July 17
I will be offline for a few days beginning Tuesday. Going in for surgery , hopefully I’ll come home after or possibly spend one night at hospital. Thank you for your prayers. I plan on being back online by Monday July 23. Love you all!
Category:
Devotions
I got another of those emails, you know the ones where someone is trying to sell something. This time it is “The Secret to Answered Prayer.” It’s a 40-day “experience” for me and my congregation. The starter kit has been marked down from $185 to $80. Sounds like a bargain, doesn’t it?
That, of course, made me ask myself … is there a secret to answered prayer … and even more, if there is, why would God keep it a secret? God loves us. He wants us to experience everything He has for us to the fullest and most abundant extent. He wants us to live in the knowledge of Him, align our desires with His. Why, if those are His desires, would He keep how to experience all that a secret?
I think it’s wonderful that there are so many tools available now to the church, both leaders and members. We have more than we could ever ask for (mostly available at a cost). But I think having someone else think for us has weakened the church. We turn to the tools someone else has developed rather than seek the LORD personally for His plan for us specifically. One size does not fit all … what works in one church culture may not work in a different one.
Remember King David’s battle against the Philistines in 1 Chronicles 14:13-17 that I wrote about recently? David had lots of victories against the Philistines, but when they came at him again, he didn’t depend on what he had always done, or what someone else had done, he sought God for that particular battle, and God gave him a totally different plan and a victory!
Oh, and the “secret” to answered prayer? First, you have to pray. Second, you have to make sure your prayers line up with God’s Word. Third, you must listen to what He says. Finally, you must obey. At least, that’s what I’ve discovered!
I want to finish my meditation out of Psalm 37 this morning with a most wonderful thought. God delights in His children. Yes, He does. It says so in Ps 37:23-24: The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand. [NKJV]
It also says so in Psalms 35:27 (The LORD be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant) and 147:22 (The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love) Yes, God delights in those who trust in Him and seek to follow His way.
I remember when our children were little. There were times as I watched them learn to walk and talk, as their language skills developed along with their curiosity, that all I wanted to do was delight in them. They were the best part of every day. They made me laugh and smile and love them even more, if that were possible. As they grew and so did their interests and accomplishments, I still found my delight in them. As I’ve watched them now parent their own children, my delight in them has spread to the grands also.
As little ones when they fell, I ran to them to pick them up and hold them. I held on to them with my hands to keep them from falling again. As they grew and sometimes failed, I stood by them, ready to offer my hand through encouragement and wisdom.
I’m a failed, weak, flawed human being. If I delight in my children this way, can you even imagine the magnitude of a perfect, powerful God’s delight in His own? Oh beloved, God delights in you, orders your steps. He picks you up when you fall. He holds you by His Strong Right Hand so that you will not fall again. Meditate on that thought today! Be encouraged.
Ah, if you are French, you know what today is. Bastille Day! Bastille Day is France’s 4th of July … the day marking the storming of the Bastille and a turning point in the French Revolution. The oldest and largest regular military parade is held the morning of July 14, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris in front of the President of the Republic, along with other French officials and foreign guests. It’s a great day for the French.
There is another anniversary celebrated this date. It’s Pastor Jim Gardiner’s birthday, he would be the same age as I am, 71. He was six months behind me. Instead of celebrating another birthday here on earth, Pastor Jim gets to celebrate his birthday in heaven with his Savior and all those saints who have gone before him. His struggle on this fallen planet is completed and he is at rest in the Lord.
I’ve been meditating in Psalm 37 these last few days. My meditations have centered on verses 3 & 4, and 5 & 6. Verse 7 goes on to reminds us to “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him.” [Ps 37:7 NKJV]
Rest does not come easy this side of the veil. There are so many things which make our lives busy, even frantic at times, that rest seems almost foreign. Still, the psalmist reminds us that we need to rest “in” the LORD and wait patiently “for” the LORD. We can only do that when we follow the commands that preceded this one. Let me remind you what they were:
Trust, dwell, and feed on God’s faithfulness. Delight in Him. Commit your way to Him. And, again, Trust in Him.
