JULY 2021    

 7/1/21                                               The Tribulum                                                       1     
Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. Romans 12:12

RECOMMENDED READING ROMANS 12:9-13  “⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

COMMENTS:    “I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.”   Psalm 119:93 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us”   Hebrews 12:1                                                                                                                                                                 I think it is amazing how well even “random” verses tie together with a common theme and message.  Today’s devotion reveals the background of the word “tribulation” and how it applies to coming time of suffering and judgment.  It also relates to current hardships that may come into our lives.  The two verses from Psalms and Hebrews remind me how important it is to make God’s Word a part of my life and let it and life examples it reveals, along with Christians that are involved in my life now, prepare me and help me thru life’s trials.  I can only imagine the struggles our step grandson, Joey, is having in early days of Boot Camp.  I do believe the disciplines he learns will empower him for life but am also praying God will become real to him during this time and he will let God be his guide for the rest of his life.  How and why does God use hardships to strengthen us and draw us closer to Him?  That is a mystery but I know I can, and presume you can, recall countless examples of life’s challenges drawing me closer to Him.  I certainly need to confess hardships I’ve experience are much milder and shorter lived than examples so many I know have experienced.  Yet lessons they taught me have been vital to my Christian faith as well as persuading me to make wise decisions, even at a young age but certainly now in my senior years.   Romans 12 remind us to be at peace with each other and with God and even with those who mean us harm or just treat us poorly.  Scripture reminds us of hope we have and that any hardships are short lived when compared with eternal home God is lovingly preparing for each of us.    I have to admit I’ve not grown quite enough to glory in trials, but have grown enough to realize God is with me and will help me thru hardships when they come, even if are experienced in lives of those I love and am concerned with.   I have tried to live modestly in order to both give an example to follow as well as free up resources for future needs.  I also want to leave my children resources to help them and their families to weather future hardships.  Yet I also realize danger those resources may give towards indulgences and am both concerned and praying everything I do will empower them and not open temptations to them.   Since none of us know the future, we have to rely on God to bring good out of good intentions as well as out of any mischief satan will plan and work to do as well.  I have to put their lives in His hands, necessary for any parent to do.

7/2/21                                               Fragile Threads                                                    2   
The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice. Psalm 97:1

RECOMMENDED READING PSALM 97:1-6  Sing to the Lord a new song;sing to the Lord, all the earth.
² S ing to the Lord, praise his name;proclaim his salvation day after day.³ Declare his glory among the nations,his marvelous deeds among all peoples.⁴ For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;he is to be feared above all gods.⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols,but the Lord made the heavens.
⁶ Splendor and majesty are before him;strength and glory are in his sanctuary.”

COMMENTS:   There was a time during WWII that Allies were losing and many feared Axis would conquer the free world.  Hitler’s plan was working but he made a couple of fatal mistakes, one was attacking Russia.  I believe the prayers and faithfulness of Christians in US and other countries made the difference and God lead Hitler into making those mistakes and also lead key leaders in Allied side to make some key decisions.  God’s hand was at work during that time!!!  We are also told God’s hand will be at work during the Battle of Armageddon, when Israel will be surrounded with an army of 200 million soldiers with a hopeless outcome.  In this case God will fight the battle for Israel as He did at the Red Sea.  The world’s armies of 200 million will be destroyed directly by God and the flow of blood from the armies will be to the bridles of the horses in the great valley of Megiddo where the battle will be fought.  That prophecy and promise God has given the Jews, and us, is meant to encourage us and to help us choose the “winning side – God’s side” especially when times seem hopeless.  He seems to take great pleasure waiting til times are hopeless and then rewarding the faithfulness of those who remain faithful to Him.  You and I can’t know what lies ahead or when.  However, history – scripture – our own experiences and those of those we know and love all  remind us that God is faithful and we can trust Him enough for our future, as Daniel did, to be faithful and be His witnesses even when doing so is unpopular or even life threatening, as we are told someday it will be.  As our step-grandson, Joey Coon, begins to face the challenges of Army Boot Camp in Fort Jackson, SC, we are praying he too will find a relationship with Him and allowing Him to build a Christ-like character in him, so he will find the strength and confidence needed to excel both in demands of Army as well as mission God has for him.  With Hunter and Lily coming up behind Joey, we know their challenges will be just as demanding if not more so in years ahead.  How well we guide them and give them examples to follow, and how well they follow them is what gives us and their parents anxiety but also a motivation to be constantly in communication with Him to guide them as well as us.  I’m sure you are experiencing similar challenges and pray you will too realize and take advantage of the strength and wisdom God offers to you as well!!  Its wonderful God is big enough for us all!!  If God can conquer an army of 200 million with a word, He can help each of us with our problems and be a sufficient guide for us, our children, and our grandchildren!!  He has been doing that since Adam and Eve and shows no signs of stopping now!!

7/3/21                                                         Instant Victory                                              3

And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured….
Revelation 19:19-20

RECOMMENDED READING REVELATION 19: After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,²     for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute
    who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

³ And again they shouted:“Hallelujah!The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”⁴ The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried:“Amen, Hallelujah!”⁵ Then a voice came from the throne, saying:“Praise our God,
    all you his servants,you who fear him, both great and small!”⁶ Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:“Hallelujah!
    For our Lord God Almighty reigns.⁷ Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!For the wedding of the Lamb has come,and his bride has made herself ready.⁸ Fine linen, bright and clean,was given her to wear.”⁹ Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”¹⁰ At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”¹¹ I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. ¹² His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. ¹³ He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵ Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”^[a] He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. ¹⁶ On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:king of kings and lord of lords.¹⁷ And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, ¹⁸ so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”¹⁹ Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. ²⁰ But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. ²¹ The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

COMMENTS:    Today on Turning Point David Jeremiah stated the reason why God has the host of heaven with Him as well as the entire raptured army of saints from ages past is not to give Him an army to defeat satan’s 200 million army at Armageddon but for us to witness His judgment on satan and those who brought suffering to the saints.  That may only be the reason in part but we are told even though we will be part of His army we will not need to do battle since He will be doing battle Himself by simply speaking judgment.  He will fully protect us and do battle alone with sufficient force we will not be or even feel threatened.  However, today we sometimes do feel threatened or defeated.  We need to remind ourselves our hope is in future He has promised us and He has power and authority to fulfill those promises.  We also have history to prove to us He is faithful to His promises.  We are on the winning side if we are on His side.  Why then does satan continue to fight the loosing fight?  That question puzzles me to.  How could satan not know better or the demons who follow him?   I can see humans being deceived but how can demons and satan, who have seen God’s power be deceived into thinking they can defeat Him?  I don’t know the answer to that or understand except what God’s word tells us.  Satan’s own pride and selfishness allowed him to be deceived and motivated him to deceive the demons to follow him as well as human kind afterwards.  That tells me satan deceived himself into thinking he could defeat God and has been able to deceived  1/3 of heaven’s angels and most of the world’s population since to believe he can and will defeat God.  Before we become too judgmental, think back on ways you and I also have been deceived by satan and what ways we continue to be deceived with temptations and sin?  God even tells us without His help, we will never be able to resist satan’s snares so he is a formidable foe.  History gives us plenty of examples of how deceptive he can be.  However, we have countless examples of God’s intervention and help to prove to us both that God’s ways are far better but also that He will prevail!!!  History also tells us God gives satan and us free will and plenty of rope before judgment comes, but come it will if we do not repent and open door for Him to change us.   We are permitted to make choices but not the consequences of our choices or when we will face those consequences.

7/4/21                                                   Near and Far                                                      4   

And [Jesus] began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  Luke 4:21

RECOMMENDED READING  ISAIAH 61:1-4  The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a]2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,
to  comfort all who mourn, ³     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty nstead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness,  a planting of the Lord  for the display of his splendor.⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins  and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities  that have been devastated for generations.

 “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”  Corrie ten Boom                                                                                                            

COMMENTS:     I do appreciate the scripture from Isaiah 61 as well as Corrie’s insight quoted above.  Isaiah reminds us that Christ will come with full power and authority of God and will make things right with those who have suffered for Him and will make them “Oaks of Righteousness” planted to glorify Christ.  He will also rebuild ancient ruins.  The evil mischief satan has ravaged on mankind through all generations will be erased and God’s creation will be restored to original glory and perfection.    Corrie indeed suffered greatly, as did her family, but the hope she lived and shared was that the Christ she knows can be trusted even though she could not see if her suffering would continue or even be worse than in the past.  That hope and confidence sustained her during darkest years of WWII’s concentrations camps as it did before those years and has since even when Christ took her home.  What confidence to know she will be among the army return with Him to destroy satan’s armies and bind him and restore earth to it’s original glory with Christ on the throne.  What other ruler has ever been able to fulfill such promises or reign with such righteousness and grace?  Not one!!  Aren’t you glad the One that will reign with such righteousness will also be the one whose reign will never end? Aren’t you also glad we will enjoy His reign for even also without suffering or aging or evil contaminating that rule??   “You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word” Psalm 119:114.  That verse sums up the confidence we have in scripture and the Christ we worship and follow.  No wonder Psalm 119 is the longest chapter…   This tells me God’s plan is too big to be done in one generation or one lifetime but not too big for God to plan or complete.  Yet He will not allow any of His faithful followers to miss the completion of His plan or miss being a part in it.    Those of us who have been blessed to experience a full length career at one company can gain a similar perspective that one lifetime is not enough to fulfill the vision of a company’s founder or fulfill its potential.  Yet I’m sure it’s accomplishments did exceed Joseph Joy’s expectations.  Best we can do is fulfill the vision Christ has for each of us and let Him fit us into His plan and be fulfilled in being a part of that plan.  There is no better way to be fulfilled than to follow the purpose the great Designer built us to do and be.  Anything we choose to do on our own will come short of that mark and leave us empty and disappointed or worse.

  7/5/21                                                   Jesus the Judge                                               5     
For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.
John 5:22

RECOMMENDED MATTHEW 7:1-12   “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

⁶ “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

COMMENTS:  Today’s scripture, Matthew 7:1-12, starts with a command not to judge and ends with golden rule to treat others the way we want treated.  The verse below then tells us to just don’t listen but do it!!  
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22   We tend to only think of Christ as a loving and forgiving God, which He is.  However, He is also a just God who requires obedience and practicing the commands He gives us.  Scripture tells us Christ was tempted in every way we are but DID NOT SIN!!  That gives Him credibility in understanding what we go thru and understanding of our weaknesses and vulnerability.  However, His commands and expectations are that we will accept His help and forgiveness and proceed, as Apostle Paul to then live a life of obedience.  It is true we will be in need of Christ’s forgiveness and constant fellowship and guidance every day of our lives.  However, that does not mean we have an open pass to sin and disobey Him deliberately and without remorse and without taking His hand going down a path of obedience and a path of resisting and even avoiding temptation and sin.  Satan is cunning enough to fool most in every generation to follow him, but how can he be so foolish to believe he can defeat God.  Yet we are told he will try with an army of 200 million soldiers with modern weaponry at Armageddon.   He should know better than to think even that will overpower God.  Yet scripture tells him and us that God will defeat him with a word and without help of armies of heaven and saints.  They will be witnesses, but power will come directly from God.  Given that, why would anyone choose to be on losing side, satan’s side?  That only proves how effective satan has and will continue to deceive everyone, including himself.  Yet how many times have we disobeyed our parents as children or teens knowing we would get caught and punished?  We thought we could get away with things or just thought punishment would be worth short term fun.  We were wrong and years and wisdom may have convinced us at least in part that is true enough to leave more obedience lives.  Yet, truth is without a constant relationship with Christ, we are still very vulnerable to deception and sin.  No one has been able to resist satan without Christ’s help so why would we think we would be able to?  Yet, realization of that only comes as we dive deeper into His Word and in prayer and in fellowship with Him.

