2/1/17                          How to Prepare for the Future                                 1 
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.   Joshua 1:8                        SCRIPTURE:  PSALM 1:1-6  “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, ² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. ³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. ⁴ Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. ⁶ For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.                                                                                                   COMMENTS :    Today we start another new month together in devotion.  Can you believe we are already this far into 2017 and winter is over ½ over.  Well that part can’t be over too soon, right?  But consider the beauty of fresh laid snow on the trees and ground and sparkle of snow and ice when the sun shines on them.  I can enjoy them more when don’t need to venture outside, but the smell of brisk air in the morning and the sun coming up over fresh laid snow is an experience worth enduring winter’s cold to enjoy.  AMEN?  God has so many such experiences in nature if we just take time to stop and notice.  They all shout “I AM NEAR AND I LOVE YOU.  I WILL NEVER LEAVE NOR FORSAKE YOU!” Well, right now the sun is just starting to come up but is hid by clouds.  Even days when clouds and difficult times overwhelm us, God’s shining light is still doing it’s job providing light to light our day and path.  Even when we can’t see the sun, we can still see what it is doing.  AMEN!                                                                                                                OK.  Today’s verses from Joshua and Psalm 1 give much assurance and promise to you and me.  Hope and promises that strengthened Joshua and David so many centuries ago.  Hope and promises that also strengthen us because they are still very much in force and being implemented by our God now as they were then.  Blessings to those who keep God’s law and follow His instruction are sure and best.  The consequences to those who don’t are also sure and tragic.  God does everything He can to warn and discourage us from following the destructive path of sin, a path satan is gleefully working and deceiving us into following.  Satan enjoyed harming us because he knows how much it hurts God.  He knows how much God loves and cares for us and believes God is vulnerable because of that love for us, especially when we are so weak and prone to disobey Him and so easily deceived into following satan.  But what satan’s pride doesn’t allow him to see is God’s love is infinitely more powerful than evil and God’s plan will prevail in spite satan’s worst efforts and our weakest days.   Do let todays scriptures soak into your soul and guide you today.  Let them guide you as you do normal daily tasks but also as you cross paths with many you see each day and some you rarely see.  Let’s see what blessings God has waiting if we take time and accept interruptions God puts on our path to touch someone God wants us to touch today.  We will be glad when we do…                                                                                                                                                      2/2/17   HE KNEW A CROSS WAS HIS FUTURE BEFORE HE CREATED BUT STILL CREATED! 2                                                                                                                  “Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.” Deuteronomy 4:40

^“16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  John 3:16-17

“¹⁶ Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” I John 3:16

“3 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”  I John 3:1

COMMENTS : We can forget or ignore how precious God’s Word and Christ was to the United States founding fathers but God’s influence, and providence in their actions, and with their choices resulting in God establishing and blessing our country must not be forgotten or ignored if we are going to avoid God’s judgment on us for forsaking Him whether we live in USA or any other country…  Take a moment to reflect on above devotion and especially last quote.  God’s Word is either absolute or obsolete.  Which is it for you?  It is ABSOLUTE for me.  I know it to be true – just as true as it was for Moses and Israelites of Deuteronomy as it is today – even more so since we have so much more Word and Revelation of His plan than they had.  Yet, how precious is His Word to you and me?   We need to treat it as precious as it is.  Just because we can buy a Bible for a few dollars and may have a dozen copies lying around in our homes, doesn’t mean it is any less precious.  God’s Word is still precious in those countries it is not available due to cost or availability.  God’s Word should be as precious to us if we own 20 bibles or praying to acquire our first.   There are billions of people in the world, but would we be any more precious to God if you or I were the only one?  Would we be any more or less precious to Him if we were the only ones?   NO!!  He would have gone to the cross for just you or me if we were the only one.  But His sacrifice was sufficient for all – just you and me but also for the entire world of all generations.  His sacrifice was all inclusive only requiring each of us to accept His sacrifice in order to cleanse away our sins and justify and sanctify us before Him.  That is the Good News of the Gospel and the Good News of Easter.  Soon coming is Palm Sunday – the day when Christ went into Jerusalem knowing He would not leave alive – knowing what He would endure.  Yet He willingly chose to enter and face what He had planned to do from eternity past.  God knew what He would require and Christ knew what He would do in order to redeem you and me long before we were born.  He chose the time and way He would pay for our sins, but He did so alone feeling the full effect of the humanity and guilt we endure and experience but without the shelter of His divinity.    Because He did, we need not face hardships alone without the shelter of His divinity.  He is our shelter and our protector and our encourager as well as our savior and friend.   He knows and understands our struggles because He endured them alone so we won’t need to.  Yet hardships build strength and character, so we too must endure a level of hardship and suffering necessary to our development and maturing for eternity.   Children must learn and grow up into responsible adults.  So must we – a process that goes on all our lives – even if we live to 100 or more, we are still learning and growing and maturing.  

HE KNEW HIS FUTURE WAS THE CROSS BEFORE HE CREATED MAN               AND STILL CREATED MAN!

HE KNEW THE CROSS WAS HIS FUTURE BEFORE HE CREATED – BEFORE HE CREATED THE UNIVERSE – BEFORE HE CREATED MAN! – BEFORE HE CREATED YOU AND ME!  BE GLAD FOR THAT, WE WERE NOT AN ACCIDENT – WE WERE CREATED AT GREAT COST AND FORGIVEN AT A GREAT PRICE, SO WE HAVE GREAT VALUE TO HIM!!       

2/3/17                                        Your Prayer Is Heard                                         3 
Luke 1:11-25  “¹¹ And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.¹² And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.¹³ But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.¹⁴ And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.¹⁵ For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.¹⁶ And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.¹⁷ And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.¹⁸ And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.¹⁹ And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.²⁰ And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.²¹ And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple.²² And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless.²³ And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.²⁴ And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,²⁵ Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.” COMMENTS: The Angel Gabriel was a very busy angel sharing God’s news to Mary, Joseph, and to Zacharias.  The men took a bit more convincing than the women.  Mary and Elizabeth appeared to have greater faith and a closer relationship with God than Joseph or even Zacharias.  Even Zacharias the priest who had prepared to enter the Holy Place doubted such a message.  Well, we should give him understanding for both he and Elizabeth were elderly and without children.  They had so wanted children but couldn’t and after many decades of disappointment, finally God did a miracle for them with a son who would be John the Baptist.  A son worth waiting for!  But Zacharias’s doubts would soon be changed into worship and great faith and rejoicing.  So is ours if we remain faithful and in relationship with Him.  Someday it will be worth all the disappointment and hardship when we sees Jesus and see how all worked together for our good (Romans 8:28-29).                                                                                                                                                  2/4/17 He Desires Our Praise but Our Life Comes from Praising Him!     4 

                                                                                                                                                                            
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  Habakkuk 3:18
Let earth and heaven combine, angels and men agree, to praise in songs divine the incarnate Deity.   Charles Wesley                                                                                            COMMENTS:   Scripture, especially Psalms is full of praise to God and even in the midst of life threatening dangers and trials; we have recorded prayers of praise to God by those enduring.  Sure, these prayers also include pleas for help with much anxiety and desperation at times.  Desperate times bring desperate prayers for help, especially if when prayer was the last instead of first line of defense.  How often do we pray when all else fails instead of at the beginning of each day and before we address issues and problems and challenges and even each day’s work.  Stop and consider all God does each day for you and for me.  The things we take for granted but things we could not survive a minute without.  Yet He is faithful to take care of water and food, oxygen, warmth – shelter, light, body function like our heartbeat – ability to move and think-work-eat-talk-walk… The list goes on.  If any of these things would be deprived, then most of each day’s worst problems would seem unimportant and take low priority.   But because God does faithfully provide, why should we expect He is ready and willing to help us with the less important issues we deal with each day – even the life threatening ones?  So why don’t we automatically go to Him first?  Why don’t we stop to thank and praise Him often?  Wouldn’t it help us gain perspective and maybe even open ourselves to a better way of dealing with our problems, a way His wisdom would make all the difference?  So each day, let’s agree and put a reminder on our bathroom mirror or coffee pot or on our glasses so we will not forget but take time to do so first thing each morning.  Oh what needless pain we endure simply because we don’t go to Him in prayer.  The saints of scripture learned how important that was and I’m sure many in our own family and ancestors learned and demonstrated this truth as well.  Each generation must learn and experience and exercise this truth for themselves or they will miss out on far more blessings than they realize.  So must we and so must our children and grandchildren. Besides, they may never learn if we don’t demonstrate this precious truth to them in our lives.   GOD HONORS AND HELPS THOSE WHO TAKE THE TIME TO WORSHIP AND PRAISE HIM AND TAKE THE TIME TO LISTEN TO AND OBEY HIS COUNCIL!  AMEN!!                                                                                       2/5/17                                              A True Friend                                            5
A man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.   Proverbs 18:24                                                                                  SCRIPTURE:  II Timothy 4:9-18  “⁹ Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me:¹⁰ For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.¹¹ Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.¹² And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.¹³ The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.¹⁴ Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:¹⁵ Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.¹⁶ At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.¹⁷ Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.¹⁸ And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. COMMENTS:  How do you define friends?  The term on Facebook and other media is not as personal as how it was defined 100 years ago or how it is defined in scripture.  Friendship then was much more personal and trusting.  Friends then knew a lot more about each other and helped and encouraged each other and were a lot more accountable to each other.   John 15:14-15 reflects Jesus calling his disciples friends.  He indicated friends are closer than even brothers.  For Jesus to call us friends brings with it the potential of a much closer relationship and accountability.  He also said to see and know Him was to see and know God the Father since they are one and the same in personality and thoughts and character.  The closer we get to Christ, the more like Him we become and the more we begin to think like Him and see each other.  While working as an engineer, for many years, I worked alongside another engineer who was 9 years my junior.  We interacted and worked together and even went out of field trips together.  After a while we began to think so much alike we began to finish each other’s sentences because we really knew what each other was thinking from discussions about work and even family topics.  Others noticed that too.   After a few years, we each moved on to work in other locations but in the same building and on separate projects.  We remained friends but the lack of closeness meant that element of knowing each other’s thoughts faded. 

