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. ⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! ¹⁰ They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

COMMENTS: I have been reflecting in Jeremiah 29. When Israel was in the midst of being dragged off into captivity in Babylon, under the terrible reign of Nebuchadnezzar, that also resulted in destruction of Jerusalem and the death of thousands of family and friends. They didn’t know what their future would be. Even though judgment was the result of their own disobedience, as well as of their king, God showed mercy with the words and promise he gave Jeremiah to encourage them, give them hope, but also how to obey and honor God while enduring captivity. God even told them how long they would be in captivity. God was faithful to His promise during the next 70 years, including sparing Daniel from the lion’s den and his 3 friends from the fiery furnace. God spared them from those who would seek to destroy them or punish their faithfulness to God during this captivity. I encourage you to read all of Jeremiah 29 but especially focus and re-read vs 11-13. Those words are also God’s promise to you and me. “ ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. God is slow to punish and will show compassion and mercy even during judgment. He has a long history to prove that. He so wants to bless and not punish. Yet, just as we learn from Job, we can’t understand why and when God acts when He does. Hardships and suffering and even unjust persecution are not always spared from His faithful followers, but He has promised to never allow them to endure more than they can and also has promised to use that suffering for a far greater good, both their good as well as good of those that suffering would impact beyond themselves. Muscles do not become stronger without work and pain. Our spirits also require exercise and need to do work too. What that work entails and impact that work will have both short term and long term on us and those we influence is what is also in God’s Will and Plan, no matter if we know and understand it or not. One day we will know and understand.   On that day, you will fall on your knees and worship Him and marvel at impact and outcome it has had…..

8/5/16                                       JESUS IS WORTHY!                                                         5               Scripture: Mark 1:2-6 “² as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”^[a]3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”^{[b] 4} And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. ⁶ John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.”

COMMENTS:    John the Baptist prepared the way of Christ, but it was God the Father that gave Jesus authenticity before He started His ministry when John the Baptist baptized Him. The Apostle Paul required 3 years before He was ready to share the Gospel. Yet some of us are never willing to become prepared – not willing to give up or to be open to do what we think God will ask us to give up or do. There is someone in my own family who has struggled with that for over 50 years. Oh, what he has missed. But God never asked of us to give up anything without having something far better ready to give us.   What does God want you to give up? My experience is I have to let go before He gives.      

8/6/16                                                       IMPERFECT ZEAL                               6                                   Acts 7:23-29 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being ill-treated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defence and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realise that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, “Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?” But the man who was ill-treating the other pushed Moses aside and said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons” COMMENTS :   God has a way and even passion to use imperfect, ill equipped, and weak people to do His will and make eternal differences in history. Is it because he is sorry for the weak and imperfect and dislikes the strong and gifted? Well he has also used the gifted like Solomon and David and Joseph and Daniel too. But what each had in common was a submissive and humble spirit that recognized and surrendered completely to God’s will and direction. When they refused, God would not use them as effectively. PRIDE is the one sin that keeps us from God more so than any other because it’s very nature is to defy God’s divinity and power and most of all God’s loving nature. Pride also pulls us away from God.   Pride is what satan has consistently showed, pulling him further and further from God and deeper and deeper in depravity and other sins. Good is the presence of God, but sin is the absence of God just like darkness is the absence of light. Pride will push us from God and into sin too if we let it in… Pride tends to be more common in gifted people than in weak and humble people, maybe because they have learned to do too much on their own. Maybe because the weak can no longer rely on themselves, they turn to God who is waiting for them. That is a very good thing to do weak or strong, just a little harder to do when we’re strong, because we do that because we want to instead of because we have to. Relationship with God is doing His will because “we want” to instead of “have to”.  

8/7/16                                                   God’s Perfect Marriage                                                 7                     Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.
Ephesians 5:25

SCRIPTURE: EPHESIANS 5:22-33 “²² Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing^[a] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church – ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’^{[b] 32} This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

COMMENTS: It is interesting God compares the family to the church and a husband’s love and care for his wife like the way Christ loves and cares for us, His church. As a man I’ve felt a bit uncomfortable with that comparison in thinking of myself as part of his bride or wife.   But it is such a beautiful comparison. I am reflecting back on how important my relationship with my wife, Arlene, has been both to me and her as well as to our children. But also vital to our ability to be a witness for Christ too. I love this visual. It represents how perfect and vital the family is and the marriage vows to the family. Well, God may not need us near as much as we need Him, but He does cherish His relationship with us. Such unselfish love and devotion and support is the example He demonstrated to us and the example we are called to be to both our wives and to all, but example also tells us how we are to cherish and honor Him as our faithful husband and provider too.

8/8/16                       Now is a Good Time for Renewal and Grace                           8   Scripture: Mark 6:31 “³¹ Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’”

COMMENTS: When spring comes, we start thinking about all the work needing done, repairs from winters damage needing done. Grass starts needing attention weekly and activities not enjoyed over winter come back into view.    Well we have seen God’s creative hand at work all spring and summer since this devotional was written. We’ve seen the leaves filling every tree and grass blanketing barren lawns and fields. We have seen flowers everywhere and gardens and crops yielding their fruit. We have seen people enjoying parks and hiking and picnicing and boating and swimming and all kinds of water sports. But we also see the work all those things as well as home repairs and car repairs and … repairs. All that overwhelms us at times. But God is not overwhelmed even though He has done the hardest and most of the work we have seen. The amazing and good news is He isn’t overwhelmed and has more than enough energy and time and desire left to help and care for you and me too. When we look around and enjoy all He has done this spring and summer, we need to realize He does this each year, yes for His enjoyment, but also for yours and my enjoyment too. He wants us to enjoy His creation, but He wants us also to praise Him for it.   Is that so hard and does it really take that long to say thank you and really mean it?   Besides, all too much of all that stuff we are overwhelmed with and feel we have to do really isn’t that important and can wait. Taking the time to worship in church and praying and having devotions with Him each day and stopping to notice and thank Him for each beautiful sunrise and sunset doesn’t really take that long and really won’t compromise the work we need to get done each day. But He so desires and deserves our praise and worship and our thanks for all He has done and does each day. Truth is, if we take time to thank Him, we will be energized and will likely take less time to get the work before us done anyway. Have you ever noticed how much easier and quicker work goes when we are happy and in a good mood? Me too, but all too often we forget that and scurry about working as fast as we can, finding we have to redo things because we didn’t take time to do the job right. When will we learn and when will we change? Well, we choose to do or not do what we will, so nothing is going to change unless we decide to change. Let’s decide to change today. Now is the time of salvation, there is no time like now. Stop what you are doing and praise Him. Then go back to your tasks but not before you’ve taken sufficient time for Him. Husbands, does your day go well if you go out the door in the morning and miss giving your wife a kiss and tell her you love her?   Well, God needs an embrace and an “I love you” from us too. He is telling us I love you as we storm past Him. Well, when I say it that way, it does get the point across a lot more powerfully. Well, isn’t that right? Doesn’t God patiently wait for us to worship and praise Him while we march on past not even noticing Him. Look around and see all the ways He is trying to get our attention. So let’s give Him some attention. He so deserves our attention but also our love and obedience.