7/6/21                             Right On!: Do What You Know Is Right                         6  
Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. James 4:17

James, the half-brother of Jesus, was slow to affirm the ministry of his controversial brother (John 7:5). Eventually he did come to believe in Him and became one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem after Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 15:13). And what a leader! Once James got in step with Jesus’ mission, he became zealous for righteousness. His one epistle is the most like the messages of the Old Testament prophets of all the New Testament letters.  James seemed to be a black-and-white thinker. Don’t approach James to discuss compromise or the possibility of not doing what God expects. First, James said that if you know what is the right thing to do but don’t do it, it is sin (James 4:17). Second, he said that if you do all the right things except one, it’s the same in God’s sight as not having done any of them (James 2:10). Any questions?  But James also appreciated the grace of God. In cases where we don’t know the right thing to do, he said ask God for wisdom which God will give “liberally and without reproach” (James 1:5).  Grace doesn’t mean we don’t have to do the right thing. Neither does it mean we can’t ask to be shown. “

The Christian must recognize that there are no degrees in right or wrong.”  Donald Grey Barnhouse               

 COMMENTS:       It is hard for us to comprehend God’s perfection or standard let alone live it.  It is easier for man to create gods that are evil or more like us in ability to do good and evil let alone creating religions where we can earn our way to righteousness and heaven or religions with standards we can live up to.  God’s standard is based on His holiness and righteousness and is infinitely higher than ours.  Yet one other thing that is difficult for us to accept is that even though we can’t live up to God’s standard, He has made a way to forgiveness and heaven not based on our deeds but based on His sacrifice and our willingness to accept His sacrifice and gift of salvation.   How much better God’s plan is than anything we could create or have already created in other religions currently or in past that have been practiced.   It may be hard to understand that salvation does not mean a free pass to sin because of God’s abounding forgiveness.  Paul spoke of this in scripture and said “God forbid”.  He then goes on to say we live righteously out of a desire to please God and live a better way and to be a witness and positive influence to bring others to Him.  Likewise, we need to realize how much we continue to need Him, His mercy, and His help to keep our forgiveness and cleansing fresh as well as guiding us to improve our behavior and grow in our relationship with Him.  I have heard an estimate of 10% of the world’s population will disappear when the church is raptured.  I’m sure born again Christians are in a minority but not sure it would be that high.  Yet I do believe that number is making a significantly positive difference in the world today, which will be removed when Christ returns.  If nothing else changed, how much worse life would be here.  Yet, we are told that satan will be allowed to work more freely during that time.    I am amazed to what extent we will go to avoid receiving the life and goodness God so wants to give us and how determined we are to continue a path of suffering and misery.  We just don’t seem to ever get it.  Well, in spite of all God has done for me and showed me and helped me,  I can see I still have that same bent as well.  It is part of the human condition and power of deception satan is still allowed to exercise in the world.  It is really scary to think satan’s power and influence will be even more at play during the tribulation that Christians could be deceived if not for God’s influence.  I’m so glad those who know and have received Him as their savior will be spared living in that time.  Yet, those left and accept Him will face persecution not even seen during time of Nero.  Join in praying that we will be true and pray for our children and grandchildren and friends that they accept Him and be true as well.

  7/7/21                                   ATTENTION GETTER #1:  SHOW LOVE                                            7

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you.
Matthew 5:44

Recommended Reading: Matthew 5:43-48

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? ⁴⁸ Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

COMMENTS:  When Todd Nettleton traveled to Ethiopia to interview victims of persecution, he was taken by a national evangelist to meet Pastor Haji, who serves in a dangerous area. Haji was glad to see his friend, the evangelist. Haji embraced the man and told Todd something surprising: “I used to beat him.” 

Before his conversion Haji led a radical Islamic group that attacked Christians, and he had beaten the Christian evangelist. In spite of the beatings, the evangelist didn’t lash out, show resentment, or run from danger. He displayed such love and concern for his attackers that he eventually led some to Christ—including Haji.

Haji’s story is similar to Paul’s in New Testament scripture.

Don’t meet hatred with hatred or insults with insults. Even those who are offensive to us need the love of Jesus. Ask God to use the Matthew 5:44 principle as an attention getter in your life to further the Gospel. They will know we are Christians by our love.

Lord, I choose to forgive this person, but I need Your help! Take from me the anger.… Enable me, with Your supernatural power, to love this person.Todd Nettleton

7/8/21                            The B-I-B-L-E: Thy Word Have I Hid in My Heart       8                                     Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
Psalm 119:11

RECOMMENDED READING :  PSALM 119:9-16  How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
    By living according to your word.¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart;do not let me stray from your commands.¹¹ I have hidden your word in my hear that I might not sin against you.¹² Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees.¹³ With my lips I recount  all the laws that come from your mouth.
¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.¹⁵ I meditate on your precepts  and consider your ways.¹⁶ I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

At morning, at noon, and at night I ever will give Thee praise; for Thou art my portion, O Lord, and shall be through all my days! Ernest Sellers    

COMMENTS:  This morning starts the eighth month doing this devotional journal and has been such a blessing to me – exercising the discipline of doing so and insights and fellowship God has given me as a result.  I have mostly used David Jeremiah’s daily devotion but have also used Bible Pathway and others depending on content and interest to me.  Since I’ve mixed different sources, the date of devotion trails today’s date.  However, I hope they have also been a blessing to you and helped you in your walk and journey with Him.  Forgive any typos or broken sentences in my comments.  I’ve read over them several times and think I’ve caught all of them but know better.  If you know me, are probably used to them since my brain and fingers are not always in sync with each other.  Sometimes I think God blesses us with imperfections so we better realize how much we must depend on Him to have and sustain a blessed life.   Anyway, today’s devotion reminds me just how important it is to saturate my thoughts with God’s Word.   I often experience times during day when God brings a verse to my mind and if take the time to reflect on it, will gain a reminder or even a new insight into its meaning and God’s word to me at that time.  There have been times those verses have given me direction on a upcoming choice and have been times I looked back and see how God was speaking to me and didn’t take the time to allow Him to do so until later and wish I had.  Anyway, putting God’s word in our minds and heart often enables God to speak to us in more meaningful ways and more often too.  It also takes up more of the room in our thoughts that otherwise would be cluttered by worthless or even harmful things.  Yet I too am a work in process and still working on implementing this lofty goal or being successful in doing what I know in my heart I need to do.  Yet what little I’ve done has helped me love Arlene more and my children and grandchildren more and live closer to Him and example He wants me to.

7/9/21                                               God’s Appointment                                              9 

He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings. Daniel 2:21a I SAMUEL 26:1-25 The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which faces Jeshimon?” 2 So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand select Israelite troops, to search there for David. 3 Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah facing Jeshimon, but David stayed in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul had followed him there, 4 he sent out scouts and learned that Saul had definitely arrived. 5 Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the camp, with the army encamped around him. 6 David then asked Ahimelek the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?” “I’ll go with you,” said Abishai. 7 So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him. 8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.” 9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? 10 As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. 11 But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.” 12 So David took the spear and water jug near Saul’s head, and they left. No one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up. They were all sleeping, because the Lord had put them into a deep sleep. 13 Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the hill some distance away; there was a wide space between them. 14 He called out to the army and to Abner son of Ner, “Aren’t you going to answer me, Abner?” Abner replied, “Who are you who calls to the king?” 15 David said, “You’re a man, aren’t you? And who is like you in Israel? Why didn’t you guard your lord the king? Someone came to destroy your lord the king. 16 What you have done is not good. As surely as the Lord lives, you and your men must die, because you did not guard your master, the Lord’s anointed. Look around you. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were near his head?” 17 Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that your voice, David my son?” David replied, “Yes it is, my lord the king.” 18 And he added, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done, and what wrong am I guilty of? 19 Now let my lord the king listen to his servant’s words. If the Lord has incited you against me, then may he accept an offering. If, however, people have done it, may they be cursed before the Lord! They have driven me today from my share in the Lord’s inheritance and have said, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ 20 Now do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the Lord. The king of Israel has come out to look for a flea—as one hunts a partridge in the mountains.” 21 Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. Because you considered my life precious today, I will not try to harm you again. Surely I have acted like a fool and have been terribly wrong.” 22 “Here is the king’s spear,” David answered. “Let one of your young men come over and get it. 23 The Lord rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness. The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. 24 As surely as I valued your life today, so may the Lord value my life and deliver me from all trouble.” 25 Then Saul said to David, “May you be blessed, David my son; you will do great things and surely triumph.” COMMENTS:     “We must begin to believe that God, in the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the Heavenly world, and can bring its power down to earth.”  Andrew Murray  The account of King Saul is a sad one.  He started out with great potential and had everything going for him – besides being king he had a son that honored him and was next in line to replace him. Jonathan would likely have been a great king.  King David would have been a great adviser to Jonathan if only Saul had remained faithful to God.  He didn’t and disobeyed God in critical areas because he would not wait on God and trust Him.  That downward spiral became evident when God took favor away from Saul and gave it to David.  Saul’s jealousy caused his death and the death of his son, Jonathan – a great tragedy since Jonathan was  a dear friend to David and saved David’s life many times from his father’s jealous attempts to kill David.  David’s life was not without its sins and regrets.  We may think David’s sins were greater than Saul’s but he was not equally punished.  However, we need to remember David repented of his sins and Saul did not even though he did regret them.  The difference between a sorrowful and regretful heart and a repentant heart may not be significant in our eyes but in God’s eyes they are a world apart.  David admitted his sin but was willing to give it up and turn to God to have fellowship with him and change him.  Saul only was sorry he got caught and for consequences.  David was willing to rely on God and wait for God’s help, Saul was not.  David did not take advantage of Saul and kill him when he could have in order to save his life.  David had confidence in God’s promise David would live to be king and would not take Saul’s life in order to save his.  It meant hiding from the king and his men for several years and nearly getting caught more than once but God was faithful to His promise to David.  These examples help us understand what is important to God and how He wants us to respond to Him too.  The ways He helped David be true and have confidence in His promises can help us have the same confidence and be as faithful.  David’s sins help us realized when we fail and sin, there is a way back and forgiveness if we repent and submit to Him to change us.  Isn’t it amazing God wants to do this, but also is capable of dealing with us individually with such detail while dealing with the world’s billions each with same detail as well as managing the entire universe…  I’m so glad He Can!!! You too???