As with our relationship with Christ, the more time we spend with Him, the more like Him and the more we understand and love Him.  But that too will fade if we neglect our time with Him.  There is not short cut.  The Holy Spirit helps us experience that relationship with Him as though He were here in body with us.  But since He is God and One with the Father and One with the Holy Spirit, knowing one and being with One is also being One with God the Father – God the Son – and God the Holy Spirit.  The Trinity is a mystery.  Since we are talking about God, words and concepts and explanations will not satisfy understanding God in these three Persons.  We can simply say they are each revealed to us separately but they are all One as being God.  We will have to wait til heaven to understand that nature of God for then we will see Him as He is.  BUT WE CAN BE FRIENDS WITH ALL THREE BY HAVING A RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST THROUGH THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN OUR SPIRITS.  That is achieved by spending focused time with Him each day in prayer and worship – praise and by reading scripture and reflecting on it.  The Holy Spirit helps us speak to Christ and hear His words back in our souls.  That is how we know and love Him.  He reveals Himself in our souls directly but also through His creation and other people as He works in them too.  AMEN!

 2/6/17                                              Two Addresses                                            6
Isaiah 57:15-21  “¹⁵ For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.¹⁶ For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.¹⁷ For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.¹⁸ I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.¹⁹ I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him.²⁰ But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.²¹ There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”                                          COMMENTS:     I am a “baby boomer”, which is defined by those born between 1945-1964.  I was born in 1951.  Baby boomers were the largest number of one generation born and are now retiring at the rate of 10,000 per day.  My day of retirement from the full time job as an engineer happened on October 19, 2012, so I’ve been retired for a little over 4 years.  During the 38+ years of working full time I never thought I would be able to retire.  I thought, future generations wouldn’t be able to support paying pensions for some many of the baby boomer generation to retire as my father’s generation did.  I also was convinced Christ would return long before I would retire.  When I started my career I thought Christ would return long before my children would be grown.  Both have come and gone and I now have grandchildren growing up very quickly.  But hopes of my children being able to retire are quickly fading and likely will have to work long past retirement age in order to provide for necessities.  Don’t get me wrong, I continue to do productive work, not the least is writing this journal, keeping a Facebook page and blog site and corresponding and encouraging and supporting a number of ministers and evangelists overseas as well as volunteering at church and at our local food pantry and with a few other organizations.  But having a pension and social security has enabled me to focus on volunteering instead of having to seek out a way of earning money.  God is providing for that.  Yet now, as while employed, I realized my employer and boss is God and an earthly boss and employers are the instrument God uses to provide for me and open opportunities and places for outreach and ministry.  He indeed has given me many opportunities to meet and fellowship with fellow Christians and witness to many others in environments I would not have been able or had opportunity to if had not been employed.  Many coal miners in remote places became personal friends as well as colleagues during those years. But our scripture today from Isaiah 57 reveals God is with us and dwells with us here where we walk each day as well as in heaven governing the universe.  God is everywhere at the same time with full focus and interest in all places and in all things. I can’t imagine that any better than you can, but this is one awesome attribute of God we need to recognize and believe if we hope to believe God is personally involved in each of our lives guiding and helping and instructing us and protecting us.  God is indeed “with us” as our EMMANUEL!!  We can’t earn or climb our way to heaven or out of our deserved place of judgment, hell.  No, we still deserve hell and unworthy of heaven.  We can’t reach God but He not only reaches down to us but embraces us deep in our souls.  We can’t be at more than one place at a time but God can and is everywhere at the same time and in every time.  Consider that and be glad because that makes Him available to us all without limits.

2/7/17                                              Break the Cycle                                            7
Therefore comfort one another with these words.  1 Thessalonians 4:18                     SCRIPTURE:  TITUS 2:11-14  “¹¹ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,¹² Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;¹³ Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;¹⁴ Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”                                     COMMENTS:  Temptation draws us to sin and sin draws us with increasing strength and frequency of temptation.  Our wills and choices determine if we are exposed to an increasing cycle of temptation and sin or an increasing cycle of fellowship with Christ and faith in Him and obedience to His Will.  Every generation struggles with the battle against temptation and sin.  Every generation battles with resistance to having a meaningful relationship with God and difficulty submitted to Him. But every generation has the same weaknesses and is deceived by the same tempter, satan.                                                                                                      Worry is such a temptation that draws us to fear which comes back with growing temptation to worry about more things in increasing intensity until victim is paralyzed with fear and worry.  The Thessalonian Christians were troubled with worry.  Paul tells us they even worried about missing Christ’s return and missing out on seeing their loved ones who died.  Paul addressed that with insight into the Rapture and Christ’s return along with His promise to never leave nor forsake and that those who accept Him as their savior and redeemer need not fear tomorrow nor death.  They did have plenty of dangers worthy of worry.  Roman rule was becoming more and more hostile against Christians who were being hunted and imprisoned and executed in increasing numbers and painful ways. The price of confessing faith in Christ was high, but the cost of denial of Christ was even higher.                    Paul’s words to them are just as important and applicable to us.  Christians in much of the world are facing persecution and death like in the first century church. Likewise, Paul’s warnings against yielding to temptation are just as applicable to us too.  What do you worry about?  What do I worry about?  Much of our worry probably relates to our family or finances or possibly sickness or violence or a variety of challenges.  Worry may also relate to weakness that pulls us or our loved ones into sin too.  But worry is strongest when fellowship with Christ is neglected and worry is weakest when we are in deep fellowship with Christ.  He doesn’t want us to worry and even commands us not to worry.                                                                             Matthew 6:25-34 “  ²⁵ Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?²⁶ Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?²⁷ Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?²⁸ And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:²⁹ And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.³⁰ Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?³¹ Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?³² (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.³³ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.³⁴ Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”  This is a tall order but is also a goal but also a way of life that was demonstrated by the first century Christians in the midst of terrible persecution by the Romans and even by the Jewish leadership.                                                            As I see how many faithful Christians live, especially in Muslim and communist countries, I discover a strength and joy lacking in free countries like the USA.  Christ is working there but also in free countries, but what I do see is a greater hunger for Christ’s message of hope and redemption in those greatly persecuted countries.  The people there are more open and eager to receive the Gospel because they desperately need something true to embrace and live for.  So do you and me.  Only Christ offers true hope and only Christ can give what our souls hunger and long for.  Only Christ can offer forgiveness and eternal life.  Only He has the authority and power to honor that offer and promise.  We have a wonderful legacy to learn from and to guide us, but we also have the same Savior offering to take us by the hand, as He did them, and walk through life journey with us.  He does so through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and comes into our souls when we accept Him as our Savior.  From that day forward, we can neglect Him and forget Him and grow cold in our faith if we choose to, but when we return and seek Him again, we will find He has always been near waiting for us to simply turn back around to Him.  When we turn back to our old selfish and sinful ways, we turn away from Him.  When we turn away from our sin, we see Him.  It is as simple but as powerful as that.  Success in our Christian walk requires putting and keeping our eyes and attention on Him and not on satan’s distractions and filth.  That is easier said than done and will be a lifelong battle but a battle worth the fight and a battle we need not wage alone and can’t wage alone without losing.  Satan is much too strong and experienced for us, but HE IS NO MATCH FOR OUR SAVIOR AND REDEEMER AND BEST FRIEND – OUR GOD!!  He never has been and he never will.  AMEN!!

