9/1/17                              For Jesus, With Jesus                                              1
Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
Hebrews 5:8

SCRIPTURE: ISAIAH 53:10-12  “¹⁰ Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.¹¹ He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.¹² Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”  COMMENTS: The Good News of the Gospel doesn’t end with the story of Christ redeeming death and resurrection, as life changing as it is. It does not end with the complete forgiveness and promise of heaven, as wonderful as these promises are.  It does not end with the promise of a new body and eternally living with Christ and our loves ones who have received His forgiveness too, as wonderful  as that promise is.  The rests if the Good News is the Good News only begins with all this.  His promise both demonstrated in Christians from past generations and in present generation.  His promise also going forward is that He will not leave nor forsake us!  He will abide with us and walk the journey of faith and obedience with us. Once we have accepted Christ and His gift, the reason for living and what we do is no longer for our selfish desires but for Christ and to honor and bring joy to Him.  The other side is we do so not only for Him but WITH HIM!  His Holy Spirit abides with and guides us every moment day and night without a break or separation.  Jesus told His disciples He is identical in character and purpose and thought with the Father and with the Holy Spirit.   So with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is not a substitute but also the indwelling and continuing abiding of Christ in us.  Unlike the disciples, we don’t see Jesus with our eyes, or touch Him with our hands, or hear His voice with our ears, all though some have had visions or exceptional experiences of such, but we hear and see and touch Him with our spirits – our souls – our minds.  Evidence of the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit transformed them in a way and sustained that positive change and passion and courage in a greater way than Christ in human form did.  When Christ promised to be with them always while also tells His disciples He would be leaving them so the Comforter – the Holy Spirit could come and enable them to be and do even greater works.  That reality is also available to you and me too.  Some sincerely Christians believe the Father – Son – Holy Spirit are 3 distinct beings separate from each other.  Others believe they are one God and one being revealed to us 3 different ways.  Both concepts have some scriptures to support each concept but also scriptures that seem to conflict.   I believe both concepts fall short of understanding or comprehending God or His abilities.  But then again, who is able to comprehend God?  Only God Himself.  I certainly can’t, but the little I can understand fills me with awe of Him.  Yet I suspect the real answer to the above discussion of the Trinity falls in between both extremes. Truth is the only way to the Father is through the Son and the only way to sustain fellowship with Christ and the Father is with the Holy Spirit.  God has provided all we need to sustain the Christian life and walk if we simply “trust and obey”.  That should be enough for us until heaven when we see Him face to face and only then can comprehend a full understand of Him.  Then our love and awe and worship of Him will be complete.  AMEN!   “There is a certain kind of maturity that can be attained only through the discipline of suffering.”   D. A. Carson

9/2/17                                      Spiritual Laws                                                            2   
But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”    1 Samuel 15:26

SCRIPTURE:  I SAMUEL 31:1-13  “ Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. ³ The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically.⁴ Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me. ”But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. ⁵ When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. ⁶ So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day.⁷ When the Israelites along the valley and those across the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them.⁸ The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people. ¹⁰ They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.¹¹ When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² all their valiant men marched through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. ¹³ Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.”  COMMENTS: The story of King Saul is a tragic one but even more for his sons.  Saul chose to disobey God but didn’t realize at what price.  He deliberately pursued David to kill him for years, so his sin was deliberate and went on for years.  If he would have repented and changed, redemption may have come to him but any remorse was  always short lived and insincere.  The cost to his children was tragic.  Jonathan was a genuine friend of David, and we have no evidence that he shared his father’s rebellion and sinful nature.  But he did follow his father into battle knowing God was not with his father, so he shared his father’s fate.  What should he have done?  Should he had left his father and joined forces with David?   Well, we don’t know the whole story of why Jonathan remained faithful to his father, but we do know he didn’t support Saul’s schemes against David.            You and I face choices every day, but now and again we face a choice that potentially will separate us from God’s protection and negatively impact our relationship with Him.  Sin does that.  Sin turns us away from God and the longer we indulge and neglect repentance, the further from His Grace we venture.  Our hearts become so hard we can’t see our peril.  Even worse, we put those who look up to us at peril by our sin as well.   But the good news is when we are faithful; we encourage others to be faithful too.  Consider the wisdom of Charles Colson’s words.   “[God] doesn’t demand our achievements; He demands our obedience. “  Charles Colson                             

9/3/17                              Blood Brothers                                                           3
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.  Proverbs 18:24b

SCRIPTURE:  I SAMUEL  18:1-4, 19:1-3, 20:1-4, 41-42  “ And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.² And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house.³ Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.⁴ And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.                                  And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.² But Jonathan Saul’s son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself:³ And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee; and what I see, that I will tell thee. And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life?² And he said unto him, God forbid; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will shew it me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.³ And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.⁴ Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee.

⁴¹ And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.⁴² And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed forever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.                                                                                                                                                            COMMENTS: David and Jonathan were best friends and stayed true to each other. But Jonathan was also faithful to his father, King Saul, who was consumed with jealousy of God’s favor on David.  He tried to kill David for many years.  Jonathan did not support such evil but suffered God’s judgment on Saul since he went into battle without God’s favor with his father.   David’s love and commitment to honor his pledge to Jonathan resulted in David taking care of Jonathan’s crippled son after David became king.  David also refused to kill Saul when given opportunity because he believed a sin to bring harm to God’s anointed king.  We are called to honor our parents and give them the respect due them, but scripture warns us not to support nor repeat the sins of our father.  We are not given details, but I believe Jonathan had some choices he could have made that would still have honored his father but resulted in a different outcome for himself.  I may be wrong and Jonathan was indeed following God’s leading when he went into battle with his father.  I pray that is so and Jonathan now is enjoying heaven’s fellowship with family and with David but most of all with Christ.  That is what is most important to him and will be for us.
“There is no better proof of friendship than to help our friends with their burdens.” Augustine

9/4/17                              Takes Two to Tussle                                  4  
If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves.                  Romans 12:18-19a

SCRIPTURE:  II SAMUEL 2:4-7  “⁴ And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, That the men of Jabeshgilead were they that buried Saul.⁵ And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabeshgilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the Lord, that ye have shewed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have buried him.⁶ And now the Lord shew kindness and truth unto you: and I also will requite you this kindness, because ye have done this thing.⁷ Therefore now let your hands be strengthened, and be ye valiant: for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them.” COMMENTS:  David demonstrated great restraint and wisdom in showing respect to Saul and his family.  David spared Saul’s grandson because of Jonathan, the child’s father.  Even though Saul did everything he could trying to kill David, David never responded in kind and showed respect to Saul’s soldiers doing their duty in burying Saul and his sons.  By doing so, David opened a huge door to win the people and Saul’s armies’ allegiance to David as their new king.   Granted, this was his strategy but it still was God’s will for him to do so.  As long as David was in God’s will and followed that will, God blessed him.  But when David sinned and strayed, then he had to suffer the consequences.  The consequence of rebellion of his children was one he continued to endure long after repenting of his sins.  Sometimes God removed the consequence but sometimes He lets at least some of the consequence to remain. Why and with what purpose.  At best we can speculate to deter future sins, but only He knows why.   But we do know what He has told us.  That His forgiveness is complete and He loves us more deeply than we can understand, and He will not allow us to endure more than we can bear but will abide with us and help us bear that portion while carrying the rest of that burden.  AMEN!

Stop and reflect on a time someone hurt you deeply and you had opportunity to choose whether to respond in kind or forgive and show friendship and kindness in response.  Can you think of times when you were revengeful in your response and times when you were not?    Which was better and which brought a better outcome?  Which brought more blessing to you too?  Such reflections help us understand why God instructs us to forgive.  It is for our benefit but not just ours alone.  It is to redeem many.
“The noblest revenge is to forgive.”          Thomas Fuller

9/5/17                              Glory Where Glory Is Due                                          5
But thanks are to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57

SCRIPTURE:  I CHRONICLES 79:11-14  “When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered Judah and Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand able young men—to go to war against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam.² But this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God: ³ “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, ⁴ ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your fellow Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’” So they obeyed the words of the Lord and turned back from marching against Jeroboam.

