Past Devotions

I love Jesus’ disciples. They are so human! Whenever I wonder what I can do, an old woman, I remember what those men did—they turned the world around in one generation through the power of the Holy Spirit within them. Still, they were very ordinary men, often knuckleheaded and sometimes dense.

Jesus had just told them to wait in Jerusalem until the Father sends the Holy Spirit as He promised. And what are the next words out of their mouths? “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” [Acts 1:6 NLT]

Despite everything that had happened, they were still looking for Jesus to oust the Romans from their land, they wanted their earthly kingdom and they wanted it now. Jesus had a different promise and a work for them …

“The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” [Acts 1:7-8 NLT]

I love the promise – “You will receive power” and I love the work – “You will be my witnesses.”

There was no equivocation in Jesus’ promise. You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit, not you might, or you could. There was no “maybe” in His declaration. Power would be theirs when the Holy Spirit descended upon them on Pentecost. And that power would energize their work to be Jesus’ witnesses.

What is God doing? How often have I asked that question when I didn’t understand what was going on in my life, when I could not see the end from the middle of the problem. But that aside, “What is God doing?” is a valid question for the church today. After all, should not our greatest desire be to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church?

Just before Jesus ascended to heaven following His resurrection, He told those gathered with Him to not leave Jerusalem. “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” [Acts 1:4-5 NLT]

Many scholars tell us that Jesus did not say this to just the eleven apostles, but to more than 500 people gathered to hear His great commission and witness His ascension. [Matthew 28:18-20, 1 Corinthians 15:6]

Notice the time frame Jesus gave them – ‘until’. They were to wait ‘until’. Humans have a difficult time with ‘until’. We want to know when, down to the day and the hour. And if it is going to take too long, then let’s go on to something we can achieve in a shorter time.

God, however, often requires us not just to wait, but to wait ‘until’. Of the 500 who may have been present that day, when the ‘until’ arrived on the Day of Pentecost, only 120 were left in the Upper Room to have an encounter with God that not only changed them but changed the world.

So, what is God doing? He’s bringing about an ‘Awakening’ across our land, across our world. The enemy senses it’s coming and doing everything in his power to stop it. The church must heed what the Spirit is saying, we are to wait (and pray) ‘until’ we see God’s outpouring!

I find it very interesting that there are references for revival in the Old Testament but could not find any in the New. Maybe that’s because we aren’t supposed to need “reviving” once we have Jesus and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God.

Well, no matter what is supposed to be, unfortunately, we often need to seek a spiritual re-awakening when we have allowed ourselves to grow cold or have turned away from obedience and heeded voices not those of our God. When that happens, there are guidelines for awakening, two of which are found in Isaiah 57, humility and contriteness.

Isaiah 57:15: “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.’” [NKJV]

To be revived we must first admit that we need to be revived! That takes humility. Only the humble will find spiritual awakening because the proud never admit that they need it.

We must also be contrite. That’s not a word used much in our generation. In the Hebrew it is dakka’ (dak-kaw’); and means to crush (like we might crush something into powder). Our egos, our pride, our arrogance must be crushed for our hearts to be re-awakened.

I am willing (Lord, make me willing) to do anything and everything to be spiritually awakened, to sense Your Presence more than ever before. Amen.

A W Tozer is one of my favorite authors. Tozer wrote, “The only Christians you want to listen to are the ones who give you more of a hunger for God.” (The Crucified Life; How to Live out a Deeper Christian Experience.)

That is my greatest desire. When I write a daily devotion or talk to someone about the LORD, I don’t just want to inform or spoon-feed my thoughts or ideas, I want to make you hungry, hungry for more of God.

Have you ever walked into a store and been assaulted with a delightfully sweet fragrance and immediately were hungry for what they were baking. The aromas emanating from the ovens triggered something in your brain that can even override the fact that you have just eaten!

That should be the way it is with us spiritually. Our preachers should be creating in us a hunger for more of God. They should be making the love of Jesus our Lord the all-consuming desire of our life. We should walk away from our church services wanting more of what we experienced there.

It was at the end of Paul’s life, after walking with and serving the Lord for so long, that he wrote: “I want to know Christ.”  [Philippians 3:10]

May we be like Paul, even more hungry for Christ at the end of our life than we are now.

Ok, enough, I’m tired of the world’s news. Today I want to think about something beautiful and lovely instead. I want Good News, not the news proclaimed by the ‘god of this world’ who seems very adept at blinding the eyes of unbelievers.

I want to think about Jesus. I want to think about the fact that when sin abounds, grace will abound even more! I want to think about falling in love once again with the Savior of my soul. I want to sing the great doxology with Jude, a servant of the Lord and a brother of James (both of whom were “brothers” of our Lord Jesus).

“Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.” [Jude 24-25 NLT]

He will keep us from falling … even while the enemy of our soul is doing everything he can to trip us.

