Past Devotions

I received an email from “NYTimes The Morning” and it stunned me. Here’s a small portion of it.

“Tens of millions of people are turning to A.I.-powered religious apps that mimic conversations with clergy — or even God. These apps are rocketing to the top of Apple’s App Store. Bible Chat, a Christian app, has more than 30 million downloads. Hallow, a Catholic app, was Apple’s most-downloaded app at one point last year, ahead of Netflix, Instagram and TikTok. The apps are attracting tens of millions of dollars in investments, and people are paying up to $70 a year for subscriptions.” (Lauren Jackson, editor for The Morning and the host of Believing Newsletter, NYTimes)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) apps that mimic conversations with God. If that isn’t a step (a giant leap?) into the danger zone I don’t know what it would be! I can’t imagine it would be that hard for evil to invade those apps.

Why would we settle for 3-second counterfeit conversations when we are invited to come confidently into the very presence of the Living, Almighty God.

“This High Priest of ours [Jesus] understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” [Hebrews 4:15-16 NLT]

My heart and mind are still unsettled by this trend. Much to pray about. With the “real” God.

I have had many medical appointments since June when I made the decision to have spinal surgery. There were Peri-Op, Pre-Op and several Post-Op appointments. Then came Physical Therapy on the neck and recently for the dizziness and lack of balance.

Checking my calendar this morning I have 14 more appointments between now and the end of the year. Thankfully, all but one are within the same health system.

That health system knows my name, but I must also prove my identity with my birth date. While my medical records have my name and birth date, I am also known by a six-digit number.

Name, birthdate and number are also how the government, credit agencies, insurance companies and other entities know me. There are probably other people with the same name, maybe one also has the same birthdate, so I guess having a number is a good thing in this life.

But there is One who doesn’t need the birthdate, nor a number, to identify me. “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him [Jesus, the Good Shepherd], and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” [John 10:3 NLT]

Jesus, the Good Shepherd doesn’t just know my name, He knows my heart. I am more than a number to Him. I am His. I am a child of God. Such JOY(!) to wake up this morning and know that the King of Kings and LORD of Lords knows me. Amen

Since my spinal surgery I have been dealing with dizziness and balance issues. It has been getting worse. I was referred to a hearing and balance physical therapist. It appears that the so-called “crystals” in my ears have once again escaped where they are supposed to stay. That causes the world to spin when I turn my head a certain way.

This body that I dwell in has certainly been a bit off kilter lately, giving me all kinds of problems. That is why when I was reading the following verse the other day, I really took note. “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” [Colossians 2:9-10 NKJV]

I looked at the verse in the Holman Christian Standard Bible version and I was glad I did!  “For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”

Do you see what I see?  Look at that phrase … “you are complete in Him,” in the NKJV and then in the HCSB, “you have been filled by Him.”

 Oh beloved, that should make your heart sing! Yes, lots of things in my body have changed, but I am securely filled by Christ Jesus, who is the head over every ruler and authority. JOY!

He was the entire fullness of God’s nature AMONG US when He walked this earth. Now He is the entire fullness of God’s nature IN US while we walk this earth! Hallelujah! Amen!

“For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” [Philippians 2:9-11 HCSB]

I am 78 years old, soon to be 79. I have loved God all my life and have tried to serve Him over the past 50+ years. I have also seen a lot of suffering, pain, brokenness, grief, and death. I have seen firsthand the damage done to families by addictions of all kinds, criminal activity, abuse, and violence. I worked Hospice where “I met 125 new people each year, all of whom died.”

Here in my old age, I have now been favored with making it through a virus pandemic, witnessing attacks on churches, anarchy in our streets and history re-written. I have watched the pillars of our nation shaken to the core. If anything, I should be depressed or discouraged about life. It does not seem fair, does it, that I should have to live my final years in this dark atmosphere.

I am, however, not depressed nor discouraged. Life may be unfair, truthfully life is unfair, but my God, my LORD and my Master is always good. He has called me out of my sin-filled life and redeemed me by the power of His death and resurrection. He has removed my guilt and shame. He has given me that wonderful promise that I shall one day see “every knee bow before Him and every tongue confess that He is LORD to the glory of God.”

Yes, I am looking forward to that day and its glory, and it is just because things are dark now and getting darker that the light of His promised glory is getting ever brighter before me. Amen & Amen.

I read a quote from Albert Einstein yesterday. He said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.”  Can I get an Amen!

We need a new way of thinking and a new way of doing or we are going to keep making the same mistakes and finding ourselves in the same situations.

The New Testament is full of new thinking and new ways. It speaks of new wine needing new wineskins, of a new life, and of being a new creation, of putting on a new self. It tells us we have a new and living way open for us. It commands us to have new attitudes and a new mind. And it promises us a new heaven, a new earth, and a new song to sing. What a great Bible Study we could do just on all the new’s!

There was one new that stood out for me. It is found in Rom 7:6: “But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.” [NLT]

In Christ Jesus we have died to sin, and to the law. We are no longer bound by what used to control us.  Our old sinful way of doing things is dead. Christ has released us so that now we serve God in the new way of living in the Spirit. It is no longer thou shall not, but instead a new way of thinking, doing, living, that flows from the life of God present within us.

It is no longer an obligation to serve, it is now a wonderful, delightful privilege to serve in the new way and in the power of the Spirit of God.

Jesus described Himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10:11. There are so many renderings of Him sitting or standing by His flock, carrying a little wayward lamb on His shoulders. We love those pastoral scenes. They are so beautiful and peaceful. But is that really the way it is with sheep and shepherds?

