Devotions

Fifty-three years ago, I made the decision to surrender my life to Christ Jesus as Lord. I seldom think of it as a “decision,” but I do think of it as “surrender.” While the Scriptures do not use the phrase “surrender to Christ Jesus” in a single verse, there are many verses that describe what that act looks like.

Those verses command believers to deny themselves, take up the cross, submit to God, trust Him fully, and my favorite–present your lives as living sacrifices. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” [Romans 12:1 NKJV]

Christian surrender means we abdicate the control and use of our total self – spirit, soul, and body – to the LORD Christ Jesus. That means that surrender is …

…a DELIBERATE act. You don’t surrender accidentally to Christ’s rule; you intentionally choose it.

…a VOLUNTARY act. No one can force you to serve God – even God will not force you to serve Him. It must be a personal choice.

… a FINAL act and a CONTINUING act together. In the LORD’s eyes, it is a complete transaction. In our daily thoughts and actions, it is a continuing act turning increasingly more over to Him. That’s called sanctification (maturity).

I Surrender All! Help me, LORD, to Surrender All! Amen&Amen

I wrote last week (9/27) about a verse in Romans. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” [HCSB]

Since then, the first part of that verse has echoed through my mind. “Now may the God of hope fill you with …”

I know Paul prayed that the God of hope would fill us with joy and peace so that we might spill out hope over everyone and every situation that crosses our path, but as I thought more about it, I realized that prayer could (should?) be expanded.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with”  love, so that you might see others as Christ Jesus sees them…

“Now may the God of hope fill you with”  forgiveness, so that you might release any bitterness or resentment you have acquired…

“Now may the God of hope fill you with” grace, so that you might be conformed to God’s heart!

And we could go on … there is so much more(!) … mercy, compassion, comfort, strength, knowledge…. What do you need most today? The God of Hope is more than ready to fill you!

Amen&Amen

We have probably all heard the term, “The Dark Ages.” We may have even studied it in history. There is some debate about the exact time frame and the exact meaning or who even coined the phrase.

Today I hear a lot about our world getting darker than ever before. “They” say it as if darkness is something new. I beg to differ. This world has been dark for generations, ever since the first generation caved to the temptation of the enemy in the Garden and doubted God and His Word. Sin and death entered, and the world became a hostile, dark, ugly realm.

We know it was so dark in the days of Noah that God even regretted creating mankind.

It was dark in the days of Moses when Pharoah oppressed the people of God with slavery and heavy burdens.

It was dark in the days of Jeremiah when God’s people were so occupied with idols that He had to send them into captivity to get their attention.

It was dark in the 400 years after Malachi prophesied leading up to the birth of Jesus recorded in the Gospels.

THEN CHRIST CAME, and light entered those who placed their trust in Him. But still, the unbelieving world was dark. And as Paul told Timothy in his second letter, perilous times will come in the last days. [2 Timothy 3]

Darkness still exists in this world, and will until Christ Jesus, the Light of the World, comes and banishes sin and death into eternal oblivion. The Dark Ages began in the Garden, but their reign is coming to an end. Christ Jesus, the KING of Kings and LORD of Lords defeated them at the cross and will abolish them eternally when this world’s kingdom becomes the Kingdom of our God and King. [Revelation 12:10]

Our Father …Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen&Amen

I’m reading through a devotion from Charles Stanley this year (“Trusting God with Today”). At the end of one day’s meditation, Stanley wrote, “So, trust Jesus to teach you in the way you learn best.”

My immediate reaction was “Oh No! I must be one hard-headed, obstinate kid!”

Looking back on my walk over the last 53 years, I can see that the lessons the LORD used were often not easy ones. Apparently, I only learn the hard way.

But Praise my LORD, I am trusting that I did learn (most of the time). I so want to be conformed to the image of my Beautiful Savior. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” [Romans 8:29 NKJV]

I am also trusting that I am still learning. I want to look like Him in His compassion for others, in His love, in His grace and mercy. I want to sense His Presence with me each day. I want Him to rid me of self-centeredness, arrogance, and anything that displeases Him.

