7/1/17                                 Kingdom Come                                                  1 
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10

SCRIPTURE:  JOHN 15:7   “⁷ If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

COMMENTS:  Our actions and words indicate what and who is important to us but also what we are working to achieve.  Goals we work the hardest for and spend the most time thinking about and talking about are what are most important to us.  For some it is professional success.  For others it is gaining wealth or power or prestige or fame.  For others it is getting married and having a family.  For others, it is owning a nice house and car and maybe accumulating other things.  Being able to travel is also a popular goal.

Well, Jesus’ life reflected none of that.  His focus and goal was the cross.  That was His mission and His work and purpose.  What He taught and His actions reflected choosing and preparing His disciples for the work of spreading His Gospel not just to the Jewish people but to everyone – even their Roman captors.  The love Christ showed and sacrifice He made reflected a passion for us beyond human ability or comprehension.  When He said His Kingdom was at hand but not of this world, He was speaking about heaven and the redemption His Cross would buy for countless millions to live eternally in heaven.   But His Kingdom would be in heaven but one day would also be on earth.  That day was not to be yet and is still not fulfilled yet.   But it will one day and that day is 2000 years closer now than then.  He made His mission and goals clear even though His disciples could not comprehend what He said.  Matthew 3:2 “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” and 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Even the Lord’s Prayer reflected Christ’s mission, how He lived and taught us how to love.  He showed us how to have a personal relationship with the Father and how to pray and what to pray.  He showed us by word and example.   That is why it is so important we glean His words from scripture and seek His council.  The Lord’s Prayer reveals truth that God’s Will is always done in heaven but has not been fully done on earth because of satan’s influence and deceptions but someday it will be done on earth as is being done in heaven.  What a wonderful day that will be when Christ returns to rule and God’s Will will only be done on earth.  Satan’s influence and sin will be no more.  Can you imagine a world without sin?  Well, too many would not look forward to that, but I pray you would as do I.  Someday it will!!
Before we can pray, “Lord, Thy kingdom come,” we must be willing to pray, “My kingdom go.”  Alan Redpath                                                                                          7/2/17                                 Kingdoms in Conflict                                           2
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20

SCRIPTURE:  EPHESIANS 2:19  “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;.”                COMMENTS:  Have you realized the kingdom Christ paid dearly to have and the kingdom that is most precious to Him is not the land comprised in the world or it’s beauty. What in the world that is precious to Him is you and me and the rest of humanity.  When we accept Christ, we become part of His Kingdom (John 3:3).  Our citizenship is transferred to heaven but more importantly to God’s Kingdom which not only will include heaven but earth when He returns to redeem and cleans it and reign on earth too. Not until that happens will our citizenship include earth too.  Colossians 1:13  “ Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:”                

Our citizenship is in heaven when we accept Christ’s gift of forgiveness and salvation, but the battle over our hearts is not over.  Satan doesn’t take defeat easily and will bombard us with temptation of doubts and old nature and habits and pressure from old friends and even family to discourage or distract us from our relationship with Christ.  God knows that and has given us His Holy Spirit to abide in us and guide us.  But even after we accept Christ, we still have to make choices and some will be wise but some will be foolish and will bring consequences.  God’s Grace and mercy are sufficient to forgive all sin but we still must choose daily and even hourly to follow His council and Will and not allow satan’s traps and deceptions distract us from Him.  Satan knows we are easy prey when we distance ourselves from God.  God knows that too and has done all He can short of forcing Himself on us to convince us to stay close to Him.                                                             

Being on our guard is a lifelong task.  Satan  has had thousands of years to polish his skills of deception with no regard for your or my welfare.  We are no match for Him, but when we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us and seek His help and council, then God will release His full power against satan’s schemes and we are able to resist satan with the full authority and power God has given us through His Holy Spirit abiding in you and me.   Satan’s passion is to destroy you and me because he knows that is the only way he can hurt God, who he bitterly hates.                                                 

Knowing this should make follow Christ a lot easier and does get easier in many ways as we walk with Christ over the years but we must keep our guard up and be accountable to other faithful Christians as well as to Him so satan will not make inroads into our minds or hearts.  There are way too many doors to our hearts and minds to guard for us to try to guard them all alone.  We need God’s resources and abilities to do the guarding for us.  He is up to the task 24×7.  He doesn’t rest…
“If this world is tugging at your heart, pray Jesus’ prayer—for God’s kingdom to rule in your heart.  The Bible … is the Statute-Book of God’s Kingdom.”  Ezekiel Hopkins  

7/3/17                                 Daily Bread                                                            3
Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11

SCRIPTURE:  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 to day 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”  COMMENTS:   Jesus told us to focus on laying up treasures in heaven instead of earth (Matthew 6:19-21).  He also said not to worry about the future (Matthew 6:26).  I Chronicles 29:14 is also one of many verses in the old testament reminding us everything we have comes from God.  Like it or not, everything we have including life is due to His provision.  We make choices and do work that helps us gain possessions and helps extend our life but truth is without God’s  help our best efforts would be in vain.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t make a difference. It just means wise choices and work begin with praise and worship and appreciation to God for all He has done and continues to do.  That foundation then enables us to build on that solid foundation with listened to and following God’s council.  Prayer and scripture and council from wise Christian friends all build on that solid foundation but allowing God’s Holy Spirit in our hearts.
“Power to live a new life depends upon daily communion with the living Lord.”
John Eadie Hopkins                                                                                                                  Such communion is not only possible but available to every Christian who has received Christ’s forgiveness and seeks the Holy Spirit in his life to council and strengthen him.  The bible and other Christians help us discern Godly council from satan’s deceptions.  Well, the Christian’s walk with Christ is not easy nor problem free.  Walking with Christ does not exempt us from temptations and needing to choose daily if we are going to follow Christ or not.   Having the Holy Spirit guiding us helps immensely but doesn’t not exempt us from powerful temptations and satan’s deceptive work trying to pull us from Christ and make us look away from Him.  When we do that, we expose ourselves to dangers and pain.  But Christ is there not to scold us but to reach out offering to pick us up.   He even then does not give help until we are ready to receive that help.   Even then He does not force Himself on us or give unwelcomed help.  Let’s admit it.  Sometimes we just don’t want His help or feel we need it because of sin still in our lives. The battle over sin is a lifetime struggle but one God wants to fight with us, not just for us because He knows the battle makes us stronger when we let Him fight with us.  When we fight alone and yield to temptation, we become weaker instead, but God is always there ready to forgive.         

7/4/17                                 Don’t Worry                                                            4
Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Matthew 6:25

SCRIPTURE:  I SAMUEL 12:24  “²⁴ Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.”

COMMENTS: God has a very effective but difficult way of making our faith in Him stronger.  He does so by using what small faith we have and putting us at risk of dangers and satan’s efforts.  But He gives us many tools to help.  He gives us scripture with detailed examples of those before us who trusted God and proved His faithfulness.  We have examples in the lives of those we know as well as examples in our own lives.  He gives us those memories to encourage us to trust Him for greater things.  He gives us His abiding Holy Spirit to encourage and guide us and enhance our prayers to the Father.  The Holy Spirit also enables us to have a daily personal relationship with the Father that makes Him real to us.  We need frequent reminders that everything we see and feel and experience on earth does impact our relationship with Christ but will not last.  Both the pleasant experiences and painful and dreadful experiences are short lived.  What will last into eternity will be that relationship we embrace with God and relationships we develop with others who will follow us to heaven.  The things we acquire and enjoy will not last.

Today is July 4^th, the day we celebrate Independence Day in the United States. The Legacy our forefathers left for us when they established the country and government we enjoy in the United States is one guided by and revering God’s commands and influence in those who designed our government and sacrificed to implement it. Those who fought wars and enemies who threatened our government and way of life.  But the impact God had on those who did so and continue to do so is both significant and powerful.  But the choice of obedience necessary to sustain His protective hand is ours daily.  To do so is life giving and to not is disastrous.  Take time today to reflect on God’s faithfulness and provision and abiding presence and influence as you enjoy this day and all the blessings God has blessed you with and continues to.  He has designed us to enjoy and sustain our life by communing with Him.  He loves and enjoys our company enough to sacrifice greatly in order to provide that option for us.  But the choice to do so is still ours, as painful choosing poorly is for us but also for Him. “Worry over poverty is as fatal to spiritual fruitfulness as is gloating over wealth.” A. W. Pink                                                      7/5/17              The Cop Who Forgave His Killer                                           5
…forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.  Ephesians 4:32

SCRIPTURE:  HEBREWS 12:12-15 “¹² Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;¹³ And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.¹⁴ Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:¹⁵ Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”  COMMENTS:  Recently a NYPD detective, Steve McDonald, was paralyzed from the neck down from a deliberate gunshot from a  young teen point blank.  Steve experienced fear and depression and anger before embracing and praying the same prayer Francis of Assisi made famous “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.  Where there is hatred, let me show love; where there is injury, pardon.”   After praying that prayer, Steve’s heart softened and he forgave the teen that shot him and became an advocate for forgiveness.  When he died at age 59, his family circled his body and prayed the Lord’s Prayer.