His name was Shrek. He was a sheep … a runaway sheep. He lived in New Zealand and one day he broke loose and went on the lam!

For six years Shrek hid out, away from his shepherd. He was doing his own thing, living life his own way.  All the while his fleece continued to grow … and grow … and grow. He looked like some creature from outer space, no longer even resembling the sheep he was. When Shrek was finally found, his fleece weighed more than 60 pounds.

What must it have been like when Shrek met up with the shepherd again? How free must he have felt when that heavy, dirty fleece, probably full of grass and twigs and bugs and who knows what, was lifted off his back? He could run again, jump, and rest.  The weight of his life apart from the shepherd was gone.

Sheep need a shepherd. Sheep are not very good at managing their own lives very well. (They are pretty dumb in fact and stay that way their whole life.) Shrek is a perfect example of that.

We humans need a Good Shepherd. We aren’t very good at managing our own lives very well either. I’m a perfect example of that!

There is a delightful passage at the end of the book of Philippians, two paragraphs. One begins this way … “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” [Phil 4:4-5 NIV]

That passage begins with rejoicing and ends with the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds. Rejoicing! The Greek word in the New Testament is chairo, which means to be glad, calmly happy, and joyful. The Hebrew word in the Old Testament for rejoice is ‘alats and it means to spin or jump for joy.

In 2 Samuel 6, David was bringing the Ark of the Covenant down from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David. It says he danced before the Lord, and it uses a Hebrew word, karar, which means to whirl. David was leaping, spinning, and whirling in dance. He was rejoicing. The Old Testament way. I like that.

We are to rejoice always in the Lord. Paul tells us that twice. We can be New Testament rejoicers — glad, calmly happy, and full of joy. That will please God abundantly. That will result in the peace of God abiding in our hearts and minds.

We can be Old Testament rejoicers – spinning, dancing, and whirling! That will please God abundantly and bear the same results.

Personally, I want to be like David before the ark. Unfortunately, my body is no long conducive to leaping, dancing, and whirling, but while I cannot leap, dance or whirl with my body, I can certainly do it with my heart!

Come on, all you leapers, dancers, and whirlers … let us Rejoice in the Lord always!

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Gal 6:13-14 NIV]

When I look at the Apostle Paul’s life and accomplishments, I am amazed. When God sent him off to be the Messenger to the Gentiles, to those outside the nation of Israel, no one would have thought that he could have accomplished what he did. Yes, he did have helpers, Luke, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Titus to name but a few. He, however, was the tip of the spear that carried the message of Christ’s cross throughout the known world and saw that world change in the span of one generation.

Yet, his prayers, his desires, his thoughts are plainly evident in his writings and are summed up truly in that one verse at the end of Galatians. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For Paul, it was all about Jesus. He lived what John the Baptizer prayed, He must increase, I must decrease.

Paul set such a high mark, such an illustrious example for us to follow. What does it matter if we witness to thousands or a few? What does it matter if we are called to a national platform, or minister in a rural setting? What does it matter if we touch people in churches, or hospitals, or homes, or in the marketplace? What does it matter if we take the message of the cross to small babes in Sunday School or the elderly in assisted living facilities?

What matters is that we truly find our boasting not in what we do or where we go, but in the message we bring … the message of the cross. The importance is found in what our Savior did, in how God came down from His throne and got His feet dusty on this earth. The amazing thing is THAT CROSS where the blood of Christ was spilled.

May we never boast in anything other than the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

I watched a Mark Lowry/Bill Gaither interaction on a video the other day. After some of Lowry’s antics, Gaither looked at him and asked, “How dumb can you get?” Lowry’s replied, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

That made me laugh because I’ve been feeling a bit dumb. I posted about it on Facebook recently. Six years ago we had to buy a new range and I wanted a glass top. We found one on sale. When I went to use the self-cleaning function last week, I saw something I had never noticed. Right on the bottom, underneath the clock was “Conv Bake.”

I have been looking at this range for six years and never noticed that it has a convection oven feature (sort of a large air fryer!). I love to cook in my small air fryer, but it is often inadequate for what I want to do. And all this time I have had a large air fryer sitting right in front of me, unnoticed and unused. “How dumb can I get?” Apparently, pretty dumb!

Which had me thinking … what do I have sitting in front of me spiritually that is going unnoticed and unused.

Ephesians 1:3: All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

Romans 8:17: since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.

2 Peter 1:4: [God] has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

Philippians 4:12-13: I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

 That’s just a brief look at some of what is ours. So, “How dumb can I get?” Pretty dumb if I am not availing myself of everything I have in Christ.

Last year on this date was the last time I talked to my friend Patty. She was in the hospital and died two days later. I miss her.

Grief is a universal experience. Everyone at some time will go through a time of grief. Working in churches and at a hospice, I’ve observed grief. I’ve also been a participant in that wilderness journey that no one ever wants to take.

As a culture we shy away from grief. The Scriptures do not. From Genesis to Revelation, there are examples of people grieving. And one of the most precious promises of God comes at the end of the book in Revelation where God promises grief’s end.

“[John] heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.’” [Revelation 21:3-5 NLT]

We can look forward to an end to death, sorrow, crying and pain. In the meantime, while we dwell on this earth where death, sorrow, crying, and pain are universal, we have the promise of God’s comfort.

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” [1Corinthians 1:3-4 NLT]

So, today, I will mourn my friend Patty with tears. I will reach out to the God of All Comfort. And I will look forward to the promise that one day there will be no more death, sorrow, crying and pain. Amen & Amen