Rehoboam Fortifies Judah  ⁵ Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built up towns for defense in Judah: ⁶ Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷ Beth Zur, Soko, Adullam, ⁸ Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹ Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰ Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron. These were fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. ¹¹ He strengthened their defenses and put commanders in them, with supplies of food, olive oil and wine. ¹² He put shields and spears in all the cities, and made them very strong. So Judah and Benjamin were his.¹³ The priests and Levites from all their districts throughout Israel sided with him. ¹⁴ The Levites even abandoned their pasturelands and property and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the Lord.”  COMMENTS:   God has a way of building our FAITH  BY asking us to do things tha t seem opposite to what we should do.  Abraham had to leave the security of his father and venture out to his promised land exposing himself to dangers and AN uncertain future without the protection of family.  ABRAHAM WAS asked to sacrifice the son of his old age who God had promised to make him the father of future generations.  Abraham didn’t know or understand why or how God would fulfil His promises while asking such a thing.   But Abraham was called to understand but to obey.   Consider the amazing and surprising ways God has helped you and answered your prayers too.  He doesn’t’ t expect us to understand but simply to trust Him enough to obey His commands and statutes.  When we question Him and doubt Him and start planning another way, it is then we begin to expose ourselves to  satan’s traps and far greater perils than those  we fear.  We can’t see the greater  perils God is protecting us from which we become vulnerable to when we  turn away from God and follow our own way.
“Give unlimited credit to our God.” Robert Murray M’Cheyne

9/6/17                                          A Biblical Work                                                   6        1 Corinthians 1:18-25  “¹⁸ For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.¹⁹ For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.²⁰ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?²¹ For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.²² For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:²³ But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;²⁴ But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”  COMMENTS:  We live in a time of extreme poverty and desperation as well of great wealth and pursuit of comfort and pleasure.  Prosperity has followed in free democratic countries, of which the USA has led by example. Prosperity has empowered the USA to fund and lead humanitarian efforts all over the world as well and lead in Christian evangelization in years past.  The revivals of the 1800’s have resulting in great prosperity.  But that prosperity, intended to bless and empower ministry, has resulted in Christians and churches indulging in large building projects instead of keeping focus on evangelization. Christians have yielded to temptations to satisfy their own wants, resulting in wasting resources in self instead of using to share gospel.   What I’ve noticed since sharing my blog and devotions overseas is a deep passion and hunger for the Gospel, especially in empoverished countries but also in countries dominated by Islam.  The Gospel brings hope and truth in a way no other religion can.  We in the USA have become numb and indifferent to the Gospel because we no longer are desperate but that is going to change.  I believe God’s blessing will change and the USA will face persecution and poverty like our brothers and sisters in other countries.  That could become a blessing if creates the same hunger for the Gospel that our brothers and sisters in other countries are experiencing.  Poverty can be a greater blessing and prosperity can become a curse or hinderance to receive the eternal gifts God really want for us.    Well, we shouldn’t be surprised when people in need hear the Gospel and embrace it.  After all, Christ even told us He is the only way to the Father and to Salvation (John 14:6). We shouldn’t be surprised that satan is doing all he can to deceive us to ignore the Gospel when we feel safe and comfortable. Choose a side and know our enemy.  The side of life and restoration is Christ and the side of death and destruction is satan.  We all need to realize that. AMEN!  “Preaching should take a Trinitarian form…. In so doing, it bears witness to the God who speaks, the Son who saves, and the Spirit who illuminates.”  Albert Mohler

9/7/17                              Oaks of Righteousness                             30  
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
Isaiah 61:3

SCRIPTURE:  JEREMIAH 17:5-8  “5Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.6For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.7Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.8For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.9The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”  COMMENTS:  We live in the house that was my parent’s home before us and my mother’s grandparents before them.  I have pictures of my mother and aunt, my mother died at age 92 and my aunt at age 100, as children playing in our lawn with my great grandmother in background in front of our house.  Even though our house has undergone many changes and improvements, it is a special blessing to know its history and those who have lived in it.  My parents were faithful Christ followers and stories they shared with me assure me my great grandparents were equally faithful Christ followers. Living in their home reinforces our resolve to continue their legacy and example.  We are not sure if family will continue the tradition of living in our home.  At this point does not appear to be one of our children but our granddaughter, who is 10, may be a possible candidate after we are gone.  We hope that tradition can continue.  But we realize our home is just an old wooden double boarded structure which will be destroyed and gone when Christ returns and begins His reign on earth.  What will be important then will be our relation with Christ and who we influenced to accept Christ’s redemption too.  TRUSTING IN GOD IS WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO DO WITH THE PROMISE OF GOD’S BLESSING.  Blessing that brings eternal life with Him instead of eternal separation and judgment from Him.  Should be a “no-brainer” but most will continue to choose following man instead of following Him. I pray I will be faithful doing all I can to help others choose wisely.  “God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.”    Andrew Murray

9/8/17                              Stepping Stones of Faith                                8                   

James 1:1-8  “ James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.² My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;³ Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.⁴ But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.⁵ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.⁶ But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.⁷ For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.⁸ A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”  COMMENTS: The Christian life is a journey.  It begins with the new life Christ gives us when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior.  When we seek and receive His forgiveness for our sins and allow Him to dwell in and guide and change us.  But, as with most journeys, we don’t know the dangers and challenges and obstacles that lie along the way.   We also don’t know the beauty and blessings and opportunities to share and encourage and lead other to His mercy along the way either.  But this is a journey we don’t take alone.  Sure we bring those we love and those we interact with daily along but this journey also include Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit who walks each step with us with His hand in ours.  We may not always feels His hand especially when we allow ourselves to be distracted by life demands and dangers and sights and circumstances around us.  It is then we are at greater risk of sin and diverting off His path for us back onto our own path.  But when that happens, He is still near and ready to pick us up and put us back on the right path again when we ask and allow Him too.  But Christ is a gentleman and will not force us to comply to His Will even though His Will is best for us and those we love and influence.  How tragic for those who refuse Him.  He has so much to give us, all of which brings eternal blessings and joy and peace.   But none of it is ours until we accept it.  Same is true of everyone.  God’s wisdom transcends all time from eternity past and does not change.  He offers us wisdom and discernment as well as strength and determination to follow that wisdom if we only open ourselves to receive.  Doing so also means turning our back on our own wills and desires and selfish desires.  That can be the hardest past because our selfishness doesn’t give up easily because satan doesn’t give up easily either and will continue to be a battle for us til we get to heaven.  Yet even in these battles Christ is close by to help and strengthen.  The Holy Spirit is God’s presence indwelling in us closer than our own breath or heartbeat.  The mystery of the Holy Spirit is beyond our comprehension but is God and identical in character and personality and mission with Christ and the Father.  Christ said to know Him is to know the Father.  God is 3 in One (Father – Son – Holy Spirit).  They are identical and one but revealed to us differently and separately.  That is also a mystery so we simply need to believe and accept this on faith and leave the mystery to be understood when we will be capable of understanding when we face Him in heaven face to face.  Then we will understand and be filled with awe and worship and praise for Him as our Father and Christ and indwelling Holy Spirit.
“Failure isn’t so bad if it doesn’t attack the heart. Success is all right if it doesn’t go to the head.”   Grantland Rice

9/9/17                              Dried Up Brooks                                                         9    

   1 Kings 17:1-16  “ And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.² And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,³ Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.⁴ And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.⁵ So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.⁶ And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.⁷ And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.⁸ And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,⁹ Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.¹¹ And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.¹² And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.¹³ And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.¹⁴ For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.¹⁵ And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.¹⁶ And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.” COMMENTS: A businessman named Allan Emery checked into a hotel room exhausted after a long airplane flight.  He was anticipating a difficult and disappointing business meeting the next morning.  He was sure he would lose valuable customer.  He opened the Gideon bible in his room and prayed for God’s help and council.  God opened this scripture to remind him of Elijah’s time of discouragement and danger and desperation.  As Elijah’s experience encouraged and opened Allan to receive God’s council and help, God intends His word to prepare us as well.                                                                                   God doesn’t promise to spare us life’s dangers and only give us a life of comfort and ease.  Quite the contrary He tells us we will face hard times.  What He does promise us is we need not face them alone and without His help.  He promises to be with us and guide us each step if we simply let Him.  God’s ways seem so foreign to our ways.  That was true for Elijah and David and Abraham and faithful from every generation before and after them. BUT SCRIPTURE SHOWS US OVER AND OVER AGAIN HOW GOD PROVIDES AND HELPS AND BLESSES THOSE WHO REMAIN FAITHFUL TO HIM, ESPECIALLY DURING TRYING TIMES.  We all have plenty of examples from those we know and even in our own lives to prove God’s faithfulness to us as well.  How much more proof do we want?  GOD IS FAITHFUL AND KEEP S HIS PROMISES!  HE ALWAYS WILL!  We can depend on Him.  So the next time you and I face a real danger or difficult or trying situation or tragedy, it is then we need to remind ourselves with past examples to encourage and strengthen us so we will be and remain faithful to Him knowing He will bring us to the other side stronger and safe.  AMEN!                                                                                            

“God never leaves us stranded, forsaken, or abandoned. If the brook dries up, it’s because He has a jar of oil waiting for us. When a disappointment strikes us, we must trust Him for the next move. When a dream crashes around us, look for God’s direction and a new challenge. There is always a next step with God; and there are always new blessings—grace upon grace—to claim from His guiding hand.  In the twenty years since that night I have had numerous “dried up brooks,” but my attitude toward them has been one of expectancy, for I know God is faithful to me just as He was to Elijah.”  Allan Emery            

9/10/17                              Unringing the Bell                                                        10  
So Peter went out and wept bitterly.   Luke 22:62

SCRIPTURE: II SAMUEL 11:11-15,37-51  “ When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.¹² Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.¹³ And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.¹⁴ And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.¹⁵  But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. ³⁷ David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.³⁸ And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.³⁹ And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.⁴⁰ And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.⁴¹ And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.⁴² And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.⁴³ And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.⁴⁴ And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.⁴⁵ Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.⁴⁶ This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.⁴⁷ And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands.⁴⁸ And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came, and drew nigh to meet David, that David hastened, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.⁴⁹ And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.⁵¹ Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.”

