I pray you have a great day counting your blessings in Christ Jesus!
You all bless me. I am always amazed that someone will read what I write, and sometimes comment on it. I am always overwhelmed when a devotion resonates with someone and helps them along the way.
Please know how grateful I am for you! When I thank my LORD for His many blessings in my life, please know that you will be on my list today.
Enjoy the day. Enjoy the love. See you tomorrow!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Terry
Blessed beyond my ability to comprehend at times. I have found there is a big difference between being blessed and life being easy. Too often we equate God’s blessings with escape from the difficulties of life, or always getting every little thing we might need or want. That has never been the case for me.
Growing up was a difficult experience, yet still had its share of joys. My teen years were full of rebellion, yet God kept me from harm. Married early, three children, financial difficulties, and God through all those things brought supernatural healing for a child, led me to salvation, and gave me a hope that transcended every grievous trial.
We built the house of our dreams and lost the house of our dreams. We found a church we loved that loved us back. Recession moved us away from that church to another state. And as I look back, God led each step of the way.
There have been joys and griefs, delights, and discouragements. Through it all I have learned that God loves me. He loves me. Me! That unhappy, rebellious, short-tempered, impatient person, AKA me, is loved by the Everlasting, Infinite, Almighty God. He has walked with me in the joys and in the griefs. I know His presence in the delights and discouragements. He loves me.
That is blessing—not that I might have avoided all the dark trials and circumstance, but that He has been the light amid every one of them.
Romans 8:28: “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.”
His amazing grace captures my heart every time I think of what the LORD Jesus Christ did for me.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though He was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.” [2 Corinthians 8:9 HCSB]
I grew up in a traditional church. I am so appreciative of the truths that they instilled in my soul – that there is a God and that I have an accountability to Him.
While I embraced those truths, I was a bit unsure how to live out that accountability. In my search for how to live for God, I learned about grace, but it was not until I met Pastor Jim Gardiner at Loomis First Assembly in the early 1980’s that I began to grasp the depth of God’s grace. He taught me about God’s wondrous love and about God’s Amazing Grace.
Oh, that Amazing Grace, the power of that grace in my life!
After four decades I am still plumbing the depths of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think I will be plumbing those depths throughout eternity. Every time I will see my Savior, who gave up the riches of glory to walk this dusty earth – without even a place to lay His Precious Head – I will be overwhelmed by His love and Amazing Grace.
He gave up everything so that I (a wretch who had nothing) might have everything in Him. Now I live in the power of that grace … and will live in it for all eternity.
I have been reading a new book. I am not sure how it was picked for me on my Amazon Kindle Daily Deals email, but I am glad it was. It is “Defiant Grace: The Surprising Message and Mission of Jesus” by Dane Ortlund.
The book looks at “Defiant Grace” in each of the Gospels. So far, I have made it through Chapter 1 on Matthew. After finishing that first chapter, I realized that this is one of those books that I am going to have to read, and then go back and read again, and read maybe a third time to fully appreciate the message. But one sentence in Chapter 1 brought me up short.
“… in the kingdom of God the one thing that qualifies us is knowing that we don’t, and the one thing that disqualifies us is thinking that we do. In other words, all we need is to know our need. To put it briefly, the only thing to offer is the single statement: ‘I have nothing to offer.’”
That sentence made me stop and ask God, “Why?” “Why me?” “Why would you call me to be your child?”
I was a difficult child, a rebellious teenager. I’ve been a thief, a liar, am often arrogant, impatient, and unkind. I fail often. In other words, I have been (and am still) a sinner. But I am also something more because two of the most wonderful words ever uttered appeared in my life … “But God ….”
“We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!” [Ephesians 2:3-5 HCSB]
“But God” rich in mercy saved me and made me His child.
I am a sinner, now saved by His amazing grace. I am a child of God. And when I realize that I am not qualified to be His child, that I have nothing to offer Him, I am overcome with “Why me?” I will never be able to answer that question, but I can rest in His love, mercy and grace.
Thank you, Father!
Today is the day The Way Middleton will meet the pastoral candidate selected by the Recruitment Committee to replace me. There will be a message, a Meet & Greet Potluck, followed by a vote. If this candidate is voted in, my last day will be December 31 … and my last Sunday will be December 26.
It is becoming very real that soon my life will change dramatically. I am soon to be 75 years old. I am not going to be doing the same thing I have been doing for so long. I am sure God has something for me, I am just unsure of what that might be. And not knowing is definitely not my favorite place to be!
I am a planner. I am a little bit OCD. I like knowing where I am going, how I am going to get there and when I will arrive. Right now, I have no idea.
I feel a bit like my son when he was little. Before we left the house each morning for school, he wanted to know what was for dinner that night. If I did not know, he would become upset and his whole day would be more difficult. Of course, if I told him we were having meatloaf and he came home to spaghetti, he was still upset. I think I know from whom he got those attitudes!
I am praying that God has His best for The Way going forward. I am praying that God has His best for me going forward.
I am just fussing a bit this morning that He has yet to reveal what His best for me is. I want to know, am I having meatloaf or spaghetti! (Smile!)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.” [Proverbs 3:5-6 HCSB]
In the middle of last Sunday’s song service, I was overcome with a truth. One of those “Ah ha” moments that can come when we sing a song or read a Scripture or pray a prayer. It may be something we already know or have studied in the past, but now rather than just knowing … we KNOW!