He will present us before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy … even while the enemy of our soul is doing everything he can to tempt us to sin and bear guilt and shame.

Our Savior, the only God, reigns with all glory, majesty, power, and authority, now and forevermore. And we are secure in Him.  Yes, that is what I want to think about today. Amen and Amen.

I am amazed when I look at the Apostle Paul’s life and accomplishments. 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.

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” [Galatians 6:13-14]

 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 testify 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.  

To me, evolution is one of the saddest theories ever embraced by man. It is a theory of hopelessness. It says we have no purpose in being here; we are a random act of nature, a happenstance, a fluke, an accident. And because we are a random act, a fluke, there is no purpose for us.

God’s Word gives me hope. From God’s Word I learn that I was created with purpose, to know, to love, to serve the living God. I was created to worship my Creator, to live a life worthy of Him. That is my purpose as a child of my Creator.

I also have another purpose … as a child of my Father, one who was saved and adopted into His family as His daughter. That purpose is what Paul declares in Colossians 1:28, to “proclaim him [Christ], admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.”

 Not only do we have purpose as children of our Creator; we have purpose as children of our Father. That purpose is to bring others into the family, to introduce them to the Savior of their soul.

We are not a random act of creation; neither are we a random act of salvation. It was not a fluke that we were brought into this world; neither is it a fluke that we were brought into the family of God. Let us live our lives always with Godly purpose.

Back when God was calling Abraham and telling him that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed, there was a mystery abiding in the heart of God. Back when God changed Jacob’s name to Israel and made him the father of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, there was a mystery abiding in the heart of God. Back when God brought His chosen people out of Egypt by the hand of Moses and gave them the law and took them to the Promised Land, there was a mystery abiding in the heart of God.

Paul now reveals in Colossians 2:25-27 what that mystery was. “God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret [kept hidden for centuries and generations past): Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory [the hope of glory].” [NLT]

In Christ, that mystery was manifested for all to know. Not just Jews, but Gentiles also, in fact all who come to God by faith in Christ, share in the promises of eternal life—Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Read the phrase again, “Christ in you.” Now read it this way, “Christ in me.” The mystery is not just for groups of people; it is for individuals. Christ abides in people now by faith. Christ lives in you and in me now by faith. That is our life, our present life.

But there is more. There is the “hope of glory,” the promise of a future manifested life in His presence forever. I would be less than honest if I told you that I lived in this “hope of glory” all the time. Sometimes when I’m struggling with temptation and sin, when the disappointments and sorrows of this life outnumber the triumphs and joys, I forget. I take my eyes off God and see only earthbound circumstances. Yet, even more real than what I see around me or in me daily, is what I cannot see … those things that are mine in God. The greatest of which is “Christ in [me], the hope of glory.”

There are three verses in Colossians 1 that contain three of the most amazing truths found in Scripture. Verse 21-22a speaks of our separation and reconciliation, verse 22b gives us the result of that reconciliation and verse 23 provides a warning.

“But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.” [Colossians 1:21-23 NLT]

We were separated from God because of our rebellion and inability to live according to God’s holy standards. Christ brought us reconciliation through His cross. Now as we stand before God, our Father only sees us covered in the blood of Christ and sees us as holy, blameless and without even a single fault.

But there is a warning that accompanies that Good News. We must stand firmly in the truth of God’s reconciliation … we cannot allow ourselves to “drift away” from the Good News.

The Greek word for “drift away” expresses the idea of being shifted, displaced, or removed from a fixed position. In Scripture it is used figuratively of a believer’s spiritual or moral footing being dislodged.

There are all kinds of forces in this life that seek to dislodge our spiritual and moral footing. We need to stay grounded in Christ Jesus, steady in our reconciliation through the power of the Holy Spirit in us so we do not “drift away” from the truth.

There are three verses in the first chapter of Colossians (vs21-23) that contain three of the most amazing truths found in Scripture. Verse 21-22a speaks of our separation and reconciliation (yesterday’s devotion), verse 22b gives us the result of that reconciliation and verse 23 provides a warning.

“As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.” [NLT]

Pastor Jim, my former pastor, mentor, and friend always quoted the above verse. I don’t know if it was his “life verse” but it certainly was the verse he lived all his life.

God brought us reconciliation through the sacrifice of His Son Christ Jesus. God transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of His Dear Son. As a result of that act of reconciliation, God now sees us as holy, blameless and without a single fault!

How can that be? I have a lot more than a “single” fault. I am far from God’s holy standard. How can God see me as holy, blameless and without a single fault?

As Pastor Jim always said – the Blood of Christ covers us and when our Father God looks at us, He “looks” through the Blood of His Dear Son and sees only Christ’s holiness in us.

We can only stand before God in Christ Jesus. Thankfully, because of Christ’s willing sacrifice, we can now do that!