COMMENTS:  David demonstrates a deep faith in God at a very young age.  That faith was developed from long hours of quiet in the fields protecting them from lions and wolves.  Dangerous animals lurked putting both the sheep and David at great risk.  Fear did not overcome David, but David both trusted God and developed skills needed to protect himself.  Developing defensive weapons is not a lack of faith but a willingness to partner with God.  That practice prepared him for greater demonstrations of faith and courage.  He responded to Goliath not as a show off but could not bear dishonoring God, who he loved and trusted so much.   David’s brothers had never learned such trust and love for God, so they were unprepared.  Saul hadn’t either so even he as king was unprepared. Saul should have confronted Goliath but was unprepared and unworthy.  Saul could have learned from David’s example and repented and continued as king enjoying God’s abiding presence but refused to repent.  Yet David did sin later and nearly lost all if he hadn’t repented and turned back to God.  By doing so, he was spared judgment like Saul’s but still had to endure consequences in sinful behavior of his children his entire life.                       

Psalm 51 reveals David’s remorse and those consequences.
“Instead of hoping you can ring the bell of sin and then unring it, better not to ring it at all.
We are born in sin and spend our lives coping with the consequences. “  John Blanchard                                    

9/11/17                                                   Soul Poison                                         11   
When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long.       Psalm 32:3

SCRIPTURE:  II SAMUEL 12:1-5  “And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.² The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:³ But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.⁴ And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.⁵ And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:”  COMMENTS:  Our soul suffers and withers and begins dying when we continue to ignore our unrepented sins. David ignored his sins for a year until God directed Nathan to come and confront David the king.  David could have silenced Nathan but chose to repent and expose his sin to the whole nation.  David had ignored and became blind to his own condition and sin.  The poison of sin had numbed David to point he couldn’t feel guilt and had probably justified his sin and actions since he was king.  But when Nathan confronted him, he realized what he had done and probably was reminded of Saul’s errors and sins and judgment God reigned on Saul as a consequence.  He probably also remembered that consequence cost his dear friend Jonathan his life too.  The result was David finally making a wise decision to repent and seek God’s mercy.  That mercy was there waiting for him when he entered the temple but the consequence of rebellion of his children still lingered.  It is far better to avoid sin than to seek repentance of sin.  But it is still infinitely better to repent than to face God’s judgment.   Life returned to David that day and he was placed back of the path he had detoured from.   God so wants to put us back on the path He has for us when we repent. An infinitely better path than we choose ourselves even though our path looks better to us.  We can’t see the consequences to ourselves and to our families and others impacted, but GOD KNOWS AND WILL DO ALL HE CAN WITHOUT FORCING US TO CHOOSE WISELY.   The choice is ours but the consequences are not our choice.  “God’s arrows of affliction are sharp and painful so He can get our attention. He won’t let His beloved children get away with sin because He knows it robs us of blessings, opportunities, and even character refinement.” Charles Stanley    

9/12/17                              Listening Ears                                                               12   
Psalm 51  “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.² Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.³ For I know my transgressions,and my sin is always before me.⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight;so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;let the bones you have crushed rejoice.⁹ Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior,and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is^[b] a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.¹⁸ May it please you to prosper Zion,to build up the walls of Jerusalem.¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.”  COMMENTS:  Today’s scripture is David’s prayer of repentance after Nathan exposed his sin to him.  David had become blind and numb to his own sin, but God cleared the scales from his eyes and soul and gave Nathan the words to do that.  Nathan came to King David at great peril but was acting in faith and obedience to his Lord.  David responded because of his love for his Lord.  David was redeemed and regained his relationship with God that day.  He regained the joy and relationship he had depended on and enjoyed his whole life but even David had forgotten and wondered to a point he didn’t even miss it.  If that could happen to David, it can happen to you and me.  God reveals his story to us so we can learn from his failings and seek his help so we won’t make similar mistakes and sins.  David could have avoided the consequences of sin that remained and so can we, if we remain faithful too.                          Dr. David Jeremiah just released a new book called “A Life Beyond Amazing”.  In this book he shares 9 critical decisions to achieve this life.  They are:  Choose a life of love, choose a life of joy, choose a life of peace, choose a life of endurance, choose a life of compassion, choose a life of generosity, choose a life of integrity, choose a life of humility, and choose a life of self-discipline.  Each of these qualities require discipline and endurance and determination but most of all focus on keeping our eyes and thoughts and wills on obeying and pleasing Him. We can’t achieve this on our own any more than David could.  But Joseph and Daniel and Mary (Jesus’ mother) did and we can too if we keep our eyes on Him and don’t divert from that. 
“Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival.”A. W. Tozer

9/13/17                              Truth or Consequences                                        13   
Proverbs 22:1-9  “ A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.² The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.³ A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.⁴ By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.⁵ Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.⁷ The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.⁸ He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.⁹ He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.”  COMMENTS: Forgiveness, even the forgiveness and salvation Christ died to buy for us, does not mean elimination all consequences of our sins.  It means we are forgiven and spared from God’s judgment but often consequences remain.  David’s sin with Bathsheba was completely forgiven but the son of their sin still died.  David was forgiven and did not return to that sinful behavior but his son still conspired to overthrow David’s.  Sin is quickly learned and copied from one generation to next.  We give satan an open door or even an unlocked door is all he needs to infiltrate our lives and families.  But when we remain faithful to Christ, we allow Christ to battle satan for us and bind him from doing his mischief and deceptive work.  We are no match for satan’s cunning and schemes.  He has had many generations to polish his evil skills.  But satan is no match for Christ, who has wisdom and foresight beyond what we or even satan can imagine.  Scripture gives us assurance our forgiveness gives assures us a place in heaven for eternity and our sins would not be remembered anymore and, because of Christ, the Father looks on us as pure and worthy and any consequences in heaven are removed. 

If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you are saved (Acts 16:31). As far as east is from the west, so far does God remove the transgressions of his children from them (Psalm 103:11-12). There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1).

Yet why would God allow consequences on earth to continue?  For some the consequences are removed even while on earth, but for some those consequences are still to be endured.  Well, we can’t know or understand fully why.  But God does us them as well as evil deed of others we may fall victim to, in order to teach us to seek and depend on Him more fully.  It is true for all of us that we tend to stray from God during peaceful and prosperous times because we don’t need to depend on Him during such times.  But during crisis or distress the draw back to God and passion to seek His help is much stronger.  Such distress and consequences of past sin can be the motivation to draw closer to God and sustain that closer relationship even during more comfortable and prosperous days.  Our relationship with Christ is more important to Him and of more eternal importance to us than short term, even if an entire lifetime, comfort and peace and prosperity.  That is likely at least part of the reason why God allows us to endure at least some of the consequences of our sins after we repent and receive His forgiveness and redemption.  

“It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.”  Josiah Stamp                 

9/14/17                              Praying for Adult Children                                    14 
“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. “ James 5:16

SCRIPTURE:  HEBREWS 13:20-25  “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,²¹ Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.²² And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words.²³ Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.²⁴ Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.²⁵ Grace be with you all. Amen.”  COMMENTS:  The weight of being a parent is not lighter after our children are grown and leave home and on their own.  No, not even when they become parents as well.   Our responsibilities and accountability as parents continues the rest of our lives.
“Parenting involves a lifetime commitment to prayer; therein resides the power that avails much.    Mark Batterson

These quotes serve to reinforce and encourage us as parents to embrace our responsibility to our children and grandchildren and be faithful to pray daily and often during the day for them seeking God’s intervention in their lives to spare them from satan’s schemes to draw them from Christ and pull them into sin’s destructive end. What Christian parent does not dream and pray and hope his children and grandchildren will be with them in heaven together.  What Christian parent would not consider it the worst nightmare to go to heaven and discover their children were lost and enduring God’s judgment in hell. 

We have the comfort and assurance God loves and wants our children and grandchildren to know His mercies and Grace even more than we do.  He wants to partner with us to that end.  If we partner with Him, allowing Him to guide our prayers and conduct and relationship with our children and grandchildren, and yes, our wives and other family and friends, we will discover freedom and peace in leaving the outcome in God’s hands but also direction and guidance in living wisely beyond our own abilities so our influence will be much more positive and powerful than we can imagine or hope for.  If we worry and follow our own wisdom and passions and ideas, we set ourselves up for failure and regrets.  Maybe even this may be consequences for our sins but maybe it is an opportunity for God to redeem us and our families from sin’s consequences in eternity.  After all, if God allows some consequences to remain to draw us to Himself, if we draw closer to Him in order to assure the redemption of our families, then the need for those consequences may indeed be removed or lifted since the need for them has been removed.