When we do those things, rest will follow naturally. Amen.
Personally, I think the famous song “My Way” sung by Frank Sinatra is the worst song ever written. I like Frank Sinatra music. I love the off-beat tempo he sings, the pauses and breaths he takes in the not-so-usual places. He’s one of a kind. But, I still hate the song “My Way.”
I can’t think of a worse way to go through life, doing everything “My Way.” I don’t think David, the song writer, would have thought much of that song either. David wrote a totally different song: “Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.” [Ps 37:5-6 NKJV]
“Commit your way to the LORD” he begins. In other words, David’s song would be titled “God’s Way!” Commit your way to the LORD, trust in the LORD, He shall bring it pass … then your righteousness will shine like a light and your justice will be as bright as the sun. Now that’s a song.
I can look back on my seven-plus decades and see that whenever I did things “My Way” they almost always turned out wrong. Oh, sure, I had some successes and made some wise decisions, but none of that matters much when you are walking away from God – which is what “My Way” is. When I turned around, faced my LORD and Savior and began walking toward Him, in step with His Spirit’s leading, then things began to turn out eternally right. I began to love righteousness and justice. I began to pursue His Holiness in me. I began to trust that God knows way better than I how to make my life worthwhile.
So, let me revise Frank’s Song just a little. “And now the end is near And so I face the final curtain. My friend, I’ll say it clear, I’ll state my case of which I’m certain. I’ve lived a life that’s full, I’ve travelled each and every highway, and more, much more than this, I did it God’s Way”
Have you thought about the desires of your heart? What are yours? Today, I would have to say the greatest desire of my heart is to see the LORD powerfully present in our midst. We have been praying for that at The Way since before Easter. We are waiting, and expecting, and continuing to pursue Him in prayer. I know He is going to reveal Himself to us, I just don’t know when or how it will happen.
How can I be certain? Because God has promised to give us the desires of our heart. Ps 37:3-4: Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. [NKJV]
What does that mean, that God will give us the desires of our hearts? Does that mean God gives us everything we want? Does that mean He will give us everything we pray for? Of course not. I’ve had a lot of strange desires in my lifetime, which had God given me would have made me miserable for years to come! No, God doesn’t give us everything we want.
He gives us the desires of our heart. What that means is that He places in our hearts His desires so that they now become ours. How do I know the LORD will reveal Himself to us in what some have termed “Revival?” Because that is my greatest desire … and I know that desire was not conceived in my fallen nature, nor even in my saved one! It was birthed in the heart of God and transplanted in mine. Since He placed that desire in me, I can trust Him and delight myself also in Him. And I can know for certain that He will fulfill that desire.
What are your greatest desires? Are you allowing the LORD to transplant His desires in you?
I love walking on Mondays. I hate walking on Mondays. I try to do a 2-mile worship walk each day except Sunday. I get my 10K steps in most every day, but that 2-mile jaunt gets my steps up quickly. Then the remainder of the day’s total is usually garnered in 1K step increments. I used to be able to do 3 miles but with aging and balance issues I step more carefully and slowly. So 2 miles it is, six days a week, most every week.
After not doing that 2-mile worship walk on Sunday, I am eager to get going again on Monday. Can’t wait to fire up my MP3 player with my worship music and set out. That’s the part I love. The part I hate? Monday is garbage day in our area and the stench that emanates from almost every can is distracting (to say the least).
This past Monday I got past the cans and crossed over into a developing area where people are not yet living and not yet making garbage. A song came on my MP3, one I’ve heard hundreds of times. I began to sing with it, and as I did I began to cry and worship. Immediately, I was keenly aware of the depth of my own sinfulness. I remembered the words of David: “[The Lord] lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” [Ps 40:2-3 NIV]
I remembered the slimy pit, I remembered the mud and mire. I remembered what I was and would be again if He ever withdrew His grace from my life. I do not live in that pit any more, I live in the family of God by His grace. However, I realized as I walked and wept and sang and praised that it is a good thing on occasion to remember our pit since it makes us appreciate all the more the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the heights to which He has raised us.