Christ emphasized the importance to forgive both by His example, with the Lord’s Prayer He taught us, and by the sacrifice He made on the cross where He died for our sins and at the hand of sinful men who He prayed to the Father to forgive.  Forgiveness undeserved but available to any and all who will simply accept His forgiveness.   The Lord’s Prayer shows us God limits He forgiveness to us by our willingness to forgive those who sin against us.  His compares the magnitude of sin He forgives us to vs. the magnitude of sin we should forgive others of s comparing a huge debt of billions of dollars to a debt of a small almost negligible amount.  Well, when others mistreat or sin against us, we don’t think it negligible.   We too easily desire to make offenders suffer as much as they inflicted suffering on us.  We want justice.  But we too easily forget the level of hurt and grief we inflict on God when we sin.  We hurt Him each time we sin.  We sadden Him when we neglect our relationship and time of devotion with Him.  We fail to realize justice is not good for us.  We need mercy instead of justice.  Mercy is what we are called to show others so God will be free to fully show us His mercy too.

Christ shows us Love while satan shows us hate.   Christ shows us Mercy while satan shows us vengeance (he inspires offenders to hurt and victims to take vengeance on those offenders).  Christ shows us forgiveness while satan shows us vengeance and bitterness.  Christ shows us how to forget and satan keeps us from forgetting.  Christ puts us on a path to eternal life while satan keeps pulling down onto the path to death.  Christ shows us where His path leads and where satan’s path leads while satan wants us to only see today and forget about tomorrow.  

Choice should be a no brainer but satan still finds ways to sneak into our minds and hearts.  God can and will help us defeat satan each day if we open ourselves and seek His help. But we must seek His help in order to receive His help.  That needs to be a daily discipline if we hope to defeat satan daily.  Well, when we slip and fail, God is always there to pick us up and give us another fresh start.  But again, we must ask before He will respond.  He does not do so uninvited.  Let the words of today’s scripture and the words of Francis of Assisi give you strength and direction and inspiration as well.  They are doing so in my soul as I write and stop and reflect.  AMEN!
“O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.” Francis of Assisi                7/6/17              Getting Rid of That Bitter Taste                                           6
for I see that you are poisoned by bitterness.   Acts 8:23

SCRIPTURE:  EPHESIANS 4:25-32  “²⁵ Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.²⁶ Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:²⁷ Neither give place to the devil.²⁸ Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.²⁹ Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.³⁰ And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.³¹ Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:³² And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

COMMENTS: News today is almost exclusively dominated only by murders, corruption, wars, and crimes of all kinds.   Acts of kindness and integrity just don’t seem news worthy to news stations and newspaper organizations.  But what is news worthy to God, which is what should be news worthy to us?  When we don’t hear about the good things happening in our churches or communities or in the world, we are tempted to wonder if all is evil in the world.  During the time of Noah, scripture tells us the thoughts and deeds of all humanity were constantly evil.  One Noah and his family were the exception.

Evil is rampant in the world today, no denying it.  But the more we dominate on the evil, the more it drowns out the good God wants to put on our hearts to do and demonstrate in and dominate in the news   Evil wants us to believe what little we can do will make little difference.  Evil want us to believe it is more powerful than good.  Evil hides truth from us.                                                                                                     But you and I have a choice we make every day.  Will be accept the evil we see in the news and sit back and let that evil happen or do something about it.  Well, what can we do?   You and I can begin by making a difference in our own families and churches and neighborhood.  We can make a difference by greater discipline to prayer for those doing evil locally as well as in the world. We also need to seek out opportunities God will give us to make a difference.

Scripture does tell that in the latter days evil will be more dominating and usher in Christ’s return.  We do have the confident hope that evil has a finite life and either by our death or Christ’s return we will be freed from the evil from the evil in this world.  Could you imagine living in a world without evil?  Someday Christ will return do establish a reign on earth with evil removed.  It will be a new earth.    Bottom line is God is still in control and the more we depend on Him and fellowship with Him, the more usable we will be to Him in accomplish His Will and the more fulfilled and happier and joyful we will be.  The more like Christ we will be and the better witness we will be in our families and communities and beyond.  Love alone makes heavy burdens light … love makes bitter things tasteful and sweet.  Thomas a Kempis       

 7/7/17                                       Express Help                                           7
…the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations.
2 Peter 2:9

SCRIPTURE:  DANIEL 1:1-8  “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.² And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.³ And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes;⁴ Children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.⁵ And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.⁶ Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:⁷ Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.⁸ But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”  COMMENTS:  Have you ever experienced temptation so strong you saw no way to resist.  Have you ever found temptation to be so appealing you lost the will to resist?  Daniel and his 3 friends faced life threatening temptations at the heels of being forced away from family and friends and temple family into a society ruled by the worst tyrant of that day, Nebuchadnezzar.  To stand against Nebuchadnezzar always resulted in instant death.  He would not tolerate rebellion and had full authority to kill anyone he wanted without trial or reason.  Daniel’s temptations started with refusal to eat food unclean to his people. His friends would face the fiery furnace for refusing to worship the king’s image.  Daniel would later face a den full of hunger lions for praying to God.  Are your temptations any stronger than that?  I think not.                                                        

 So when you or I think we are facing temptations too strong to resist, we need to do what Daniel and his 3 friends did.  Pray seeking God’s help and strength. II TIMOTHY 2:22 “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”  Daniel and his 3 friends looked to God for help.  They refused to face temptation alone.  They ran from the temptation to God.  Well, maybe not physically but in their minds and thoughts.  God does not expect or want us to face temptation alone.  He knows we are weak and will fail.  That is why He tells us to run from temptation.  But don’t just run in any direction.  Run to Him.  The indwelling Holy Spirit is also available to abide in us and help us and guide us and alert us to danger before we are overwhelmed with temptations deceptions and appeal and power.  There is no temptation we can resist alone and no temptation we cannot defeat when we have our hand in His.  AMEN!!
“Temptation provokes me to look upward to God.”   John Bunyan

7/8/17                                       Express Help                                           8              
And do not lead us into temptation.  Matthew 6:13a                                                           SCRIPTURE:  I CORINTHIANS 10:13  “ There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”  COMMENTS: There are some important facts about temptation we need reminded of often:  1. God allows us to be tempted within limits but does not tempt us (James 1:13).   2.  With every temptation God always provides a way of escape with His help always available (I Cor. 10:13).  3.  God does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear. (I Cor. 10:13).  4. Temptation makes us weaker and more vulnerable to future temptations when we yield to temptation but when we resist and defeat temptation, we will be stronger and better equipped to resist future temptations.                                                                                               

 God has promised to never leave us and is ready to come to our aid as soon as we seek His help.  We must want His help before He will give it.  HE does not force His way or come to us uninvited.  Sure, He will do all He can to persuade us and encourage us to seek Him and invite Him into our daily lives.  It is so much better for us when we do and consequences are so bad when we don’t.  But most do no and even Christians miss doing that all too often.  Regrets do not come from allowing God into our daily lives and seeking His help, but regrets happen every time we don’t.   That is because satan is a selfish self-indulging enemy seeking and using every opportunity to harm or kill us with motive of hurting God.  You see, satan knows the only way to get to God and hurt Him is to hurt those He loves, which is you and me. By isolating us from God, we are vulnerable to satan’s attacks and easily victim to His evil schemes.  “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”  (I Peter 5:8). “Each temptation leaves us better or worse; neutrality is impossible.”                   Erwin W. Lutzer                                                                                                                       

Our busy days probably are not dominated with thinking about temptations, but are typically dominated by working through schedules and accomplishing planned tasks and obligations.  Meeting and interacting with others are also scheduled, but interruptions from those we cross paths with who are not on our schedules can easily be judged an interruption and not an opportunity God gives us.  Being too busy hinders being open to and taking advantage of those opportunities.  Yet temptations include not only sins of commission (sins we do) but also sins of omissions (sin from not doing the good God calls us to do).  The closer and more continuous we are in relationship with God, the better prepared we are to respond when those opportunities come from Him. Likewise, the closer we are to Him, the better prepared we are and the more in line with His Will our daily priorities are, so we will be more able to fit those opportunities into our schedules.  Granted, when employed, our employer has control over our schedule and time while on his clock.  But God has a wonderful way of making us the best employee we can be and giving our employer the best return on his salary to us while also being the best servant to Him and doing the work He calls us to do even on the employer’s clock.