8/9/16                                             Amazing Love                                                          9             Scripture: Matthew 11:25-30 “²⁵ At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. ²⁶ Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. ²⁷ ‘All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.²⁸ ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’”

COMMENTS: Christ’s prayer to the Father, recorded in Matthew 11, reveals both Christ’s heart and the profound nature of God’s revelation to each generation from then to now and beyond. God hid from the rich, strong, smart, and educated what He revealed to the poor, weak, ignorant, and vulnerable. Why? Because they were open to Him and others were not.   Next time you wish you were rich or better looking or stronger or smarter, stop and think what if you had all that and more but never know Christ or His redemption, what would you really have to look forward to? Matthew 16:26 “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? No, Christ offers us something far more precious and lasting than we can imagine about. He offers us forgiveness and an eternal future with Him. Sounds like old tapes unless you experience His love and realize what He have given you. But even then it is possible to get used to and to take that Grace for granted. That is human nature, but when we do take His Grace for granted, we are at risk of satan’s deception and at risk of missing blessings God wants to grace us with. God’s gifts and blessings do not end with our salvation. His mercies and blessings come to us daily.. Psalm 68:19 “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.” Likewise, when we take Him for granted, we are not prepared for trials and problems than come our way often if not daily. Psalm 55:22 “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” These are just a couple of supporting scriptures to encourage us but also to remind us not to take Him for granted or the blessings He showing us with each and every day.   Lamentations 3:22-24 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Stop and think, every morning we have a fresh start every morning. Even the worst of days come to an end and every morning the sun comes up with a fresh start. What we do with it and choices we make start over each morning. That is such good news, reminding us each morning His forgiveness is still on the job, as is He. Let’s not take that or Him forgranted simply because He is so faithful that we can. Well it is going to take discipline and work not to take Him for granted. I encourage you to keep and use and possible create a devotional and/or a prayer journal as a way of disciplining yourself to not take Him for granted and to be more aware of what He does do each day…  

8/10/16                                              He Loves You Because…                                                        10   Scripture: Ephesians 1:4-5 “⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he^[a] predestined us for adoption to sonship^[b] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will –“

COMMENTS:      Do you know God knew you before creation? The above verses tell us that. Well you and I can’t comprehend that nor have any grasp of the extent of God’s capability.   We know God’s power and abilities are boundless, they are infinite. But to imagine He is not limited by space or time, so He knew us personally before we were born, even before He began creating, that is too wonderful to grasp. He knew He would have to go to the cross and what that cost would be to redeem us before He created us, yes before He began creating, but still He created. Yes, and He created you and me. How dare we take His Love and His Grace for granted. How dare we neglect daily relationship with Him? Well we do maybe because He is so accessible we think we can put Him off. Shame on you and me for doing that. Well, even if you can’t give Him the time He deserves this morning, do take a deep breath and take at least a couple of minutes to look around and tell Him you love Him and thank Him. You didn’t have to wake up this morning. He really didn’t have to give you another day of life but He did. So when you get home tonight and tomorrow morning how about stop doing what you normally do for a few minutes and take some time to spend with Him. He is patiently waiting for you. Don’t put Him off any longer. He has so much to share with you. Much that would be such a help to you and encouragement for you if you would only take a little time to listen and receive it from Him. Let Him give you a big hug and tell Him you love Him tomorrow before you leave for work, but also don’t forget to give you wife or husband a hug and tell him or her you love them too. OK, sounds like I’m talking about two different things, but they are related. Our relationship with our spouse does affect our relationship with God and our relationship with God does affect our relationship with our spouse. Yes, they are related. Oh how many marital problems could be resolved by addressing our lack of relationship with God. Oh how our relationship with God could grow if we would spend more time with our spouse and families instead of consistently allowing other priorities to rob time needed with them. There is enough time to do both if we seek God’s help to set priority and balance. God needs to hear we love Him every day from you as much as your spouse needs to. But we need to hear ourselves say it often and each day too. How long has it been?   I dare say too long. OK. If you have to set the alarm on your phone or a note on your calendar, do what you have to do to discipline yourself. It will properly prepared you for and lay the right foundation for reach day’s journey .  

8/11/16                                                     Always Enthroned                                                         11       
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Isaiah 6:1

COMMENTS:   We do have to be careful not to misstep in sharing Good News. Reminders that God has always been and will always be on His Throne and prevails over all evil and evil influence is our confidant hope. Yet there are times when we all need encouragement but most likely what we need the most at those times isn’t someone trying to say the right thing or remind us of one of God’s promises, but simply someone to come next to us and cry with us. Yet God’s word to give us hope and remind us we need to fully trust Him and rely on Him is not inappropriate either. Matthew 7:12, the golden rule, is a good reminder and guide in comforting a brother or sister in Christ who is hurting. Experience when we were grieving or hurting can guide us in ministering to other’s grief too so words won’t get in the way. May take more time sticking around and being a bit uncomfortable doing that, but God hasn’t called us to be comfortable, has He? Just faithful. I know that is easier said than done, for me too.   Well, when we read of Job’s suffering, we discover how not to comfort those suffering – the way Job’s friends tried to help and comfort Him. They would have done much better being silent, which some did do for awhile, just not long enough. God chastised them for their harsh words after Job’s time of trial and suffering concluded. I still come back to Matthew 7:12 as the guide in encouraging others. I’ll just leave it at that instead of cluttering scripture with more words that would likely be unhelpful. Do spend some time today in reflection and prayer so you will be ready next time God calls you to encourage and give hope to someone hurting. It might just be today at an unexpected time or place or person. BUT HE IS PREPARED AND IS READY TO PREPARE YOU!!  

                                                                                                                                                                                      8/12/16                                           REJECTED BY HYPOCRITES                                               12        Acts 7:35-38 “‘This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, “Who made you ruler and judge?” He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. This is the Moses who told the Israelites, “God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.” He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.’” COMMENTS :   Who put you in charge? Have you ever heard those words? Think about some of those times you heard others say them. Think about some time you said them to someone. What were the circumstances and why did you say them? Was it something you were being asked to do you didn’t want to or feel able to, but knew in your heart you should? Or was it because you simply didn’t like or respect the person asking?   We seldom have opportunity to choose who has authority over us. Well, we might during public elections but we really don’t know even then how wise a leader they are or will be. But in case of Moses, it was God who chose and God who prepared and God who guided Moses in his leadership position. The people were not in a position to ask that question, but they did. I’m not sure how God will use this example in coming days for me or for you, but sense it will have council for us in the near future. Reflect on impact and council prayfully as will I. Maybe we will have opportunity to share how that unfolded next month as we share again next month’s journal together?   I sometimes fear I clutter these devotions with too many words, and distract from message God is trying to convey to you and me. Forgive me when that happens. But most of all forgive me, when my words distract from God’s message in scripture. Always, always, make scripture the beginning and closing thoughts of each devotion. If my words support and edify scripture, that is my hope and desire most of all. If they distract, understand the humanity I still struggle with and learn from that too. I would be most appreciative if you would give me council when that happens. Well typ-os are another problem too. I edit but know I still miss too many. If you ever think the right meaning should have a “not” added or removed, please understand my humanity and forgive the oversight. You may contact me directly at my email address “dmcdaniel12@verizon.net”                                                                                                                                                        8/13/16                                                 His Divine Hand                                                     13                 Scripture: Matthew 10:30-31 “³⁰ And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