9/15/17                              Choose Life                                                            15  
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 14:12

SCRIPTURE:  ROMANS 6:23  “²³ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

COMMENTS:  World War I was sparked because of the assassination of the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand and his wife.  Their limousine was going down the streets of Sarajevo on June 28, 1914.  An assassin was prepared to kill them on their root but his plans failed.  His cohort had not planned on being involved so was waiting on another street.  The limousine driver took a wrong turn and ended up on the street the cohort was one, so that cohort took opportunity and completed that dastardly deed they had planned.   The consequence was a chain of events that causes WWI resulting in the death of 16 million people.  If that driver had taken another route or not made a wrong turn, the results likely would have been a lot different and the lives of those lost may have spared.  The consequences of sin are not always known, but they are always out of the control of the guilty.  They make choices knowing they are indulging in sin but either don’t consider the consequences or believing they can changes the consequences.  The error is in thinking we can control the consequences. But the truth is we have the choice of whether to sin or reject satan’s temptations.  However, we never have the choice of the consequences.  The chain of events after we sin are out of our control affecting us as well as many others innocent of the sin they are affected by.  It really doesn’t seem fair but truth is we are all guilty of sin and rebellion against God and worthy of enduring sin’s consequences.  Yet God in His mercy and wisdom chooses what consequences we will endure and lovingly offers not only to forgive but walk with us through those consequences providing help and encouragement and strength and direction.  Sincere remorse and repentance brings restoration of a relationship with God but also healing for all affected directly and indirectly. Even though sin’s consequences can reach far beyond the sinner, redemption reaches even farther.   WHEN WE REPENT, THE BENEFITS REACH INFINATELY FARTHER THAN THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR SINS!  That is the good news of redemption Christ paid dearly for us to experience and enjoy.  As I reflect on the Christ centered lives of my parents and grandparents and great grandparents, I am reminded how wise choices they made positively impacted generations after them, including me and my family and beyond.  That is how the chain of consequences from sin is broken and healing is realized.  AMEN!
“Sin pays—but it pays in remorse, regret, and failure.”  Billy Graham                 

9/16/17                              Not in Heaven Yet                                                  16  
Wisdom is with aged men, and with length of days, understanding.   Job 12:12

SCRIPTURE:  PSALM 90:10-12  “¹⁰ The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.¹¹ Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.¹² So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”  COMMENTS:  As I reflect on above scripture, many thoughts come to mind as well as many experiences.  The psalmist likely did the same as he wrote this psalm.  The scripture from Job 12 also gives Job’s experiences.   God is the same from eternity past through eternity future.  How he deals is unique to each of our needs and gifts and willingness to follow and follow His council and requirements.  Yet, a common human characteristic is that we are often resistant to follow His council because His council is so foreign or opposite what we want to do or think best. Those who follow their own desires tend to soon discover the dead end of consequences it leads.  Those who follow God’s council will likely later but undoubtedly discover unexpected and eternal blessing and benefits beyond their expectations and beyond what they thought possible.  God doesn’t promise to spare us hardship and sacrifice.  He doesn’t promise to spare us discouragement or pain or dangers.  What He does promise is a wonderful end to our journey and He promises to take that journey with us hand in hand counseling and helping and strengthening and protecting us each step of the way.   Since we know we will be leaving this world for an eternal home someday and will not take anything we accumulate in this world, doesn’t it make sense not to hold onto material things too tight and also to use them and our time for His purposes and mission more and for ourselves less?  That is the best way of investing on our future and in eternity.  God’s return on investment is far better and does give compound interest.  Scripture tells us to invest where moth will not eat nor age decay and destroy.  Invest in God’s plan will open His resources for our family and those we impact along this journey to discover and enjoy His bounty of blessing too.  As we reflect on the sacrifices and rewards of the early first century church as well as many examples before and after we see this truth being played out over and over as well as the consequences of those who followed their own path without Him.  Consider more recent examples from your own families and church or community.  They all confirm and reinforce importance of following God’s lead instead of ours.  The journey I am on includes writing and sharing a blog but also financially supporting pastors in various countries sharing God’s message with people in their neighborhood and beyond.  By supporting them with messages and finances, I am partnering with them reaching people for Christ I would never had met nor impacted otherwise.  I am also discovering the resistance to the gospel or indifference so common here in USA is not so elsewhere.  In impoverished countries the hunger for Christ’s good news is much greater.  I pray that hunger will come here too but also realize disaster and poverty will likely need to come first.  Prosperity has a sinister way of drawing us away from a dependency and desire to follow and draw closer to Christ.  It shouldn’t and need not, but none the less more commonly does.   “A fire kept burning on the hearthstone of my heart, and I took up the burden of the day with fresh courage and hope.”    Charles F. McKoy.

9/17/17                              Talking Tombstones                                               17  
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
Hebrews 11:4

SCRIPTURE:  PSALM 73:23-28 “²³ Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast held me by my right hand.²⁴ Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.²⁶ My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.²⁷ For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.²⁸ But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.”  COMMENTS:  3 years ago a group of men, including me, volunteered to reset some fallen tombstones in oldest portion of our local cemetery in Clintonville, Pa.  One particular tombstone had special interest to me.  Name on old fallen and worn tombstone read Philip D. Monjar who lived from 1829-1851.  What was of special interest were words written under his name and dates of birth and death.  Words are ““ O for a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free, a heart that always feels thy blood so freely shed for me.”  Upon further research I discovered they were the first verse of a Charles Wesley hymn composed in 1742.   Those words ministered to me and were a witness from Philip and his family even though over 160 years have passed since they were engraved onto this stone.  The hymn continues with the verses below:

• Verse 1; “ O for a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free, a heart that always feels thy blood so freely shed for me.”
• Verse 2: “ A heart resigned, submissive, meek, my great Redeemer’s throne, where only Christ is heard to speak, where Jesus reigns alone.”
• Verse 3: “A humble, lowly, contrite heart, believing, true, and clean, which neither life nor death can part from Christ dwells within.”
• Verse 4: “A heart in every thought renewed and full of love divine, perfect and right and pure and good, a copy, Lord, of thine.”
• Verse 5: “Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart; come quickly from above; write thy new name upon my heart, thy new, best name of Love.”

Those words ministered to me from his tombstone, but the hymn ministered to Philip and his family after Charles was dead and gone.   Serving Christ and being faithful to do His word never goes without fruit and blessing both for those it serves but also for the server.  You and I have no idea who will read our words, like this journal, or a letter we wrote to a friend, like many I discovered and read from my parents and grandparents and great grandparents, or second hand from one generation’s impact on another, that will continue and last eternity.  What we do for Christ will always bring eternal blessing and reward but all too often that  impact is not felt or noticed right away or even for years.  In God’s economy and schedule we see God moving painfully slowly often but as look back we can see past times being fulfilled in His purpose and way powerfully and perfectly and completely but also in amazing ways and much broader scope than we could have imagined.  How could Philip imagine words on his tombstone would impact generations 160 years later?  How could Charles Wesley imagine the impact his hymns would have or the impact his brother would have and the denomination, Methodist, that would be established and grow to impact the world.

I too do not know the scope or impact this journal will have but already do know it is read by many of my friends and relatives and church family each month and by many pastors in other countries who access it from my blog or by email.           

God has a wonderful way of stretching us and using our humble acts of obedience far beyond our capability or vision.  He does that because He loves us enough to partner with us so joy of the life He brings to others can also be experienced by us too.  What a wonderful amazing partnership He offers to us, reaching out to us where we are and with limited willingness to obey and follow we are currently limited by.  Growth means starting where we are and growing from there.  Every living creature on earth starts that way and grows  to maturity that way.  Our spiritual life journey is likewise except it will never die but continue to grow for eternity.  AMEN!
“The reality of heaven doesn’t just help us die more peacefully; it helps us live more joyfully and productively. “  David Jeremiah   

9/18/17                              My Will or Thy Will?                                                18  
When the people willingly offer themselves, bless the LORD! Judges 5:2b

SCRIPTURE:  MATTHEW  26:36-46  “³⁶ Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.³⁷ And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.³⁸ Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.³⁹ And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.⁴⁰ And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?⁴¹ Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.⁴² He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.⁴³ And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.⁴⁴ And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.⁴⁵ Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.⁴⁶ Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.”  COMMENTS: Christ not only was willing but did go to the cross while enduring the guilt and punishment for our sins.  He endured complete separation from God the Father and felt complete aloneness like those who died without Christ do.  You and I can’t understand what that means to Christ.  It appears He enduring that for the 3 days from the cross to His resurrection, but likely endured that starting when                                                                                  

He was on the cross.  It could have started when He said “Why have You forsaken Me?” but could have started  much soon like while praying in the garden.  We are not told but clues make us believe that separation started while He was praying in the garden.

Fortunately, you and I need not ever face that level of loneliness and suffering, but most will simply because most will die without seeking or receiving Christ’s precious gift of forgiveness.  But you and I will face difficulties and hardship.  Some will be consequences of our own past poor choices and even sins.  Why God sometimes spares us not only from judgment but also from the consequences of our sins while other times He still requires we endure at least some of the consequences for a time or even longer is a mystery.  But past experiences of those before us and maybe even ourselves reveals God uses hardship and hardship to draw us closer to Himself and to teach us to rely on Him fully.  Since God’s primary motivation is to draw us to Himself and to transform us to be like Himself, if He knows how we will react to hardship as well as to ease and blessing, which do you think He will bring our way and which He will withhold from us?   But He knows how hard and painful suffering is to us because He endured it so He will not require us to endure suffering any longer than is necessary.  He will not waste our suffering either. 