 

7/9/17                                       Your Deliverer                                           9                 
But deliver us from the evil one.  Matthew 6:13b

SCRIPTURE:  II THESSALONIANS 3:3  “³ But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.”  COMMENTS:  Even in the Old Testament times God’s people had confidence in knowing God’s protection was on them when they were faithful to God’s covenant and did not worship the false gods of their neighbors.  They had a weakness to follow false gods and did so time after time resulting in consequences from losing God’s protection and even facing God’s  judgment at times when their sin was at its worse.  Scripture confirms God was faithful and patient and would delay judgment as long as He could.  Psalm 22:4 “Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You delivered them”  II Samuel 22:2 “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer”.   Such confident hope and promise we have from history – scripture, but also from our past experience and experiences of our family and other senior church and neighbor Christian friends who have been faithful to God especially through trials and disaster and loss.

You and I are not promises freedom from trials but we are promised we need not go through those times alone nor without help.  He will help us but we must let Him.  When He seems so far away, is it because we have walked away from Him or turned our back to Him so we no longer see or feel His presence in our lives.  We may do that deliberately at times so we can follow our own way, but I dare say most of the time it is because we get easily distracted by life obligations and demands and forget Him.  OUT OF SIGHT – OUT OF MIND is a common human fraility.  It applies to our relationships with each other but also with our relationship with Him.  Knowing that gives us an opportunity to implement means to alert us when that starts to happen.  Post it notes at key locations can help but just working harder to be in an attitude of prayer longer each day and throughout  our day is vital too.             “There is no devil in the first two chapters of the Bible and no devil in the last two chapters. Thank God for a Book that disposes of the devil!”  Vance Havner   

I like Vance’s observation.  Evil was not in the world, and satan was not free to tempt the world, in the first 2 chapters of Genesis and will not be the case either when Christ comes back and establishes His kingdom on earth  foretold in last 2 chapters of Revelation.  That convinces me God is in control and has His plan in place and is successfully working to complete that plan.  No surprises for Him and no doubts for us that He will successfully complete that plan.  Guaranteed!!  He is not only faithful but fully able to complete His will.  No power can stop Him!!

What a wonderful hope you and I have.  The old time movies we watched in our youth always had a happy ending.  Now happy endings in movies are rare.  But God gives us a real story with a happy ending that can be our story if we let Him..AMEN!!                

7/10/17                                       Deliverance                                           10                 
“You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.”     Psalm 32:7

SCRIPTURE:  II CORINTHIANS  1:8-11  “⁸ For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:⁹ But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:¹⁰ Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;¹¹ Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.”  COMMENTS: Scripture is not bashful in revealing times of discouragement and despair and even times of disobedience and sin by those who have been faithful and in fellowship with God.  Scripture not only reveals their failures but also God’s opportunities for forgiveness and redemption.  God always provides a way they could choose to receive God’s redemption and forgiveness.  A way to restore broken relationships with God and regain God’s protection and salvation.   Scripture shows benefits to those who accepted God’s offer and consequences to those who refused.  You may say God wasn’t fair to force consequences on those He gave freedom to choose.  But He always gave warnings and many opportunities before consequences would come.  But don’t forget God is our creator, which gives Him every right to do what He wants.  We are His creator.  We did not evolve or come into existence on our own. When we purchase and item we have the right to use it or put it on a shelf or give it away or even destroy it.  We have that right because we own it.  If we built it with materials we own, we have an even greater right to use it how we intended or to destroy it and/or remake it into something else.  Why would God not have that same right?  BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS GOD ONLY INTENDS GOOD FOR US BECAUSE HE LOVES US. Yet He will not allow us to go on in a self-destructive path which is also destructive to others.  Yes, He may allow us to go that path for a time but there will be a point when He will say ENOUGH!                                                                                          

Suffering and hardship often comes because of our own sins or poor choices but often suffering comes not from our own sins but because of the sins and poor choices of others that spilled over into our lives.   The persecution and suffering of the early church Christians was due to the continued sins of those in authority who hated the Gospel and all it meant and did all they could to stop it and stop those who preached it.  Despair and hopelessness would overwhelm those Christians at times but then they would be reminded of what Christ did for them and the promises He gave them.  They would be filled with hope and courage and fresh insight because of the indwelling Holy Spirit that came after Christ returned to heaven.  Christ keep His promises to them and the Holy Spirit took over and met the need in each believer that Christ could not restricted in the human flesh He dwelled in while on earth.  That hope and indwelling Holy Spirit the early church Christians enjoyed is available to you and me and will transform  us too if we seek and let Him into our souls too.  That transformation will empower us to share His Good News and live a more Christ like life and make a life changing impact on those who know us too.  When things seem hopeless, it is them He comes and gives hope and certainty.  He will not forget or abandon us even though it may seem He is very late.  AMEN!
“Ask God to save, protect, deliver, and rescue you and yours from the evil that envelops our world and from the evil one himself. The Lord specializes in deliverance. How quickly we forget God’s great deliverances in our lives. “David Wilkerson 

7/11/17                                       This Rings True                                           1                 
Let everything that has breathes praises the Lord. Psalm 150:6

SCRIPTURE:  PSALM 150 “Praise you 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 timbre 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:  Have you ever experienced God’s miracles?  I have many times.  The miracle of way and time Arlene and I met was such a time.  Our daughter being spared at age 5 when her bike went off the edge of the bike trail and stopped upright against a tree 10 feet from edge when there was no other obstacles to stop her fall for next 100 ft. drop to rocky creek edge below.  She accepted Christ a couple of months later at a revival service at our church. I have had many close calls while driving or riding in my car.  Some would have been my fault but many were not.  I read an example of a Georgia man who bought an engagement ring for his girlfriend and hid it in a kitchen drawer.  His mother was cleaning out drawer and accidently threw it in the garbage.  A garbage crew was sorting garbage later and discovered ring and returned it to that young man.  What rejoicing and bright outcome.  God had a hand in that happening too.                                                                 Some may call such experiences as mine or this one or yours as coincidence or luck or good people doing the right thing.  Well, I think it much better to judge such as miracles and praise God for His loving mercies and help.  I believe He helps us in many ways we do not recognize or realize.  One day when we get to heaven we will discover just how involved He was in our lives and how often He intervened.  I also believe we need to stop and notice times He does so and take the time to stop and focus on praise and worship in gratitude.  Doing so uplifts His spirit but also uplifts ours too.  Showing Him our love and gratitude strengthens our faith and opens us for fellowship with Him and better equips us for day’s challenges and temptations and problems.  It also equips us for ministry He will let cross our paths during day. Those He wants us to say an encouraging word to or lend a helping hand to.  I believe He allows our busy lives to be interrupted with ministry opportunities and will enable us to complete needed tasks during our day if we are faithful to take advantage of those opportunities and interruptions God puts on our path.  I have been blessed by such opportunities but have regretted some I walked past thinking I was too busy to do.    I encourage you to take some time to reflect and meditate and consider all God has done for you and give Him thanks and worship.  He deserves your time and worship today and is waiting and looking forward to that time with you. “Let everything that has breathed praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 150:6) “I would rather worship God than do any other thing I know of in this entire wide world.”  A. W. Tozer                                                                                                          

 7/12/17                              A Battering Ram for Prayer                             12                 

I know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, one who relents from doing harm. Jonah 4:2

SCRIPTURE:  EPHESIANS3:14-21  “ For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,¹⁵ Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,¹⁶ That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;¹⁷ That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,¹⁸ May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;¹⁹ And to know the love of Christ, which passed knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.²⁰ Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,²¹ Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

COMMENTS:   Jonah is the oldest book in the Bible.  The Books of the Bible are not written in chronological order but, of course, the Old Testament books are older than the New Testament books and letters.  Yet Jonah reveals a truth of God’s prevailing Will and abiding presence and provision/protection in the lives of His people and even seeks and offers that provision to those who don’t know or even want to know Him.  But Jonah also reveals the distance and measures God will do in order to reach even those whose hearts are ready to accept Him.  Even the Ninevites, an evil and brutal people, had God’s mercies and forgiveness available to them. Jonah’s family was impacted by Ninevah’s brutality so he was not willing to offer them God’s salvation, but God wanted them to hear and chose Jonah to give them that message. He had a choice but a choice with either blessing or consequences.  He had to be persuaded.  Do we too? Has God persuaded you?                                                                                              