COMMENTS: The ways God partners with and uses us to make an eternal difference is tremendous. Yet most of us give it little thought and give Him even less opportunity to weigh in on decisions we make. Stop and think, the choice we make on who our spouse will be and when and how many children we will have will eternally impact them and us. Yet so many marry the first guy or gal that comes along and have children with little regard, all too often outside marriage. With little thought comes little planning especially w.r.t. how God’s plans and influence as they grow trough the most impressionable years and most tender years and their most effective years in learning. Yet God entrusts them to us, giving us the responsibility to raise them to learn to love and obey but most of all know Him. Oh how much we’ll have to answer for someday by not being obedient at this point. Irresponsible parenting is so widespread and is having devastating results in society and throughout the world. Hitler was the result of irresponsible parenting by both his parents and his church. The devastating results are recorded in history. How many more tyrants and dangerous leaders are also the fruit of irresponsible parents and other people claiming to follow God. False religions were started without God’s influence being allowed or encouraged.   Yes God is planning great things for us, but we must seek Him if we are every to know and follow those plans. The good news is He is still offering and still waiting. I am approaching a milestone and am seeking God’s direction and open door related to this devotional journal as well as the blog I post these journals on. This avenue is also opening up to me opportunities to minister to people and ministries I never have known or been able to access otherwise. Discerning God’s direction but also having the courage and faith to proceed in His direction is a point of prayer and fasting I am engaged in as I write this morning. Already I have messaged a dear Christian brother in Kenya and another in Nepal who I have become close to. We all sense God is calling us to partner and open ourselves to a deeper and greater moving of His Spirit in our countries and beyond. But the moving must start with us before others will join. Yes it must start on our knees listening and submitting to Him. For now I am praying. Will you join me? For now I covet your prayers seeking for us and also for how God might want to use you.   I truly believe time before He returns is growing very short, so we must be faithful and good stewarts of remaining time. Pray for me as I will you to be faithful but also obedient.

8/14/16                                                 An Appropriate Response                             14                  
The twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne . . . . Revelation 4:10

SCRIPTURE: REVELATION 7:10-12 ” ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ ¹¹ All the angels were standing round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, ¹² saying: ‘Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honour and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!’”                               COMMENTS: I am amazed how many people revere celebrities and famous people far beyond their gifts and far beyond their ability to manage such honor and respect. How many times do famous people fall miserably short of showing an example worth following? We had the privilege of visited Shadow Mountain Baptist Church, hearing Dr. David Jeremiah preach and actually meeting him briefly after worship. He took the time to warmly greet us and ask where we were from and shaked our hand and allow us to have our picture taken with him. Here is that picture.   He is the author of the devotional from Turning Point, including this one that you have been enjoying in my devotional blog. His teaching and preaching have been a tremendous source of insight and encouragement and inspiration, which I hope you have noticed and shared in as well.   Yet we noticed how human he was too – weary from preaching. We must not revere people we love and respect to the point of giving them what should be reserve for Christ. As great a preacher and teacher Dr. David Jeremiah is, he is only a man still with flaws and shortcomings. Still needing a fresh measure of His Grace and Spirit each day, just like you and me and everyone else. OK, if you would like to access David Jeremiah’s materials, you can reach them at “www.davidjeremiah.org” and can also access previous and live worship services at “www.shadowmountain.org”.   There are a lot of wonderful resources including the Turning Point Magazine that has daily devotions just like these that he emails to me each day, which I use mostly in creating this journal to share with you. At these websites you will find the option to get your free subscription to turning point magazine or daily email devotions each day too.                                                                                                                                                        8/15/16                  REJECTING GOD HAS CONSEQUENCES                           15                            Acts 7:39-43 “’But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. They told Aaron, “Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt – we don’t know what has happened to him!” That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and revelled in what their own hands had made. But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exil” beyond Babylon.’”                                           COMMENTS: The truth hurts, doesn’t it? We really don’t want to hear the truth when criticized, do we, especially in public. Yet the bible is full of examples of judgment on those great or small who refused to admit their sin and seek forgiveness and change. The bible is also full of examples of redemption when sin was admitted and mercy was sought. Even King David finally admitted and confessed and repented of the sin of adultery and murder and was forgiven. Pride is what kept Saul from repenting. He had to save face and couldn’t bring himself, as king, to admit his sin and ask forgiveness. He didn’t regret the sin, he just regretted getting caught in the act. Don’t we prefer to hide our sins and hope it goes away? But that approach never works. Not for us and not for others our sin and pride affects either. We can choose to sin or not, but we can’t choose the consequence. Our sin will find us out (Numbers 32:23).   Yet God is in the business of forgiving, but He requires repentance. He requires us to put a knife in our pride in order to be truly sorry for the sin and not just for getting caught. We need to be sorry for the grief our sin causes Christ and not just sorry we got caught by someone and disappoint them or regret facing punishment for our sins. The Israelites never seem to learn or remember what they had when they were in relationship with God. They always were drawn to want more, which was always settling for much less. They couldn’t see the danger they were putting themselves into because they didn’t appreciate the protection God had over them that went along with being in relationship and obedience with Him.    

8/16/16                                                               Full of Him                                              16                                                                               
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”   Genesis 1:26

SCRIPTURE: GALATIANS 2:20 “²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

COMMENTS:   Today my dad would have been 100 years old. He lived to be 85. Yet, even though he has been gone for nearly 14-1/2 years, his influence and words of wisdom and love and his life example is still fresh and so real. Last Sunday I used a small old Country & Western Gospel Hymnal when playing prelude for our 3 worship services. The hymns I selected were not in our congregational hymnal and haven’t been sung or heard by us for many decades. All were blessed to hear them and reflect on years past singing them at church camps and revivals past when they were young. I too reflected but also on memories of hearing my father sing and play those hymns. Such rich memories but also memories of God’s moving in the congregations and in the hearts of those of my father’s generation, who were wonderful examples during my childhood years.   I find the above words of Blaise Pascal to be so true. There is a void. A empty spot in the souls of every human being, including you and me, that can only be filled and satisfied by fellowship with our Lord – Our Savior – Our redeemer – Our Creator. God’s Holy Spirit desires to reside with us and fill that void – that spot He designed to fill. Yet He will only fill it if we invite Him in.   So often we try to fill that void with the pursuit of selfish pleasures and possessions but nothing will satisfy or fill that void like His Holy Spirit can because nothing else can. The sooner we realize that and invite Him into our hearts, the sooner we will enjoy fellowship with Him and the sooner a walk with Him we will know, and the sooner we will start becoming more like Him going forward.   Remembering my father draws me closer to God’s Holy Spirit because he knew and had fellowship with that same spirit and reflected a Christ like life worthy of following. If you knew others like that, remember them and let their example draw you closer to Him as well.   God’s Spirit is waiting to fill another corner of your soul still empty, still longing to be filled. The empty area of our souls that our will still has left closed to Him. Let’s pray and reflect and look for that area still closed to Him and open – yield that corner and invite Him in today.

8/17/16                                                             Draw Me Nearer                                         17     Scripture: Hebrews 10:12-18 “¹² But when Christ^[a] had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. ¹⁴ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.¹⁵ And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, ¹⁶ “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” ¹⁷ then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” ¹⁸ Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.”                                                                          COMMENTS: Have you ever been in a dark place feeling alone and lost without hope or direction and without a way out. It is only thing to be without hope but is worse if don’t have a way to get out. If we are in a unfamiliar building or the woods and your light goes out. If it is completely dark, we don’t have any hope of finding our way out and a deeper feeling of loneliness and helplessness can rush in and be overwhelming. In such a situation, usually we put ourselves in much worse harm by trying to look and find a way out on our own. We can’t see well enough to avoid dangers on our own and risk moving further and further away from a way out. That happened to me one time in a coal mine when my miner’s light went out. That example has reminded me many times since to seek out God for help first before I am even tempted to try to get out on my own. Staying put and crying out for help was the best thing to do then in that coal mine and is when we encounter each days problems and dangers too. But ever so often I still forget and need reminder. I’m sure you do too. We need to keep reminding each other and supporting each other so we don’t start straying away from our source.    