7/10/21                                                       WARNING!                                           10     

For her house leads down to death, and her paths to the dead.
Proverbs 2:18

SCRIPTURE READING:  PROVERBS 7:1-27  My son, keep my words
    and store up my commands within you.
² Keep my commands and you will live;
    guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
³ Bind them on your fingers;
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴ Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
    and to insight, “You are my relative.”
⁵ They will keep you from the adulterous woman,
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words.

⁶ At the window of my house
    I looked down through the lattice.
⁷ I saw among the simple,
    I noticed among the young men,
    a youth who had no sense.
⁸ He was going down the street near her corner,
    walking along in the direction of her house
⁹ at twilight, as the day was fading,
    as the dark of night set in.

¹⁰ Then out came a woman to meet him,
    dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.
¹¹ (She is unruly and defiant,
    her feet never stay at home;
¹² now in the street, now in the squares,
    at every corner she lurks.)
¹³ She took hold of him and kissed him
    and with a brazen face she said:

¹⁴ “Today I fulfilled my vows,
    and I have food from my fellowship offering at home.
¹⁵ So I came out to meet you;
    I looked for you and have found you!
¹⁶ I have covered my bed
    with colored linens from Egypt.
¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed
    with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
¹⁸ Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning;
    let’s enjoy ourselves with love!
¹⁹ My husband is not at home;
    he has gone on a long journey.
²⁰ He took his purse filled with money
    and will not be home till full moon.”

²¹ With persuasive words she led him astray;
    she seduced him with her smooth talk.
²² All at once he followed her
    like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer^[a] stepping into a noose^[b]
23     till an arrow pierces his liver,
like a bird darting into a snare,
    little knowing it will cost him his life.

²⁴ Now then, my sons, listen to me;
    pay attention to what I say.
²⁵ Do not let your heart turn to her ways
    or stray into her paths.
²⁶ Many are the victims she has brought down;
    her slain are a mighty throng.
²⁷ Her house is a highway to the grave,
    leading down to the chambers of death.

COMMENTS:    Today’s devotion is once I wrote in 2013 and decided to include in this month’s journal:                     This week has been a week of conviction, contemplation, renewal, and fellowship. Family camp at Pleasantville has been an annual meca since Debbie was born in 1979, and for Arlene in the years prior to our marriage in 1978.  Over the years we have developed close friendships with many in the camp, as have our children and now our grandchildren.  It is good to see God working in their lives, as in ours.   Our evangelist Brett Heintzman has given us many challenging messages and God has been working to draw us closer to him in fellowship and in relationship with Him.  I have a sense that there is more God wants to reveal to me as well as more in my relationship He wants me to be in with Him.  I keep reflecting back to what my brother-in-law, Sam Shreffler said about his mother, Bobby.  Early every morning she raises and spends several hours with God in prayer-devotion-fellowship and describes that time as holding hands with her savior.  I spend time as well with Him but infrequently to the depth she does daily.  I will be seeking such a regular fellowship with Him and look forward to enrichment such a regular time will bring.  However, I also am more aware that my walk with Him is still very shallow and spend too much of my day going after my own interests and working my own will, missing opportunities He gives to be the light of hope He wants me to be.  So often He spares me from dangers by His warning signs but see too many examples of those who either did not see or ignored His Warning Signs and are suffering the consequences of those choices.  I see examples of many in camp who have had several opportunities even during camp because they have built relationships with others and were commonly at the right time and place to be a help to someone in need, but since I haven’t invested as much, missed many such opportunities.  However, I was very encouraged to be able to spend an afternoon with Mike Stalter and for Tammy to be able to spend an afternoon with Arlene and her sister and cousin as well.  I pray those seeds will blossom in their lives and their relationship with Christ.  We were also glad, afterwards, for Mike to share he was offered employment at a small company he applied to in Detroit, Michigan.  Will be praying and inquiring with interest to see how God is guiding and helping and protecting them as they prepare to move and begin a life there. 

7/11/21                    Right On!: Do What Is Right in God’s Sight                       11       
If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you. Exodus 15:26

RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE READING: LUKE 6:46-49 ⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? ⁴⁷ As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. ⁴⁸ They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

COMMENTS: Below are comments I wrote about this devotion in 2013 just after returning from our annual family retreat at Pleasantville, Pa.:

Today is first day home from 9 day retreat at Family Camp in Pleasantville.  Camp was enriches but now is time to apply experience into a deeper daily walk with Him and a brighter reflect of Christ in my life.  Our scripture in Luke reminds me that if I don’t apply the deep teaching I have received last 9 days, will be like building a house on sand which fill fall when storms come.  As I reflect on trouble of others I care for, and see their struggles, I am reminded that even after we commit our lives to Christ, we continue to make choices that will either bless or future or bring more hardship.  I am becoming more convinced that Christ wants us to recognize and be totally dependent and submitted to Him and turn from anything that distracts or hinders that surrender.  As I reflect on revivals happening in Haiti, or many countries in Africa or in China or even in many Islam countries, I realize the fertile soil revival comes in is usually soil of poverty and persecution and hardship.  I think the reason is desperation brings focus and commitment since we can’t survive or keep our sanity on our own in that environment.  In an atmosphere of prosperity and comfort, it is much more difficult to focus on Him and surrender to Him.  I see that battle in my own life.  Our camp evangelist, Brett Heintzmann, indicated that the church at Laodicea was the most comfortable and wealthiest of all the churches in Asia Minor but was the luke warm church that Rev. 3 spoke of that was neither hot nor cold and would be rejected by Christ.  I fear we are like that church because of comfortable life style and security even the poorest of us enjoy as compared with Christians in most of the world.  Can we overcome our indifference without losing our incomes and possessions and our freedoms?   I pray not but I also fear not.  God loves us enough He may indeed take these things from us in order to awaken in us a desire and need for Him.  If hardship has come into your life and are wondering why, consider it may indeed be God’s hand drawing you back to Him….   Remember, 100 years from now it won’t matter how much money or how good a job or how nice a house you owned, but will matter how faithful you and your family were to Christ.   It isn’t hard for Christians in China to remember that but is a truth we in US need to keep bringing back into focus.   Pray that I will and I will do same for you…..

7/12/21                                                  Sprayed With Foolishness                               12 

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.  Isaiah 1:18 RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE READING: ISAIAH 1:16-20  Wash and make yourselves clean.     Take your evil deeds out of my sight;     stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice.     Defend the oppressed.[a] Take up the cause of the fatherless;     plead the case of the widow. 18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,”     says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet,     they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson,     they shall be like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient,     you will eat the good things of the land; 20 but if you resist and rebel,     you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.   COMMENTS:   As I read and reflect on todays devotion, several things come to mind.  Sometimes when we kid around we say “digs” or make fun of others that often are hurtful even though most of the times we are only teasing.  Yet, I’ve seen such cause rifts in marriages.  Fortunately I sense that early in our marriage and have been diligent to hold my tongue and try to shift conversation to be complementary and have been diligent to only speak of Arlene in complementary ways whether she is with me or not. A cool thing that has come out of that is she speaks of me complementary as well – making us both feel better about ourselves as well as deepens our love for each other. That has gone a long ways towards making ours an extraordinary marriage.  Experiences of other couples we know had a much different path when one in a marriage would not shift to a complementary mode – both would end up hurting each other with their words with love fading or ended in their marriage.  How tragic and could have been avoided – cycle of hurt could have been broken.  However, God has pricked my heart those times I was careless with my words and did say something that hurt Arlene.  Forgiveness is an ongoing need for us to receive as well as give.  However, I’ve learned it is far better to never try to be “funny” at the expense of someone else, better to be perceived as quiet or boring than to say something that is hurtful.  I am not 100% cured of that but continue to make that a goal I am working on.  Can you look back and recall experiences both when you said something hurtful that you were only intending to be funny.  Can you also recall times you thought of something but didn’t say it and were glad later you didn’t. More often than not, when I refused to respond with “digs” or hurtful kidding when in conversation with others who were, conversation would shift to be more positive and would end well…    I believe the Holy Spirit will guide our discernment to that detail if we are close to Him and let Him do so.

7/13/21                                                   Get Some Sleep                      13     

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt. 6:34)
COMMENTS:  Today’s devotion may be good coming off of the weight of Daniel and Revelation – end time prophecy and terrible time being described.  I find end time prophecy fascinating and helpful preparing me both for that time but also to value how precious and appreciated God’s mercies and freedoms still are today but also to hold time remaining precious and use it wisely.  Yet, we also need to remind ourselves God is in control and need not worry about tomorrow, just plan our time and resources wisely today.  Max reflected the temptation to worry about ALS since his father died of that disorder. I am sure he noticed symptoms that convinced him he had that disease as well.  I can relate to that – my sister died of breast cancer at 50, my mother and father died of heart attacks but at ages 92 and 85. Of course, I would have pains that caused me anxiety at times, but was mostly due to stress or overdoing at times.  Yes, there are real dangers out there and we won’t get out of this world alive unless Christ returns first.  We have a much greater hope and confidence than that – we have promise of His abiding presence with us and a home with Him in heaven so need not fear good or bad.  He promises to be with us thru dark times (Psalm 23) and lead us to other side.  Worry only weakens us physically and spiritually and renders us less prepared than before so is exactly the opposite what we need.  If concern brings us to a point of contingent planning, that can be good.  But once we’ve done that, learning to put matters in His hands and moving on is our secret to a happy life that will honor Him and be a witness to those who know us.