God knows all and is God in all times and places.  That means God is also in control and is not surprised nor caught unprepared.  That is such good news for you and me.  It means we can trust Him for our lives, the lives of our families and friends.  He knows our and their futures and choices too.  Yes, He allows us to make both wise and foolish and sinful choices but is always there ready to help and forgive and heal.  I think Corrie ten Boom’s words below teach volumes about prayer and about God.  Prayer is our spare tire but we miss so much if prayer is not our steering wheel.  We don’t know our future nor choices we will make and path those choices place us on, but God knows and is already working and preparing  He options to us from those choices. Such knowledge is powerful and wonderful.  We serve an awesomely wonderful God!!
”Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”    Corrie ten Boom                   

7/13/17                                            Lest We Forget                                          13                
This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD. Psalm 102:18

SCRIPTURE:  II PETER 1:12-15  “¹² Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.¹³ Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;¹⁴ Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.¹⁵ Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.”                         COMMENTS:  We humans have common frailties and weaknesses.  One of them is being easily distracted and then forgetting.   Our relationship with God is victim to the is frailty.  We start out faithful to reading scripture and praying each morning – spending time fellowshipping with Christ, things are good.  But then a morning we run late and say to ourselves, I’ll do my devotions tonight.  By evening we forgot and don’t do it.  Next morning it is harder to take time for devotions and after another day or two we are out of the habit and it is far easier to miss our time with God.  After a few days we may not even miss that time and in time won’t even feel guilty about it.                                                                                                                          Keeping a daily devotional journal has been a discipline which has helped me greatly both in keeping my morning time with Christ and keeping my mind focused on Him during day.  Journaling has also opened doors of outreach and ministry I did not consider or think possible.  It has also opened doors of giving too.  Consider Jack London’s suggestion below and consider journaling as a way of helping us faithful in devotions each day.  There is time to do it.  We simply need to take that time before something else less important fills in the time. 

If this journal is a blessing to you and is a tool that helps you with  your devotions, I am grateful and give God praise for doing that.  But if you are willing to give journaling a try, you may want to delete my comments and add your own each day, and by doing so, make the journal I keep your own.  Another option is to keep my comments and then add your own.   If you do so,  I would be grateful if you would send it to me.  If you are willing to share it, you might just discover a whole new opportunity for ministry God is opening up to you.  That is what happened to me.  Our daughter’s Christmas of a devotional journal she wanted me to do and return to her as a legacy to share with her family became a journal I email each month to over 70 and share on a blog that reaches many hundreds in many countries all over the world and even now are being published in a Christian magazine in Nepal.    God is good and faithful and responds when we   are faithful to Him even in the smallest ways.                                                                                            
“Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain. Cheap paper is less perishable than gray matter, and lead pencil markings endure longer than memory.” Jack London                   

7/14/17                                        How to Pray                                          14                
Matthew 6:5-9a “⁵ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.⁶ But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.⁷ But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.⁸ Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.⁹ After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.”  COMMENTS:  Christianity is unique in it is not a religion but a relationship with the Creator.  That relationship is what Christ showed and taught to his disciples and all who knew Him while on earth.    Man could not have created a religion of a God as wonderful and powerful and loving as our God.  The reason is our God is real and He not only created us but created that relationship and need for a relationship with us.  We could not have created a god capable of having a personal one with one relationship with each one of us all at the same time.  Gods we created are limited by our comprehension and thinking and abilities.  God is not limited by such and Christianity is the relationship with Him created by Him for us.  Likewise the promise of heaven for those who accepted Christ’s redemption is more wonderful than what anyone can comprehend or have invented.  Only God could do that and is beyond anything man could have imagined or conceived of.                                                                           

Likewise, the concept of praying is vital to be in relationship with God but who could  have imagined such a method of communicating with God and who could have imagined He is able to listen to and respond to our prayers at the same time without being overwhelmed.  We get overwhelmed at what we need to talk to Him about.                                                                                                                                  

Well, the truth is Christianity is exclusive in being the only way to God and Jesus is the only way to a relationship with God.  Christianity is a relationship with God through the sacrifice and forgiveness available from Christ to you and me and all who will simply accept it.  Forgiveness is not something earned but a gift accepted.  Works we do are not to earn a path to heaven or reward, as a motivation, but a response out of love to God who gave us such a precious gift of forgiveness and a personal relationship with Him.  We serve because we want to and not because we  have it.                                                                                                                                    

John Newton was an example to us.  He was guilty of s terrible sinful life including slave trading, but was completely transformed when He met Christ and accepted His forgiveness.   He became a pastor and an advocate to free slaves and worked closely with William Wilberforce to accomplish that goal.  He gave up wealth and a miserable life that would likely end early for a life of poverty and long life of joy and  happiness that being a blessing to others instead of misery for others.  A trade that has eternal benefits instead of eternal consequences.   Eternity is an awful long time to pay for a brief time of pleasure.  But satan even cheats that because those promises of pleasure do not compare with joy God provides to those who follow Him. “The spirit of prayer is the fruit and token of the Spirit of adoption.”              John Newton                                                                                                               

 7/15/17                             Drawn by Kindness                                          15                
In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.                     John 14:2-3

SCRIPTURE: I JOHN 4:7-21  “

COMMENTS: Today’s scripture is a wonderfully powerful description of God’s love and impact it has made on generation after generation and impact it makes on everyone of us who simply hears and believe it’s truth.  Scripture has a wonderful way of using simply words and short messages and stories to convey powerful truths and give a powerful understandable message fresh and new each time we read and meditate on them.   Since our Bible is a living document, it conveys God’s words to us to all mankind but also unique words God intends to help and guide each of us individually and applicable to current situations and threats and challenges and problems we are facing today.  How can that be and how does that work.  Well, as we meditate on God’s Word, we open our hearts to let God’s spirit give us insights and understanding anew for the words written in His Holy Bible.  Countless examples of that are shown throughout scripture.  But what draws us closer to Him, as we discover it, is the incredible love and capacity to forgive and care for His children and creation.  Sure, He allowed consequences to fall on those who turned from and sinned against Him, but not without many warnings first.  Then He would be eager to forgive and restore when they would finally repent and turn back to Him.  Christ’s life and mission and ultimate sacrifice shouts God’s love to us and helps us understand God better as well.  Christ told us to know Him is to know the Father.  He also shows us by His example how He wants us to live and conduct ourselves with others.  Showing kindness and compassion and acts of kindness towards others, especially those who are weak and suffering hardship and poverty, is the example Christ demonstrated and the example He calls us to follow.  Trusting God to provide for us and guide us and forgive us each day requires faith but being in relationship with Him and spending time each day meditating on His Word, in prayer with Him both at set times of full focus, and continual attitude and openness in prayer through each day, is how we show our love and faith and trust in Him but also how we grow in our relationship with Him.  God’s mercies are renewed to us each day, but in order to see them and respond to them properly, we need to be in close and steady communion with Him.  That takes work and takes will over emotion and feelings to sustain.  Let’s face it, we tend to make habits doing what we want to and forget and neglect doing what we don’t want to.  Sure most of our day is likely consumed doing things others want of us – family, boss, volunteer commitments and organizations we are involved in.  Even church obligations can become a burden demanding more time and drawing us away from things God wants us to focus on.  Well, there are times we need to focus on specific tasks with high priority, but we waste time on less important tasks and doing things we want to that detract us from God’s priorities.   Letting go of less important things that consume our time and focusing on seeking and finding out what is most important to God is so important if we are going to grow and be transformed to be more like Him as we continue to grow in years too.                                                                                                                                                              
“Leave it all in the Hands that were wounded for you.”Elisabeth Elliott  

 7/16/17                             Wherever Jesus Is                                          16                
From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17

SCRIPTURE:  COLOSSIANS 1:13-14  “¹³ Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:¹⁴ In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