So, I will continue to trust Jesus to teach me in the way I learn best! Even if they could be hard lessons. Amen&Amen

“The Shadow,” which originated under the title “Detective Story” was one of the most popular radio shows in history. The show aired in 1930 and ran until 1954. It opened with the line “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!“ It immediately captivated listeners.

“The Shadow” may think it knows “what evil lurks in the heart of men,” (and that may have scared some people), but the truth is that God alone knows “what evil lurks in the heart of men,” (and that should put “The Fear of the LORD” in all of us!)

Jesus reminded the Pharisees in Luke 16:14-15 that God knows hearts. “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and scoffing at Him. And He told them: ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly admired by people is revolting in God’s sight.’”

Jesus had been teaching about the dangers in the love of money through the Parable of the Dishonest Manager (vs 1-13). The Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day were “scoffing at Him.”  The word for “scoffing” is ekmuktérizó and it is a rather disgusting word. It means “to blow the nose,” to sneer, scoff, scornfully reject, like expelling mucus out of the nose. In our vernacular it would be to “blow someone off.”

People read us from the outside. The Pharisees were counting on that. They were reveling in their reputation as strict adherers to the law and men’s rules. They counted on being admired by people. God, however, reads the inside. It is not about our reputation; it is about the purity of our hearts. And that should keep us striving to please Him! Amen&Amen

I was reading in Hebrews 1 recently where the author gave his argument that Christ is supremely better than angels because He is the Son of God. He will go on to a second argument that further proves Christ’s superiority, but before he does, he pauses to inject the first of several solemn warnings that are found in this letter. It is a warning against drifting away from the message of the Gospel, and it begins Chapter 2. “We must, therefore, pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.” [vs 1 HCSB]

Those who hear the Gospel are to give serious attention to it. The verb for “pay even more attention” means not only to turn our minds to something, but also to act upon what we see. Inaction in spiritual truths can prove a fatal mistake.

The writer tells us that the danger of failing to pay attention and failing to act is that we might “drift away.” This is the only time this Greek word is used. It is a vivid picture of a person who lets himself or herself drift or slip away from the refuge of the Gospel.

We know that in our culture there are many who ridicule and oppose the Good News found in Christ Jesus (the Gospel). And they are not afraid to say so and back up their opposition with action. The Bible is clear that they will suffer loss. But we don’t need to violently oppose the Gospel to suffer loss, we need only drift away from it. Verse 3 asks a vital question, one that we must answer: “how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”

There is no escape if we neglect the salvation God has provided through His Son. We must be careful to pay attention to all of Scripture, so that we might not let the Good News slip through our fingers. Amen&Amen

“Be afraid, be very afraid!” is a quotation usually attributed to the 1986 horror film The Fly, written by the Canadian David Cronenberg, and starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. Hollywood and many authors like to make us afraid. It is supposed to be all fun, but the enemy of our soul is not aiming for fun when he sends fear our way.

His fear is designed to make us unstable, unreliable, and uncertain about everything. It is designed to hold our thoughts captive. It is designed to make us forget God’s promises and replace them with doubt and worry and anxiety. His fear seeks to immobilize us, and its goal is to steal and destroy our spiritual growth and kill our spiritual life.

Paul tells us that the fear the enemy sends our way is more than emotion. It is a spirit. “For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.” [2 Timothy 1:7 HCSB]

One of the primary ways to overcome the “spirit of fear” sent by the enemy is to replace it with the “Fear of the LORD.” While that sounds strange—to replace fear with Fear—it is effective and true. The key to overcoming fear is total and complete trust in God. It is faith and trust that come from knowing Him and knowing that He is Good. The “Fear of the LORD” is a reverential awe of God and a respect for His power and glory, as well as His wrath and anger. It grows in us as we grow in knowing Him.

It is a total acknowledgement of all that God is and all that He does – and CAN do! It is bowing down to Him in respect and reverence knowing that He is all-powerful and nothing man (or the devil) can do to us can overpower our God.