                          
8/18/16                                           WHERE DOES GOD LIVE?                                         18                  Acts 7:44-50 “‘Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God’s favour and asked that he might provide a dwelling-place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?”’                                                                                                       COMMENTS: Today’s devotion is a reminder to recognize and need to deal with ways we try to box God into our own plans and goals.   What was God’s purpose in creation of the ark of the covenant and having it placed in the Holy of Holies in the temple? What was the purpose of the pillar of light at night and pillar of cloud by day (Exodus 13) for the Israelites coming out of Egypt’s bondage?   What is the purpose of churches centuries ago with a steeple reaching far above other structures with a cross on top?     Why were beautiful stained glass windows put in those churches as in newer churches patterned after them?   Why do we have an altar in our church with a communion table with word “In Rememberance of Me” we see every time we enter the church? Why is a cross displayed in our churches in prominent view?   I am sure you can think of many more examples both in churches and church history as well as from scripture that poses same question but all with the same response. To remind us fickled and frail and forgetful and weak and easily distracted humans God is with us and ready and eager to help and guide and protect and instruct us along life’s journey each and every day – with each and every step. The stained glass windows originally were to teach those who couldn’t read the stories of God’s faithfulness and redemption. The cross high above other buildings to remind everyone Christ is on His throne and watching over us. The intent was and is a good one. But we stopped noticing the cross and reminder to us. Then we started building structures that climbed far above the church steeple cross and then hid it from view so was harder and impossible for others in the city to see it. There is a church in New York City that still stands. It is the church where George Washington worshipped when the capital resided in NYC instead of Washington, DC. It was in that church George Washington went with the new congress to pray for God’s guidance and blessing for our new country after he was inaugurated as the first President. It was there all congress prayed together with same passion for God’s guidance and direction. It is significant that the ground the twin towers were built on was part of the original ground owned by that church and the twin towers shadowed over that church’s steeple and cross. Our country lost something when it’s people and leaders began to forget why God blessed us with such a country and what our mission was, just as the Israelites forgot. I believe, by replacing those towers with the new “freedom tower”, we have learned nothing and still stand in defiance and rebellion against our God who has protected us since nation’s creation and is warning us now of coming judgment.   Below are some pictures showing St. Paul’s in 1799 and more recent with twin towers in background, with God’s protective hand sparing this church while destruction of twin towers rained all around, and with the new Freedom tower again being built in background.   God is pleading for us to turn back to Him in 2 Chronicles 7:14 “¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

God’s mercy and reminders that He is near are all around us. If we don’t notice or see them, well, it isn’t God’s fault or neglect. IT IS OURS! I hope this devotion and pictures help you, as does I, gain a sharper realization and clarity and renewed passion as I pray 2 Chronicles 7:14 for my own rebelliousness and for our country and world’s as well. Join me in praying for God’s merciful forgiveness for us, our country and world. Below are pictures of St. Paul’s Chapel described above.

Below pictures is a bit of history of St. Paul’s Church. I hope the description helps reinforce above comments and encourages you in realization of how God inspired and guides those he drew to settle and build what was to become the United States of America, a country He equipped and commissioned to minister to, help, and evangelize His gospel to the world. Well some have and some still do that work, but our country has fallen far short of God’s call and so much worse today. We so need to repent and seek His forgiveness and re-commissioning.

St. Paul’s Church History

The bell tower of St. Paul’s Church NHS rises above tombstones in the historic cemetery. National Park Service In 1763, the people of Eastchester, New York began building the present stone and brick church building of St. Paul’s. It was an upgrade, a replacement for a small, square wooden meetinghouse building, which stood about 60-80 yards west of the current church. The wooden meeting house had been in use since 1700, and by the 1760s, Eastchester was a larger, wealthier town, deserving a more substantial building for public use. It was also the end of the French and Indian War, a time of great celebration, optimism and wealth in the colonies, with the long-dreaded French rivals vanquished from North America. The new church was partly a celebration of that momentous victory of England and her colonies over France. The first church was built by the town when the residents were dissenters, Puritans who opposed the Church of England, or the Anglican Church. But the British, in an effort to more effectively manage the Royal Colony of New York, legally established the Anglican Church in Westchester County in 1702. Town residents had to accept this new form of church administration, and pay the salaries of ministers assigned to the parish by the Society an Anglican parish. Design of the church was inspired by the edifices built around London following the Great Fire of 1666, where the principal architect was Christopher Wren. Books with sketches and diagrams based on the for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. By 1763, Eastchester was more firmly construction of some of those churches were available in colonial New York. Local masons helped to build the church along with craftsmen from New York City who would live in the area for months, boarding with Eastchester families. Stones were drawn from the local fields (hence the contemporary term, “fieldstone”), while bricks were also local, probably molded from clay deposits along the Hudson River. Mortar was a proscribed combination of water, sand and lime as the bonding agent, with quantities mixed in a pit at the southern edge of the Green. As a public project of the town, funds were drawn from regular taxation revenues, and supplemented with lotteries. A large undertaking for a relatively small town, the church was not complete when the political and military disruption of the American Revolution rocked the area, halting construction. On the eve of the war, most of the exterior was in place, and the tower had been erected about 2/3 of the way to the present steeple, but the interior was little more than a dirt floor. The community was still worshipping in the wooden meetinghouse. Yet, even in its unfinished form, the church was the largest, best built, centrally located building in the vicinity, and since it was unlocked and unused during the War for American Independence, it became the obvious location for a field hospital during local campaigns. It was used by the American, British and Hessian armies. The need for firewood as fuel by those forces led to the complete disassembling of the older meetinghouse by the war’s conclusion. At the return of peace in 1783, town residents, now Americans and no longer British colonists, resumed construction and by 1787-8 they had completed the building for use as a house of worship and courthouse. Sales to individual families of space beneath the private, high-walled pew boxes were an important source of income used to cover final construction costs. It was officially named St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in 1795, and a ceiling and interior plaster on the walls was added in the early 1800s. In 1805, after completion of the balcony, it was consecrated, and remained a house of worship through the late 1970s. The Federal Government accepted the church and grounds as a gift from the Episcopal Diocese in 1980. In 1942 the church was restored to resemble its original 18th century appearance by Perry, Shaw & Hepburn, the architectural firm that had developed Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. The church had undergone many changes in the intervening years. The pulpit had been moved from the south to the east wall. The pews had been turned to face east, and then replaced with benches. The altar had emerged as a more important focus of the service than the pulpit. Clear glass windows had been removed and traded for stained glass honoring the town’s prominent families. The walls and (tin) ceiling were stenciled with religious symbols. All of these alterations favored more ceremony and ritual, following trends in the Anglican and Episcopal Church often called the Oxford movement or Anglo-Catholicism, which tried to restore continuity between these denominations and their Catholic origins. Points of Interest   The pews and the pulpit of St. Paul’s Church as seen from the balcolny. National Park Service Pews: The tall-walled boxed pews visible in the church today were part of the restoration of 1940-42, but they tell an interesting historic tale. In the 18th century, they were necessary to accommodate use of the building in the winter, when no heat, ceiling or insulation created a very chilly interior. Families brought small, rectangular foot warmers — made of metal and wood — filled with hot embers from their fireplaces, and placed them on the floors of the pews, where the box walls contained the heat. Pews were generally divided based on the amount a family donated to the church, with the higher pledge warranting a pew closer to the pulpit. Plaques with names accurately reflect family pew occupation in 1787-8, based on the original seating diagram. Pulpit: In the 18th century, the pulpit was the focus of the service, and it was three-tiered. The “clerk” occupied the enclosed box at the floor level; he led the singing of psalms or hymns, and used the “church tickler” as necessary to rouse parishioners who might doze during the sermon. The minister read Scripture and led prayers from the middle level and mounted the top deck when preaching the sermon. Models: The two models on view in the church were built and displayed in 1865 to celebrate important milestones in the history of St. Paul’s Church. That year marked both the 100th anniversary of the erection of the edifice and the 60th anniversary of the consecration of the church. The models show the exterior of the church as it appeared in 1865, including the original wooden cupola topped with a weather vane. It was replaced in 1887 with the current brick and stone steeple, topped with a cross. The models also show the eastern wing that had been added in the 1850s to serve as a vestry room and Sunday school. That addition was not part of the sanctuary until 1942.   The Altar and Side Chancel of St. Paul’s Chuch National Park Service Altar and Side Chancel: Eighteenth century congregants at St. Paul’s took communion only two or three times a year from a holy table placed against the East wall. The present chancel was created during the 1942 restoration by removing the wall that had previously divided this area from the sanctuary. Organ: Henry Erben, a New York City craftsman and businessman, was commissioned to make the organ in 1833 by George Rapelje, an original pew holder in St. Paul’s Church, at a cost of $800. It is a pipe, or pump organ, and remains one of the oldest working organs in the United States.   The bell at St. Paul’s Church is a cousin to the Liberty Bell, cast at the same London foundry. National Park Service Bell: The church tower houses a bronze bell presented to the parish in 1758 by The Rev. Thomas Standard, long-time rector of the Eastchester church. It was cast in London at the same foundry as the famous Liberty Bell of Philadelphia. The bell, which is fairly small, hung from rafters in the wooden meetinghouse, and was hidden during the Revolutionary War to prevent its likely destruction by an army for military use. Stained Glass: The stained glass window at the rear (north side) of the Church depicts the New Testament story of the Visitation of the Magi, representing Mary, the Christ child, and the three Magi. It was installed in that location around 1890 to commemorate the Drake family, prominent members of the congregation and one of the original families of Eastchester. Stylistic comparisons strongly suggest the window was created in the studio of John LaFarge, a pioneering late 19th century artist. The window was removed in 1942 as part of the colonial restoration of the church. Through funding from private donors and the National Park Service, it was restored in 1999 by Rohlf’s Stained & Leaded Glass of Mt. Vernon.