COMMENTS: To live and work and worship in the United States is truly a privilege and blessing that is easily taken for granted but commonly the envy and goal of most living outside the United States.  We enjoy and take for granted freedoms and prosperity that most in the world only dream of and have little hope of               possessing.  Yet infinitely greater blessing is available to us with our citizenship God offers us in heaven as His adopted children.  To be adopted, we simple need to believe and accept Christ’s sacrifice to redeem us from the consequences of our sins but even more redeem us from the sinning.  Such freedom and blessing opens us to not only God’s blessings and the confidence of knowing where we will spend eternity but enjoy the experience of a personal relationship with God the Father and God the Son with the help of God the Holy Spirit abiding in us and guiding and giving us insights so we can communicate effectively with God as well as seeing ourselves and each other as He does.  Loving others like God loves them and us is a lifelong goal that will bless and fulfill us.  Our eternal citizenship and home is not in this world nor in the country of our birth or place currently living in.  Our eternal citizenship and home we are designed for is heaven.  But that home and family God prepares us to be part of can only be ours if we accept it and follow Him.  Heaven begins when we know God  by believing in Christ and open ourselves to know and spend time with Him (John 17:3)   We also have His promise to return and set up His kingdom on earth someday soon as well (Revelation 5:6-14). 
“Communion with God is the beginning of heaven.” William Bates     

7/17/17                             Heavenly Destination                                          17                
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. John 10:28

SCRIPTURE:  ROMANS 8:15-17  “¹⁵ For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.¹⁶ The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:¹⁷ And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”                                                                   COMMENTS:  A Sunday School teacher asked her class of children how many wanted to go to heaven.  They all raised their hands but one boy.  She asked him why he didn’t raise his hand.  He said, “because I thought you were wanting to take a load right now.” Like most of us, he wanted to go to heaven, but just not “right now”.  Well, Christ does want us to be confident and look forward to our heavenly home.  He told us much about it so we could.  But our task right now is living as He has designed and called us to while here on earth.  We may look forward to heaven, especially as we advance in age, but none of us look forward to dying, which all have faced with the only exception being Enoch and Elijah.  Some faced long painful deaths while others died in their sleep.  Some suffered greater before they died while others died suddenly.

Truth is fear of dying is natural as is facing any unexplored unknown.  But even though death has been unexplored by us, we have the full confidence of Christ and scripture to assure us we need not fear death because Christ has gone ahead and both paid our passage and will provide escort for us to go to and enter and reside eternally in heaven.  Christ said he was going to prepare a place for us and come back to take us to live with him.

Today is the 3^rd full day of Pleasantville Family Camp.  It is the Free Methodist  Family Retreat camp, which includes a week long family retreat of bible preaching – bible teaching and devotion and Christian fellowship.  Our daughter and son in law joined us Saturday afternoon through much of Sunday but two of our grandchildren, Lily and Hunter, are staying with us and enjoying camp all week.  Many friends are made and much grow in our walk with Christ is experienced each year.  This has been an annual pilgrimage for us our entire married life and for Arlene’s parents and grandparents for many years before us.  A wonderful family tradition which honors the faithful Christian legacy of those before us and a legacy we pray our children and grandchildren will carry on after us. We will not take earthly goods with us to heaven, but we will take those who we led to Christ and whose lives we influenced for good.  That means we have work to do awhile longer.
“He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave.” Matthew Henry   

7/18/17                                          A New Look                                           18                   

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
1 John 3:2

SCRIPTURE:  ROMANS 8:28-29  “²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.²⁹ For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”                                                             COMMENTS: The longer we live and discover more about God, the more we will realize just how He does provide for us and understands us.  It is also hard for us to understand what it meant and what sacrifice it was for Christ to come and live in human form and live and die on the cross.  It is also beyond us to understand what it means for Him to be the sacrifice for our sins past – present – future and the cost for this precious gift for Him and cost He continues to pay.  I Corinthians 15:50-54 reveals to us that we will be like Christ in character and purity with a transformed body when we die if we have accepted His redemptive sacrifice as payment for our sins too.  As with any gift, it is not given until it is accepted and received.  Romans    8:29 also reveals that we will be conformed to His image too.  That doesn’t mean we will look like Him but we will be like Him in character and purity.  Our bodies will be transformed and remade.  But we will recognize each other and remember each other too.  We will be able to be with our loved ones.    We must not take such a precious gift for granted nor take lightly what Christ is giving us nor the destination of the path we were on before accepting His gift.                                                    

That realization needs to energize us each day to be faithful to our relationship with Him and give Him the love and time and worship and praise and obedience He deserves.  He is so faithful to us and His love does not fade.  He doesn’t take us for granted.

This week at Pleasantville Family Camp focus is on the transforming power of the Holy Spirit available to us when we let Him dwell inside us and guide us.   The Holy Spirit  enables a one and one relationship with God any time and place but also enables us to live the life God desires and has designed us to live, but also enables us to have victory over sin and satan’s tricks and deceptions. We have so much more to discover about what God is like and has done for us but also to discover how much more He still wants to give us if we are open to seek and receive.                 “Grant me on earth what seems Thee best, till death and heaven reveal the rest. “   Isaac Watts

7/19/17                          Cleared for Takeoff!                                        19                    1 Corinthians 15:50-58  “⁵⁰ Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.⁵¹ Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,⁵² In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.⁵³ For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.⁵⁴ So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.⁵⁵ O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

 

COMMENTS:  When we are young we live as though we will live forever and thoughts of dying are the far from our minds.  We think it is an eternity til we graduate from school or to retirement.  But as we get older, we discover just how brief life is and how quickly the years past. But the promise we have from Christ is He is even now preparing a home for us to dwell with Him in heaven forever. We cannot comprehend eternity, but I have an even harder time comprehending God  dwelling in eternity past even before He began creation.  What was it like for Him to live and be before He began creation?                                                                                     Well, these questions are not worthy of spending too much time pondering simply because we don’t know nor could comprehend that answer if God did give us on this side of the grave.  Well, you and I did have a defined beginning but will live somewhere forever.  In heaven if we accepted Christ’s gift of salvation and in hell under God’s judgment if we do not.   Some have said they want to go to hell because that is where their friends and relatives are.  But we will not be able to enjoy the companionship of our friend and relatives there as we will in heaven.  God warns us that the torment and suffering there will be far worse than we can comprehend and will be endured for eternity.                                                                                                      

Is that punishment unfair or too harsh?  Should judgment for sin have a defined punishment time like sentences in jail given by judges in our court system?  Why will God’s judgment be for eternity?  Again these are questions we are not privileged to know the answers too, but must leave it to accept God has the right to exercise judgement as He sees fit.  But we also know He is giving us every opportunity to avoid that judgment through the sacrifice Christ made nearly 2000 years ago on a Roman Cross.  A cross designed to kill and bring terror with its sight.  But the cross instead has become a symbol of life and forgiveness and hope.  A symbol that brings joy and praise and worship of Him instead of terror.

“Our resurrection bodies will never wear out or grow old. Your new body will be designed for eternity. It will not be subject to accident, disease, aging, or death. It will never wear out and never die; it will outlive the stars.”  David Jeremiah 

7/20/17                                        Made New                                        20     
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.    1 Thessalonians 4:16

SCRIPTURE:  REVELATION 21:4-5  “⁴ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.⁵ And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”

COMMENTS:  The oldest person to live is recorded in Genesis 5:27. He was Methuselah who lived 969 years and died not long before the flood of Noah’s time.  In recent recorded history the oldest person, Jeanne Calment lived 122 years.  She passed in August 1997.  There are also two recorded in scripture who did not experience death.  Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (II Kings 2:11) were taken by God to heaven before dying.  Can you imagine living to see nearly 1000 years of history.  To see and talk to 20 generations ahead and to do so with many generations before you.  To share life experiences and learn from experiences of those before you.   We are able to do so with our parents and grandparents and possibly our great grandparents.  Likewise, we may do so with our children and grandchildren and maybe our greatgrandchildren, but death separates us before going further.       I  know, when we are young listening to our grandparent’s stories can seem more like a boring history class than an exciting story, but later those stories are precious to us and far more enjoyable to remember and tell.   I live in the same house I grew up in and the house my parents lived in and took care of my mother’s grandmother in.  The house my great grandparents lived in and raised my grandmother.  That realization and pictures of those before me in and around that house a century ago are precious and allow their stories, but even more, their faith and love for Christ, to live and continue to minister to me in a real and powerful way.  As I get older and realize I have fewer years to live than have already lived, I appreciate those stories of old more and the importance of sharing our stories with our children and grandchildren but, even more, share our faith and love for Christ as well.  I don’t know if family will inherit and live in our home, but looking like will likely be our granddaughter if any do.  But it will be infinitely more important that our children and grandchildren will follow us to heaven and share living there with us and our ancestors but even more, with Christ.  What a time that will be that will last eternity. But in order to experience that, we must also die as did those before us.                                   