2/8/17                              Precious Promises                                            8                    
Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.   2 Peter 3:13                                                                         SCRIPTURE: II Peter 1:2-4 “² Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,³ According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:⁴ Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”                                                       COMMENTS:   God has made many wonderful promises to His created people.  To Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), to Noah (Genesis 9:8-11), and to us through Christ ( 2 Peter 1:2-4).  However, the number of magnitude of God’s promises covers the entire Bible and not just in these brief messages. When we look over the history of the Bible, we may wonder why God took so long before Christ came to redeem His creation, but then again we wonder why He has waiting so long before returning.   The answer to why He waited so long before coming the first time is a mystery only He can answer and one we won’t  know or understand until He reveals that answer to us in heaven.  Galatians 4:4 “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,”.  So the time had to be fulfilled and all necessary conditions had to be met before He came.   At that time Rome was ruling and had unified the known world and built a road and transportation structure that would expedite spreading the Gospel.  The level of persecution increased enough to force people to escape, thereby spreading the Gospel far and wide.  Likewise, the hardships Christians especially faced but all conquered people faced under Roman rule opened the hearts of many to receive that Gospel.  But the reasons for delay are, I’m sure, far more than you and I or theologians over the centuries can imagine.  The same is true for why He has also delayed His return for so long.  But remember and be glad He has.  For, you see, His delay gave opportunity for you and me to accept Christ and also for many we’ve been praying for too.  So be glad He has delayed His return just as we should be glad He delayed His first coming.  We can be confident His timing is perfect and His timing is motivated with a passion to bring us great good.  He always has had our best interest at heart.  We can also be confident He has that same motivation in delaying His return too.  His promises to us are sure.  We can rest in His loving arms no matter what each day brings or dangers satan is scheming to bring harm to us.                                                                                        

2/9/17                              Streams in the Desert                                            9                   
Deuteronomy 32:7-12 “⁷ Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.⁸ When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.⁹ For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.¹⁰ He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.¹¹ As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:¹² So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.”                         COMMENTS:  What is gained when we take time to listen to our parents and grandparent’s stories and experiences?  What is lost when we don’t?  We have opportunity to learn from their mistakes and choose good paths, avoiding disasters and difficulties they may have experienced from similar mistakes and sins.  We also find conversation draws them and us into closer relationships with each other, brings with it deeper love and understanding for each other.  Relationships take time to develop and deteriorate quickly when neglected.  Same is true with our relationship with God and same is true with the experiences and wisdom contained in the bible and contained directly in the heart and mind of God who so wants to have and develop a meaningful relationship with every one of us. AMEN.   Well, that is all true but children and teens generally are not very interested in history or listening to their grandparent talk about days long ago.  There are exceptions but all too often by the time those children grow into adulthood and are finally willing to listen to them, the grandparents they took for granted would always be there are gone.  I enjoyed those stories of my parents but have to admit I didn’t appreciate them as much as I should have when I was a boy and especially when I was a teen.  There are questions I now have about some of those stories I wish I’d asked.  There are also questions from studying scripture I have as well but realize answers will have to wait til heaven.  The marvelous truth is then we will discover the full way of how God orchestrated a wonderful plan of redemption through and from one generation to another to bring life and healing and redemption to the next generation.  I can see the faith and lives of my ancestors impacted my grandparents and parents.  Thru my parents their faith impact continued to impact my life and my children’s.   Now that they are all gone, it is up to me to continue that impact on our children and grandchildren.  Someday that responsibility will fall on our children to pass that on to their children and grandchildren.  The cycle continues and repeats as it has from Adam and Eve.  BUT THE COMMON IMFLUENCE INFLUENCE HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOD.  The common negative influence, satan, is still doing his worst to hurt and destroy the good and plan of God.  I continue to marvel as I reflect and look at the ancient books and pictures and possessions my great grandparents and parents left in our home for us.  I also wonder how well my children and grandchildren will pass on that history and heritage and legacy to their grandchildren.  The common influence God directly has on me will be there for them too, but I too must leave reminders to help guide them back to what will be most precious to them one day when they approach the end of their life on earth and anticipate their eternal home approaching.  What will be most important will be our walk with Christ and treasures will be who will be with us.  Things won’t matter but who we spend eternity with will.  To spend eternity with our loved ones and with those before us will be priceless and such a joy.  But most of all spending eternity with Christ will be worth it all.  That may not seem that important to my grandchildren right now but someday it will be priceless.  The realization is become more priceless to me each day as I get closer to end of my life on earth.  How about you?   Sound terrible melancholy but is really like packing and preparing for a trip of a lifetime.  As I reflect on the lives of many faithful saints I have been very close to over the years, I can recall that excitement and anticipation and joy in their eyes and words as they approached their last day.  As they longed for with anticipation to their spouses and parents and grandparents greeting them, so will I look forward to them greeting me?  But they, as I will look forward most of all to my Savior greeting me in heaven.  AMEN!!              

      2/9/17                                           Rock Piles                                                        9
I will remember the works of the LORD; surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
Psalm 77:11                                                                                                                 SCRIPTURE:  JOSHUA 4  “The Memorial Stones 4 And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying: ² “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, ³ and command them, saying, ‘Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.’”⁴ Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; ⁵ and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, ⁶ that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ⁷ Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”⁸ And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. ⁹ Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.¹⁰ So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and crossed over. ¹¹ Then it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over, that the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. ¹² And the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. ¹³ About forty thousand prepared for war crossed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho. ¹⁴ On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life.¹⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, ¹⁶ “Command the priests who bear the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan.” ¹⁷ Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, “Come up from the Jordan.” ¹⁸ And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.¹⁹ Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. ²⁰ And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. ²¹ Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ ²² then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; ²³ for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, ²⁴ that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”  COMMENTS:   Israel’s history is one of amnesia.  They forget God’s blessings and miracles as soon as temptation comes.  They needed constant reminders but also needed direct fellowship with God, a personal relationship with God to motivate and energize obedience.  I have been told Alzheimer’s disease is like a camera without film.  Recollection is limited to what is in view and lost as soon as out of view. If you and I are honest, we have to admit we so much like Israel forgetting God, allowing even the least distraction to pull us away from Him.  Yet He is faithful to us ready to restore fellowship that we turned from.  He is so willing and quick to forgive while waiting til we turn and confess our sins and accept His forgiveness.  Consider the stories of Israel’s repeated cycle of fellowship, rebellion, and sin, followed by a time of discipline that brought them back into fellowship.  Their cycle shows us there are consequences for sin that could have been avoided by remaining faithful.  Those stories also show us live in fellowship with God is so much better than life of sin.  But facing God’s discipline is further motivation to remain in fellowship with Him.   After all, He created us and owns all He created, so He has sole authority and right to do as He wills.  Let’s be quick to judge our own lives and actions instead of others while seeking a closer fellowship with and relationship with Christ.  He is waiting and has so much more for us that we are currently enjoying and receiving. 

Today I interacted with a pastor in Uganda who has just become a new Facebook friend and has started reading and sharing my blog messages.  Already he has 40 other pastors desiring to receive and share with their congregations and outreach ministry.  God so wants to bless us and use us to be a blessing to others if we simply obey His call and do His Will.  What He asked may not be what we feel comfortable doing or even want to do, but we will soon discover by taking steps of faith and doing His Will anyway, we will find great fulfillment and joy in obeying.  I am discovering that new each day too.  AMEN!!                                                                                   

  2/10/17                 Praise Times Thirteen                                                      10
Psalm 150 “Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.² Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.³ Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.⁴ Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.⁵ Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.⁶ Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.” COMMENTS:   Psalms has the most chapters of any book of scripture but such a blessed way of praise to close this book with this chapter.  David wrote much but not all the psalms, but all its authors reflect a common gift for expressing love for God in praise and worship with words. We should not limit our praise to a church setting but no better place to praise Him than in church with other believers. Our praise added to others, just like song, enhances and uplifts and carries our praise much further than we can do individually.  But individual praise uplifts us and those around us too.  Both have a time and place and both honor our Creator and Lord and Savior who deserves our praise and worship and far more.  This morning completes another work week for some and tomorrow will for others.  We have so much to praise Him for He has done so much for us and continues to do so!!   But He wants to do so much more but is limited by our ability or willingness to receive.  We are limited by our willingness to praise and worship and obey Him…          

  2/11/17                               Remnants                                                      11