So how far are you and I willing to trust Him?  He has promised to not allow us to endure more than we can bear.  Likewise, He has promised to walk with us hand in hand while enduring hardship.  Great blessing and reward comes when we are faithful and obedient to Him.  We miss so much when we don’t.  Knowing that, I still struggle at times when God nudges me to do something I simply don’t want to do or am not ready or prepared to do.  It is then I do well to go to my knees seeking His help.  Experience reminds me that I will regret refusing but I have to admit obedience still is a battle for me and I still will likely take longer to obey when I don’t want to than when I do.

“We are never losers from doing the will of God.”   George Müller

 

 

9/19/17                                                      Casting                                                    19
1 John 4:17-21  “¹⁷ Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.¹⁹ We love him, because he first loved us.²⁰ If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?²¹ And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”  COMMENTS: Serious fishermen who fish with a fishing pole and line and hook spend practicing and improving their line casting skills. But fishing with a pole only lands the fisherman one fish at a time.  They learn to extend their line further and further to land their hook and bate in deeper part of the waters. Professional fisherman use nets to catch large numbers of fish at once.  But they too much learn how to cast their nets so net covers a large area without getting tangled or caught on object in the water.  The term “casting our burdens” has a different meaning.  The fisherman casts his line or net as far as he can but keeps hold of source so he can reel it back in with hopefully the prize he is wanting.                

When Christ told the disciples to be “fishers of men”, He is taking a skill they already possessed and showed them how to use that skill to show others how to know and share His message.  They would learn to do just that, but not before they experienced and possessed the Holy Spirit teaching and helping them each day.  Before the Holy Spirit filled them, fear and their own selfish nature prevented them from being all and doing all Christ was showing and commanding them to do.  He knew they couldn’t and wouldn’t, but the time when the Holy Spirit would come to them had to wait until Christ’s work was finished and      He paid the price for their forgiveness too.  Once Christ’s mission was completed and the Holy Spirit came in them, then they were able to begin the work Christ had instructed them to.                                                                                                                                       

 The Holy Spirit made all the difference and made fearful, weak, selfish, disciples doomed to fail into bold, strong, unselfish, successful evangelists. They failed at doing the miracles and were anything but Christ like until the Holy Spirit transformed them.  They then began both casting their burdens further away, leaving them, so they could begin casting their nets and catching people for Christ effectively without distraction.  They were transformed permanently and transformed the world.  The finally began casting and by doing so they also cast off the chains of sin and their own carnal natures.  Sure their humanity still contained weakness and faults that slowly would improve as they grew in years and experience and depth in their Christian walk.  Yet in spite of their successes, the completion of their perfection was not fulfilled until they physically died and entered their final home.  Then their transformation was complete.                                                                   

“Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you.”   PSALM 55:22                       

“Cast out the scoffer, and contention will leave.” Proverbs 22:10                                                         

“Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” Ecclesiastes 11:1

“Cast away our transgressions”  Ezekiel 18:31                                                                              

 “Cast out our nets for a catch” John21:6                                                                                        

“Cast out the works of darkness” Romans 13:12                                                                           

 “Cast all our care on Him, for He cares for us” 1 Peter 5:7                                                         

You and I are offered that same Holy Spirit and transformation too.  However, our transformation will not be completed until we also die physically too or He returns.            

“The chains of love are stronger than the chains of fear”.  William Gurnall                                                    

9/20/17                              Flourish                                                                            20  

For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”   Isaiah 30:15a

SCRIPTURE:  PSALM 23  “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”  COMMENTS:  God calls us to war while calling us to rest.  He calls us to battle against satan while resting in God’s hands. James 4:7  “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” This is not a contradiction but a place of allegiance and battle plan.  We need to be at war against satan instead of with God.  Our allegiance needs to be on the winning side instead of the popular side.  On the good side instead of the evil side.  Christ has promised to never leave or forsake us.  He revealed that He and the Father and the coming Comforter are identical with each other in character and strategy and even in thoughts so when the Holy Spirit came and indwelled the believers at Pentecost, that promise was fulfilled.  This promise was given in old testament times,  Deut. 31:6 as one example with repeated examples of fulfillment in scripture of individuals and of  Israel as a nation being helped and saved by God’s abiding presence.  Hebrews 13:5  is also one of many such scriptures in the New Testament also.  Below are those scriptures:                                                   

Deuteronomy 31:6 “⁶ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”                        

Hebrews 13:5  “⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,“Never will I leave you;  never will I forsake you”

Well, God’s abiding presence and constant abiding help and council and guidance and protection are all available to each and every living person if we only allow His Holy Spirit to come to and abide in us.  He will not force His way in or come in uninvited.  But without His abiding presence in our souls, we put ourselves at great risk of falling prey to satan’s deceptions and influence, thereby doomed to sin as well as sin’s consequences.  When we let His Holy Spirit abide in us, we give ourselves opportunity to rest in His abiding presence and take rest in His encompassing hands while facing and doing battle against satan.  We are then able to see satan and his activities for what they are and battle against him under God’s authority and with God’s power and strength.   We don’t do battle alone or without a plan.  It just is not our plan or a plan we chose.  We choose who we will follow instead of choosing a plan we like without regard of whose plan we follow.  Truth is God likes to test our faith by asking us to trust Him before knowing His plans instead of presenting to us His plan for our lives and then asking us to follow Him if we like it.  No, God doesn’t give us the option first.  He asks us to trust and follow Him first before we know what He will ask of us.  But history in scripture and examples of individuals in every generation, including ours, proves to us over and over again that God has our best interests at heart and will only bring great blessing to us if we follow Him.  Yet, that path will likely include some short term pain and trials.  Well, let’s face it, pain and trials motivate us to draw closer to Him generally and prosperity and ease draws us away from Him.  Maybe greater blessing comes from hardships instead of material wealth and comfort.  Maybe God intends material wealth and comfort to be a source of resource for us to use not to satisfy our own desires but to equip and help and minister to others.  Maybe prosperity was never intended to be for us but for others and we only draw closer to Him during prosperous times when we are generous in giving those resources away to work He leads us to support.  Maybe hardship is more often God’s way of getting our attention so we will focus on and pay attention to His instruction and plan and away from focusing on things and worldly pleasures.  I love C.S. Lewis’s words below:                                                                        

“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”   C. S. Lewis    

Our spiritual life begins when we ask Christ into our lives by repenting of our sins and receiving His gift of salvation and forgiveness.  But that is only the beginning.   The journey and path that choice puts us on requires daily decisions and choices to either follow Christ or to choose daily distractions satan shows us. When we ask the Holy Spirit to come in us and dwell and guide us, we are allowing Him to equip and prepare us for life’s daily battles with satan but also allowing Him to guide us to minister to others He guides our daily paths to cross.  When we are prepared, we become a blessing but when we are not or choose unwisely, we miss a precious opportunity.  That opportunity may come again or go to another who is prepared.  True wealth and prosperity is from being a blessing and giving blessings, not by receiving and using blessings.  True poverty is keeping wealth and using it to satisfy our own selfish desires and harden our hearts against the needs of others. AMEN?  AMEN!

 

9/21/17                              Light and Momentary                                                 21
2 Corinthians 4:14-18  “¹⁴ Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.¹⁵ For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.¹⁶ For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.¹⁷ For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;¹⁸ While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”  COMMENTS:  Paul enduring many severe instances of persecution before he was finally martyred.  We would say he had a life of terrible suffering that ended in failure and loss of his own life.  He could have had a life of great success and wealth and was on a fast path to do so when Christ came to him and ruined everything.  But Paul’s perspective is that his life was a fast track to destruction when Christ came to him.  Paul tells this about his suffering.  He wrote in Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”   Paul had a privileged education but was ignorant to Christ, but when he encountered Christ; his education began and transformed him.                                                                        

Paul did suffer greatly and lived his life in poverty.  He had little physically to show for his hard work.  Oh, but his lasting wealth and possessions reside in his legacy, his letters preserved as scripture in our bible, in those transformed by the message he faithfully shared that transformed lives from then to now.  His reward made his suffering worth it and the two thousand years since are just the beginning of the eternal life he is now enjoying.  He is still greeting those ushered into heaven because of that message they discovered in those letters.                                                                                                               