I have been writing daily devotions off and on (mostly on) since 1993. That’s a lot of words about our Lord. I’ve tried to look around me and see God’s moving in the daily part of life, as well as in the Word. I think over all those years and with all those words I have surely repeated myself—a lot! If you’ve been reading these devotions for very long, you can probably testify to that. Some have said that I should incorporate them in a book. Not sure how to condense 25 years into a book.
For me, my daily devotion is just that a daily, current thought about Christ Jesus, my Lord. It’s like daily bread, fresh, new, each morning. I sit with my laptop, I read Scriptures, I look at the world around me, and I think about Jesus.
Yesterday, I was reminded of God’s faithfulness to us … as seen in the seasons as they pass before us and in what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:18-20. Today I read a couple verses further in Paul’s letter and was once again overcome with wonder. “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” [2 Cor 1:21-22 NIV]
God has set His seal of ownership upon us. We are marked people, marked with the indelible seal of God
God is the One who make us stand firm in Christ His Son. God holds us firm, secure—the loving, strong grip of our Almighty Father.
God anointed us. We are no longer “not a people.” Now we are the people of God. We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, His special people. Where we had no mercy, now the mercy of God has flooded our souls.
God gave us His Spirit as a deposit to guarantee what is to come. What is coming? Nothing less than living in the Presence of God for all eternity.
I’ve probably said all that before. And I will probably say all that again. But today, right now, I am basking in all that as if it were the first time I’ve heard it. It’s my daily devotion.
Summer has arrived. We had our first 100-degree day last week. We have entered my least favorite season. I am not a summer person; I don’t like the heat. It is only the beginning of those hot days of summer and I am already longing for autumn, my most favorite time of the year. Those of you who love the heat are reveling in it now – and hating the idea of its passing into autumn.
There is one thing that both heat lovers and heat haters can rely on, that is, God’s faithfulness. I know that summer will turn into autumn, and the heat lovers know that spring will turn into summer. God has established the seasons in His faithfulness.
God’s faithfulness is established in other ways also. Listen to what Paul said to the church in Corinth: “But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not ‘Yes’ and ‘No.’ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No,’ but in him it has always been ‘Yes.’ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God. [2 Cor 1:18-20 NIV]
All of God’s promises … ALL of God’s promises are “Yes” in Christ Jesus. We can say, “Amen (It is so!)” to them. Take a moment and think about that, really think about that. What is the first promise that comes to your mind? We each will probably think of something different. I know what mine is, the first promise of God I ever read in Scripture after I was saved. It is the promise of God that I cling to in the times when I fail or struggle or face what seems like overwhelming difficulties. Philippians 1:6: “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” [NIV]
God is going to finish what He started in me. That is “Yes” in Christ Jesus! AMEN (It is so!).
Luke 12:35-37: “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.”
The message in church this morning is about waiting. As our text we are using the examples of two kings, King Saul and King David.
Saul wasn’t very good at waiting. 1 Samuel 13 tells the story of Saul’s battles against the Philistines. Samuel, prophet and priest, had told the king to wait for him. Saul did not. Instead, he usurped the duties of the priest and offered sacrifices. As soon as he did that, Samuel arrived, and Saul made excuses (aren’t we so good at rationalizations and excuses!). Samuel then delivered God’s message to King Saul … his kingdom would be taken from him and given to another … given to a man after God’s own heart.
David on the other hand was usually good at waiting on God. I love the incident in 1 Chronicles 14:13-17. David already had victories over the Philistines, but here they were attacking again. Rather than just assume he knew what God wanted, David asked for God’s plan and the Lord gave it to him. He was to wait until he heard movement in the tops of the mulberry (or balsam) trees, and only then was he to move out in battle. David followed God’s plan and waited. And God gave him the victory and made all the nations fear him.
Waiting is hard. The very definition of the word “wait” implies a passage of time, and heaven knows we humans are not patient waiters. We are prone to take matters into our own hands, as King Saul did. When tempted to do that, we should remember that Saul lost everything by not waiting.
The Scriptures are full of exhortations to “wait on the Lord.” The Scriptures are also full of promises that come to those who wait on the Lord. Read Psalm 130:5-6 this morning!