And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. 2 Kings 19:30                                                                          SCRIPTURE:  ISAIAH 10:20-23  “²⁰ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.²¹ The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.²² For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.²³ For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.”   COMMENTS:  Remnant stores have left over pieces of fabric or carpet or other materials that are sold at discounted prices.  The remnant referred to above are the Israelites who survived catastrophe resulting from judgment for their own sins. They need not have faced such but repeated the cycle of obedience to indifference to disobedience to depth of great sin to God’s judgment resulting in death and slavery and great suffering resulting in repentance resulting in redemption and return of remaining repentant remnant.  The remnant is who seeks and receives redemption.  The remnant is the minority who return to God but also who remember both the consequence of sin but the blessings of obedience.  They are the ones who know what it means to worship and praise God.  They are the ones who know what it means to be in fellowship and relationship with God.  Are they you and me?  God so wants it to me everyone.  But that choice still remains in the hands of each person to decide.   To be the one who faced God’s judgment and death or the remnant to repent and experience God’s mercy and life.  Yesterday we read and discussed Psalm 150.  Such praise and joy expressed can only be experienced while in relationship with our God and Savior.   No other experience and relationship can measure up to what God offers and provides to those who yield to His Will and Love.  After all He created us to be in relationship with Him, so how can we be fulfilled unless we are in relationship with Him?   We simply can’t.  Like trying to use a bull dozer to mow a lawn, or a lawn mower to plow snow.  It simply doesn’t work.  Neither can we without Him, but so many keep trying to make it on their own and strive to satisfy their desires above all others.  They simply will not satisfy nor be satisfied.  They will leave us empty and disappointed.  BUT OUR LORD AND SAVIOR WILL NEVER LEAVE US DISAPPOINTED AND EMPTY.  HE NEVER HAS, HE NEVER WOOD, AND HE NEVER WILL!  AMEN!!

2/12/17            “Something So Glorious…”                                     12   
I Thessalonians 4:13-16 “¹³ But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.¹⁵ For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.¹⁶ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:”  COMMENTS:  We  have a wonderful hope and a wonderful promise from Christ.  That promise is for eternal life with Him in an eternal home He is preparing for us.  Corrie ten Boom had such a hope that sustained her and each in her family as they enduring unspeakable torture and misery at the hands of Nazi soldiers and guards during WWII.  Corrie survived that time but no one else in her family survived.  They died at the hands of those Nazi soldiers.  The challenge she had during those terrible years was to focus on her savior and not on her suffering.  After those years she had an even harder challenge – to forgive her jailers. She had a specific opportunity to do so when a soldier came forward during a revival service she led to accept Christ.   When she saw and recognized him, she recoiled and struggled for a few minutes with God’s push to show forgiveness and to lead him to Christ.  It took her a few moments debating that with God but then yielded and chose to forgive and obey.  What bitterness would have swept over her soul if she had refused?  She would have missed out on God’s blessing simply because she felt he didn’t deserve God’s mercy.  Well, he didn’t but real truth is we don’t either and are just as sinful and unworthy compared to God’s perfect character and  Christ’s perfect life as is the ex – Nazi soldier.  That soldier did repent and was saved and was truly remorseful for his sins.  I don’t know how his life was transformed in following years but can imagine his dramatic change was instrumental in leading others to Christ in following years.  That blessing would also have been lost if Corrie had refused to obey God.  We often are asked to do things we don’t want to by others but also by God.  But we need to remind ourselves He knows best and always has our best interest at heart but also the best interests of everyone in addition to us.  Only He can bless us and others at the same time.  Only He can have a close one with one relationship with each of us at the same time without distraction.  AMEN!

2/13/17                                    Revive Us Again                                     13   
Psalm 85-86 “85 Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.² Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.³ Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.⁴ Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.⁵ Wilt thou be angry with us forever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?⁶ Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?⁷ Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.⁸ I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.⁹ Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.¹⁰ Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.¹¹ Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.¹² Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.¹³ Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.86 Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy.² Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.³ Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.⁴ Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.⁵ For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.⁶ Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.⁷ In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.⁸ Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.⁹ All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.¹⁰ For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.¹¹ Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.¹² I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.¹³ For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.¹⁴ O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them.¹⁵ But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.¹⁶ O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.¹⁷ Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me.”  COMMENTS:  Revival broke out in the US in mid 1800’s when a group of young business men in New York City began praying at noon lunch hour with passion for revival, and their passion began spreading.   Shortly after in 1859, when news of that spreading revival reached Ireland, revival began to spread in Ireland as their people also caught a passion for God’s moving.  When it reached families and spread from individual home to another, revival really took hold because whole families were changed and churches as a result.  Change that went across generations.  Leadership resided with the Holy Spirit and not with men but spread was defined by who embraced God’s hand of change.  Today’s passage from Psalms gives us insight into the heart of one who  was experiencing revival and sharing what was needed in order to spread.   Do we want revival or just not to face God’s judgment.  We really can’t have it both ways.  We either must fully surrender to God’s Will and Plan and the higher level of living and sacrifice or must instead face God’s judgment. It really isn’t about what we must give up but what we will gain.  Once we get a glimpse of what we gain, then what we must give up will not seem that important.  But when we are living for our own selfish interests it is hard to let go.  God’s work seems boring or unpleasant or unnatural until we let Him change us.  Then what seems unnatural is old habits and interests that so preoccupied our time and energy.  We don’t have time and energy what God wants us to do?  Maybe it is because we are wasting too much time and energy and money on things that shouldn’t matter.  But you may say, but I have a job to work at and a family to rise and responsibilities to aging parents and church and …. the list goes on.  Isn’t God satisfied that is enough?  Truth is when we leave Him out; we also leave out our greatest resource for wisdom, efficiently using limited resources, our greatest resource for energy – positive planning and execution.  He knows the right order and priority and can smooth a lot of waves that are hindering progress.  Likewise, how often do we try to do it all ourselves thinking that is our job or it isn’t that big a deal?  Well, maybe each task isn’t a big deal but 12 tasks at the same time are a big deal.  Only God can effectively do everything at the same time.  We mortals need to realize we can only do one thing at a time effectively but need to complete one task before going on to next.  He can help us set priorities and gain help to deal with more than one at a time when need to.  After all, allowing others to feel needed is part of what God wants us to do as well and might just bless someone else too.

2/14/17                      Prime the Revival Pump                                     14   
Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.   Psalm 42:5                                                                                                               SCRIPTURE:  ISAIAH 57:15  “¹⁵ For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” COMMENTS:  Those of you who remember using a hand water pump or may still be using one, you know keeping a jar of water next to pump is important to prime the pump.  Before finishing pumping water, it is important to fill the jar to prime the pump the next time.  Failing to do so would prevent access to the abundant water supply out of reach without that pump. If we drink from God’s well of salvation and fail to share His Gospel with others, we are like the one who drinks the water in the jar instead of from the well.  Sooner or later the water supply will not be available to him because he failed to prime the pump and replenish the water in the jar.   When we get discouraged or when life’s problems overwhelm us, it is easy to focus on our problems and ignoring or pushing off others.  We think we have no room for others problems.  We have too many of our own.  But truth is God deals with everyone’s problems all at the same time and we do so much better when we put our problems in His hands and limit ourselves to only dealing with the issues He expects us to deal with and leave the hard ones to Him.  Have you found that to be true?  What is gained is not only allowing God involved in solving our problems, but opens us to help others and to open them to relationships with us but also with God.  We are designed to be in fellowship with each other but also with God.  We should be “priming the pump” of the relationship others have with God too.  Putting spiritual water out for others to access to pump water from the well of living water too.  When we consider this example, we soon realize what we are missing out on and what we are responsible for depriving others of too. Oh how grieved God must be with us when we selfishly only deal with our own problems all alone instead of reaching out to Him with one hand and back to another’s hand with another.  We are overworked and overwhelmed and depressed because we use both hands to manage our problems instead of keeping one hand in His.  Especially those problems we are not able to solve anyway or at least not completely.   THIS IS GOD’S PLAN AND HIS DESIRE FOR EACH OF US.  TO BE IN FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM SEEKING HIS HELP AND COUNCIL EACH DAY AND SHARING THAT COUNCIL AND HELP WITH OTHERS.  Life may be falling and getting up all our way to heaven but God would have us let Him pick us up while helping someone else up too.  So who does God want us to help up today?  He will show us if we aren’t so busy trying to fix our problems all by ourself.  Today is Valentine’s Day.  Don’t forget to show your love and appreciation by doing something nice for those you love.  Give them a helping hand today especially too.

2/15/17                      Immeasurable Promises                                     15  
Thus says the LORD: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,” says the LORD. Jeremiah 31:37                                                                             SCRIPTURE:  JEREMIAH 33:24-26  “²⁴ Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.²⁵ Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;²⁶ Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.” COMMENTS:   Jeremiah marveled at God’s majesty but also marveled at the majesty of His creation.  Yet Jeremiah had no idea what scientists are saying today such as the universe is an estimated 93 billion light years in diameter.  A light year is six trillion miles.  The earth is 3,959 miles to center and the ocean is 6.85 miles deep at deepest point.  Jeremiah had no idea of that.  But guess what, scientists have no idea just how big the universe is, they are only guessing.  They, like we simply can’t comprehend God or even His creation.  He and His ways are so far above us that we simply can’t do much more than imagine but still come short of knowing.  His ways are too magnificent and wonderful to understand.  But we can trust Him because of promises scripture reveals He has kept as well as plenty of examples through the ages to present available to us.  Stop and reflect on examples in your own life.  I have more than I can count too.