He could never have imagined the extent in time and in numbers his ministry or letters would have.  When we discover what he did and endured, we can easily become overwhelmed if consider what God wants you and me to do.   What legacy could we have that would compare to Paul’s?   Well, the good news is Christ doesn’t want us to compare ourselves to Paul and He will not do so.  No, He has a unique ministry and legacy for us. He is not only preparing a home for us in heaven, He is preparing a ministry and legacy for us that suits us perfectly and will transform the lives of many impacted by us but also impacted by those we have impacted.   The principle of multiplication greatly increases impact of simple acts of obedience far beyond what our capability is or ever will be.  That is the wonderful beauty of serving Christ.  As I write this, I am in reflecting on a good friend who has been making some terrible choices in which each puts him in worse consequences than previous one.  He has been in a relationship with several women who took advantage of him.  Each relationship left him in deeper poverty materially and more desperate to find another.  The most recent relationship has left him away from his family with no possessions or tools to make a living or place to live but also in jail with a huge fine.  His friends and family, including us, have helped at our own expense, but he still hadn’t learned and turned from continuing down that destructive path.  Now we are faced   with a hard choice to withhold help but also with needs beyond our ability to provide.  Tough love is so difficult, but as we reflect and realize tough love is difficult for God exercise to us, but is necessary for us to turn back to Him and away from the destructive path we are on.  But how much better when we suffering for good reason, such as being faithful to Christ and how sad and terrible when we continue to suffering because of sin and our own foolish choices.  Suffering serves us well when it draws us closer to Him.  Prosperity does us an injustice when it draws us into sin and away from God’s help and protection and most of all away from a loving relationship with Him. 
“Your problems are temporary, but God’s promises are eternal. His promises will outlive your problems and carry you to heaven, where there are no problems, no pain, no death, and no tears.  When you read this entire chapter, you discover that his troubles were certainly not light. But Paul understood that in comparison to eternity, they were light and momentary. So is my disease.”  Ed Dobson

9/22/17                              What Life Reveals                                                     22
Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done. Luke 22:42

SCRIPTURE:  GALATIANS 5:22-23  “²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,²³ Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”   COMMENTS: As I write this, I am looking out our living room window east as the sun is rising.  Sky is clear and becoming increasingly bright blue while a cloud is becoming pink in color.  I chuckle when I think of fashion experts talking about what colors go together and what colors don’t.  Well, I must say no one comes close to displaying colors that perfectly go together.  Such a morning as this is giving such a display.  But in the brief time it took to write this observation, the beautiful pink cloud disappeared.  It is still there but it is no longer pink. I almost missed that beautiful display God graced me with.  

Why would God bother to bless me in such a way?  He doesn’t have to do that. He has graced me with His forgiveness, what more does He have to do?   Well, I am like you.  We are desperately needy people. We quickly become discouraged and lose focus and interest without constant being re-energized.  We forget what He has done for us and loose awareness of His abiding presence and help.  We quickly revert back to making foolish choices.  Have you noticed when driving or even walking that if you look to the left or right it isn’t but a second or two and you start turning toward that direction.  In doing so we put ourselves in unnecessary but grave danger.   The dangers are real and cause consequences that may take a lifetime to recover from if at all. 

Our scripture this morning refers to the qualities of character the Holy Spirit instills in us when He abides in us.   Character with integrity is becoming increasingly absent in societies in every country and in every profession.   Schools and colleges and universities are taking the lead in deliberately extracting this by no demonstrating and teaching this as a code of conduct.  Believing moral living and treating each other with honesty and integrity is a Christian characteristic and therefore not acceptable is becoming the mentality of society.  Only looking out for ourselves at any cost to others is becoming the consequence.

Well, I fear it is going to get much worse but that doesn’t mean we should yield to the pressures society will put on us to follow suit.  Being on and keeping on higher ground and being willing and bold in sharing the reason why he have hope and joy and integrity in our daily lives is and will be the light we are called to show and will be the lasting legacy we will have that God will use to transform far more than we realize or think possible.    I’ve said this before but am even more convinced that 100 or even 50 or, yes, maybe even 25 years from now what will matter will not be how successful or comfortable or successful we are but how faithful to Christ we have been.  We will not take one material possession with us to heaven.  We will take those we lead to Christ with us and the changes the Holy Spirit does in us.  How will you and I be remembered?  Will it be our failures or our successes define our legacy?  If we live with integrity as Christ showed and taught, then our legacy will be one that will bless us and those that we influenced during our lives. If we follow our own wisdom and live without integrity as are tempted to do often, then our legacy will be one of regrets and consequences.  Now is the time to change while we have time.  But I fear there is very little time left to change.  His return is approaching and may indeed be imminent.

“The fruit of the Spirit is not excitement or orthodoxy: it is character.”  G. B. Duncan

9/23/17                              Learning From Disappointments                      23  
I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. Psalm 119:75

SCRIPTURE:  HEBREWS 12:10  “¹⁰ For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he uses for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.”  COMMENTS:  Every inventor has had numerous failures and disappointments before sufficiently refining their invention to be successful.  Such has always been the case.  David learned to trust God by encountering dangers and responsibilities of being a shepherd.  Shepherding is considered a low paygrade occupation but carries dangers and risks.  Every day his sheep are helpless and completely in his hands to protect them.  Lions and wolves and other dangerous animals seek sheep as easy prey.  Even the shepherd can be a good meal and by killing the shepherd, the sheep are fully accessible. So for a father to put his young son in charge of his sheep, he is putting his son at risk.  But David, as a young shepherd, practiced his skills of using his sling shot until could accurately hit his target every time. We are not told the close calls David had or the times when he was hurt or badly wounded or times he did lose a sheep but he likely did. But those experiences draw him closer to God to the point God chose him as Israel’s king.  David’s heard is demonstrated in how he dealt with danger of being hunted by King Saul and his thoughts and prayers recorded in Psalms.  They provide for us wisdom and guidance for times we encounter trials and dangers and disappointments. God has a wonderful way of using those times to draw us closer to Himself and make us wiser and stronger and “people after His Own Heart” and more like Himself. If we become angry or bitter, we risk missing the blessing God is preparing for us. God will never waste a trial even though we have a choice as to how we see and deal with those trials.  I am becoming more convinced, in God’s economy, prosperity is God providing resources for us to share, but poverty and trials are God’s way of growing us.  Prosperity is when our faith is tested but poverty and trial is what draws us to God for preparation.  Trials are where we crash or excel.  Prosperity is where we either fall or are obedient.  Both times will define our legacy and faithfulness but people will be drawn to us and impacted by us by how we deal with trial and suffering and tragedy.  The reason is because everyone faces such times and will see our faith as real and God as real if they see God’s love and abiding presence impacting us during those times.  They will be drawn to Him during those times in our lives like none other. That means we have great responsibility during those times to be and remain faithful. Let’s pray God help so we will be found worthy and ready when those times come instead of unprepared for them.               

 “What to others are disappointments are to believers intimations of the way of God.” John Newton                      

9/24/17                              Encouragement Is Good                                          24  
And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus.   Acts 4:36

SCRIPTURE:  ACTS 15:36-41  “³⁶ And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.³⁷ And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.³⁸ But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.³⁹ And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;⁴⁰ And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.⁴¹ And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.”  COMMENTS:What name will you be remembered by.  It is common to have a “nickname”or a name of endearment someone gave us and then caught on either among our friends or at school or at work.  A few years into my career at Joy Mining Machinery as a engineer, a drafter in our engineering office assigned the name “Chuckles” to me since I had a distinctive laugh.  It caught on and over time many only knew me by that name instead of my given name.  Names can be either destructive or complementary.  It is interesting that commonly the name we are given by our parents at birth, when we learn what that name means, reflects either our character or gift(s) or talent(s) or calling.  In my case the name “Donald” means leader.  I have resisted leadership roles over the years because I don’t like being in the spotlight but also have lacked the confidence, especially when I was much younger, to make wise decisions.  Yet looking back I can see God has placed me in positions to influence and guide and lead in many ways without having the title or position typically assigned to such tasks.  The highest position I achieved in my career as a engineer for nearly 40 years at Joy Mining Machinery was Supervisor.   The job meant overseeing a group of 6-8 other designers and engineers with task of design and providing build specs and field engineer support for the 14CM miner product line I was assigned. Yet the influence that position provided an open door to was making contact and gaining the respect of high level managers in coal mining companies all over the United States both at a professional level but in manycases on personal level.  I also had noteworthy opportunites to share Christ and provide Christian council to many because of those contacts.  I often noticed God gave me a mission to many who I never would have known or met as a pastor or missionary or a worker in another company.  One noteworthy example was a meeting I attended with the General Manager of the eastern region of a major coal mining company in USA.  He had a meeting of all his mine superintendents and asked the sales managers from Joy to come with some key engineers and service engineers to discuss mining equipment needs and problems and also to hear upcoming improvements Joy was developing.   We would have similar meetings with other companies and regions and was always a very productive time sharing information and partnering in solutions.  This particular time the General Manager, as was his custom, would always pray before the noon meal the group would have together.  He was not ashamed of his faith in Christ and commanded great respect of his employes, including those who did not profess Christ.   At that meeting, he asked me to give that prayer.  It was such a honor and puzzled the managers there from Joy since they thought they were much better known to him.  But because of the one-with-one relationship I had had with him over the years helping him with specific needs and problems when he had called me for help in the past, and because during those conversations we had shared our faith with each other,  it was a natural thing for him to ask me to give the meal prayer.