But some will be alive when Christ returns to rapture the church so will also escape death.  The rest of us will die before Christ’s return.  Scripture (I Thess. 4) tells us Christ will raise the dead first and then gather those alive when He returns.  But no matter, if all who have accepted Christ’s gift of forgiveness will get a new immortal body and an eternal home with Him far more wonderful than we can imagine and without sickness and death and evil rampant in today’s world.  I am so looking forward to that.  How about you?  “I don’t so much pray that my death will be without pain, but that it will be without doubt.”  John Piper  

7/21/17                           Choose Your Reward                                        21     
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven.
Luke 6:23a

SCRIPTURE:  MATTHEW 6:1-6,16-18  “ Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.² Therefore when thou does thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.³ But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:⁴ That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.⁵ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.⁶ But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. ¹⁶ Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.¹⁷ But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;¹⁸ That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”  COMMENTS:  Mark 12:41-44 shows us how God judges and rewards our actions.  The widow gave to the temple all she had, but was only a coin of negligible value.  The rich man gave a huge amount but, because of his great wealth, was no little sacrifice to him.  God judged the widow’s gift of far more value to Him and would bring a far greater reward to her than his.  Likewise, the rich man gave his gift so all would see while the widow gave in private.  Jesus shared this story and stated the man’s only reward would be the praise of men while the widow’s reward, though lacking men’s praise, would receive much from God.  God judges our actions by their impact on others and good that comes from them.  Sacrificing as a response of our face draws us closer to God and enables Him to multiply the impact in blessing back to us but also on others.  Stop and reflect how the sacrifice of others has impacted you.  But God responds in His time and His ways, which are not likely how we want or expect, but always in better ways with greater impact than we had hoped or dreamed of.  As we age, we grow in experience and examples of this but still struggle to trust God completely when each new opportunity and challenge and crisis comes over the horizon or crashes down on us.    Each looks new and different from last and satan uses his tactics of doubt and fear again to tempt us to doubt God.  Well, we get to choose but God decides when and how to response as well as the reward.  We can choose our reward but choosing whether to trust God or not.   Allow ourselves to be vulnerable and exposed when God calls us to give up our agenda for His or give extra time or money to ministry or fellowship with Him or others instead of doing tasks that seem pressing.  No matter where or how God asks us to sacrifice for Him, the benefits will far outweigh any risk or loss such sacrifice would bring.  They will be only temporary but rewards from Him are permanent.   They are eternal because He is eternal, as is the home He is preparing for us too. “Those who give to God only the shadow of duty can never expect from Him a real reward. “  John Flavel          

7/22/17                           More Than Participants                                        22     
But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14:10                                SCRIPTURE:  I CORINTHIANS 3:11-15  “¹¹ For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.¹² Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;¹³ Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.¹⁴ If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.¹⁵ If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”  COMMENTS: It is far easier to see the faults of others while ignoring our own faults.  Ours seem acceptable while theirs are far worse in our eyes.  Maybe one of the reasons is their faults are not ours so we cannot understand why they don’t conquer or fix them.  Yet we need to realize they may judge our faults the same way because ours are not theirs.  Well, God has every right to judge theirs as well as ours because they are equally sinful in His eyes.  But instead Christ went to the cross to pay the price for everyone’s sins.  That price was paid but only can cover the cost for our sins if we recognize our own sinfulness and confess our sins and ask His forgiveness.  Christ told us that He is the only way to the Father but also that He and the Father are identical in thoughts and character and personality and purpose and Will.  He even said by seeing and knowing Christ, we also see and know the Father.  That is part of the mystery of the Trinity.  The Father and Son and Holy Spirit all are God and identical and united in all ways but still separate in how they reveal themselves to us and fellowship with us.  The Holy Spirit is with and councils and helps us constantly from within and without.  Christ prays to the Father for us and presents His own blood to the Father as our sacrifice for sin.  The Father provides forgiveness and reward.  Yet even such an explanation falls short of explaining the Trinity because He is far above and beyond our comprehension.  We are limited by explanation given in scripture.  Yet it must suffice to simply say God is a Trinity of Three in One and we worship one God who has revealed and loves us as one God. When we pray we pray to God, one God.  When we address the Holy Spirit or Christ, we are addressing one God.  God knows we don’t comprehend Him and still loves and fully listens and responds to our prayers and receives our praise and worship if given sincerely out of our love for Him.  When we show compassion and forgiveness towards each other, we reflect the character Christ exampled for us and the Holy Spirit guides us to do.  When Christ returned to heaven, the Holy Spirit came to provide that personal close fellowship the disciples enjoyed with Christ to each of them then and to each of us now without the limits of time and space Christ limited Himself to while in human form here on earth.  That means you and I can enjoy personal fellowship with God just like the disciples did even though we can’t touch Him or see Him.  But we can still hear Him speak to us in our souls and feel His guiding Hand in ours and sense His loving presence and have confidence He hears us when we pray to Him.  One day we will see Him and understand the Trinity.  When that day comes, we will be in awe of Him and it will all make sense and be clear to us.  In the meantime, it will need to be enough to simply seek Him and obey Him.  That is what faith is and does.              “Hell is the highest reward that the devil can offer you for being a servant of his.”
Billy Sunday                                                                                                                

 7/23/17                                                      Believable!                                    23     
Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  Revelation 21:2

SCRIPTURE:  II CORINTHIANS 5:6-7  “⁶ Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:⁷ (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)”   COMMENTS:  There are many examples of seeing things we can’t believe, like a magician’s tricks.  Yet those tricks are examples of our eyes not seeing everything that is occurring.  But we tend to not believe “unbelievable” stories until we see with our own eyes or hear from credible witnesses.  We do need to be careful so as not to be deceived, but there is one we can and should always believe.  But our scripture today from II Corinthians 5 gives us God’s command and instruction to walk by faith in Him and not by sight.  Even our eyes will deceive us like a magician’s tricks.

Well, satan is the master of deception, but like a skilled magician can trick us into believing what God says isn’t so or do thinks God says are sinful.  Satan is skillful at making us think God is not telling us everything and shouldn’t be trusted.  Satan is skillful at persuading us to believe what he says and those who follow his evil path.  But that path leads to death and eternal judgment.  A path that not only ultimately leads to eternal pain and suffering and misery beyond our comprehension but a path that will cause us to miss out on blessing and joy and beauty and fellowship (with God and with family and friends) beyond our comprehension.  God gives us a glimpse of heaven as well as of the New Jerusalem He is building / preparing for us.  A city 1500 miles high, 1500 miles wide, and 1500 miles long coming down from the sky is something difficult to imagine.  But God assures us it will happen just as He says.                                                                                                                               

Quite a contrast.  Faith is believe what God tells us even when we see no evidence it will happen.  Satan also wants us to have faith, but faith in his deceptions and words and magician’s tricks.  The big difference is satan’s history is lies and not keeping his promises and bringing suffering and death to his followers.  God’s history is the opposite.  He always keeps His promises and bringing life and healing to those who follow Him.  God is motivated by a love for us beyond and deeper than the love of a spouse or of a parent.  In contrast satan hates us and God so much that he will do or say anything to hurt and destroy.  Try as he has, he simply can’t reach God or hurt Him.  But if he hurts or causes God’s most treasured creation, humans, to sin then he hurts God by hurting humans He dearly loves.                                                                 

What satan hasn’t figured out or believed yet is that God always wins and will stop him.  You would think examples of Job would cause satan to give up.  But he only seems to want to try harder when God does intervene, by coming back in a different way and time.  But don’t be discouraged, God always win and us to if follow Him.
“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”  Augustine  

7/24/17                What Difference Does Heaven Make?                     24     
Colossians 3:1-4  “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.² Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.³ For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.⁴ When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”    COMMENTS:  The assurance of heaven makes all the difference especially as we approach life’s end.  Stop and reflect on the last days of some you were close to that had that assurance as compared with those who didn’t.  Reflect on how they lived those last days.  I especially recall the last days of my sister and mother and two aunts.  My dad had that assurance too, but was not conscious.  The tremendous joy and anticipation they reflected was hampered by a weakening body but none the less was so evident in what they knew and saw.  Heaven and Christ’s presence was so evident to them.  Remembering those times does not sadden me but reinforces my assurance of heaven too, especially as I age and am becoming more aware of my own mortality.  I find myself viewing remaining days as more precious and reflecting on best ways of spending those days.  With family and church and writing this journal and associated blog continue to be what God is showing and guiding me in continuing.