Psalm 56:11: “In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me”

Isaiah 41:10: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.”

I started reading Romans 15 this morning in the HCSB. It begins with an exhortation about bearing other’s burdens. Paul than turns his attention to Jews and Gentiles glorifying God together in the faith. As I was reading along, I got stuck on Paul’s prayer in verse 13. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” 

Where I got stuck was on that phrase, “overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The New King James translates that as “abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

The Greek word for abound or overflow is perisseuó. It means to be over and above, to abound, to exceed the ordinary, to go beyond the expected measure.

Paul prayed that his readers in Rome would not just have enough hope to get by but would go over and above what might be expected. My interpretation of that prayer is that when we place our faith in the wonderful God of Hope, He will fill us with a joy and peace by the power of His Indwelling Spirit. We get so filled that we begin to spill out hope over everyone we meet.

That prayer is so important in our time as we live in a day characterized by hopelessness. So much going on around us saps us of hope on a regular basis. We are bombarded with accounts of death and devastation, economic and medical challenges, dueling politicians, and fallen heroes. It is difficult to not let the “bad news” overpower hope.

But for the person who placed their faith and trust in the God of Hope, we are to abound in it – to have so much of it we have plenty to share.  Who can you share hope with today?

If you study the doctrine of the Trinity, you will learn that God is one God, eternally existent in three persons. Grasping that is difficult. I am not a Bible scholar. I have plenty of Bible books written by Bible scholars, some of which I understand and some of which I do not. I am okay with that. There are many things with and about God that I do not understand with my mind, but I accept willingly and gratefully by faith.

The Triune God is described as eternally self-existent (no beginning, no end, and nothing necessary to complete Him) in three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Because the Father, Son, and Spirit glorify and love one another, God is “infinitely, profoundly happy in Himself.”

So why would God create us? There is only one reason, He created us not to GET joy (remember He is infinitely, profoundly happy in Himself) but to GIVE joy – to His creation. The personal implication is amazing …. God created us, not because He NEEDED us, but because He WANTED to share His joy and His love with us.

God wants me? Yes! God wants you? Yes! He wants us not because of what we do, not because He needs us to do anything … He wants us because He desires to share His love, His joy, His glory with us. What an unfathomable truth!

“…from the beginning God has chosen you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, so that you might obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [2 Thessalonians 2:13b-14 HCSB]

O Precious LORD, you once again capture my heart with Your Amazing Love. Amen&Amen.

I stopped for a Dutch Bros coffee, called Bob and asked him what he wanted, and then placed my order with the young woman who came to my car. The line was long, and I figured I had a bit of a wait. As I got closer to the window, about four cars back, another young woman came out the side door carrying two coffees.

She was grinning as she approached my car and handed me Bob’s hot black Americana, and my iced black cold brew. She laughingly told me that the crew at the counter loved me because my drink order was so “simple.” Black coffee, one hot and one iced.

I do love my coffee “simple.” I want to taste the coffee! If I want milk, I will grab a glass. If I want sugar, I will eat a cookie. If I want fruity flavor, I will eat fruit. What I like about coffee is the coffee! Simple. Pure. Strong. Bold.

I guess I might say that is the way I also like my relationship with God. Simple. Pure. Strong. Bold. There is a passage of Scripture in John’s first letter which talks about knowing God through love. When John gets to the end of the passage, he sums all he has said up with a couple simple, pure, strong, bold words. “We love because He first loved us.” [4:7-9 HCSB]

1, His love is what enables me to love Him. (I can love Him because He first loved me.)

2, His love is what enables me to love others. (I can love others, no matter how unlovable they may be, because God loves them.)

3, His love is what enables me to love myself.  (I can love myself, as undeserving as I am, because God loves me and calls me His child.)

Perhaps of all things, the lasts one is the hardest to do, to see myself through the eyes of God’s love, but who am I to refute my worth when Christ sacrificed His precious blood for a wretch like me. Amen&Amen