God promised Abraham he would be the father of many nations and the number of his decedents would be like the stars in the sky.  Abraham believed God but after many years of no children by his wife, both he and Sarah doubted God and took matters into their own hands using Hagar to give Abraham a son.  That sin has resulted in many wars and deaths that could have been avoided if they had trusted God a few more years.  Instead of decedents being from Isaac, the conflict of decedents from both Ishmael and Isaac has caused many wars and conflicts and will continue to do so til Christ returns. 

God so wants us to trust Him too, but like with Abraham, He tests and exercises our faith by delaying evidence of fulfilling His promises and providing needed help to us.  But He does not work in a linear or even way.  He often works in a hidden way and then suddenly and without warning reveals the results of His work.  Other times He may work more openly.  How and why He works as He does remains as mystery but always is to be worthy of worshipping Him and praising Him. You and I need to reflect more and trust Him and worship and praise Him more so our faith will grow and we will avoid sin and poor choices like Abraham and Sarah made.                      

  2/16/17                      Hoping Versus Knowing                                           16
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23                                                                                                     SCRIPTURE:  I THESSALONIANS 5:24  “²⁴ Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”                                                                                                                       COMMENTS:   A young girl waiting for her father to pick her up after finishing swimming practice, which ended at 8PM.  All the other swimmers were gone and still she waiting in the cold and dark.  But she trusted her father and knew he would show up.  When he did and apologized, he explained he had to fix a flat tire on the way, which was why he was late.  She knew him and knew he would not forget her.  The young girl’s faith in her father was strong, making a difference in the level of patience waiting for him to fill his promise.  When he did show up, she was able to greet him with open hears and not ears deaf due to anger.  She greeted him as her father instead of with words of anger.  The rest of the evening was much better than it would have been.                                     The level of faith we have in God will determine our level of patience as we wait for Him to fulfill His promises to us too. Isaiah 40:31 “  ³¹ But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” God will renew His strength in us as we wait and as we remain faithful to Him while waiting.   He works in His time and in His way.  Time will prove His time is perfect, but at the time it may not seem so to us.  That is why faith is so important so as not to spoil the joy of seeing His timing fulfilled. I am reminded of the story in scripture of Daniel praying for 21 days without an answer.  Daniel 9 is a wonderful prayer Daniel prayed resulting in Gabriel coming in response.  I encourage you to read and prayerfully reflect on this passage.  But then, Daniel, 10 Daniel again prayed for 21 days without an answer. The response finally came when Michael finally visited Daniel, who explained had battled the “Prince of Persia” for 21 days.  Story is recorded in Daniel 10.  The revelation came to Daniel and his 21 days of patiently continuing to pray and trusting God even during delay was rewarded.  Instead of greeting Michael with bitterness and anger, Daniel greeting Him with an open spirit ready to receive God’s message.                                                                                                                Listen to the words Michael said to Daniel recorded in Daniel 10:11-13:  “¹¹ He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.¹² Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. ¹³ But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”                                                                                      The only other person greeting with the honor of being “highly esteemed by God” was Mary, the mother of Christ when Gabriel gave her that news.   Daniel was faithful and prepared to receive. Daniel had endured the entire 70 year judgment on Israel being captive to Babylon and then the Medo-Persia empire.  He had remained faithful, God using him to keep guide his people back to God during captivity as well as many in his conquerors – even Nebuchadnezzar.  He would not live to see his homeland but would live to see some return and would soon see his permanent home with his Messiah to greet him.  What stories await us that are not recorded in scripture?  Stories we will hear from Daniel himself.  But oh how many stories Christ is awaiting to share with us.  Stories not recorded in scripture nor the background behind those stories.  Stories of redemption that ripple from one generation to another.  Stories of long ago that impacted our lives and lives of those after us.  Stories of God’s perfect timing and God’s perfect plan fulfilled.  Stories not revealed now because God wants our obedience from faith and personal choice.  We become strong in our faith more from adversity and trial and not from prosperity and comfort.  Prosperity historically made the Israelites weak and more vulnerable to pagan idolatry and sin.  They enjoyed and wanted prosperity more, as do we, but the risks to them during times of prosperity were greater.  With prosperity also came greater responsibility to share excess with others in need.  How are you using prosperous times?  God will take prosperity if we do not use it wisely. He loves us too much to not allow adversity to strengthen us too and to guide us closer to Himself.  He is not mean but loving, as a wise parent, to do so.  So how do we respond during times when God seems so far away?  How prepared will we be to greet Him when He does show up and when His answer does come.  It just might be He is fighting a greater battle on our behalf without our knowledge so we can receive His answer fully.   Let’s decide to choose CONFIDENT HOPE INSTEAD OF WISHFUL HOPE CONTROLLING OUR CHOICES AND EMOTIONS AND ACTIONS AND EVEN OUR THOUGHTS FROM TODAY FORWARD.  GOD IS FAITHFUL BECAUSE HE LOVES US LIKE NONE OTHER!!

2/17/17                     Iceland Anyone?                                            17              
Acts 17:22-34  “²² Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.²³ For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.²⁴ God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;²⁵ Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;²⁶ And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;²⁷ That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:²⁸ For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.²⁹ Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.³⁰ And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:³¹ Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.³² And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.³³ So Paul departed from among them.³⁴ Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.”  COMMENTS:     It is reported that Iceland is the most peaceful nation on earth, yet 79 countries are less peaceful than they were a year ago, so Iceland may not be isolated from terrorism much longer. By contrast, Syria is the most violent and dangerous place to live. Terrorism is also reported to be at an all-time high with associated deaths at a 25 year high worldwide.  The number of refugees and displaced people are also at levels not seen for 60 years.  What does all this mean and what lies ahead?  Are we approaching the time of Great Tribulation prophesied in scripture?  Every generation since Christ’s resurrection thought they were living in end times, including ours.  Yet events being fulfilled are pointed to that time being very close. What we can be certain of is the troubles of our day are a result of widespread sin in the world causing much death and suffering.  Mark 13:20 “²⁰ And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.”  The satan motivated evil mischief man will do to himself, if unchecked, will result in destruction of the entire world and everything on it.  God will stop that with His return but also to bring judgment as well as rescuing His faithful children.  So as bad as things are today, they are going to get a lot worse and it won’t be God’s fault.  It has always been and is satan’s fault but also the fault of those who follow his evil plan.  We are also told by scripture that in the last days people will follow satan’s temptations believing evil is good and good is evil.  I think we all can see more evidence of that trend getting stronger.                                                                                                                                                   So, are we living in the last days and is the Great Tribulation and Christ’s return at our door?  I believe so, but only God knows.  He delays because of His love for us wanting more to come to Him with repentant hearts and minds.  He doesn’t want any to perish.  Aren’t you glad He waited for you?  He may be waiting for your children or your grandchildren.  He may be waiting for your neighbor or best friend.  If we want His return soon, we need to be working to that end by trying to reach those we know.   No, we are not living in a peaceful world and if run to find a safe place to live, those places will become fewer and fewer.  Small country communities where people trust each other, and there is no need to lock the doors of our homes at night or when away was common place a generation ago but are rare today.  We did not have locks on our church a generation ago and can remember the debate when we finally decided to lock our church when not in use.   Things don’t get better when we follow our own ways because when we do, we are really not following our own ways but the ways of the great deceiver.  The only way for things to improve is to follow Christ’s way.  His Will with our hand in His.  Scripture proves that.  History proves that.  The United States was established by those seeking freedom to worship and follow Christ and was escaping countries that were not following God’s Will and were suffering as a result.  Israel repeated the cycle of enjoying God’s blessing when following Him and great suffering and death when they didn’t.  Haven’t we learned from them?  Haven’t we learned from history?  Obviously not, or at least not enough have?  Too many still think they are smarter or know more than God, just like their ancestors.  Scripture warns and foretells the future of those who repeat that path.   Don’t be one of them.  There is a better choice, a choice of life instead of death.  Yes, it is that dramatic and that important and that life changing.  A change that will affect us and generations after us.  Choices that will affect eternity.  God has put that choice in our hands, but is close by to help us when we choose to follow Him.  We are not alone!!