8/19/16                                     God’s Healing for the Soul                         19              
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.   Ephesians 1:7

SCRIPTURE: I JOHN 1:5-10 “⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

 

COMMENTS:   Today’s scripture from I John gives us such a wonderful description of God as light. Since God is light and light dispels darkness and reveals all the hidden dangers and traps unseen in the darkness, then if you and I still are in darkness and fall into those traps, it is because we have failed to draw near to God, the source of that light we need to avoid those dangers and remove the darkness. Do you prefer darkness to light other than when wanting to get some sleep? The only other time I can think of is when we want to hide something we have done or want to do without anyone knowing.   Well, you and I know very well that concealed sin eventually is exposed along with shame and consequences it brings. God so wants us to journey on a much better and enjoyable path. A path aof obedience. A path that includes His light showing the beauty that would be hidden from us in darkness. Does God deprive us from the “fun of sin”? Does He want us to miss out on some great times?   That is what satan wants us to think and is the deception he has used to trick people of all generations from Adam to now and has been successful at that. We are just as gullible as our ancestor were. But they, like we will, discover satan is not offering anything worth pursuing and drawing us into misery and pain and deep regrets and ultimately death. That is all he has ever offered no matter how pretty the wrapping paper put on it. God offers His light, which will show satan’s tricks for what thy are but will show the life and love He offers truthfully and accurately. David Jeremiah is teaching a series of lessons on AFR radio on Job. Job enduring tremendous suffering without understanding why. His faithfulness seemed to be rewarded with great loss and suffering. Yet he knew his God and still trusted Him. Eventually God revealed the reason for the trial and restored all that was lost and more. Job’s trust and love for God and his faith in Him was even stronger after the trial and God’s revelation came. His trust in God was proved to be true. Likewise, the evil intent of satan was also revealed. I know you likely know the story, but Job is not a long book to read, so encourage you to read it again and let the lesson and experience of Job teach you anew of God’s faithfulness and satan’s intend to hurt God at your expense.   I wonder how many times that story plays out for us. God’s intent is to make us stronger. Satan’s intent is to weaken God and destroy you. Which do you want to draw close to. Cold darkness or warm light.   Well as I get older, I like old time movies with happy endings more and scary demonic thrillers with everyone getting killer much less. Well I never really like them, but as a kid I liked the excitement. Now I have much better things that excite me. I want to be as far away from things satan had a hand in as possible. How about you? I also want to be as close to things God had a hand in as I can too. How about you?  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       8/20/16                                                       Praising from the Cross                                         20 Scripture: Luke 23:46 “⁴⁶ Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.”                                                             COMMENTS: David Jeremiah has been teaching from the Book of Job. Job endured great anguish with the lost of all his possessions, all his children, judgment from his friends and wife, boils and physical suffering and pain, and a great sense of abandonment from God. Yet his response was “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” Job 13:15. Job remained faithful in spite of great testing without knowing why or how long he would have to endure it. He later discovered the reason, as now do we. Christ knew why He had to endure the cross, including abandonment of the Father. That time of suffering came at a great cost to Him. While on the cross He felt the pain and guilt we deserved but enduring by Him in our place. The above psalm was known by Christ, but said with great trust in the Father but with great agony and loneliness yet with complete willful obedience to His mission and the Father’s plan. Job’s obedience was not joyful but just as passionate – out of a willful choice. Christ’s was too. Job’s choice resulted in his redemption and restoration as well as a story to help and guide to us. Christ’s choice resulted in our redemption and restoration and a story of redemption only God could create and tell.   I am not sure Jesus sang the above psalm even though it was likely He learned much of the psalms as praise songs as a boy. If that be true, than maybe they were a point of worship and praises and comfort during His time of agony and sense of abandonment from the Father He felt on the cross. That can be debated without resolution, but what matters is He did endure and stayed true to His mission with result of our redemption.   All we have to do is accept the gift He paid so dearly to provide for us.   Today Dr. David Jeremiah preached “What is the unpardonable sin?” His conclusion was the unpardonable sin is refusing to accept the forgiveness Christ paid for on the cross before we die. Once we die unforgiven, we can no longer receive that forgiveness. II Corinthians 6:2 “… now is the time of salvation” before it is too late. By refusing, we harden our hearts and are less open to consider and accept forgiveness. Satan’s deceptions overpower our openness. That is the risk and danger of waiting, the danger of going out into eternity unforgiven to God’s judgment. What are we holding onto that Is worth that?                                                                                                                                                     8/21/16                                     TIME TO TELL THE TRUTH                          21                                     Acts 7:51-53   “‘You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: you always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him – you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”                                                     COMMENTS: As I think back of the many times the Gospel was presented by preachers and Sunday school teachers and bible school teachers as I was growing up. As an impressionable child and young adult, I was blessed with exposure to those willing and bold in sharing the Gospel, so I willingly accepted Christ at a young age, 10, before the rebellious teens years were upon me. I call the teen years the “dark years”. The years when emotional and body changes become so strong and powerful. So many teens are swept away into sinful choices that are regretted a lifetime. Yet those years all too often bring a spirit of rebellion and defiance to authority that close teens to receiving Christ’s redemption. That is why it is so important to win the souls of our children before those years. We spare them those greater risk by having a relationship with Christ firmly established in their hearts prepared them for those “dark years”. Yet satan’s temptations still are strong and sway many away.   Well, I have much more to report. By following God’s lead to start this devotional journal a few years ago and being faithful to it, as well as following His lead in starting a blog to share these journals, I have had the joy of acquiring new friends and partners in ministry to places I wouldn’t dream of reaching. A dear couple, Javan & Helfa in Kenya are now using my journals as a resource to aid in their ministry to their church congregations and community. Likewise, Lomas and Indu Shrestha are a special Christian couple ministrying to needs of children in Nepal. They also noticed my journals and are using them to aid in their ministry to these children as well as their congregation. Javan and Helfa shared they are using a devotional in my September journal template, which I haven’t yet commented into, as a resource for his sermon today. A devotion David Jeremiah sent to me on April 8, but I place in my September journal not knowing how it would be used. God’s timing is perfect and such a blessing if we only follow his path of obedience. I’m still learning and discovering how important that is, but the journey this journal is leading me on is now changing more than just my life, which it already has done and continues to.                                                                                                                            