7/14/21                          Tough Questions with RC Sproul                               14 

In the first chapter of Romans, God “gives sinners over to the lusts of their hearts.” What does it mean for God to give someone over to sin? Is this giving over active or passive?
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What does it mean that God gives someone over to his sin? We find this not only in the first chapter of Romans but also in the Old Testament. Jeremiah warned the people of Israel that this was exactly what their punishment would be, that God was not going to forbear with them forever but that there would
come a time when he would give them up. There would be a point when he would give them over to their sin. Early in Genesis, at the time of the Flood, we are warned that the Spirit of God does not strive endlessly with men. God is patient, but his long-suffering is designed to give us time to come to ourselves, to repent, to acknowledge him, and to be restored to fellowship with him. But at the same time, we are warned that that forbearance does not go on forever and that there can come a point in our obstinate refusal to repent and to respond to God when he will say it’s too late and will abandon us to our sin, withholding from us his saving grace. That’s a very terrifying thing to consider. The idea of giving a person over to his sin is a significant part of the final chapters of the book of Revelation, in which we read of John’s vision of the inner sanctum of heaven and of the last judgment. We’re told that those who have responded to Christ receive marvelous benefits, but those who have obstinately endured in their refusal to repent receive judgment at the hands of God. God says, “Let him who is wicked be wicked still.” There’s kind of a poetic justice here. To the people who want to be wicked and refuse to restrain themselves in their sin, God says, “I’m not going to restrain you anymore. I’m going to take the restraints away. I’ll take the leash off, give you your freedom. I’ll let you do exactly what you want to do. It’ll be to your everlasting destruction; it’ll be to your dishonor and to your ultimate dismay, but if that’s what you want, I’ll give you over to it.”  Is this giving over active or passive? It’s active in the sense that God acts to do it. God actually does give a person over to that person’s own desires.  It’s passive in that God remains passive toward that person’s self-destruction.                                                                                                                                                              COMMENTS:  We like to be reminded about God’s mercy and forgiveness especially when we realize how much we can’t earn or gain it on our own or even achieve and sustain righteous living on our own.  So it is troubling to read and reflect on above devotion and associated reference in Romans, as in other places in scripture. However, at closer inspection we see a determination to disobey God and ignore warnings in the examples found in scripture.  To ignore or choose to disobey God repeatedly is a dangerous path – one that may not bring consequence right away, but will bring a far worse consequences as sin continues.  However, danger in doing so is warnings and the sense of guilt will also fade.   I have seen that in behavior of others and certainly are many examples in news every day.  I can also see that path in our society as a whole and in our government – reverence for God has all but died and along with that respect for His commandments and sense of right and wrong they have etched in our souls.  It is one thing to struggle with a weakness of sin and continuing to seek God’s help and help of others to overcome that weakness and another to refuse help or even refuse to admit behavior is wrong.  I am searching my heart and asking God to show me anything that still grieves Him and show it to me and to help me repent and turn from it (Psalm 139:23-24).  I encourage you to do likewise with a heart open – yielded to Him.

7/15/21                        Tough Questions with RC Sproul                                 15
When the Bible says we will be accountable for all of our actions, does that include sins that we’ve already been forgiven for?  RC Sproul thinks so.  Some people will be quick to point out that the Bible says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions from us” and that he has cast them into the sea of forgetfulness. When God forgives us of our sins, he forgets them. He remembers them no more against us.  So it would seem that we could conclude from those passages that once we are forgiven of a sin, that’s the absolute end of it and we never have to be held accountable for it. When we are forgiven by God for a sin, there are two things we have to understand. First of all, when the Bible speaks of God’s forgetting our sins, we have to be careful how far we push that. That does not mean that suddenly the eternal God, who is omniscient and immutable, suddenly undergoes a memory lapse and that that which he once knew intimately he suddenly becomes ignorant of.  If we push that, it would give us a ghastly view of God. Rather, the Bible is using this kind of language to say that he doesn’t hold it against us anymore. He treats us without raising the issue in terms of delivering a punishment. The just punishment for any sin would be eternal separation from God. When we are forgiven, we are relieved of all eternal guilt and punishment so that we don’t have to worry about going to hell because we have sinned. At the same time, the New Testament tells us at least twenty-five times that the distribution of rewards in heaven will be done according to our relative degree of obedience or the works that we perform. We are told frequently by Jesus that on the last day all things will be brought into the light. Those things we have done in secret will be made manifest; every idle word will come into the judgment. I don’t think that means that I’m going to be punished for those sins that I’ve confessed and have had forgiven. Those are covered by the righteousness of Christ and by my Mediator. But I will have to stand before God for a full and complete evaluation of my obedience as a Christian. Whether or not at that time of evaluation he will mention the complete track record or just say, “Here’s the bottom line, you’ll get so many rewards”—I don’t know how that’s going to work. But I am going to be brought into a final accounting, and certainly in God’s mind every detail of my life will be there. Even though I am forgiven and I am not punished, any sin still means that I will receive less reward than if I had been obedient.      COMMENTS:  Today’s devotion is a bit contraversial,   so I will add a bit more perspective to author’s comments.  I do agree God’s forgiveness is complete and eternal.  Yet where I think consequences of sin still remain are shown in many examples in scripture.  David was forgiven his sin with Bathsheba but did lose their first son to death.  Absalom was rebellious and died as a consequence of influence of David’s sinful behavior.  You and I can relate sinful behavior can and will be forgiven but some scars and consequences will remain.  Marriages have been broken permanently from sins forgiven, but marriages have been saved / healed as well but some scars and regrets still remain.  How God chooses to heal and consequences he mercifully erases and those that remain can be and is a mystery but only show how sovereign He is.  Is best not to sin and find out what scars will remain than to sin expecting God to remove consequences of judgment as well as scars. As to rewards, I believe rewards that carry most weight in heaven will be those who become saved and are in heaven as a result of impact of our obedience.  The worse consequence may be loss of one who was not influenced by us because of sinful behavior.  I do believe God finds others to do His will if we don’t, but I do believe something is lost when we are either distracted by sin or refuse to obey His leading.  I really don’t think the size of our mansion or crown will mean that much to us in heaven (we will be laying our crown at His feet anyway) but impact on others will.  My dad would have been 97 today but I know where he is and will see him someday!!

7/16/21 An Encouraging Word from Max Lucado-Your One True Friend 16                       
Jonathan gives David a promise, a wardrobe, and protection. “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Prov. 18:24). David found such a friend in the son of Saul.  Oh, to have a friend like Jonathan. A soul mate who protects you, who seeks nothing but your interests, wants nothing but your happiness. An ally who lets you be you. You feel safe with that person. No need to weigh thoughts or measure words. You know his or her faithful hand will sift the chaff from the grain, keep what matters, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away. God gave David such a friend.
He gave you one as well.  David found a companion in a prince of Israel; you can find a friend in the King of Israel,  Jesus Christ.  Has he not made a covenant with you?  Among his final words were these: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). Has he not clothed you? He offers you “white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed” (Rev. 3:18). Christ cloaks you with clothing suitable for heaven. In fact, he outdoes Jonathan. He not only gives you his robe; he dons your rags. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21 NIV). Jesus dresses you. And, like Jonathan, he equips you. You are invited to “put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil” (Eph. 6:11 NLT). From his armory he hands you the belt of truth, the body armor of righteousness, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (vv. 13–17).  Just as Jonathan protected David, Jesus vows to protect you. “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from me” (John 10:28 NLT).  You long for one true friend? You have one. And because you do, you have a choice. You can focus on your Saul or your Jonathan, ponder the malice of your monster or the kindness of your Christ.  COMMENTS: The friendship between Jonathan and David is a wonderful example for us to follow.  I believe David’s faith rubbed off on Jonathan, who was impressed with David’s faith sufficient to face protect the sheep in his flock from lions or to face Goliath.  Jonathan saw David’s faith and fell in love with David’s God and make Him his own God.  Jonathan’s father Saul became jealous of David’s faith and was drawn further away from God.  Saul then started hating David and tried to kill him many times.  Saul’s hatred resulted in his death and Jonathan’s death as well.  Jonathan would have been king if Saul would have been faithful to God and David likely would have been Jonathan’s key advisor.  However, God took kingdom from Saul and gave it to David because of Saul’s many sins.  Jonathan did everything he could to prevent Saul from killing David and David cherished his friendship with Jonathan and influenced Jonathan’s faith.  David cared for Jonathan’s crippled son, Mephibosheth, because of his love for Jonathan.  David was expected to kill Saul’s house (those who were Saul’s blood line to throne) but honored Jonathan’s son even though a cripple. God gives us friendships in order to help and protect us but also to draw us closer to him.  I believe Jonathan helped David grow into a great king and grow in his relationship with God, as did David for Jonathan.  Jonathan never inherited his father’s jealousy of David’s anointing as next king.  This example reminds me how much we need friendships for strength and encouragement and protection, and not to isolate ourselves from other believers or friendships.  I hope it reminds you too and will seek out friendships God will sanction for you.  Arlene is my closest friend and certainly has been a Jonathan for me but do believe God wants us to develop friendships outside our family as well.  I think key is not seeking what friendships can do for us, but how friendships can be a blessing and outreach to others.  Friendships do require significant time investments, so should be entered lightly.

7/17/21              Tough Questions with RC Sproul                                        17  
I know God has forgiven me for my sins, but how can I begin to forgive myself?
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Frequently in his epistles, the apostle Paul goes to great lengths to describe what we call Christian liberty. In these matters God allows us freedom; he doesn’t set down laws prohibiting something or commanding something. The apostle warns us against being judgmental toward our brothers, giving as an example in the Corinthian community the question about eating meat offered to idols. Paul says this has nothing to do with the kingdom of God. He says, “Those of you who have scruples about it, don’t judge those who don’t” and vice versa. This is a case in which we just have to respect one another.
In those admonitions, Paul uses as his basis this statement: “We are not to be judging people for whom Christ died.” He reminds us that “your brother or your sister belongs to Christ. God has forgiven them. Who are you to withhold forgiveness from someone whom God has forgiven?”
Let’s look at it this way. If somebody sins against me and that person repents, God forgives them. If I refuse to forgive them, can you think how ghastly that is in the sight of God? God is not obligated to forgive that person. That person has sinned against God, and God has never sinned against
anybody. Here I am—a person who is a sinner refusing to forgive other sinners while God, who is sinless, is willing to forgive. Have you ever stopped to think about the arrogance that’s in me when I refuse to forgive somebody that God has forgiven? Now, how could you forgive yourself after God has forgiven you? I’ve had people come to me and say, “R.C., I committed such and such a sin, and I asked God to forgive me. I’ve gone to him ten times and asked him to forgive me, but I still don’t feel forgiven. What am I going to do?” I don’t have any brilliant theological answer to that. I can only tell them to ask God to forgive them one more time. When they say they’ve done it, I tell them this time I want them to ask God to forgive them for their arrogance. “Arrogance!?” they say. “What do you mean arrogance? I’m the most humble man in America. I’ve confessed this sin ten times.” Doesn’t God say that if you confess a sin one time, he’ll forgive you? Who are you to refuse the forgiveness of God, and who are you to condemn one whom God has forgiven? That’s arrogance. You may not feel arrogant, you may not mean to be arrogant, you may be rolling in humility with all of your confession. But I am telling you that if God has forgiven you, it is your duty to forgive yourself. It’s not an option. You must forgive those whom God forgives, including yourself.             