I encourage you to reflect on your past experiences and spend some time in prayer and meditation seeking God’s council on how He would have you spend your remaining days and years.  God promised to redeem the fruit that could have been from wasted years of the past, but future days and years we still can shape differently if we walk in obedience and spend vital time with Him in prayer and devotion to His word and meditation on it daily.  It is not too late no matter how many years we wasted away from Him.  We are having a wonderful family camp this year at Pleasantville, Pa.  Rev. Leecroft Clarke is having a powerful sermon series on the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and Rev. Brett Heinzman is having a powerful teaching series on Jericho – letting God tear down the walls of bitterness and bondage created by past sins and abuse done by us and done to us.  Brett shared his personal journey and how God both redeemed the lost years but redeemed present and future years away from the lies and guilt and misery satan had kept on him years after those who abused him were gone.  Redemption is God’s specialty and what He paid dearly to be able to do and what He loves to do as much as He loves to create.  This week has spurred me to seek a closer walk with Him and a deeper surrender to Him too. There is more work He wants to do in my life too, but I encourage you to see a deeper walk with Him too.  We miss so much when we miss or cut short our time each day with Him. Heaven isn’t the only blessing He is working on for us.   God is a relational God who wants a two way close loving relationship with you and me.  He also wants to help us build relationships with each other too.  I believe that is why partnering with Him in His work is so important to Him and to us too.  He could do it all Himself, but leaves a small portion for us to do too. Don’t complain when He asked work from us.  Keep in mind He is doing the hardest part.  AMEN!  “Heavenly-mindedness is sanity. It is the best regimen for keeping our hearts whole, our minds clear…”Mark Buchanan   7/25/17                                          Now as Then                                        25     
And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, “Amen! Alleluia!” Revelation 19:4

SCRIPTURE:  ISAIAH 6:1-4  In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.² Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.³ And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.⁴ And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.”  COMMENTS: N.T. Wright, theologian, said “You must live in the present as far as possible like you will live in the future.”  In order to be moving towards being the person God wants us to be and we admit we want to be too, we need to start acting that way now.  That doesn’t mean we won’t have relapses or fall short of that goal even daily.  What it does mean is acting more like that each day than the day before.  It means working at it.   Since we will be Christ like in our thoughts and behavior and conduct in heaven, working towards being that way now is logical. 

Worship and being in fellowship with Christ is key and must be a daily and as close to continual as we can.  My brother-in-law shared with his godly mother an experience of deep intimate worship of God at a retreat.  His mother, even in her 90’s, still demonstrates jubilant joy and love and excitement that is contagious to all who are around her.  She is nearly blind but is not dampened in her expression of love and worship for Christ.  When Sam shared his experience with his mother, her response was “that is how I live”.  Can you imagine living in such a close relationship with Christ that where you go that it is as though He is right next to us with His hand is ours throughout our day.  That is how Sam’s mother lives and should be the goal – the way we strive to live too.

Our confident hope and promise God gives us is we have an eternal home in heaven more wonderful than we can imagine and He even now is preparing it for us.  If we know Christ and have received His forgiving grace, we have that confident hope and promise from Him.  We do need to live that way and let the joy that hope brings shine out in our lives.  That would be the most powerful way of witness and encouragement for others we could give.  And if Bobbie Shreffler can do that, so can we.  All we need to do is start living that way and spend more and more time with Him in prayer and devotion and talk to Him regularly throughout our day as we go and do about as though He is right next to us.  By doing that He will become more real to us and we will be more open for His Holy Spirit to impact and change us.  Let’s face it, if we really believed Christ was right next to us, would it impact what we say and do and where we go?  I dare say yes.  Well, He really is so why not start acting and talking as though He is.  Being on our best behavior when those we respect are with us may be a bit phony but we need to start somewhere but our best behavior will become more common and part of our nature as we do it more and seek His help doing so.  He is next to us eager to help.  AMEN?  AMEN!

7/26/17                                       Daily Doxology                                        26     
For He is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Philippians 2:13

SCRIPTURE:  ROMANS 11:33-36  “³³ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and^[a] knowledge of God!  How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
³⁴ “Who has known the mind of the Lord?  Or who has been his counselor?”^{[b]  35} “Who has ever given to God,  that God should repay them?”^{[c]  36} For from him and through him and for him are all things.  To him be the glory forever! Amen.”  COMMENTS: Have you even been told to be careful praying for patience because trials are God’s way of building patience in us.  Well, wisdom is built by trials too.  However God uses His Word and past experiences of those before us to all build patience and wisdom in us.  He doesn’t enjoy nor prefer to use trails to build character in us and develop Christ-like behavior in us.  But, unfortunately, all too often we are not open until going through trial and hardship.  It should be more important to us to become more Christ-like and to be more obedient to God’s Will.

Well, not every hardship has a purpose of bringing wisdom and patience into our lives, but God does use unintended situations for our good.  Satan brings evil on us to harm us but God changes those situations to bring us good if we remain faithful to Him.  Paul’s instructions to the Thessalonians, and to us, is to express gratitude to God in all things (both pleasant and unpleasant, both enjoyable and painful, both helpful and harmful), I Thessalonians 5:18.  We aren’t told we must enjoy pain and misery, but we are to be grateful that God is still in control and trust He will complete His work to make even evil put on us by others an instrument of good for us.  No, we will never enjoy or look forward to persecution and hardships, but we can embrace them in faith knowing God is in control and is looking out for us.  We can also do so knowing hardships are temporary.  They will not last since we are not home  yet.  Our eternal home in heaven with Christ is our destination and the home we are planning on and looking forward too.  As we look at the conduct and perspective and conduct of early Christians, we see horrible persecution and suffering they were targeted with and endured.  Yet, they did so and even sang and praised God in the midst of such suffering.  To endure seeing our family suffering and dying at the hands of evil people would be unimaginable, but they did so too.  How could they endure seeing their families suffer knowing if they would only deny Christ, they would be spared.  But they knew to deny Christ was to rob their families and themselves of an eternity in heaven together.  Would you or I have the courage to endure such persecution or, even more, endure seeing our loved ones suffer for their faith?  I pray so but also pray I won’t have occasion to learn the answer first hand to that question.  Well, we are promised to not endure any more than we can handle (I Corinthians 10:13).  He will provide a way of escape when temptation is becoming too great.  But our problem is we miss seeking his help first and stop looking for a way of escape.  Well, escape from persecution and suffering is one thing, but escape from temptations that we actually enjoy is something else.  We need to be as passionate about escaping all temptations as we are escaping painful situations.  Sin brings hardship and consequences.  The sins of others often bring those consequences on others, victims.  Our sins also often bring consequences on others as well as ourselves.  Either way, Christ has given us His Holy Spirit to guide and council and help and encourage so we will find a way of escape as well as a way to endure and remain faithful and escape sin.  Satan will do all he can to prevent that from happening, but God will provide a way of escape if we are willing to look to Him and take the door of escape when He offers it.
“The best rubrics of worship are those which are written on broken hearts.”
Charles H. Spurgeon                                                                                                            

7/27/17                         Three Floors of Heaven                                        27     
Ecclesiastes 3:9-13  “⁹ What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?¹⁰ I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.¹¹ He hath made everything beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.¹² I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.¹³ And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.”  COMMENTS:   Satan would have filled with jealousy or envy toward those of great wealth possessing beautiful homes and cars and other possessions.  Satan would have envious of those who have great popularity or beauty or youthful skills and energy and abilities or powerfully successful jobs or abilities.  Satan would have filled with envy for those who enjoy health and longevity.  Satan would even have us envious to those who have the devotion of children and friends.

But what does God have for us?  He has lavished us all with the beauty of His creation without cost or price or charge.  The majesty of His creation is free for all to enjoy and is by far more beautiful than the most beautiful of mansions or cars or things.  I love going to and enjoying visitor’s parks and especially national parks.  We’ve visited outstanding parks like Yellowstone and Grand Canyon and Yosemite.  Visiting the grand canyon and seeing the great Redwood trees of California are so inspiring.  Trees living thousands of years old, seeing God’s handiwork is so awe inspiring and makes God seem so much closer and more real and personal.  Yet the magnificence of His creation is all around us no matter where we live.  If you live in a city, the beauty of man’s handiwork may be mostly what you see, but consider the beauty of God’s creation visible to you – the sun and sky and any living thing including people.  Consider the diversity of every human being and face every human looks different so we can distinguish each.  