8/22/16               Someday – Heaven our Home and Destination            22    
Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. Revelation 2:10

SCRIPTURE: PHILIPPIANS 1:21-23 “²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. ²³ I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”

COMMENTS: The most significant words a person will speak will be on their death bed. When we know we are breathing our last, we make our last words count. My mother’s last words to me were significant. She was very weak and struggling to breathe. I told her I was glad she had pictures of her and my dad when young on display. I said I would know what they look like when I get to heaven. Her face lite up and her eyes got big and she smiled and said not to worry, she will know me. That confident hope and joy of knowing that allowed her to die peacefully. She knew her husband, my father, but most of all her Savior was waiting for her to welcome her into heaven. I knew her words to me are sure too. They will be waiting to greet me with many others but most of all my Savior will be there to greet me too.   That confident hope is the Good News Jesus came to give us and the sacrifice He made paid the price for our sins so that promise applies to everyone who accepts His gift of that price for our sins. Yes, as Apostle Paul stated in this letter to the philippians, to live is Christ but to die is gain. If we reflect on the courage and transformation that confidence has made to countless people from old testament times like Daniel and Esther and Joseph as God gave them Grace in OT dispensation but even more to those living in NT dispensation like all the disciples and countless thousands of Christians who suffered Rome tyranny as well as many tyrants after, all prove God’s faithfulness and abiding presence especially during crisis and even death.   Psalm 116:15 “ Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”  Why does God allow suffering? Why did He allow Job to suffer?   The reasons may vary with the type and degree of suffering and still remain a mystery, but the results are common – bringing greater praise and worship to the Father while bringing salvation and transforming to many. I am meeting many Christians all over the world by internet through these journals. Even though cultures and backgrounds vary greatly, I am confirming just how much I am like them and they are like me because of Christ living in us.   Likewise, the hunger and need for Christ among those who don’t know Him is also common. Sin is a common sickness destroying people of every culture too. What I am also noticing as I interact with other Christians is an increasing sense of urgency knowing the time of Christ’s return is very near. The persecution of the early church strengthened them and caused them to scatter and spread the Gospel. God’s will can not be stopped or even slowed. We can either support and be a part of it or try to obstruct it and get run over. God has a way of making an impossible loosing situation into a winning situation when His timing and way is revealed. You think His is far away. That is when He is most likely to show up and save the day!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          8/23/16                       “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus”                          23                    Scripture: II Corinthians 3:18-4:1 “¹⁸ And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,^[a] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.^[b] For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God,^[c] we do not lose heart.”                                                                                          COMMENTS:       Sometimes God asks us to serve and minister to others we care about, but sometimes it is those we feel very uncomfortable and even helpless around. Yet putting it off can bring regrets that are far worse. Visiting a nursing home can be one of those regrets, especially if have a family member we haven’t visited for a while. I had a dear aunt, my mother’s younger sister who turned 100 a few weeks before passing. We enjoyed a number of visits with her in the nursing home she lived in her later years and had the privilege of leading her to Christ. Yet, when it had been awhile since last visit, God would nudge me to go again. The last time I visited and prayed with her was such a time just a few days before she passed. I really would have regretted it if had ignored that nudge from God. God’s Holy Spirit changes us as we submit and obey in order to make us more like Himself and equip us and energize us for His service. That service is what He has designed us to do and service we will be most fulfilled and joyous in doing as we follow Him.   Memory and past experiences of others should both confirm that to us as well as teach us the disappointments and misery that comes with not following that path. I am following a new and exciting journey that started a few years ago when I started keeping this journal and expanded as I shared it by email and also now by facebook and a blog. It is now reaching many in Kenya and India and Pakistan and Norway and Canada and in US and even in Nepal. Over 2100 are notified now when I add a post to my blog. Sure, only a few respond or probably bother to read them, but many more do now than when I first started distributing them. I really don’t have any idea who has been ministered to by them. Nor do I have any idea where this journey will go to next. It is a bit frightening because God does have a way of stretching and guiding me as you outside our comfort zone. He certainly is doing that to me. But I’m sure He will keep on a very good path and I shouldn’t be fearful. Neither should you. I have a feeling He has been preparing me for such a time as this for a long time. I wouldn’t be surprised He was preparing you too. Obedience is an option but rewards of obedience are better and consequences of disobedience are worse than we can imagine, so we need to be careful in choice. Putting the decision or choice off til later is a choice but is really a choice to disobey.   Yet He does, in His mercy, wait on us.   He just can’t wait on us forever. Sooner or later He will have to move on with us or without us.                                                                                                                                                               8/24/16                                         His Precious Love                                                24                             Scripture: Romans 5:8  “⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”                                                                                                              COMMENTS: This verse reminds us that Christ loved us from eternity past before we knew Him. In fact, He knew the Cross was His future before He created man and you and me, yet He still created man and you and me. He knew the sin and rebellion that would be repeated in every generation and still He provided a way of redemption. We can look back on history and discover just how faithful He has been but how faithful His grace is not something we earn but a free gift we accept. We don’t take out a bank loan to buy His forgiveness and pay on the loan until it is payed off. Grace is a free gift and our service and obedience is our way of being grateful and expressing our love back to Him. Work done out of love is a much stronger motivator than forced labor. The same work is far more fun and more easily and more effectively done out of love than obligation. He helps us to do that but also helps us to learn to love each other in the same way He has loved us.   That is God’s way and God’s order of doing.   We receive His mercies first. Then we share that blessing with others and express our gratitude to Him. Our worship energizes us and directs us. What really energizes us is being in fellowship and drawing closer to Him.   The closer we are to Him, the more like Him we become and more like Him we are able to be to others. That is God’s way and plan. But it starts by confessing our sinfulness and inviting Christ into our hearts to forgive and cleanse and change us.   He will never work contrary to His will, so we should ask for things contrary to His will. But asking for salvation is always in God’s will both for us and for everyone else, so we can confidently pray for that, knowing He will move mountains to answer that prayer.