COMMENTS:   Forgiveness is a miracle God created and uses to give His children a fresh start to change for the good. Forgiveness is key to the Christian faith and Jewish roots.  Forgiveness means the guilty cannot undo or erase sin or it’s consequences and needs help to improve behavior.  Other religions all start with conclusion man needs to exercise discipline of change in order to earn their god’s redemption.  When we ask Christ to come into our heart and forgive us and make us a new person like himself, we are admitting we can’t change ourselves and need His help.  We are also admitting we need Him in our lives to guide us and strengthen us.  It is the beginning of a relationship and not just erasing the past and leaving us on our own to start over.  Life is a constant series of choices we make.  Past experiences and knowledge helps us repeat wise choices and make new ones wisely.  However, Christ permits us to tap into His wisdom and experience to better align ours to make choices wiser than ours left on our own.  Guilt starts out being a way of alerting us of need for His mercy and forgiveness and help.  If guilt is not satisfied, it will keep us from the joy and peace and freedom He also gives us to begin living an obedient and victorious life.  Guilt will also isolate us, which will also weaken our ability to live the way He wants and overcome sinful weaknesses are feeling guilty for.  If we have asked God for forgiveness but don’t feel forgiven, our relationship with Him can guide us to finally forgive ourselves and grow in that relationship.   Forgiveness doesn’t let us off “Scott Free”,  just FREE to be His children as He intended!!                                                                 

7/18/21                            Tough Questions with RC Sproul                                       18    
In what way does God use guilt today?
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When we talk about God’s using guilt, it sounds strange to many people in our society because there’s a widespread notion that guilt is something that is intrinsically destructive to human beings and that to impose guilt on anybody is wrong. The idea then emerges that God certainly would never use such a
thing as guilt to bring about his will with human beings. If he did, that would be beneath the level of purity we would prefer in our deity. In biblical terms, guilt is something that is real and is objective, and I think it’s very important that we distinguish between guilt and guilt feelings. Guilt feelings are emotions that I experience subjectively. Guilt is an objective state of affairs. We see that in our law courts. When a person goes on trial for having broken the law, the question before the jury and before the judge is not, Does the accused feel guilty? but, Is there a real state of affairs that we call guilt? Has a law been transgressed? So it is with God. Guilt is objective in the eyes of God whenever his law is broken. When I break his law, I incur guilt, but I may or may not have guilt feelings about my guilt. I suspect that behind your question is a concern about how God uses the guilt feelings as well as the actual guilt itself. One of the most important works of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is what the New Testament calls the conviction of sin. We can be guilty and not feel guilty. David, for example, when he got involved with Bathsheba and went even so far as arranging for her husband to get killed, felt no great remorse until Nathan, the prophet, came to him and told him a parable. The parable was about a man who took for himself a little lamb that belonged to a poor man. David was furious and wanted to know who this man was so that he could be punished. Finally Nathan pointed his finger at David and said, “You are the man.” With the realization of the full import of his guilt, David was broken instantly and then wrote that magnificent song of penitence, Psalm 51, in which he cried out in his conviction of sin before God.
What God does with our guilt and guilt feelings is to bring us to that state in which we are convicted of sin and of the righteousness we’ve fallen short of; he uses those feelings to turn us from disobedience to obedience. In that regard, guilt and guilt feelings are healthy. Just as pain is a necessary sign of the presence of disease, so guilt feelings may often be the divine way of awakening us to our need for redemption.                                                                                  

 COMMENTS:   I think we need to define the difference between guilt and remorse.  Guilt is a state but remorse is feeling of regret and desire to undo and change behavior.  David showed remorse which brought repentance and went to temple pleading God’s mercy and help in change.  That remorse was what drove him to change and back to God. He had not sensed or realized how far from God he had wondered or sense of loss in the relationship he had enjoyed with God.  That is unsettling but realize it is so true we may not notice when God’s takes His hand off us.  That is because of other things that fill in the hole, things that actually drove God out of our lives.  That is probably why we don’t notice the loss of His fellowship and guidance, but does reveal how dangerous and what peril we can walk into if we let that happen. That is why biblical examples are so important and valuable to us. Psalm 51 is a beautiful example of repentant prayer and puts into words what is in the heart of one truly repentant and should be used to guide our prayer.  Notice how David seeks God’s help in forgiving himself too in this psalm.  David was able to get beyond his guilt and remorse but used both to draw himself back into relationship with God and sustain that relationship and submit to God to change him into the king and man He intended.  That is the miracle God did for David and the miracle He offers and does for each of us.  David was not unique in his sin or relationship with God.  Ours can be just as rich and meaningful too if we seek Him and submit to Him as David did….

 7/19/21     An Encouraging Word from Max Lucado – The Stories of Hope             19                 The Bible tells us one story after another of God meeting people where they hurt. Tell me, why are these stories in the Bible? Why are the Gospels full of such people? Such hopeless people? Though their situations vary, their conditions don’t. They are trapped. Estranged. Rejected. They have nowhere to turn. On their lips, a desperate prayer. In their hearts, desolate dreams. And in their hands, a broken rope. But before their eyes a never-say-die Galilean who majors in stepping in when everyone else steps out. Surprisingly simple, the actions of this man. Just words of mercy or touches of kindness. Fingers on sightless eyes. A hand on a weary shoulder. Words for sad hearts … all fulfilling the prophecy: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”
Again I ask. Why are these portraits in the Bible? Why does this gallery exist? Why did God leave us one tale after another of wounded lives being restored? So we could be grateful for the past? So we could look back with amazement at what Jesus did?
No. No. No. A thousand times no. The purpose of these stories is not to tell us what Jesus did. Their purpose is to tell us what Jesus does.
“Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us,” Paul penned. “The Scriptures give us patience and encouragement so that we can have hope” (Rom. 15:4).
These are not just Sunday school stories. Not romantic fables. Not somewhere-over-the-rainbow illusions. They are historic moments in which a real God met real pain so we could answer the question, “Where is God when I hurt?”
How does God react to dashed hopes? Read the story of Jairus. How does the Father feel about those who are ill? Stand with him at the pool of Bethesda. Do you long for God to speak to your lonely heart? Then listen as he speaks to the Emmaus-bound disciples. What is God’s word for the shameful? Watch as his finger draws in the dirt of the Jerusalem courtyard.  He’s not doing it just for them. He’s doing it for me. He’s doing it for you.        

COMMENTS:   Hope is food for our souls – giving us strength and energy to continue.  Our attitudes make a huge difference in ability to do or complete a task – especially when task is difficult and requires a noteworthy investment in time.  That is human nature and can see how often our children or grandchildren need encouragement or prodding to continue.  As we get older we tend to become more the ones doing prodding and less the ones needing prodded, but we all at, times get discouraged or loose interest or incentive.  God knows that and gives us each other, His Word, and His Spirit Himself to guide, encourage, and even prod us to stay on focus and complete our tasks.  The story of Jairus is found in Mark 5:21-43, and Luke 8:40-56. For Jairus to come to Jesus pleading for the life of his dying daughter and then for his friends to come to him saying his daughter had died and no need to bother Jesus had to have gripped him with grief and hopelessness.  Jesus knew that and encouraged him asking him to have hope in and trust Him.  He did and his daughter was restored!!!  Jesus didn’t heal from a distance this time but went with Jairus to his home and touched and spoke to his daughter directly bringing her to life.   Scripture encourages us that Jesus not only knows what we need and is willing to provide it, but also knows how and when we need it most and plans for that delivery.  It is good to have memories to relive events and experiences in our lives with those we care for.  Memories are also important for us to both avoid repeating mistakes and sins but also to reflect on what God has done for us in past and be encouraged for the future.  He does have our best interest at heart and works and plans for the best for us even when we don’t see evidence of that work yet.  Can you recall such times and how God unfolded His wisdom and plan later?  I can recall many such instances.  Waiting on Him but being available to Him are key to faithfully waiting for His miracles to unfold.  Being impatient or discouraged and acting ahead or against His will only brings regrets.

7/20/21 An Encouraging Word from Max Lucado – From Mistake to Masterpiece  20                     Over a hundred years ago, a group of fishermen were relaxing in the dining room of a Scottish seaside inn, trading fish stories. One of the men gestured widely, depicting the size of a fish that got away. His arm struck the serving maid’s tea tray, sending the teapot flying into the whitewashed wall, where its contents left an irregular brown splotch. The innkeeper surveyed the damage and sighed, “The whole wall will have to be repainted.”  “Perhaps not,” offered a stranger. “Let me work with it.”
Having nothing to lose, the proprietor consented. The man pulled pencils, brushes, some jars of linseed oil, and pigment out of an art box. He sketched lines around the stains and dabbed shades and colors throughout the splashes of tea. In time, an image began to emerge: a stag with a great rack of antlers. The man inscribed his signature at the bottom, paid for his meal, and left. His name: Sir Edwin Landseer, famous painter of wildlife.
In his hands, a mistake became a masterpiece. God’s hands do the same, over and over. He draws together the disjointed blotches in our life and renders them an expression of his love. We become pictures, “examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us” (Eph. 2:7 NLT).
Receive God’s work. Drink deeply from his well of grace.           
COMMENTS:  I always enjoy Max Lucado, his perspective and way of presenting God’s Word and truths.  Today’s devotion is no exception.  The example he shared above remind me how God will use even mistakes and sins (Romans 8:28) to bring great good.  His creative ability to make good out of evil continue every day even though His preference would be to just bring Good out of good only.  Yet He understands our weaknesses and uses even them to bring His Will.  Truth is He is going to have His Way, but we can decide if we are going to support it and be a part in it or resist or fight that Will and suffer for it.   Which way will you go?  I want to resolve to always be in God’s Will and pray you will to.  Yet, I know I will at times be acting contrary to His Will, as have in past, and be in need of repentance, forgiveness, and the touch of His Hand in mine.  A daily walk with Him enables me to discover rebellion early and repent of it instead of blindly walking down a wrong road.  So, yours and my focus needs to be staying in relationship with Him by a daily and even hourly walk with Him.  That is the secret to a victorious Christian life and secret to living the life He wants for me and the life I was designed to live.  I am still a “work in progress” striving to become that person and striving to sustain such a relationship with Him.  I am closer today than past and trust tomorrow I will be even closer.  That is my mission and goal, how about you?   Let God make the messes you create into masterpieces of His Will and His divine nature.  Notice the innkeeper’s solution was to repaint the entire room and cover  up the damage.   The master used the damage and reshaped it and added to it in order to create something of greater beauty and the message it would give along with the name of the master to recognize and link to creation.  That way only He can take credit and will have His name on it when finished.  That is God’s way with us and work He does in and thru us!!!