Now in my retirement years writing and sharing this journal and the other posts in my blog and connecting with it to many in the US and other countries, I am realizing God is giving further validity to my name.  Well, the name “Chuckles” still remains as a name of endearment to some and I am honored by it too since it simply confirms the Joy Christ gives is still spilling out of my life and is still noticeable by others.  Times when I get frustrated or overwhelmed or upset at life’s circumstances or even with other people at times, I am reminded to withhold from expressing my anger and stay true to my name and accountable to my Lord and Savior.  Times I still fail to sustain that goal, His Grace cleanses me again.   No, my shortcomings are still evident to those who know me but love empowers us to forgive each other, which is what God is calling each of us to do and sustain all our lives.  AMEN!   Well, what is your name (both given at birth and those given by friend or other family)?  Do the research and find out what your names mean and see if that meaning reflects your gifts or things your have accomplished or done over the years.  You might just be surprised how God has used you to honor Himself and bless you too.  We don’t know who Joses by his given name but by Barnabus, which means “son of encouragement”   That name fitted him because he was well know as an encourager nad did great work at healing the divide between Mark and Paul, as one example.               AMEN!    “The church should be a community of encouragement.”    Fred Catherwood

 

9/25/17                              Call Upon God                                                               25   

For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.   Psalm 116:8-9

SCRIPTURE:  JONAH 2:1-9  “Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly,² And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.³ For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.⁴ Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.⁵ The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.⁶ I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.⁷ When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.⁸ They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.⁹ But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.¹⁰ And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”  COMMENTS:  David and Jonah give us wonderful examples of genuine prayers seeking God’s help from a perspective of desperation.  God used danger to guide them to pray and seek His help to do what was most important. Their distress also prepared them to be open to receive God’s answer but also prepared them to obey His direction.   In Jonah’s case, that danger could have been avoided if he had followed God’s direction in the first place.  Jonah’s calling was vital to God and the only hope to save the Ninevite people from certain destruction.  But they didn’t realize their peril. They had rained death and destruction on Jonah’s people, which is why he refused to obey God the first time.

When Jonah finally obeyed, God used him in a mighty way to save 120,000 in the city of Ninevah from God’s judgment because they all repented.  Talk about a revival.  But Jonah still hated them for what they did so God had to guide him to forgiveness too.  Refusing to forgive doesn’t hurt the offender but hurts the offended.  The victim, the one who refuses to forgive.  God asks us to forgive not to let the offender off “scott free” but to  restore the relationship with us hindered by our unwillingness to forgive.  Jonah’s story certainly reflects that truth.  Ninevah did repent and at least those in the city discovered what it is to have a relationship with the God of all creation.

Jonah saw the Ninevites as evil people who deserved God’s judgment.  God saw them as lost people who would repent if given the opportunity.  He wanted to redeem them but Jonah wanted them to pay for their sins.  Jonah was justified in our eyes for his hatred but he forgot God’s mercies he had enjoyed and level of sin God had forgiven him of.  He also didn’t realize the relationship with God he had turned from by letting hatred for his captors consume him.  God was showing mercy to Jonah by allowing him to endure 3 days in the fish.  It also took 3 days for Jonah to walk from one end of the city of Ninevah to the other preaching God’s message of judgment and repentence to them.  God was quick to restore Jonah but also to embrace the Ninevites when they were ready to receive Him.  

He is waiting for us and those we are called to give His Good News to as well.  Not everyone will be so willing to repent but some will.  Some will repent first time they hear.  Others will take many repeated times to hear because their hearts need further preparation too.   Our job is not to judge success or failure but to be faithful in telling.  Ours may be the job of sharing the 14^th time when salvation will be received the 15^th time. But what if we are the one to share the gospel for the 15^th time and that time the receiving person repents and receives His salvation.  What if we had refused after 14^th  times thinking was a hopeless cause.  Well, only God knows but if we are faithful to our calling, then results remain in His hands, not ours. 

Trials sometimes come as a consequence of poor choices but also serve to give us focus on God’s instruction and direction.  When we obey, then the consequences serve a great purpose, but when we continue on a path of poor choices, we put ourselves and our families at risk of worse consequences and of facing God’s judgment.  Both are avoidable but still our choice.
“Life and trouble are married together.” Thomas Watson                                                                                   

9/26/17                                 Tides                                                                                      26 1 Corinthians 7:32-35  “³² But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:³³ But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.³⁴ There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.³⁵ And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.”  COMMENTS:  Paul lived in a time when being a faithful Christian in witness and ministry put not only you but your entire family at risk. If you were given the choice of renouncing your faith or your family would be fed to the lions or tortured and killed. It would be one think to face such a death but to face a choice like that affecting those you love, what would you do?  If they were born again Christians, then they likely would face the same fate anyway so they would want other family members to deny Christ to save them. They as you would know in eternity you would all be together, but if you or they deny Christ, then an eternity apart would be a real possibility. Well, I pray I will never have to face such a choice and pray you won’t either.  But no guarantee we won’t and many in past generations and even more in this time are facing such a choice and level of persecution.

I believe that was likely impacting Paul’s perspective on this scripture.  Since he was single, he had a lot more freedom to be bold and aggressive in ministry since he didn’t have a family that the Jewish leadership nor Rome could use to blackmail or intimidate him to compromise the Gospel or evangelism of that Message.  Yet the other side is a couple and family united in ministry with a common passion for Christ was then and certainly is today a powerful example to all who know them.  Dysfunctional families and divorce and child neglect and child and wife (and even husband) abuse are in epidemic numbers.  Truth is it is better to be alone and single than to be in an abusive marriage. 

God is in the business of miracles and has brought miraculous healing to marriages in every generation.  Yet until both marriage partners are willing to let Christ into their lives and open themselves for the Holy Spirit to guide and change them, then God’s transforming work is limited.  If you are struggling with such a family and marriage, I encourage you to stay true and consistent in prayer and conduct and reflection of Christ’s example.  It is not possible to sustain this on your own, but God will stay hand in hand to help you each step and each day if you simply keep your eyes and heart on Him.  If it takes 50 years or a lifetime to accomplish the goal of saving your family, it will be well worth it.  The consequence of giving up is too great on them if not also on you.  Yet the growth in your walk with Christ if you remain faithful will be exceeding and strengthen you greatly.  You will also become much better equipped to minister to others too.                                    

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”  Harriet Beecher Stowe

9/27/17                              Loving a Loveless Age                                             27
Titus 3:1-15 “Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,² To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.³ For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.⁴ But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,⁵ Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;⁶ Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;⁷ That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.⁸ This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.⁹ But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.¹⁰ A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;¹¹ Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.¹² When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.¹³ Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.¹⁴ And let our’s also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.¹⁵ All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.  COMMENTS: It is easy to love those who are kind and pleasant and considerate and respectful.  It is easy to love those who demonstrate love to us. But what about those who do the opposite.  Scripture tells us to especially show love towards them instead of returning as receive from them.  Break the cycle of poor behavior and response to poor behavior.  Have you ever been in a bad mood or overwhelmed with your circumstances and someone made it worse with an arrogant or mean spirit. How about when someone showed compassion towards you.  Which made you feel and act better?  Well then, could that be one of the reasons why we are told to return love for hate and good for evil.  Doing so heaps coal of fire on their heads. (Prov 25:20-25 “²⁰ As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.²¹ If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:²² For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.²³ The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.”)

We are not called to an easy path or to live an easy life, but we are called to be like Christ and let the Holy Spirit dwell in us and guide and strengthen and help us live like Christ.  I dare say much, if not most, of the time we are treated poorly by others as a response to how we treat them.  If that is true, then when we consistently begin treating others the way we want to be treated (Golden Rule – Matthew 7:12), we might just discover our days going better because others will begin treating us better.  I challenge you, as I challenge myself, to practice this the next time that ill-tempered person you hate to be around confronts you at work or even in church.  You might just discovered they are going through a time of suffering and desperately need someone to listen and comfort them or even provide some tangible way of helping relieve their suffering.
“Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.”  Francis of Assisi                          

9/28/17                              Planning With Love                                             28 
Song of Solomon 2:1-7  “I am a rose^[e] of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.

He  ² Like a lily among thorns  is my darling among the young women.                                       She ³ Like an apple^[f] tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men.
I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.⁴ Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.⁵ Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples,
for I am faint with love.⁶ His left arm is under my head,  and his right arm embraces me.
⁷ Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field:Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.”  COMMENTS:  We live in a society obsessed with sex without restraint of a moral code.  Restraint before marriage is almost unheard of and those who maintain their virgin status until married are rare and thought by most as being abnormal or even weird or worse.  A generation ago at least there was a common sense of guilt for indulging in premarital sex and two generations ago the sense of premarital sex as being wrong was more commonly believed.  We need to go back a number of generations to find a time when sex was withheld until marriage commonly.

But adultery has always been a generational weakness and tendency.  Sexual passions are strongest during teen years especially for males and females during their teen years are especially vulnerable to need for acceptance of their peers, especially from males they like.  That is still true today but difference is almost total acceptance of “free sex” and even demonization of those who adhere to any other philosophy or doctrine.