8/25/16                               How God sees Family                                             25
” ³ Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. ⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children^[a] of one’s youth. ⁵ Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.^[b] Psalm 127:3-5 “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! ² You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. ³ Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. ⁴ Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. Psalm 128:1-4

COMMENTS:   Faithfulness to God is not an easy nor a clear road, is it? The road of sin or even subtle compromise can see attractive and inviting. It appears to be a more direct and smoother road to travel on, but once we are on it, it is neither smooth nor straight. However, it leads downhill at increasing speed and becoming more and more difficult to stop and turn around from. That is because satan wants to draw you down that road and keep you on that road even when you desperately want to turn back and start over. God wants you to go down a far better road, a road He has prepared. But He doesn’t want you to choose it because of deception or sinful desires. He wants you to choose it because of your love for Him and desire to obey Him. He makes that road appear narrow and hard so you are clear on why you choose it and in order to exercise trust in Him. But once we go down His road, we walk that road in fellowship with Him hand in hand helping us each step instead of way satan keeps pushing us down his road. Satan doesn’t care about you. He only cares about trying to hurt God and you and I are pawns in his devious game to hurt God. God can’t be hurt but because He loves us so and sacrificed so for us, satan still thinks his best way of hurting God is to hurt us. So who will you and I believe and trust? The one who never tells the truth and never comes through with what he promises, or the One who never lies and only has our best interests at heart! I maybe preaching to the choir, but satan still tempts every one of us. He knows where we are weak and always attacks those areas. Even areas we gain victory over he will dig at now and again to see if we have weaken there. We simply are not capable of fighting him off in every area, so that is why we must work and focus on keeping our eyes on Christ and our hand in His. That is not easy but is essential if we are going succeed in our journey of life. How do we teach this to our children, so they can be spared of the consequences of journeying down the dark road of death satan offers? That is the other reason why we must keep our eyes on Him and our hand in his. We simply can’t but He can. He knows and guides our children in ways they would never listen to us. But the more faithful we are to Him, the more they will notice the difference that makes and be drawn to Him too. Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the ways he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from them.” How does that fit into free will? The story of the prodigal is so common in families of every generation, but the story’s good conclusion has as well. No, we can’t make choices for our children but we can impact their lives positively when they are young and impressionable and plant seed in their memories and hearts God will nourish even after they make poor choices and draw them back. You see, He wants your children to spend eternity with Him in heaven even more than you do. So you and He are in full agreement so He is partnering with you than that goal. Don’t give up nor feel abandoned by God or a total failure. God is still working.                                      

8/26/16                 WHEN RIGHTEOUSNESS AND WICKEDNESS MEET                     26            Acts 7:54-58 “When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.”   COMMENTS: Have you ever been so confident you were right, that you could not be convinced otherwise and became angry at anyone who thought or said otherwise? The more others would argue or disagree with you, the angrier you would get? If you have, than you can relate to the religious leaders who crucified Christ or stoned Stephen. Those religious leaders were convinced they were right and close to God in their positions. They saw Stephen as a deceived evil liar that needed to be stopped. They couldn’t hear his message nor could they be open to Christ’s salvation. They were more lost than those drowning in sin Christ and Stephen’s message was also heard by. The words were the same but the listener’s hearts were entirely different. The Pharisees and priests worked harder and probably sacrificed and gave more to God’s work but they did so for selfish reasons and had lost any awareness that God had left them. They may have started in close obedience and fellowship with God but at some point God left because He was no longer welcome and no one even noticed He was gone.   You might say, how could that happen? Well it does every day and it happens more often to you and me than we realize or wish to admit. It happens whenever we put ourselves before Him or decide to go our own way. When we get angry or even just feel indifferent when we hear God’s Word or are in prayer to Him, we should remember this devotion and ask Him to show us where we left Him and seek His merciful forgiveness and turn back to Him. He is ready and eager to take us back. He would have done so for those leaders long ago if they would have listened and repented.                                  

8/27/16                                               Light Overpowers Darkness                                       27
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.
Ephesians 5:8

SCRIPTURE MATTHEW 5:14-16 “¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that^[a] they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”                                   COMMENTS: I have mentioned this in the past on my blog, so forgive me if remember me mentioning this, but a number of years ago my job took me deep in a coal mine in Kentucky. While underground my mine hat light battery died and I was left in the dark. I was several hundred feet away from every one in another entry separated by a pillar of coal. The darkness was so deep I could feel it pressing on my face. I dare not wonder around because I could not see beyond the end of my noses. All I could do is wait and call out when I finally heard someone. I was completely helpless and totally dependent on someone with a light to guide me safely to a way out. I had to stay close to him until we got on the man trip that would take us back to the surface. I really wasn’t concerned because I didn’t have to wait long before someone came along. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus called Himself the Light of the World? He is the perfect Light that dispels darkness. Darkness is the absence of light. Jesus’ Light is the absence of sin, from evil. He give us the Light that shows us the right path and shows us the dangers along that path. But He also gives us the Light which dispels evil – sin from our lives as well. Satan cannot do his mischief in the Light. We as far less likely to yield to temptation and sin when we are close to Christ letting His light and His Word shin in our souls and minds and wills. So the issue isn’t really how much will power we have against temptation or how much good we do or how much time we spend reading Christian literature or even time reading the bible or with other Christians. Don’t get me wrong – all these are vitally important and part of what He calls us to do. But the time we spend in fellowship with Him directly is how He shines His saving and sustaining Light into our souls. Yes, He uses other Christians and their works to help and encourage us. He also uses His Word to speak to us and guide us into the relationship, but just like learning to ride a bike or drive a car from books. Sooner or later the only way we can ride or drive is to get in and drive. The only way we can truly know and experience Christ’s redeeming and life changing relationship is to let Him come into our soul and forgive and change us. Letting His Light continue to shine in our souls requires spending time listening and talking to Him each and every day. A relationship with Him is a daily walk hand in hand…                                                                                                                                                       8/28/16                                     BLESSED ASSURANCE                                               28                  Acts 7:59-8:1a     “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul approved of their killing him.” COMMENTS: Saul was certain what he was doing was not only right but that he was doing God’s will. What he did, he did with great passion and with all he had to give. He was also following the orders and dictates of the religious leaders, including the High Priest in witnessing the stoning of Stephen and persecution of Christian campaign he then began. But one visit by the crucified Christ on the Damascus road changed him from a passion to kill and imprison Christians to become one and spread the very Gospel he had been working so hard to silence. What can change a man so quickly and so completely? Christ’s indwelling Spirit. Christ had to get his attention first and close his eyes for him to begin to see Him clearly. The transformation was complete but the passion and determination that was his nature became the driving force for him to then spread the Gospel. Why did God not just judge his sin and hostility to Christians? Wouldn’t that be what we would have done. Well, God so much would rather change us than judge us if we only let him. Saul could have refuse and continued on his journey and face God’s judgment, which likely would have been very soon if he had done that. Saul would never have become Paul and his writings found in our New Testament would have been written by someone else.   God meets us where we are, but will only carry us where He has called us to be when we finally say yes to Him. Saul said yes to Him and the rest of the story is recorded in our New Testament in his letters. The chain reaction of his obedience likely impacted us indirectly through those over the generations affected by his ministry and also us directly impacted by his letters.   What Christian hasn’t been impacted by his letter to the Romans or his letters to the Corinthians or … the list goes on….   The impact God wants our lives to have is eternal. Yet we likely are convinced the difference we make is slight or unnoticeable. Well, we have no idea. I had no idea being obedient starting and keeping a devotional journal would progress into a blog that is being viewed by Christians and seekers on far away countries and over a thousand already I the USA just since February.   Me, a retired engineer living in the town and even the house of my childhood and serving in the same church my parents and grandparents served in and in pretty much same capacity. Well marriage to God’s choice and raise children to know Christ has eternal impact if we do none else. But being a friend to a neighbor or giving a tithe to God’s work all have eternal impact whether we ever know what that impact is or now. The great news is that is God’s responsibility so we need not worry about that. Our responsibility is simply to share Christ’s light in the corner where we are and say yes when He puts in our heart to do something and to be and stay in relationship with Him each day. Well, that can be a challenge at times but one we are capable of doing. Afterall, He doesn’t ask us to do anything we are not capable of with His help.   This Lord’s Day let begin doing that.                                                                                                                                           8/29/16                           Our Secure Road Home                                                29
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us… Titus 3:4-5