7/21/21  An Encouraging Word from Max Lucado: He Hears Your Prayer        21                         Derek Redmond, a twenty-six-year-old Briton, was favored to win the four-hundred-meter race in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Halfway into his semifinal heat, a fiery pain seared through his right leg. He crumpled to the track with a torn hamstring. As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. “It was animal instinct,” he would later say. He set out hopping, pushing away the coaches in a crazed attempt to finish the race. When he reached the stretch, a big man pushed through the crowd. He was wearing a T-shirt that read “Have you hugged your child today?” and a hat that challenged, “Just Do It.” The man was Jim Redmond, Derek’s father. “You don’t have to do this,” he told his weeping son. “Yes, I do,” Derek declared.  “Well, then,” said Jim, “we’re going to finish this together.” And they did. Jim wrapped Derek’s arm around his shoulder and helped him hobble to the finish line. Fighting off security men, the son’s head sometimes buried in the father’s shoulder, they stayed in Derek’s lane to the end. The crowd clapped, then stood, then cheered, and then wept as the father and son finished the race. What made the father do it? What made the father leave the stands to meet his son on the track? Was it the strength of his child? No, it was the pain of his child. His son was hurt and fighting to complete the race. So the father came to help him finish. God does the same. Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.                                                                                                                   

 COMMENTS:  I recall this story and brings tears to my eyes everytime I hear it.  This time is no exception.  Why?  Well, it speaks to me at so many levels:  As a father/grandfather, as a son, as a friend, as a sinner, and as a sinner leaning on the shoulder of my Savior…  I’m sure both you and I can come up with other comparisons too but will leave that reflection to you to add as you prayerfully reflect on this devotion too.  I had two wonderful parents along with many wonderful memories growing up with my parents and sister.  Sure we had the usual spats and times of correction, but deep love and time my parents spent with us is what I remember most fondly.  I find myself recalling my father’s comments and “words of wisdom” more and more and even find bits of his personality coming out in me.  A complement I am reluctant to admit since I still greatly admire him and follow his example.  However, their faith and love for Him as well as each other is example I admire the most.  They were certainly imperfect but since they accepted Christ young prior to marriage, I only knew the people God had made them into.   Going thru poverty, a world war, and life’s many challenges and dangers brought them to a place of faith and trust in Christ our neighbors admired as well.   I only had 10 years to get to know Arlene’s father and 6 more years to know her mother but those years as well as influence they had on my wife and her sisters caused me to equally admire and follow their example as well.  I do regret my and Arlene’s parents were not able to spend more time together and travel together since they shared the same faith and were so much alike.  Due to work my father did at local cemetery after retirement and my mother-in-law’s stroke, those opportunities faded soon after Arlene and I were married.  However, they all finished very well and their influence continues after them and am sure they have had plenty of time to get to know each other in heaven already.  My desire is for Arlene and I to finish well also – continuing to be a positive influence for Him to our children, grandchildren, and community.   We’ve been spared many of the challenges our parents have faced but have faced others as well.  Yet those yet to come you and I don’t know, but do know He knows and will not be surprised or unprepared for them, so we needed be either.  This is the hope and confidence Arlene and I, and our parents, have in common and pray is yours as well.

7/22/21              Tough Questions with RC Sproul                                               22  
Can you repent at the moment of death and still have the same salvation as someone who’s been a Christian for many years?
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We talk about foxhole faith, when people cry out in desperate moments of crisis or postpone to their deathbed the moment of committing their lives to Christ. Some people say that it doesn’t make sense for somebody who has been a Christian all their life to be in the same state as somebody who did as they pleased all their life and waited until the last second to get their accounts square with God. There’s a parable in the New Testament in which Jesus speaks about those who agree to work for a certain wage, and then at the last minute some other people are hired and only work for a few minutes but they get the same pay. The first group is really bent out of shape, and they say, “What’s going on here? There’s no justice in this!” Does the second group receive the same salvation? Yes and no. They are brought into a state of salvation; that is, they escape the punishment of hell and enter into the kingdom if indeed that last-breath repentance is genuine. The requirement for entrance into the kingdom of God is to repent and believe in Christ. The thief on the cross did it in the last minutes of his life, and Jesus assured him that he would be with him in paradise. There we have Exhibit A in the New Testament of somebody who actually did that and who was promised by our Lord himself that he would participate in Jesus’ kingdom. Certainly it’s possible for a person at the last moment of their life to repent sufficiently, believe, and be justified and enter into all of the benefits of membership of the kingdom of heaven.However, Paul speaks of those who make it into the kingdom by the skin of their teeth. I think a “deathbed” believer would be in that category. We tend to think that all that matters is getting there because there is an unbridgeable chasm between getting into heaven or missing it altogether. Yet Jesus tells us to work and to store up treasures for ourselves in heaven because he promises emphatically that there will be rewards dispensed to his people according to their obedience and their works. You don’t get into heaven by your works, but your reward in heaven will be according to those works, according to the New Testament. What that says to me is that although people can make it by the skin of their teeth by repenting in their last dying breath, nevertheless, their degree of felicity will not be nearly as great as that of those who have been serving Christ faithfully for many, many years.                                                                

COMMENTS:  Discussion shifts a bit from yesterday’s devotion but still same theme.  Finishing well is opportunity God gives all even if have lived an entire life of sin without fellowship with Him.  I have wondered what about a murderer who accepted Christ before execution and is in heaven but his victim(s) died without accepting Christ.  I actually watched an evangelistic film addressing that very subject.  Questions this discussion brings us and debate on justice of a murderer being saved and his victims not raises a lot of debate.  I can believe such an example has played out many times and will continue to play out.  Yet we have the confidence God gives everyone opportunities to respond to Him in some way and will honor that obedience and expand those opportunities if they are open.  On a Haven Today program recently many examples were told of Jesus revealing Himself directly to Moslems in oppressed countries where they are not permitted to hear let alone receive Christ’s message.  I believe God calls us to share His message of hope and salvation, which is a great responsibility.  However, I also believe He will not let men or satan prevent people hearing but will respond to them directly.  That doesn’t entirely answer our question to this debate but helps us trust God and His mercies as well as His sovereignty.                               7/23/21     Tough Questions with RC Sproul                                    23       
How do you know the Bible is true?  That’s an excellent question because so much is at stake in the Christian faith in terms of the truthfulness of Scripture. The Bible is our primary source of information about Jesus and about all of those things we embrace as elements of our faith. Of course, if the Bible isn’t true, then professing Christians are in serious trouble. I believe the Bible is true. I believe it is the Word of God. As Jesus himself declared of the Scripture, “Your word is truth.” But why am I persuaded that the Bible is the truth? We need to ask a broader question first. How do we know that anything is true? We’re asking a technical question in epistemology. How do we test claims of truth? There is a certain kind of truth that we test through observation, experimentation, eyewitness, examination, and scientific evidence. As far as the history of Jesus is concerned, as far as we know any history, we want to check the stories of Scripture using those means by which historical evidence can be tested—through archaeology, for example. There are certain elements of the Scripture, such as historical claims, that are to be measured by the common standards of historiography. I invite people to do that—to check it out. Second, we want to test the claims of truth through the test of rationality. Is it logically consistent, or does it speak with a “forked tongue”? We examine the content of Scripture to see if it is coherent. That’s another test of truth. One of the most astonishing things, of course, is that the Bible has literally thousands of testable historical prophecies, cases in which events were clearly foretold, and both the foretelling and the fulfillment are a matter of historical record. The very dimension of the sheer fulfillment of prophecy of the Old Testament Scriptures should be enough to convince anyone that we are dealing with a supernatural piece of literature. Of course, some theologians have said that with all of the evidence there is that Scripture is true, we can truly embrace it only with the Holy Spirit working in us to overcome our biases and prejudices against Scripture, against God. In theology, this is called the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. I want to stress at this point that when the Holy Spirit helps me to see the truth of Scripture and to embrace the truth of Scripture, it’s not because the Holy Spirit is giving me some special insight that he doesn’t give to somebody else or is giving me special information that nobody else can have. All the Holy Spirit does is change my heart, change my disposition toward the evidence that is already there. I COMMENTS:  Is the Bible true and can we have confidence that every word in scripture is true?  Everyone in every generation has had to face that question before deciding the answer is yes, it is true and can be fully trusted and followed.  How do we come to that conclusion with confidence?  If you have already done so, as have I, you might want to reflect on that path and reasons to both reinforce your resolve as well as be helpful to others in that quest.  Josh McDowell has addressed this question exhaustively in his books:  One of his books that may be a good starting point is “Is the Bible True…Really?”  A small book but packed with good information and insights that help resolve this question for us.  Josh has written over 200 books mostly on this subject with exhaustive information so depending on your interest may want to search his name and let him guide your quest.  Subject requires more time and words than can devote in these comments, but will rest at saying the evidence is overwhelming that the Bible is true.  Evidence is much more than any other preserved ancient document and even more than modern writings with an author still living.  I have read several of Josh’s books and took advantage of hearing him live at Galloway Methodist Church was guest speaker at a few years ago.  That time was very insightful and bought a couple of his books and reinforced my confidence in the Bible.  I think he will also help you too if decide to follow thru getting some of his books.

7/24/21     Encouraging Word from Max Lucado: Our Required Work                24                   Suppose you gave me a gift. Let’s say you presented me with a new tie. I take it out of the box and examine it. I say thank you and then reach for my wallet. “Now how much do I owe you?” I ask.
You think I am kidding. “It’s a gift,” you say. “You don’t need to pay me.”
“Oh, I understand,” I respond, but then show I don’t by asking, “Could I write you a check?”
You’re stunned. “I don’t want you to pay me. I want you to accept the gift.”
“Oh, I see,” I respond. “Perhaps I could do some work around your house in exchange for the tie?”
“You just don’t get it, do you?” you state firmly. “I want to give this to you. It is a present. You can’t buy a present. “  “Oh, forgive me,” I hasten. “Perhaps if I promised to purchase you a tie in return.”
By this time you’re insulted. In trying to buy your gift I have degraded your grace. I have robbed you of the joy of giving.   How often we rob God.  Have you ever considered what an insult it is to God when we try to pay him for his goodness? God loves a cheerful giver because he is a cheerful giver. If we, who are evil, enjoy giving gifts, how much more does he? If we, who are human, are offended when people want to turn our gift into a bribe, how much more is God?
Spend some moments slowly reading the response of Jesus to their question, “What are the things God wants us to do?” (John 6:28).  Jesus replied: “The work God wants you to do is this …”
Can’t you see the people lean closer, their minds racing? “What is the work he wants us to do? Pray more? Give more? Study? Travel? Memorize the Torah? What is the work he wants?” Sly is this scheme of Satan. Rather than lead us away from grace, he causes us to question grace or to earn it … and in the end we never even know it.  What is it, then, that God wants us to do? What is the work he seeks? Just believe. Believe the One he sent. “The work God wants you to do is this: Believe the One he sent.”   

COMMENTS:    Max Lucado raises a key point with response being given in John 6:28-71.  God gives us the gift of Christ’s sacrifice for our forgiveness and salvation.  To think we need to earn that gift or make some sacrifice in order to receive it insults His generosity or sacrifice He made for us.  What we do with that gift and how we respond in relationship to Him is out of gratitude and desire to be in relationship with Him and not out of determination to earn or pay for such a gift.  The truth is, love is a much stronger motivation and sustainable motive than any other so actually give us a much better ability to follow him than the carrot of salvation that other religions, including Islam offers.  This scripture reference not only share’s Christ sacrifice and gift but also reaction – even from the disciples.  How could they fully grasp what Christ was saying?  Well, they didn’t and we can’t without His help and influence of the Holy Spirit guiding our understanding. How receiving that gift changes 11 of the disciples and rejecting that message lead Judas to suicide shows us just how precious His gift is and how vital it is to our eternal as well being but also to our well being here in meantime. 