2/18/17                     Jesus Changed Everything                            18
Hebrews 2:5-9  “⁵ For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.⁶ But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him?⁷ Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:⁸ Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.⁹ But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”                                                                     COMMENTS: When Christ came to earth He changed everything but in His time. His entrance was unnoticed by all but a few.  The wise men noticed but were looking for Him.  The shepherds noticed because God chose them to receive the announcement from the angels. We are not told of others but there may have been.  His life continued unnoticed but by a few until He started His ministry.  Even then only those exposed to His teaching were impacted until His earthly mission was completed.  Then everything changed. He  the witness and mission of the Holy Spirit indwelling in each believer compounded the impact and persecution satan inspired to destroy God’s plan actually all cause His plan to expand very quickly.  Satan tried to destroy God’s plan but God only used his efforts to make it spread faster and further.  Evangelization and number converted is faster in countries that work the hardest to stop evangelization.  Those that support evangelization become comfortable and indifferent to Christ’s Great Commission and command to evangelize His message.  But His message and sacrifice transformed the lives of those who received Him and everyone since including you and me.  Persecution of Christians is at an all-time high but spread of the Gospel and conversions is also highest in countries where persecution is most severe.  That is because God is still involved and His Holy Spirit is still working today as much as He was in the first century.  We may miss it, like most when Christ was born, if we are not available to receive or seek to receive.  Choice is ours but cost to us will be eternal and higher than we realize if we choose to ignore or refuse His calling and message.   If we are living in the last days before His return, as I believe we are, than time is more critical and urgent that we yield to His saving spirit and call.  How tragic for those lost due to our disobedience.  How tragic for the pagans God wanted the Israelites to evangelize.  But instead God had to issue judgment on those Israelites for their sin and disobedience.  I am hoping and praying this journal and associated blog I keep regularly will impact and encourage many others as it does me.  Doing so has impacted and drawn me closer to Christ.  I am seeking response from many other countries as well as in USA to encourage me this hope if being realized and God’s plan am being fulfilled in and through me too.

 2/19/17                     The Final Chapter                                            19 
The devil, who deceived [the nations], was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Revelation 20:10                                                                                                                               SCRIPTURE:  I JOHN 5:19 “¹⁹ Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”                                    COMMENTS:  End time prophecy has been studied and for many centuries.  Every generation has believed those prophecies were speaking of their time and situations and Christ’s return was very soon.  Even when Christ ascended into heaven the disciples and early Christians anticipated His return in their generation.  They didn’t know nor understand the prophecies fully.  Yet those prophecies that Daniel and Ezekiel spoke of have only partially been fulfilled.  When we look back over history, we realize just how accurately those that have come to pass have been fulfilled.  But God works in His time and His way and to His Plan, which is best both for all, including us individually.  He does want us to be in open relationship with Him sharing our needs and concerns as well as our worship and praise.  But when we get to the point we trust Him and know He will guide us through any and all dangers and situations will be gain the level of faith to know and depend on truth He will provide for us whether we ask or not.   To know He will help us through sickness and tragedy because He loves us whether we ask for help or not.  But it does help to ask for help. He already knows but we need to know that He knows.  By praying we gain confidence He knows, which helps our faith and opens our ears to hear Him speaking to us.  For that reason, it is good to pray seeking His help. You see, anything that strengthens our faith and our relationship with Him is good. The more we pray the closer our souls and minds draw to Him.  When we pray we are listening to Him and He is enjoying close fellowship with us.  That is His goal, but His ultimate goal is for us to be like Him in character and conduct with His goodness and purity in our souls.  That goal will not be fully reached until we are in heaven free of satan’s influence.  But that doesn’t mean we can and must make daily progress.  We can be as like Him as we can comprehend but since God is infinite, we can’ comprehend Him sufficiently to be exactly like Him.  If the most perfect and Godly person you can think of is still imperfect compared to God and still making progress daily toward that goal but not there yet, than how can we believe we will achieve such a goal.  I find such to be exciting and encouraging and not hopeless.  After all, heaven is getting closer each day.  As I discover I know more and more people who are now in heaven and fewer and fewer people me know that are still on earth, I realize two things.  Heaven is becoming more and more my home and I am growing closer and closer to my time to move there too.  Not only will my new home be so much better than my current home, my body and my soul will be too and those I know there will too.  But most of all we will be in perfect relationship with and closer to the Christ who loves and has sacrificed so much for us.. AMEN!!                                                                                                                                                                                           

2/20/17                                                Enraptured                                       201 Thessalonians 4:17-18  “¹⁷ Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.¹⁸ Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”                                 COMMENTS:  If we believed Christ was returning tomorrow, we would change dramatically how we spent today.  Truth is He just might.  God has not revealed that to us so we would discipline ourselves to prepare and live our lives as though He was returning tomorrow.  Truth is we don’t know if we will live to see tomorrow.  Heart attacks and car accidents and disasters and even violence are rampant and common to the point any could take our lives without notice at any time and nearly any place.  We see so many friends and relatives that have their lives stuffed out without warning, but we still don’t face the reality we could be next and are no more immortal than they.  So preparing for eternity and using our time wisely is vital whether we don’t live past today or live another 40-50 years.  Either way, if we use our time wisely and faithful to His will and calling, we will have great joy and no regrets when we see Christ and our loved ones in heaven.  Conversely, time we waste in disobedience of Christ’s will results in regret and if unrepented at cost of eternity in heaven with Him.                                                                                                                                                                                   So revelation of Christ’s return and prophecies of latter days and perilous times they will be is intended to motivate us to prepare and live faithful to what He calls us to do and to be.  IF we do that, the impact we will have on others and the impact Christ will have on us will bring great positive life change.  The discipline of keeping this journey has helped greatly to stop procrastination and neglect in devotions for me.  It has also plant seeds of scripture in my mind and heart each day that speak to me and guide me to be and stay true all day long.  I still have a long way to go but real progress came with honoring and keeping that discipline. Daily prayer and prayer throughout the day also has been more consistent as a result.  I have also noticed and taken advantages of more opportunities to witness and give words of encouragement God gives opportunities that in past I missed because of being unprepared or unnoticed due to other distractions.  By doing so, I was able also to share this journal, and other writings that came from these journals, with others.  I had no idea what God had in mind, but these have become a resource to encourage and minister to many all around the world in past few months and has opened wide a door of ministry I never would have dreamed of a year ago.  I wouldn’t trade this opportunity for anything.  However, it does require considerable time each day but has also become a source of strength and joy for me that alone would be well worth effort.  But response from those blessed by it has been a great blessing and joy receiving as well.   Yet above all to Christ’s honor and praise and worship and gratitude.  However, I believe and realize the timing of keeping and sharing these journals may indeed be God’s timing to draw as many to Christ as possible before He returns.   When I started writing this journal in 2013, God revealed to me that many will be blessed and ministered to by it and even more will come to Christ as a result after He returns than before.  That motivated me even more to continue but also made me realize my written words will indeed live beyond me and can impact others long after I am gone to heaven.  As you read this and if blessed, I invite and encourage you to share with others as God leads and opportunity presents itself.  You can also reach my devotional blog, which has these devotional journals along with other postings at https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com or visit my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Don1951.  If you visit my blog, if you scroll down the many posts on home page of blog, you can click on and read each, but also you will find an older blog post is a link to my archives of older posts and journals dating back to January 2013.  They all may be used and shared as a resource in ministry and outreach, so encourage you to do so as wish.                                                                                                                                                           2/21/17                              Everyone Has a Plan                                       21             
Jeremiah 29:1-11  “ Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;² (After that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;)³ By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying,⁴ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;⁵ Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;⁶ Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.⁷ And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.⁸ For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.⁹ For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord.¹⁰ For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”COMMENTS:  Jeremiah had been faithful to His calling and warned the people and their king of coming judgment but his warnings went unheeded.  But when Babylon invaded and killed many and started dragging most off to Babylon as captives and slaves, they started to listen to Jeremiah.  Many had heeded his warnings and repented but most did not.  Jeremiah didn’t say “I told  you so” but gave them realistic encouragement but also an accurate description of what God now wanted them to do. They would have to be in exile for 70 years but would be treated well and allow to marry and have families and build  houses in Babylon if they remained true to God and listen to what Jeremiah was telling them and not to false prophets and the Babylon captors either telling them false prophecies or persuading them to follow Babylon’s false gods.                                                                                                               God’s judgment was both harsh and merciful.  They, like the Israelites coming out of captivity with Moses, because of their sin would be provided for but would not be allowed to enter the “promised land”.  It would be their children who would.  Daniel was one of those, even though young, carried off in captivity.  Daniel was and remained faithful all his live but did suffer this time as a consequence of sins of his people.  Sometimes we too are called to suffer consequences not of our doing but due to sins of others.  Yet you and I have plenty of sins we are guilty of and worthy of God’s judgement and death.   But God is merciful and even though He may allow us to suffer along with others, He also is merciful giving hope and a bright future to energize and sustain us.  Someone wisely said “Sometimes our plans don’t work out because God has better ones.”  As I reflect, I see proof of that in scripture as well as in history but also in my own life and in the lives of my forefathers and many others in my family.  God is loving and faithful.   He proves that to us daily.  We just need to notice and believe it.  If we do, we will also need to remember and do as those who were faithful, like Daniel and Jeremiah, being ready to share the reason for the hope we have to sustains and energizes us.  When we do, others will believe and follow Him too.  That is our calling and our mission – our work no matter where we are.  AMEN!                                                                                                                              2/22/17                              Reasons for Cheer                                       22   
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33                            SCRIPTURE:  II CORINTHIANS 2:14- 17  “¹⁴ Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.¹⁵ For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:¹⁶ To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?¹⁷ For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.”  COMMENTS: Today I would like to share and ask you to join me praying for a hardship facing those in Kenya.  They are experiencing a severe drought that is affecting everyone living there.  I am especially concerned because two of the many pastors I converse with regularly who use my blog materials to minister and evangelize in their community and beyone even into neighboring Uganda, are suffering hardship, not able to grow gardens and must travel in order to acquire water.  The drought will continue to get worse until rain comes, so God’s mercies with needed rain is the focus of our prayers.                                                                                                       Armies train for battle with “boot camp” and regular disciplined training to strengthen and equip soldiers for battle. The same is necessary if we are to be ready to battle against satan’s army. Our boot camp needs to be in prayer and worship and praise.  Our strength is not in our physical strength nor in great knowledge nor in acquiring resources, but in our ability to hear and obey God’s voice.  There is no short cut to becoming skillful in hearing and obeying God’s voice.  Knowing His voice and discerning His voice from our own or satan’s temptations comes with frequent fellowship and devotion with Christ.  We know Christ’s voice and His Character and Will because we know Him. He will strengthen us and go to battle with us, but not uninvited.  We fight successfully with our hand in His.  We battle successfully when in constant communication with Him.  We are defeated when we fail to put or keep our hand in His and become distracted from fellowship and communion with Him.    Well our brothers and sisters in countries enduring great persecution and now droughts in countries as Kenya struggle staying in communion with Christ as do we, but the stakes may be greater for them if they fail to do so. The stakes are life and death.                                                                                                                                                                            Our prayers for them does make a difference both in focus God may speak to in ways we can help and in ways He will use knowledge of our prayers to encourage them.  Their prayers for us also strengthen and encourage us in our battles with satan’s lies and distractions – battles against us.  To be on God’s side is to be in battle with satan.  To be on satan’s side is to be in battle with God.  No middle ground, so who’s side would you rather be on.  THE WINNING SIDE AND ON THE SIDE OF ONE WHO IS ON OUR SIDE – OUR CREATOR AND SAVIOR – THE ONE WHO LOVES US LIKE NONE OTHER! I pray the drought in Kenya will be over before you all read this, but the consequences of extended drought will likely continue for a long time, so encourage yo to keep people there in your thoughts and prayers.  If continue to view my facebook page, updates may be available there.  We also need to pray God will use this hardship to draw many to repentence and into relationship with Him but also to encourage and equip those who will lead them.  I also encourage you to access and use other resouces and posts from my blog site to encourage and strengthen you : https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com