Well, God has not changed nor has His laws and commands.  Adultery is still sinful in His eyes.  Yet the truth is His laws are designed to protect us from danger and pain and not to withhold “forbidden pleasures” from us.  Adultery is a temptation satan uses to attack marriage and family, which is sacred to Him and the life blood of a happy existence and strongest access to a relationship with Christ as well as the ideal support system to sustain the Christian life.  Even more than the Christian church, the family unit is designed to draw us closer to Christ and build the strongest defense against satan’s attacks.

We only need to look around us, and likely within our own families, to see the consequences of a generation abandoning God’s commands and embracing adultery as the normal way of living.  Even further steps of sinful digression are becoming more common and accepted because a moral code of conduct established by God is no longer even known let alone believed and followed.  But how is living with the consequences working?  I dare say not well at all.  Violence and ruined lives are just as common and the immoral lifestyle being followed today.  Granted, we are all sinners doomed to God’s judgment without seeking and accepting Christ’s redemptive blood sacrificed for us.   But in order to receive His redemption, we must first believe and confess our own sins and repent (turn from) and seek His forgiveness and help to change. Even then, we still live short of the perfect life Christ lived and need to repent and draw closer for Christ to continue to change us.  That struggle and process will continue the rest of our lives but growth and maturing and successfully battling temptations is what God calls us to do.  The battle and struggles with satan make us stronger when we battle with the Holy Spirit living in us and fighting by our side.

Well, today’s scripture is a glimpse into love within the marriage bond as God intended.  God intended sex and love to bring joy and life, but satan devised a scheme to destroy marriage and cause misery and death by making a way of using sex as an expression of sinful desires. How said so many indulge without ever knowing what God intended them to enjoy.

Now look around and focus on an example or two of couples who were and remained faithful to Christ both before and after they were married.  My parents and my wife’s parents were such examples and provided Arlene and I guidance and desire to follow their example.  By doing so, we both built an enduring marriage that also drew us closer to Christ too.  That legacy we showed to our children and now are grandchildren is a top priority for us based on the blessing of a happy life and eternal life we desire for them as well.  Disgust from the world of such a world view saddens me so, because such disgust will one day bring great regret upon those who hold to such a reaction to God’s commands.  God’s love is not something to be avoided but something to seek and embrace.  Christ is our only hope and only way to an eternal future we long for and be glad for 100 years from now.  That much is certain.  In 100 years we all will either be in heaven or hell based on choices we make while living on earth.  Whether we believe that or not is irrelevant. Truth is still truth whether we believe it or not.  AMEN!
“The sanctity of marriage and the family relation make the cornerstone of our American society and civilization.”  James A. Garfield

9/29/17                              Single and Blessed                                                29 
1 Corinthians 7:6-8  “⁶ But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.⁷ For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.⁸ I say therefore to the unmarried and widows; it is good for them if they abide even as I.”  COMMENTS: Culture and our peers make us feel incomplete or less of a person if we are single. These feelings and pressures are likely worse and more common with women than for men but are evident with both especially as reach the age of 30 and older .The mentality that life is not complete or fulfilled without a spouse and temptation that it is better to find any willing spouse rather than continue to wait for the right one is an almost irresistible temptation. But scripture and the lives of those before us give us a much different perspective.  God’s timing and perspective is eternal and infinitely wiser than ours, so we shouldn’t be surprised or disappointed when he tests our faith by asking us to wait for His timing and person.  Most are not called to a celebrate life of singleness but all are called to trust Him enough to wait for His choice of the right spouse at the right time and lead a celebrate lifestyle until enter the marriage covenant.  That is God’s plan and God’s blessing and gift to each.

But if enter marriage for the wrong reasons or with the wrong person and/or the wrong time, what can we do?  We can’t go back in time.  Well, God can fix or transform wrong choices.  He wants to transform us, making wrong choice of a spouse into the right choice.  God doesn’t like or want divorce but provided it because of our sinfulness. 

But there is a bigger issue and question and goal we should be addressing.  That question is not what I have to do to be happy or what do I need to do to find someone to make me happy.   Truth is no one can but Christ and no relationship can satisfy our needs without a personal relationship with Christ.    THE QUESTION NEEDS TO BE “WHAT IS GOD’S WILL AND PLAN AND WHAT DO I NEED TO DO AND CHOOSE TODAY TO BE IN HIS WILL?”    The lie is if we wait, we will miss out on our only opportunity.  Truth is God’s will provides time for us to make sure.  A missed opportunity for me to meet my future wife was missed because of a choice I made to not participate in community day festivities. I didn’t know that at time and didn’t have another opportunity for 2 more years. But because both of us independent of each other chose to wait for God’s timing and person, that opportunity came and we did meet each other and began dating.  We waited for God’s choice and God’s timing, a choice that prepared us to establish and build a marriage and family to honor Christ and strengthen our faith too.  

But whether we are married or remain single all our lives, God has such blessing in store for us while on earth and far more in heaven if we are and remain faithful to Him.  Either way, our relationship with Him is most important both for our own happiness and sense of purpose but also to fulfil our God designed purpose and legacy for eternity.  God’s ways are always best for all.  We just need to follow His ways and Will.  I know easier to say than do, especially when crisis is looming or opportunities are fading.  BUT HE IS STILL ON HIS THRONE AND STILL IN CONTROL.  HE ALWAYS HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE. “One of the greatest advantages of singleness is the potential for greater focus on Christ and accomplishing work for Him. “    Elizabeth George

9/30/17                              The Most Important Thing                                      30
1 Corinthians 7:19-20  “¹⁹ Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.²⁰ Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.  COMMENTS:  Today completes another month of devotions.  Here in Pennsylvania, we are seeing early signs of fall.  Days are getting much shorter and nights are getting cooler.  Leaves are starting to show their fall colors and beginning to fall. Their beautiful display will soon be reaching their peak and then they will be gone.  Another way for God to remind us of His love with a creation we are intended to enjoy, but enjoy with Him.  I invite you to join me in reflecting on the joys and blessings God showers us with without cost but abundantly. It is so easy to be so focused on our problems that we miss out enjoying His blessings all around us.  To live another day is such a blessing no matter what comes that day.  How many beautiful sunrises or sunsets or rainbows or beautiful star or moon lite nights or meteor showers or fall foliage displays or flowers have we missed because of life’s distractions? Taking time to enjoy family and friends and our church families is also important to do regularly.  But most of all taking time each day to enjoy fellowship with Christ, who loves us more than any other is a blessing and joy God desires most from us and a blessing we desperately need more than any other.

The last couple of devotions focused on marriage and family reminds us just how precious and important they are to each of us.  God designed marriage and family for us but also designed us to thrive when these institutions include Him in their midst.

Yet satan is doing everything he can to attack and destroy every marriage and family unit he can.  He knows doing so will hurt us but even more will grieve God, which is what he is mostly after.    Satan can’t touch God but by attacking who and what God cares most about, he believes he is hurting God where He is most vulnerable.  BUT HE IS WRONG!  Loving us and sacrificing does not show God’s weakness but His Strength and Goodness.  By loving God and obeying Him, we are not showing weakness but accessing God’s strength and power and help.  Satan is not match for God but we are not match alone for satan either.

Satan attacks marriage by tempting us to substitute lust for sex and human love within marriage covenant.  Satan attacks marriage but deceiving us to thinking we would be happier with someone else instead of building a closer relationship with our spouse.  Satan attacks family by putting its members at odds with each other and by distracting them from spending time together with outside interests.  Those interests may not be evil by themselves, but become evil when distract from needed time together as a family.  Same goes for time together as a married couple.  FAMILIES THAT PRAY TOGETHER STAY TOGETHER!  FAMILIES THAT EAT TOGETHER STAY TOGETHER TOO! FAMILIES THAT PLAY TOGETHER STAY TOGETHER TOO!  A lot of truth in these statements if they become the norm and habit.  We need to know our enemy but even more we need to know our God.  That means spending time with our God and not only learn about Him and strive to be like Him, but listen to His warnings and description of who satan is and who he is not and arm ourselves for battles of temptations he throws at us.

You and I need reminded often God doesn’t deprive us of joy or pleasure but protects us from those which will harm us and others.  He will warn us and do all He can short of forcing us but will let us make our own choices, wise or foolish.  He will let us choose good or evil but He will make the choice of consequences when we choose evil.  We never can choose consequences of our actions.  If we could, there would be no deterrence to following satan.   That would be far worse. 

Take time to look around where satan’s influence is dominant in pagan religions or just Godlessness in countries and communities and families and marriages. Then look at marriages and families and communities and churches where Christ is taught and followed.  The difference is as black and white.  Following Christ is infinitely better than following satan or even just our own wisdom.  Well, even if we believe that, doing that consistently takes a lot of work and discipline and commitment but most of all a lot of time with Him in devotion and prayer so we let and keep His Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds and lives.  Also in our marriages and in our families.  AMEN?  AMEN!
“The essence of chastity is not the suppression of lust, but the total orientation of one’s life towards a goal.”   Dietrich Bonhoeffer

1. I hope this month’s devotional journal has been a blessing to you. God willing, I pray we will continue this journey next month.  If you wish to contact me or follow my blog or facebook page, I invite you to do so at link below:

BLOG:  https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/

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EMAIL:  dmcdaniel12@verizon.net