Scripture tells us God is preparing a home for us in heaven, a place of greater beauty and peace than any have experienced on earth.  God’s love for us is overwhelming and eternal. We all have an inheritance of great wealth that is eternal and not just for a lifetime.  But we must accept our inheritance by accepting the redemptive gift of forgiveness Christ died on the cross to purchase for us.  When we do so, we are adopted as God’s children and gain possession of the inheritance God has reserved for each of us.  No, we may not be released from physical poverty during this lifetime.  God does require faith and obedience from us but will use hardship to grow greater faith in us and as an instrument to guide others to a relationship with Him.  Truth is, fellowship with Christ and abiding Holy Spirit continually in our souls is such a wonderful blessing and privilege of far greater value and importance than any other blessing God would shower us with.  But the abiding presence will be even greater when we enter heaven and abide with Him eternally there.  What a wonderful promise.  As we get older and certainty of entering His presence gets closer, the reality and anticipation gets stronger and closer too.  It is like planning a vacation and excitement builds as departure day approaches.  That is what the early Christians experienced in the midst of great persecution, as are Christians in every generation since and even today.  That is the legacy we have to follow as we experience the journey God is guiding us on.  Satan may offer more but he can never deliver what he promises.  He never could and never will but he will continue to keep making promises trying to deceive us to follow him instead of God. “A tent or a cottage, why should I care? / They’re building a palace for me over there.”  Harriet E. Buell, in the hymn “A Child of the King”

7/28/17                                                 Dial 311                                         28     
Behold, I am coming quickly!   Revelation 3:11a

SCRIPTURE:  HEBREWS 11:13-16  “¹³ These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.¹⁴ For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.¹⁵ And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.¹⁶ But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”  COMMENTS:  We live in a fallen world corrupted by satan’s influence.  But God’s creation still is beautiful beyond imagination.  Consider the beauty of a forest or sunrise or sunset.  The beauty of a rainbow or smell of flowers or air after a gentle thunder storm and rain shower.  Cities like New  York City have many magnificent buildings with their own beauty created by skilled craftmen and designers.  But many forests and fields hid poisonous snakes and New York City, as with all cities hide millions or rat which harbor a long list of infectious diseases. 

But the promise we have and confident hope we can depend on is that Christ will one day return to establish His kingdom as King and bind satan and remove Him from the earth and stop all influence of corruption He has and is responsible for.  Satan along with all his demons will be cast out of the earth into the lake of fire.  Satan knows the prophecy and knows his time is growing short and will soon be drawing to an end.  As that time approaches, his efforts will become more intense but as he works harder, Christ will be preparing more intensely for His return too.  Both are preparing for battle and we are the prize.  But we are assured Christ is victor and by following Him, we are on the winning side. But in the meantime facing satan’s temptations and persecution from those who follow him will be our immediate future.  Preparing for that is what we need to do.  We can only do so by drawing closer to Christ and spending more time in His Word and in the work He calls us to.  Time is short and so many need to hear the Good News.

7/29/17                     The Millennial Reign                                         29     
Isaiah 2:1-4  The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.² And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.³ And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.⁴ And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”  COMMENTS:  Stop and think how amazing it is that God clearly knows and shared a glimpse of the future with Isaiah 700 years before Christ came and 2700 years before present.  That glimpse still has not been fulfilled but is 2700 years closer than when Isaiah saw it.  God works in His time and way but such prophecies confirm for us He is on His Throne and in complete control and has a perfect plan He is working with great focus on accomplishing that perfect plan.  You and I are included in that plan too.  That is the amazing thing.  Because God has no limits, including His love for us individually, He can and does make His perfect plan include a perfect plan for each of us too that fits perfectly with His perfect plan for everyone else.  You and I are not capable to comprehending how He can do that, but simply accept He does and trust Him.  Trust Him by drawing closer to Him in prayer and study of His Word and fellowshipping with other believers in a bible centered church.  Submitting to follow His instruction and do His will.  When we disobey and sin, there are consequences.  But God offers mercy and forgiveness and healing.  The way He heals will be affecting by the level of repentance and willingness to change and let the Holy Spirit transform us to be more like Him.  But hardship and trials and persecution have a powerful way of giving us strength and credibility in our witness and dependence on Him.  Let’s face it, comfort and easy are not our friend because such renders us less or not prepared for trials or service.  100 years from now, which will be more important? The level of comfort and security we acquire now or how obedient we are in witness.  We are not promised easy but are promised His abiding presence (the Holy Spirit) and council and strength and protection.  He  has promised to not abandon us or leave us defenseless.  Promise of eternal life, a new immortal body, an eternal home more beautiful than we can imagine, and freedom from evil and all its consequence.  All this and far more are God’s promises for us.  Likewise, from the perspective of eternity what really matters is how many we share heaven with because of our faithfulness.  We need to learn to look beyond each day’s problems but also focus on God’s nudging each day.  Trusting God helps with each day’s problems as well as with each day’s opportunities to be His light and His ambassador.  God is on our side.  We need to be on His side too and not just now and again or on Sunday.                                   7/30/17                     Thy Kingdom Come                                          30    
Thus says the LORD of hosts: “In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’” Zechariah 8:23

SCRIPTURE:  ISAIAH 52:8-10  “⁸ Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.⁹ Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.¹⁰ The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”  COMMENTS:  It is good now and again to stop and reflect on goals and dreams you have had over the years and ones you have achieved and those you have not.  As a youth I dreamed of having a Christ loving wife and children who loved and served Christ.  I also dreamed of having a successful job and secure home and income and even nice things.  I even desired wealth.  Then as time went on I also dreamed of retirement and all the things and places I wanted to do and go since would have the time to do so.

Well, God has blessed me with most of those dreams and goals being achieved.  I have a faithful Christ loving wife for last 39 years.  Two loving grown children and 3 grandchildren. God has given me health and now am enjoying the retirement years. Sure the weaknesses and aches of age are starting to show what is yet to come, but freedom in serving and open doors to sharing Christ in ways I hadn’t thought or dreamed of make this time of my life far richer than I had hoped for.  I doubted I would live to see my retirement years.  I felt Christ would return long before I would retire.  But He tarried so more could come to know Him and I not only have lived to see retirement years but have enjoyed nearly 5 years of retirement already. Time is passing so quickly and am finding it difficult to accomplish goal I set, but writing this devotional journal and other publications I do on my blog site are such a blessing to me and seem to be a blessing to others all over the world who also ready and share them. 

Especially exciting is a pastor in Pakistan who seeks messages with specific themes or subjects for crusades he does in his country.  Another pastor in Nepal translates and gives my posts to a local Christian magazine who prints them in their magazine.  There are many pastors who overseas who cannot access my blog but can receive posts by email so share them that way too.  Then there are about 90 who receive my monthly journals by email.  God has also enabled us to financially support a few of the ministries some of these pastors are engaged in.  But I still have family and friends who don’t know and follow Christ yet and work God still has on my plate to do. Being found faithful when He returned is my most important goal but also bringing as many with me to heaven when He returns is also vital goal on my heart. But I still miss opportunities due to distractions and being unprepared due to neglecting daily time with Christ.  But each morning brings a new beginning and opportunity to fix and repent from yesterday’s failures.  God is still merciful and forgiving.  He still gives a new morning with new opportunities for you and for me.  AMEN!

7/31/17                     The Father’s Mercy                                          31        
But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14

SCRIPTURE:  II SAMUEL 12:13-23 “¹³ And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.¹⁴ Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.¹⁵ And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.¹⁶ David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.¹⁷ And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.¹⁸ And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?¹⁹ But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.²⁰ Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.²¹ Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.²² And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live?²³ But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”  COMMENTS:  David was a boy and man of rare insights and gifts.  He had an especially close relationship with God.  He demonstrated great faith in way cared for his flock of sheep and defeating Goliath.  Quiet time tending his sheep as a boy was a time he used to draw closer in fellowship with God too.  Much of the Psalms reflect David’s heart of worship and praise for God recorded to bless and guide our worship and fellowship too. God said “David is a man after His own heart”.  But committed some terrible mistakes and even sins.  If his response would have been one of denial or justification, he would have faced God’s judgment like Saul did.  But when Nathan confronted him, he realized His sin and quickly repented seeking God’s mercy.  Mercy is what  God responded with because David admitted and repented of his sins.  God expects no less from us but also offers mercy in response to us.  Pride is a terrible and destructive sin because it keeps us from admitting our sins and repenting of them.  How tragic that we give up something so precious as our relationship with Christ because of foolish pride keeping us from humbling ourselves and admitting wrongdoing.   He doesn’t ask much, but what He does is not negotiable.  We must repent of our sins in order to receive the mercy He paid such a high price to give us.  “The name Jehovah carries majesty in it; the name Father carries mercy in it. “  Thomas Watson 

Today completes another month of time together and another monthly devotional journal. I hope and pray it continues to be a blessing to you and help you draw closer in fellowship and worship with Christ, yours and my Savior and Lord.  Doing so continues to bless me too.

You may also continue to contact me and access my blog materials at:

Blog:   https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951

Email:   dmcdaniel12@verizon.net