2/23/17                                               Knockout                                        23  
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.   Ecclesiastes 4:9-10                                                         SCRIPTURE:  PHILIPPIANS 1:3-11  “³ I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. ⁸ God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God        COMMENTS:  When an athlete falls or has trouble, others watch but are not permitted to help.  A boxer falls, others are not permitted to help him help until match is over.  I have watched similar matches when a fellow racer stopped to help other up and went on.  That may be permitted but at great disadvantage to helping runner. God is calling us to be helpmates but also to open ourselves for God to go with and help us through our day and race of life.  Family is a God designed support system that is such a powerfully effective support system if as God intended. But the family is under attack to become something God never intended it to be as a center of abuse and distorted in other ways resulting from acceptance of sinful behavior in the name of accepting others.

God gave us commandmants to protect us from the damage and dangers of sin, not to deprive us.   Satan would have us think to talk about the dangers of sin or to warn sinners of those dangers is being intolerant of those who practice sin.  He would have us silent or accept those sins as normal and good.  But it is no different than warning someone on a dark road of a bridge that is out or cliff they are racing towards.  To give warning is not intolerance but expressing caring love.  Those who warn us are not expressing hatred or intolerance towards us but concerned in order to help us avoid consequences.   God is trying to convince us to go a better path by turning from sin and towards Him.  He paid a great price in order to provide a way of forgiveness and redemption that enables us to turn from sin and towards freedom to live a life of fulfillment and joy and relationship with our Creator and Savior.                 Do we believe a lie from the most famous liar, satan, or do we believe the truth from the One who has always keeps His promises and has the power and authority to keep them?  “¹⁵ And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15. You and I need to seek God’s council and help so we will show compassion and be true to God’s call to share His good news in a atmosphere of intolerance towards Christians who call sin – sin instead of calling behavior good that God calls sin.   The example we need to follow is how Christ treated sinners during His time on earth.  His love and compassion was great but never approved the sins they committed.    He gave them a better way to live.   He gave them hope, not approval for sinful behavior.  He gave them life, not approval to continue the path of death.  But the truth is you and I still fall short of Christ’s example, so we are simply sinners helping sinners, not good people judging behavior of bad people.            

2/24/17                       A Caring Community                                         24    
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment. Philippians 1:9                                                                                                                                   SCRIPTURE:  PSALM 133:1-3  “ Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!² It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;³ As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.”                                                   COMMENTS: The New Testament uses the image of body (1 Corinthians 12:27) and family (Romans 8:12-17) to describe the close-knit relationships Christians should have with one another. This is better illustrated in the life of the first church in Jerusalem (Acts 2:42-47). So great was their care for each other that “there [wasn’t] anyone among them who lacked;” for they were “of one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32-35). God created the family to give each of us a safe haven where we can go to refresh and for safety and security we each need.  Family gives us strength and sense of worth and most of all a place to love and be loved.   God also provides a way of being in relationship with Him and with each other as believers so we are also a part of Christ’s family too.  But since we live in a broken world,  families are too commonly a place of pain and danger instead of a safe haven.  A consequence of broken families is all around us resulting in crime and filled jails and juvenile courts and homes.   When we choose to go against God’s Will and plan and disobey His commandments, we may think we are in control and enjoying freedom doing what we want, but we do not have control of the consequences that will not only affect us but also our families and friends and co-workers and beyond.  If you came from a family with godly parents and influence of other faithful Christians and involved in a Christ centered church, than you know and agree with this conclusion.  But if you did not, you may be in denial of benefits of a Christ centered family but you likely do know and personally have suffered from the consequences of a family without Christ.  Granted, there are good people and good family that have chosen wisely and benefited but still have not benefited as much as they could have with Christ.                                                                    But even more than benefits of family in our lifetime is the benefit God gives of eternal life in a home with Him and His family.  We can’t comprehend the benefits but from description in scripture, the eternal benefits of heaven vs judgment in hell are beyond our comprehension.  But on earth when we share prosperity and strengthen and help each other during crisis and difficult times, we all benefit and are blessed.  We are blessed by giving and are blessed by receiving.  Christ demonstrated this during His time on earth being a part of an earthly family and adopting others to be part of His heavenly family.    
2/25/17                       Embrace Your Trials                                       25

Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
Hebrews 5:8                                                                                                                                              SCRIPTURE: HEBREWS 12:1-11 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.³ For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.⁴ Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.⁵ And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:⁶ For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.⁷ If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?⁸ But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.⁹ Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?¹⁰ For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.¹¹ Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”                      COMMENTS:  When we are young, we think our education will finish at graduation and can’t understand elderly people saying they learn something new each day.  We also can’t comprehend how suffering and hardship and tragedy can bring good or what good can be learned from such experiences.  But as we gain experience and years, we discover we do learn new things from others and from daily experiences but mostly from Christ.  We also discover God does use bad things to bring good and growth in faith (Romans 8:28-30).                                                                    No one likes trials but how we deal with them and where we gain strength to deal with trials is vital.  God’s word offers help as well as example of how those before us were helped.  We also are told the eternal benefits and impact on others when we accept God’s help. I think about Joseph sold as a slave by his brothers and aenduring prison unjustly but using that time to pray and fellowship and be strengthen by his God.  I think about Daniel being taken captive by a cruel invading force never to see his family alive again.  But he too remained faithful during trials all his live with hope and promise of God’s faithfulness and promise all would be well one day and in eternity.                                                                                                                                                                          We have that same promise and confident hope if we, like Daniel and Joseph, are and remain faithful too.  Their examples are intended to guide and encourage us during life’s good as well as hard times.  Unfortunately, most choose to follow their own foolish emotions and ideas instead of waiting for and following God’s Will.  Those who follow God’s will enjoy God’s blessing but those who don’t endure consequences and regrets.  God is merciful and does give us forgiveness as we seek that, but not as good as following God’s way from the beginning.  Well, we all follow a wrong path now and again, but the more we follow His Way, the better our lives will be and the better our family’s lives will be.                                                                                                                                        Just look around and see the consequences of following a path God calls sinful or a way ahead of God’s Will and timing.  I know your will find a lot fewer examples of those who followed God’s path, but I encourage you to look for those examples and notice the difference.  That is why we should use our wills to wait for and choose God’s path instead of what we want or are inclined to choose.