Well, the debate and depth of these devotions from Bible Gateways has encouraged and helped me and pray they have you as well, but think it time to get back to Turning Point, so will be doing so in next couple of days. Since I don’t receive Turning Point on Sundays and sometimes doesn’t come on a week day, need to fill in those days with other sources but I think it is good to stimulate variety in studies as well.  God has so much to reveal to us and sometimes remind us about Himself, a lifetime of study is not enough  but a lifetime of study is vital to keep us true and faithful in daily battles we face.  He is always there but not always seen or felt.  Scripture tells that has always been so we need not feel alone.

7/25/21         Tough Questions with RC Sproul                        25

Is there a distinction between Christianity and religion? In the first chapter of Romans, the wrath of God is revealed against distortions of God that culminate in various religious practices called idolatry. God is by no means always pleased with the operations and functions that we call religion. I would say that Christianity first and foremost is not a religion, even though we use that term to describe it from a sociological perspective. The term religion describes human practices—practices of worship, of cultic involvement, of belief in a god, and of obeying certain rules that come from the god or gods. There are various kinds of religions in this world. There is a religious aspect to Christianity. We do worship, and we are involved in certain human activities, such as prayer and Bible studies and devotions. Our religious practices are similar to the practices of other religions. But Christianity is much more than a religion; it’s life. The very fact that a person is religious does not necessarily mean that he is pleasing God; the primordial sin of man is idolatry, and idolatry is the worship of something that, in fact, is not God. The worship of idols involves the practice of religion. This is exactly what Romans 1 is speaking about; God is not pleased by any and all types of religious activity. Our religious activity may at times be insulting to God. Christianity itself can degenerate into being merely a religion; that is, it can have the external formal activities and sociological practices without the substance that motivates all these things—a profound love and devotion to God himself and a profound trust in Christ’s work. COMMENTS:  I will finish Bible Gateway study with this devotion from RC Sproul.  His insights are deep and give much insight if unpacked.  Romans is a powerful letter so this may help and encourage you to take a fresh look at Romans again.  It has drawn me to do so again as well.  False religions and distortions of Christianity were evident at time Paul wrote Romans and are still rampant today.  Dangers of following false teachings are real so need to use scripture to gage them is even more important today since so much is accessible by radio/TV/internet. Instead of trying to comment on entire chapter or RC’s comments above, maybe I should leave it at recommending you start with Roman 1 and above comments and prayfully see what God shows you before going on and reading rest of Romans.   In taking the path of sin, which is turning our back on God, we can’t see the foolish choices we will continue to make, choices we would not dream of making when start that path.  Maybe that is because God gives us the light to see them for what they are at beginning but the further we walk from Him, the darker that light is and more we depend on our own light or worse, satan’s light of deception.  I have learned to trust God’s light but not to trust my own light or any light temptation gives.  Can you relate to that connection?  Romans is full of examples of wise as well as foolish choices so looking at them with this perspective I think will give additional insight into Paul’s letter to Christians in Roman during Paul’s time and even to us.  So how about keeping that in mind as read Romans 1 and  chapters that follow? OK, tomorrow we go back to David Jeremiah and his daily devotion in Turning Point.

 7/26/21                                                           Start Young                                                        26    
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6

Scripture :  EPHESIANS 6:1-4  “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— ³ “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”^[a]4 Fathers,^[b] do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

King Solomon did not have access to modern research on child development. But several thousand years ago, he said something about children that modern research has validated. Today, child development experts suggest that the majority of a child’s personality is in place at a very young age. Solomon suggested something similar: A child’s foundational values will stick with him or her for the rest of the child’s life.  Specifically, when talking about raising godly children, Solomon said to begin training them when they are young and the training will stay with them even when they are old. The Book of Proverbs is a collection of wisdom — wise sayings that reflect godly principles. Proverbs 22:6 doesn’t mean there will never be a child raised in a godly home that won’t walk away from God and stay away. Rather, it is an instruction and guide for parents: Build into your children at an early age godly principles and those principles will guide them as they grow older.
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Start young when training up your children. Trust that God will bless that training even when they are old.” If you would train your children rightly, train them in the way they should go and not in the way they would.  J. C. Ryle 

COMMENTS:  I can’t help but think Solomon’s wisdom on early child personality development noted above was from his own experience and fact that he had a deep and close relationship with God early in his life.  He sought God’s wisdom early in life prior to becoming king and God honored that commitment and gave him wisdom second to none.  If God can give Solomon wisdom that still amazes us today, how much greater is God’s wisdom and how much more valuable for us and how much more we can gain if develop a relationship with Him ourselves?  Promise we have is “Train up a child in the ways he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it”  Prov. 22:6.  That is a promise we, as parents, have relied on and continue to rely on for our children as well as grandchildren.  It is amazing to me that someone as wise as Solomon, who gained such wisdom at a young age and had such a close relationship with God would wonder away from Him.  Yet, what drew Solomon away from God was his wealth and power (given by God as a reward for request for wisdom above all else).  Since Solomon asked for wisdom instead of power or wealth or long life, God gave him wisdom but also wealth and power greater than those before him as well as a long healthy life.  Solomon’s example tells us that comfort and prosperity may be enjoyable but come with great responsibility and risk.  Risk is not relying on God or thinking we need to and other risk is wasting the resources God gives us instead of doing the good He intends.  If Solomon didn’t, with God’s wisdom at his disposal, than why would we think we can?  To take for granted we are secure and not at risk of choosing sins we see around us is to fool ourselves and put ourselves at risk of falling to them too.  Solomon didn’t realize it but by marrying pagan wives he opened himself to unnecessary temptations and started down a path of disobedience from God that made him even more vulnerable.  That fact that he started walking down that path without being aware of dangers and without seeing he was walking away from God is unsettling but reveals to us we too, left to our own strength and wisdom, have and will continue to follow that same path.  Only with God’s help do we have ability to turn from and stay off that path…

 7/27/21                                                          Gain From Pain                                                   27   
It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.
Psalm 119:71

SCRIPTURE:  HEBREWS 12:5-13  “⁴ In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵ And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,⁶ because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

There is one parental saying that no child believes — until that child becomes a parent: “This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you.” No parent likes the duty of causing a child to experience discomfort as a result of discipline. But every parent knows that life’s most painful lessons are the longest remembered.  The Old Testament psalmist said that affliction is what taught him the necessity of obeying God’s Word (Psalm 119:67, 71, 92). And Solomon, in his proverbs, revealed a truth that would cause God’s people to look at discipline in a whole new light: “For whom the LORD loves He corrects” (Proverbs 3:11-12). That is, correction and discipline are evidences of God’s love! How contrary to the modern philosophy that love means letting a child find his or her own way. The writer of Hebrews took Proverbs 3:12 to its logical conclusion: “But if you are without chastening [from God] … then you are illegitimate and not sons” (Hebrews 12:8). Better for a Christian to be reproved by God, or a child by his or her parents, than to willfully follow their own path and be uncorrected and unloved. “Those that would enjoy the dignities and privileges of Christ’s family must submit to the discipline of it.”
Matthew Henry  

COMMENTS:  I am sure if you and I recall those times our parents punished or corrected us with a spanking,  they didn’t have a smile on their face saying “this is going to hurt me more than you”.  I do remember a stern look of disappointment and what I thought at the time was anger.   I don’t remember mean words or screaming or more than 2-3 hard slaps to my bottom so I know I was not punished out of passion of anger.   I also don’t remember anger continuing after punishment was given.  I do remember crying and feeling how much I disappointed my parents.  The punishment would also mean giving up going to or doing something I wanted to do and would likely have to stay in the house for awhile.  However, the issue would not be brought up again.  It didn’t need to, I remembered what I did and consequence so I became my own enforcer, well some but not always….  What is your recollections.   Can you distinguish times your parents got it right and times they may have let their anger spoil punishment.  What was the difference in way punishment was administered and what was the difference in results, if any???  I see my parent’s wisdom in our daughter in way she discerns and disciplines her children.  I know that all didn’t all rub off from us since my parents were next door from time our children were born through their growing up years so that influence was experienced by them directly.  My father was better at giving wise advice but my mother was better at discipline.  I know because they would complain about it at times, especially about my mom’s discipline if they were not doing what she approved of.  Their example also helped us balance our discipline instead of becoming too lax or to strict.  Mom especially was free in tells us too when she thought we were being too lax or not disciplining our children properly – at I have to admit most of the time when she did so, she was right looking back.  Generally, we would choose to follow her advice even when our pride got in the way, because when thought about it, knew she was rights.  However, there were rare occasions we needed to remind them we were the parents and our children were our responsibility since there were boundaries they were tempted to cross as well.  Of course, that temptation was because of how deeply they cared for and prayed for us as well as our children.  That passion made their impact overwhelmingly positive and powerful.

  7/28/21     An Encouraging Word from Max Lucado – The Prison of Want       28                           
Come with me to the most populated prison in the world. The facility has more inmates than bunks. More prisoners than plates. More residents than resources.  Come with me to the world’s most oppressive prison. Just ask the inmates; they will tell you. They are overworked and underfed. Their walls are bare and bunks are hard.  No prison is so populated, no prison so oppressive, and, what’s more, no prison is so permanent. Most inmates never leave. They never escape. They never get released. They serve a life sentence in this overcrowded, underprovisioned facility.  The name of the prison? You’ll see it over the entrance. Rainbowed over the gate are four cast-iron letters that spell out its name:  W-A-N-T  The prison of want. You’ve seen her prisoners. They are “in want.” They want something. They want something bigger. Nicer. Faster. Thinner. They want.  They don’t want much, mind you. They want just one thing. One new job.  One new car. One new house. One new spouse. They don’t want much. They want just one.  And when they have “one,” they will be happy. And they are right — they will be happy. When they have “one,” they will leave the prison. But then it happens. The new-car smell passes. The new job gets old. The neighbors buy a larger television set. The new spouse has bad habits. The sizzle fizzles, and before you know it, another ex-con breaks parole and returns to jail.
Are you in prison? You are if you feel better when you have more and worse when you have less. You are if joy is one delivery away, one transfer away, one award away, or one makeover away. If your happiness comes from something you deposit, drive, drink, or digest, then face it — you are in prison, the prison of want.  Paul says that “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:6 NIV). When we surrender to God the cumbersome sack of discontent, we don’t just give up something; we gain something. God replaces it with a lightweight, tailor-made, sorrow-resistant attaché́ of gratitude.
What will you gain with contentment? You may gain your marriage. You may gain precious hours with your children. You may gain your self-respect. You may gain joy. You may gain the faith to say, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”  Try saying it slowly. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want”  Again, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”  Again, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” 

COMMENTS:  I think we normally think of this portion of Psalm 23 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” to mean we will not need anything.  However, what Max Lucado is showing is we will not covet anything or even desire (want) – be content with what we have physically.  Our shepherd will help us be content and not wonder off searching for greener grass or more newer stuff.  I am not saying it is sinful to plan and work to improve ourselves, but if we have a comfortable home and reliable car we should be content and not be unhappy if others have a newer house or newer car or a higher paying job.  We don’t have to look around very far – especially outside US before we realize just how rich we are and how extravagant we live.  Sometimes we’ve watched HGTV and remodeling projects as well as first time home owners house shopping.  What we’ve noticed is perfectly nice homes being remodeled when old was nice enough and 1^st time home buyers going into debt for several hundred thousand dollars for a home we would call extravagant instead of buying modestly and growing into a nicer home.  Debt and indulgences are what we have gotten used to and still consider ourselves poor.  If look at China or India or Haiti, will see large families living in one room shacks or even tents.  Christianity is exploding in these countries and Christians are grateful for what they have and are living rich joyful lives maybe due to their poverty and not in spite of their poverty?  I think our wealth has made us too self-sufficient and soft, thinking we deserve what we have instead of being grateful for God’s provision undeserved.  Yet we have become slaves to our things with an appetite for more.  I can reflect and justify my selfishness since am not in debt or have to have the nicest and newest things but I still waste and consume so much more than really need.      