This “Ah ha” moment came as we sang the song, “Above All.” As I was singing the chorus, I felt the LORD touch me deeply.
“Crucified, laid behind a stone. You lived to die, rejected and alone. Like a rose trampled on the ground: You took the fall and thought of me above all.”
I realized in that moment that everything I have, everything I am as a child of God is mine because Jesus sacrificed something of Himself.
“For [God] made [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” [2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV]
“[Jesus] Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness; you have been healed by His wounds.” [1 Peter 2:24 HCSB]
And that is just the beginning. For every blessing, every benefit, everything we have in God, Jesus sacrificed something that those things might be ours.
As we count our blessings this month – as we gratefully come before our God with praise and thanksgiving, let us be reminded of what our salvation and acceptance cost our LORD and Savior.
We welcomed a beloved evangelist and his wife at The Way Middleton last Sunday. They have been with us a number of times in the past years, and we love having them return. (David & Loretta Hoole, The Joseph Company)
In the past when David brought his message, God always had something special for me. This time was no different.
During the message, David talked about a recent bout he and Loretta had with a well-known virus. It was just around the time I had my bout. Loretta had a more severe case, and it took her a bit longer to recover. One day she suddenly felt better and said, “I have my song back.” Apparently, Loretta likes to sing throughout the day.
In that moment, I realized I have lost my song. At end of service, I acknowledged that need and David & Loretta prayed for me.
I have not lost my love for my Savior. I have not lost my amazement at God’s grace and mercy for me. I sing and praise My beloved LORD at every opportunity.
But, I have lost the song of passion in my heart. Maybe it has been the struggle with pain and medication side effects over the last three years that took that song from me. Maybe it was my own neglect that allowed that song to silence. Maybe it the uncertainty of what I will be doing in the new year. But as I stood in church last Sunday, I realized my song was gone. And I realized I want it back.
It is time to “sing a new song to the LORD.” [Psalm 96:1, 98:1, 149:1, Isaiah 41:20]
It is time for a new passion.
It is time to seek a deeper awareness of the LORD’s presence.
I will yet “sing a new song to the LORD!”
I have my six-month checkup with my primary provider this morning, along with my Medicare annual checkup. I started a list of things last week that I want to run by her. With each passing year I find more and more things populate that list! I used to be able to remember the things I needed on that list, but I find I now need to write them down.
As I thought about my checkup for physical things, I was reminded that we should do a spiritual checkup on occasion. I run my physical and mental health past my primary provider on a regular basis. Maybe I should run my spiritual health past my LORD and Master on a regular basis.
David, in his wonderful Psalm 139, ends his song with a “check-up” request.
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.” [vs 23-24 HCSB]
David went to the Great Physician and asked Him to check out his heart. He asked God to test him, to see if there was anything spiritually unhealthy in him. That is a prayer that God always answers. After putting that prayer before our Maker, however we need to be prepared for His answer!
David knew God would reveal anything spiritually unhealthy in his heart, but he also understood one very important truth. God would lead him “in the everlasting way.” God would provide the way, the healing plan, for David to follow.
When we ask God to reveal our hearts to us, it is with a comforting certainty that while He might find things that should not be there, He will always provide a way (the everlasting way) for us to overcome those very same things.
Bless His Holy Name! Amen
I was talking with someone recently about how society (and even the church) has a distorted comprehension of the LORD Christ Jesus, how we pick out the parts of His life and His words that we like and ignore the parts we do not like.
While we probably do not care for hell, fire, and brimstone messages (we are lovers of grace and mercy), still we cannot ignore the things Jesus said about hell and judgment.
“Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” [Matthew 10:28 HCSB]
God created us. As our Creator, He has the authority to determine the standards by which we live. He has been very clear about those standards and the consequences of not abiding by them.
God, however, in His gracious mercy, knew we would need His help. He sent His Son who brought grace and truth to us. He took our punishment and judgment and offered His righteousness to us. He provided us with a “great salvation.”
Now we have a choice, a choice that the author of Hebrews reminds us not to ignore. “How will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.” [Hebrews 2:3 HCSB]
We cannot remove the pieces and parts of Jesus’ life and words that we do not like to hear. We cannot ignore the fact that He spoke about hell and the consequences of rejecting God’s provided salvation. We do harm to the Gospel if we do not speak the whole truth about God’s “great salvation.”
The other day someone said to me, “I need more of Jesus.”
That comment started me thinking about the word fullness.
“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.” [Colossians 1:19]
“For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ” [Colossians 2:9]
“Pleroma” is the Greek word translated as “fullness” in those passages. It means to fill up to completion, an abundance.
All of God’s fullness dwells in Christ Jesus. All of it. There are no gaps, no insufficiencies, no inadequacies. Nothing has been left out nor withheld.
That has profound meaning for us because Paul goes on to explain that now Christ Jesus who has all the fullness of God lives in us.
“God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” [Colossians 1:27]
“Christ in you ….” That is a most profound and mysterious truth. We have the fullness of Christ in us through the Indwelling Spirit given to us at salvation. We do not just get a little piece of Jesus and “earn more” as we learn to follow Him as His disciples.
We do not need more of Jesus. What we need is to develop a greater awareness of His presence in us and become more obedient to His will and His ways.