 

 

 

 

 

2/26/17           The Multifaceted Spirit                                        26
John 14:15-17  “¹⁵ If ye love me, keep my commandments.¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;¹⁷ Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you”.                         COMMENTS: How were Christians in the first century able to endure unbelievable suffering and death, even seeing their loved ones suffer and die while remaining faithful to Christ?  How were martyrs in generations before and since able to do so?  How was Daniel and his 3 friends able to remain faithful to God in the midst of certain death?  How was Jim Elliot and his missionary partners able to face death remaining faithful to their call to share Christ?  How are countless Christians able to remain faithful in countries like China, North Korea, Sudan, various Muslim dominant countries, and even in their own families who have disowned them for their faith?  It is because of the confident hope Christ gives us with His promises in scripture but even more the personal hope and joy and confidence the Holy Spirit gives us in our own souls.  The personal relationship we have with God by His indwelling Holy Spirit makes our relationship with God real and personal and powerful.  That indwelling empowers us and enables us to be and remain faithful to Him.  The promise of heaven and eternity with Him and our loved ones is also enabling too. Christ has given us so much and forgiven us so much, how could we bear to deny Him.  But we do during times of weakness and neglect of our relationship with Him.  Yet even then He is willing and waitng to forgive when we return to Him, just like the prodigal.  We to get distracted and wonder from Him like David did.  David was at risk of God’s judgment for his sins, but God was quick to forgive when he repented.  If David had refused, he would have face judgment like King Saul did.  But because he repented, his future become much better and so was the future of his decendents.  God choice to continue with his blood line even to point of coming as a human sacrifice for our sins.  By adopting us into His family, we too are part of that blood line with privilege of being a child of God.  Christ has given up so much for us and we have done nothing to deserve such blessing and such a gift.  HE KNEW HE WOULD FACE THE CROSS BEFORE HE CREATED THE UNIVERSE, THE WORLD AND EVERTHING IN IT.  HE KNEW BY CREATING MAN, HE WOULD HAVE TO REDEEM HIM ON A CROSS OF SUFFERING AND DEATH.  BUT HE STILL CREATED.!  THAT IS HOW MUCH HE LOVED US AND STILL LOVES US!  AMEN AND AMEN!  Knowing that, how can we not be willing to both receive that blessing of forgiveness and redemption?  How can we not be faithful to Him and spend time with Him each day.  When we feel unloved or lonely, look up.  He is there with His arms stretched out to receive us.  It isn’t that He isn’t there.  We are looking away from Him when He seems unreal or so far away.  Yes, sometimes we feel alone when we suffer.  But we are not alone.  We just need to turn around and reach out to Him.  He is there whether we see or feel His presence or not.                                                                                                        

2/27/17                                 True Religion                                        27  
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1:27            SCRIPTURE:  I PETER 2:11-12  “¹¹ Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;¹² Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”                                                                                                                                    COMMENTS:  Israel’s history recorded in Old Testament history is a repeated cycle of following Christ and legacy of ancestors who followed God to turning from God and following pagan influences both around them and rebellious ancestors.  Tim Tebow is a former NFL quarterback who publically honored God both on the field and off.  His legacy is missionary parents who served in the Philippines.  Tim took time to return to the orphanage his father started in the Philippines.  That was a goal and a commitment he chose to honor.  Tim has been criticized by the media for his faith and public acknowledgment but his good deeds and character can’t be ignored or disputed.  “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:12, NIV).                                                                                                                                                                      Learning our family history, both good and bad, helps spur us to avoid the consequences and regrets our ancestors suffered from foolish choices while embracing the good choices they or others made and resulting blessings.  Arlene and I have been living in the same home for past 34 years that my parents lived in for previous 44 years but also the same home my mother’s grandparents lived in for previous 49 years.  The rich and large record of pictures and old devotional books and worn bibles adds to word of mouth community reports of character and commitment to Christ that is the legacy of my family on both my father’s and mother’s side. That legacy and tangible evidence I now have motivated me to strive to be more like them as well as the perfect example Christ gives us.   I recently did a blog post based on the words of a Charles Wesley hymn engraved onto a gravestone of in our local cemetery.  That young man died at age 22 but his legacy lives on with those word engraved on that stone in 1851. The impact on those who knew him and on those who read them in the 160+ years since is eternal .  Those words are based on Psalm 51:10 and are “ 

Verse 1; “ O for a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free, a heart that always feels thy blood so freely shed for me.”  Here are the 4 verses that follow in that hymn.  I pray they minister to and bless you as much as they have me.  By allowing God to use them to draw you closer to Him, the blessing also goes back to Philip Monjar, the young man who passed so young but now with His Lord in heaven.

Verse 2: “ A heart resigned, submissive, meek, my great Redeemer’s throne, where only Christ is heard to speak, where Jesus reigns alone.”

Verse 3: “A humble, lowly, contrite heart, believing, true, and clean, which neither life nor death can part from Christ dwells within.”

Verse 4: “A heart in every thought renewed and full of love divine, perfect and right and pure and good, a copy, Lord, of thine.”

Verse 5: “Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart; come quickly from above; write thy new name upon my heart, thy new, best name of Love.”

 

 2/28/17                                 The Name of Christ                                   28  
1 Peter 4:12-19   “¹² Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:¹³ But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.¹⁴ If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.¹⁵ But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.¹⁶ Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.¹⁷ For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?¹⁸ And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?¹⁹ Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”                                                                                                                                                    COMMENTS:   Bill & Gloria Gather wrote a popular Christian Chorus “Jesus, there is something about that Name”.  There are some names that carry a reputation that goes with the name.  Nero in Roman times or Adolf Hitler in more recent times.  Yet just as Nero’s name has been forgotten, children today are forgetting the history of terror Adolf Hitler reigned on those he conquered, especially those of Jewish ancestory.  But when the name Jesus is spoken, there is either is seldom indifference.  Either a reaction of joy and worship or a reaction of anger to the one who spoke His name.   Seldom is their indifference except may in some churches where God’s spirit no longer resides.  Why is the name of Jesus bring such a strong reaction, especially since He lived so long ago, even a generation before Nero?   Could it be because of who He claimed to be and who He is?  Could it be because He not only called us all sinners but provided the way of forgiveness through His shed blood on the cross for those who confess He is Lord and truly repent of their sins?   To acknowledge Christ as God removed recognition of any other.  To recognize Christ as God demands that we admit we are sinners in need of a savior and unable to earn or work or achieve approval of God ourselves or by any other means. To admit Christ is God is to be confronted with need to submit our wills and goals and lives to Him.

If Christ is the only way of forgiveness and a eternal relationship with God the Father, than why would anyone refuse or deny Him?   That is where satan’s deceptions are involved.  Because God requires each of us to choose and will allow us to make foolish or wrong decisions, He also allows us to face the consequences of poor choices.   His love for each of us is so great that He paid a price beyone comprehension and beyond what any of us could or would pay.  His Law requires punishment of death for brealing His Law, so He took that punishment Himself.  Satan could not have anticipated or stopped completion of that plan of redemption for us.  What satan can do is deceive us into thinking we can be saved by other means like good works or  hurting or killing those who don’t think or do as we do.  Saul did just that until Christ confronted Him on the Damascus Road and changed Him permanently so much so his name changed from Saul to Paul.                                                                                                                                                                          Today completes February’s devotional journal.  Tomorrow not only brings March but, since is Ash Wednesdsay, begins Lent in preparation for Easater.  Do use this next  40 days to prepare for His Easter.  Let this Easter but a time of seeking a deeper walk with Christ and greater surrender to His Will.  I will covenant to do so as well.  We all need to go deeper with Him no matter how long or how faithful we are.  We still fall short of His perfect example but can go deeper if we choose to.  Let’s choose wisely this year.  Let’s choose to follow Jesus, the Name above all names!