7/29-30/21     THE LORD’S PRAYER  – GOD’S PATH TO HIMELF – TO LIFE                   29-30

Matthew 6:9-15;  Luke 11:2-12

The Lord’s Prayer was given by Jesus to His disciples and to the gathered crowd (and to us) as part of a time of teaching / instruction that started with the Beatitudes (Matthew 5), the parable of salt and light, instruction on God’s standard about anger / sexual sin / divorce / overall conduct as well as setting a standard for loving others / giving / keeping the Law and promises, worship.  His instruction also provided help and instruction w.r.t. worry and the wise use of money. 

His instruction gave a broad and complete guide to living a Christ like life.  Christ instructed by example as well as by word.  But  His instruction also, by example and by word, showed those present (and us thru scripture) how to effectively pray as well. His instruction was direct, simple, and easy to remember both to the crowd as well as to us.  The Lord’s Prayer is the most profound and meaningful prayer but also the easiest to remember and repeat.  Only God could accocmplish that!  

So let’s both pray and meditate on what this powerful prayer says.   Before sharing this important prayer, Jesus cautions to not pray for purpose of impressing others or for personal gain.   Instead He is encouraging a honest and humble and contrite communion with the One and Only God and Creator of everything. 

1. – direct your prayer to God who has

complete and eternal authority and power and who is on His throne in heaven.  Be mindful you are addressing God Almighty who is above and over everything and everyone – including you and including satan.   Show reverence and respect and humility knowing the One you are talking to is God Himself.

• – we need to take time to not only acknowledge but prepare ourselves to both believe and want God’s kingdom to come here on earth and get our wills in line with His.  Preparing ourselves before making requests for our own and other’s needs done first, so stating our desire for God’s will to be done over ours is important.
• – we think of heaven being a prefect – eternal place more beautiful and perfect than earth.  A place without pain or death or any evil and a place of perfect peace and harmony. A place we dream of.  We need to prepare our minds and hearts so we desire that earth reflect God’s Will as much as heaven does already.  We are recognizing and desiring Christ to return to earth to set up His kingdom and bind and stop satan’s reign of sin and destruction and death.  We also need to conform our wills and actions and thoughts to reflect this goal and plan as well instead of hindering and opposing His Will and Plan.  We need to also realize we are as futile as satan in stopping or slowing His Will. 
• – we desperately depend on Him each and every day for the food we eat, the air we breathe.  Every beat of our heart and movement of our bodies and thought in our minds and word we speak and image we see with our eyes is a result of His love and mercy and grace each and every day.  We would not survive one second, let alone a day without His constant provision.  Yet His provision is so complete and constant it is so easy to take it for granted or assume it will continue as it has.  Yet He tells us there will be a time of great tribulation and judgment.  Recognizing and expressing gratitude for what God does for us is vital to our relationship with Him and our ability to express Joy and Love towards Him, which is so deserves.  We also need to recognize how undeserving we are of such faithfulness and love and grace.

US – I think it is no coincidence this comes directly after the request for daily bread.  We are told to forgive each other each and every day as He forgives us each and every day.  We need to recognize we, as imperfect and sinful creatures, will continue to fall short of His perfect example, which means we need His forgiveness each and every day.  That needs to motivate us to show compassion to each other and be ready to forgive others each and every day when they continue to hurt and offend and mistreat us.  The parable Jesus told of the servant who was forgiven a huge debt by the king and then didn’t forgive someone who owed him a very small amount reflects Jesus’ revelation.  We must forgive daily over and over again if we want God to forgive us over and over again.  This is not to give us an impossible task to do and doom us to failure, but to guide us into a more wonderful and richer relationship with each other and with Him.  His desire is to give us life, not death.  Joy, not misery.  Hatred hurts the hater more than the hated.  Forgiveness gives more life to the forgiver than the forgiven.  God is the definition of life and loves to forgive more than judge – afterall, He loves us like no other even when we ignore Him and sadden Him with our sins.  Mark 11:25 further reinforces this truth “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that you Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

EVIL – This may be the hardest portion of this prayer to comprehend. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. Why would God want to lead us into temptation or desire for us to be tempted?  I Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.  God is on our side and uses both good and evil, both His help and even satan’s mischief for our good  (Roman 8:28).  Yes, He does allow satan to do evil for a time but within restraints.  He also allows us to be tempted with limits based on our ability to resist and maturity.  Also based on how closely we are walking with Him.   By stating this, we are verbalizing our desire for Him to help us overcome and spare us from temptation.  It also reminds us to flee temptation and not seek temptation out to satisfy our own selfish desires.  Resisting temptation becomes impossible when we are seeking the pleasures temptation offers.

FOREVER – This final statement acknowledges to God and reminds us who God is and will ever be.  He is God Almighty – All powerful – Eternal – Perfect and Holy in every way – worthy of all our praise and worship.  This is something we need to remind ourselves of as well as needing to express such praise and worship to Him because He deserves it and because we are drawn closer to Him by expressing our praise and worship.  Doing so strengthens our faith and gives us strength and enables us to live closer to the example Christ showed us.    John 14:6-11 tells us the only way to eternal life is through Jesus and by knowing and seeing Jesus, we know and see God the Father.  As we become closer to Him, He becomes more real to us and we slowly become more like Him.  We also desire His Will be fulfilled and for this world to reflect that Will.  Our sinful desire wither and a more Christ-like character begins to blossom and grow.  That is what “growing on our faith” and “striving to perfection” and becoming more Christlike all are describing.  Will you and I achieve perfection in our human bodies this side of the grave?  NO.  We are not capable of comprehending that level of perfection let alone achieve it.  But we can improve greatly and will each day if we are in fellowship with Him daily.  That is my goal and my desire and my quest.  How about you?

Let’s face it.  All other religions are satan’s tricks or man’s foolishness to distract us from the One and True God.  That means the gods they worship and promote do not exist.  Satan does exist and is formidable to us but is no match to God or even one of His angels. Satan was Lucifer, the greatest of the Archangels until He thought himself equal to God and was stripped of his authority and removed from heaven along with 1/3 of heaven’s angels who he deceived and convinced to follow him. (Rev. 12) When we think about it, why would anyone ever follow satan?  He, unlike God, can not create anything.  All he can do is destroy.  So which is easier and who is more powerful.  Someone who kills or someone who creates?   If doubt that, try stepping on an ant and then try to fix it. Today our children’s heros are not those who accomplish great things but those who are powerful enough to destroy and kill.  What is mostly on TV and in cartoons?  Well, we all do to some degree follow satan’s temptations all too often because we take our eyes

off Christ and allow ourselves to be tempted.  Another reason for praying “LEAD US

NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL”.

So let’s now pray the Lord’s Prayer together:

OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN

HALLOWED BE THY NAME

THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN

HEAVEN

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

AND FORGIVE US OUR SINS AND WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US.

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY

FOREVER.  AMEN

7/31/21                        Right On!: Exercise Your Right to Be a Child of God                 31                        
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. John 1:12

RECOMMENDED READING: GALATIANS 3:23-29  “ ²³ Before the coming of this faith,^[j] we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴ So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

²⁶ So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Words and ideas have been lifted from Scripture and applied erroneously. A good example is the idea of “God’s children.” Today, we often hear it said the late 1960s called the Children of God.  The Bible, however, takes a narrower view of the phrase “children of God.” In each of ten New Testament uses, it refers to born-again Christians only. In fact, the apostle John wrote that only certain people have a right to call themselves a child of God — those who receive Jesus Christ by faith, embracing the fullness of His mission (John 1:12). The apostle Paul echoed that doctrinal view in Galatians 3:26: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ.” The idea of being children of God emphasizes the Fatherhood of God, Christians having been adopted into His family (Romans 8:12-17). The most secure place to be in this world is in the family of God. Make sure you have exercised your right to be there through faith in Christ.
The true reason for becoming a Christian is not that we may have a wonderful life but that we may be in a right relationship to God.  Will Metzger  

COMMENTS:  If are born children we have no choice, but being adopted children, we do have a choice.  Galatians 3:26-28 refer to us as God’s adopted children when we receive Him. That is what defines us and makes us His children with all the blessings and responsibilities that adoption carries.  Adoption also means our relationship changes with God from one being outside His family to having a rich close relationship with Him…  It also means He has chosen us as well as us choosing Him.  Such a beautiful and powerful comparision He has made by calling us His adopted children even though He did create us in the first place. “But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.”  2 Corinthians 10:17-18  Scripture reminds us it is all about Christ and not about ourselves.  We need to only boast on Him and Him alone.                                                                                                                                                                    Well, we close another month of devotions together.  It is hard to believe we have taken this walk together for 8 months thus far, but then again it is hard to believe I’ve been retired 10 months either.  I pray this journey has been as much a blessing for you as it has for me and has drawn you into a closer relationship with Him and to spending more time in fellowship with Him in prayer and study and devotion as well as seeking the opportunities to be a light of encouragement and help to those God puts in your path.  Keep shining and I’ll plan on continuing this walk with you as long as God gives me breathe and strength to do so.   In meantime, I’ll be praying for you and ask you do the same for me. 

As previously, below is the Gideon Bible Reference I have been included in monthly devotions for some time.  I decided to continue including this for benefit of new readers and to continue to make it accessible to any and all who read and share this journal.  I encourage you to use and share as God directs.  If you wish to contact me or access more devotions, below is link to access.   

In His Service,

Don McDaniel

Email: dmcdaniel12@zoominternet.net

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