SCRIPTURE: JOHN 14:1-6 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;^[a] believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?^{[b] 3} And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.”^{[c] 5} Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

COMMENTS: These verses in John 14 give us much confident hope. Hope that He is preparing a perfect home for us and will place us in perfect immortal bodies to enjoy our perfect home. That is our confident hope of heaven. The hope my mother had when she breathed her last when she told me she would be waiting to greet me when I join her someday.   Well as wonderful as heaven will be or how great it will be to have bodies that won’t die or weaken, consider who we will be with. Being with and in perfect fellowship with Christ. Then how about being able to visit and talk to all the prophets of old and listen to Daniel and David and Joseph and Noah and Esther and Ruth and Jonah and Job and …. All telling their stories. Then how about all those impacted directly and indirectly by those stories all sharing how God was involved in them. Then realizing how all these stories tied into how our relatives and ourselves came to know Christ.   How about the impact the little things done by our ancestors and friends and relatives that impacted us and how the little things we did impacted others. We will have eternity to discover and praise Him as all is revealed. How awesome that will be. You see, I really thing the best thing about heaven will be who we will be with far more than what we will have, right? I encourage you to do similar reflections and consider the impact and ways others have positively influenced you and role they played in leading you to Christ and encouraging you over the years. I dare say the list of such people is long.   I also believe you will be amazed as I am. Well, how about the impact God has and is making from your humble acts of kindness and obedience. Well, you probably are saying what have I done?   By looking at things others did that touched you, I think you will be encouraged even if you can’t see benefits of your work for Christ thus far. They probably didn’t see the benefit of their work either.   Our job is not to save others, but to be faithful showing Christ’s love each day to whoever we come in contact with.   How positive an impact we have on others will depend on how close we are in relationship to Christ and how diligent we are at saying no to temptation and yes to what He nudges us to do.   That is a daily discipline and daily surrender.   The benefits are eternal. The battle to do so in ongoing. But we need not do it alone…                                                                                                                                                              

8/30/16                                             Comfort from Sorrow                                           30
” ⁶ But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, ⁷ and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. ⁸ For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. ⁹ As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. ¹⁰ For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. ¹¹ For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. ¹² So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. ¹³ Therefore we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.” II Corinthians 7:6-13

COMMENTS: There is a difference between being remorseful for getting exposed and remorseful simply for disobedience. King David wasn’t remorseful until Nathan exposed his sin (II Samuel 12). He hadn’t noticed his relationship with God being affected when he committed adultery with Bathsheba even when he had her husband killed to avoid exposure. He thought if he hid his sin, he could avoid the guilt and punishment of his sins. He should have known he couldn’t. King Saul also knew better than to offer the sacrifice before battle only Samuel was allowed to give (I Samuel 13). But he got tired waiting for Samuel. Then he tried to justify his sin but ultimately he refused to show remorse for sinning, only felt remorse for getting caught. David was at the verge of committing the same unforgivable sin. The sin of unrepentance. But he came to his senses finally when Nathan using the story of the man who took a poor man’s pet sheep to provide meat for his party instead of using one of his own sheep. God knew what it would take to bring David to his senses and did just that. David finally realized he hadn’t hid anything. Sure, his sin was hid from his people but not from God. Once he realized that, he then realized it no longer mattered saving face but it did matter how God would respond to his sin. He knew his only hope was to beg God’s merciful forgiveness. He knew the only way God would do that was if he showed true remorse for his sin, not for simply getting caught, but for breaking God’s heart by disobeying Him. Have you ever disappointed someone you truly admired and looked up to and felt horrible seeing the disappointment on his face? Shouldn’t we feel the same way by realizing we hurt and disappoint God every time we sin against Him? When we do that, then we are beginning to experience true remorse. We can’t undo the sin we have done, just like David couldn’t. But by repenting, he opened himself for God to not only forgive him but restore the relationship with God he had lost and open himself for God to change him and give him the strength and desire to turn from the weaknesses than allowed him to commit the sins of adultery and murder and pride that resulted in the destructive path he had started down. A path he was not aware he was on. Such examples should help us realize satan’s deceptions are so effective that we must not trust ourselves to be able to withstand them.   Well, we don’t need to and God never intended for us to fight satan alone. Yet the only way we can is if we are in relationship with Christ and keep our hand in his and our eyes on Him. That is where we need to be and where God intends for us to be each day and throughout each day. Yes, we can do that while going about our daily duties with family and at work and even while we sleep. David’s redemption shows us what we need to do and Saul’s tragic choice and death show us consequence if we don’t. Shouldn’t be a difficult decision but a decision we must make in order to have eternal life and in order to live a life without regrets and tragic consequences.

8/31/16                               Blessings from Heaven                                                    31      
” ¹² Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. ¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. ¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.^{[a] 18} Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”   James 1:12-18

COMMENTS: Today’s scripture from James 1 reminds us not to blame God when we fall due to temptation and the consequences that come after we sin. Temptation is not only not God’s doing, but He always provides a way of escape if we stop to notice or really want a way of escape. Vs 14 tells us we actually make temptation stronger that it should be by “enjoying being tempted” which compels us to sin until we face the resulting consequence that will ultimately lead to death. We can choose to entertain temptation and see how close to sin we can go but seldom are we strong enough to resist if we hover at that edge. No, God wants us to flee temptation and get as far away from it as we can. We are strongest when temptation is at a distance and weakest when facing it closely. Likewise, we are strongest when we are facing Christ and weakest when we are distracted. Yes, only good gifts and blessing are God given.   Even the disasters Job endured were not God’s doing but satan’s doing. God allowed them within limits and only for a time, but they were still satan’s doing. We all face a variety of different temptations and struggle with different weaknesses and areas of vulnerability. The depth of our relationship with Christ is based on how well we have surrendered the weakest areas of our lives to Him. Pride is the most dangerous way satan tempts us. He makes us think we are strong based on our strengths and areas we easily overcome temptation, while deceiving us to ignore or minimize weaker areas we are most vulnerable. With God there is no less important sin or more acceptable sin. Sin is disobedience of His commands no matter what form it takes on. But some sins are more damaging to others. Yet lying can carried consequences as severe as murder, can’t they? Well, if we are all sinners, then we are equally condemned and in need of a Savior. But if we also each have vulnerable areas, then we all equally need a daily relationship with Christ after we have received salvation to gain victory over temptation and resulting sin. There is no short cut for that relationship. Only evil will come from neglecting that daily relationship He longs to have with us. Only good will come with yielding and being in relationship with Christ. That relationship starts the minute we accept His saving grace but doesn’t stop there. Should be a “no –brainer” but demands much discipline and keeping priority to sustain such a relationship. Discipline I still battle with and neglect and have to repent of again and again as I allow distractions to compromise that relationship. How about you? The very good news is He is still there waiting with His hand held out to us…    

I hope and pray this journal brings you much blessing and encouragement and guides you to a deeper walk and fellowship with Christ, who loves and cares for you like none other. If you wish to contact me, you may do so at my email address: “dmcdaniel12@verizon.net”