Past Devotions

There are a couple pluses in going back to a temporary placement with the same department where I worked last year’s temporary placement. First, I didn’t have to learn a new language or an entirely new set of processes and routines. Yes, some things have changed, and I will need to get up to speed on those, but I know what the acronyms stand for along with why and what needs to happen. While I’m physically having to adjust, I’m not mentally as tired as when I had to learn all that last year.

The second plus is that I get to work with the same people. I was there two days and already had an opportunity for prayer with someone going through a rough time. It was just a natural, “let me pray with you,” that was accepted and welcomed.

One of the things I love about the Epistles in the New Testament is how often the writers make note of their prayers. In Paul’s letter to Philemon, he is barely passed the standard salutation when he makes note of his prayers for Philemon.  “I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints.” [Verses 4-5 NIV]

Paul in his private prayers was quite particular about remembering his friends. He called them by name, lifting them up to the LORD.  It appears that he also mentioned before God his thanksgiving for their faith and their actions of faith.

We must remember our Christian friends much and often in our prayers.  Sometimes we lift their needs, and sometimes we offer thanksgiving before our God for their faith and their good acts and deeds. Those of faith who accompany us through this life should always be in our thoughts, and upon our hearts before our God. Can you imagine going through this life without Christians walking beside you?  I can’t.

I am tired. Last week proved two things. The first thing is that I’m not quite recovered from the two surgeries and tire a lot easier than I think I should. The second thing is that this is the last time I’m going to do a full-time job in addition to pastoring. I think at almost 72, I’ve reached my limit. Whatever that will mean for our economic condition, we’ll just have to face it when the time comes. I’m done.

I’m done with the full-time job, even if it is only for a few months. I’m not done pastoring, at least God has not released me yet. He may, but as of today, The Way Assembly of God in Middleton is still my passion and my home.

For two weeks the message there has been out of Psalm 103, which begins, “O my soul, bless the LORD, bless His Holy Name.”

One commentary noted that David, the song’s author, ended the song the same way he began it, “O my soul, bless the LORD,” and made the comment, “God’s praise is a subject that will never be exhausted … We are never to think that the work of praising God is done.”

I may be done with this full-time secular job in mid-January. I may be done with all full-time jobs in the future. I may even one day be done pastoring The Way. But my work of praising God will never be done…not for all eternity. I think we not only have enough of God’s benefits to praise Him now, but I think we will be discovering and acknowledging even more of His benefits for all eternity. This is one work I’m looking forward to doing forever!

 “Bless His Holy Name!”

Today at church we are looking at the second half of Psalm 103, which one commentator called the “Mount Everest” of praise psalms. This psalm is accredited to David. He begins with a command, “O my soul, bless the LORD [YHWH], and all that is within me bless His Holy Name.” [Christian Standard Bible]

I started a 4 ½ month temporary full-time job last Monday, complete with my old 60-mile-round-trip commute. After this first week, I’m very tired as I’m not yet used to the change of routine, the longer days (especially when I have prayer or Bible Study in the evening), and the stress of crazy freeway drivers. I know it’s going to take at least a few weeks to get in the swing of things.

Just before rising this morning that opening verse of Psalm 103 ran through my head. My immediate reaction was anything but enthusiastic. I remember when our grandson Carter was very little and was asked to pick up his toys. His response was, “Me too heaby [heavy].” I think that’s the way I felt this morning, “Me too heaby.”

Then I had to laugh at myself. I’m getting ready to head for church, get behind a pulpit and give a message on blessing the LORD with everything that is in us and I’m not in the mood to do that myself! Funny how God makes us live out our messages.

So, this morning, whether I’m “too heaby” or not, I’m blessing the LORD for all His benefits to us. I’m going to stand and worship during song service as long as I can, I’m going to praise His name out loud and raise my hands and clap and maybe even shout a bit about the marvelous God we serve. And only after blessing the LORD with all that is with me will I be able to encourage others to do the same, even on the days when they are “too heaby.”

I spent much of August in the Psalms. I so enjoyed it, I think I just might spend September in that book also.  This morning I was in Psalm 145, which is a song praising God’s greatness. It is identified as a hymn of David. Listen to verses 3-6 from the Christian Standard Bible.  “The LORD is great and is highly praised, his greatness is unsearchable. One generation will declare your works to the next and will proclaim your mighty acts. I will speak of your splendor and glorious majesty and your wondrous works. They will proclaim the power of your awe-inspiring acts, and I will declare your greatness.”  

Read the whole song today and as you do notice the way David goes from “they” to “I” over and over. In the verses above, it is “One generation will declare” and “I will speak.” Then it is, “They will proclaim” and “I will declare.”

The LORD, YHWH, Jehovah, the covenant-keeping God is great! He is to be praised. He is to be praised corporately and He is to be praised individually. The onus is on both “them” and “me.”

There is power when I declare the testimony of God to others. It encourages and strengthens “them” to hear my proclamation of God’s mighty acts especially during the times when my life is difficult. And “I” am also encouraged by the testimony of others when I see them going through difficult trials yet hear them speak of the power of God’s awe-inspiring acts.

The praise of God’s greatness is the common ground for encouragement and building each other up in the Lord.

Senator John McCain died last week. He was a war hero, a POW in the Viet Nam War. Even though he was often called a ‘maverick,’ he served his country with dignity, integrity and honor. Many thoughts have been shared about him. The one I like best came from President George W. Bush. “Some lives are so vivid, it is difficult to imagine them ended. Some voices are so vibrant, it is hard to think of them stilled.”

Whether or not we always agreed with him politically or on issues, McCain was a man of honorable character. That can’t always be said of politicians or anyone else for that matter. All too frequently lately we have seen the failures and hypocrisy of men and women displayed across the media.

 “We also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.” [Rom 5:3-4 Christian Standard Bible]

Affliction produces endurance.  Senator McCain certainly knew times of affliction in his life, but we must always remember, affliction alone cannot produce anything. It is only when affliction is met rightly that it bears good fruit. Many have fallen into bitterness of soul when faced with afflictions.

Our words, our actions, our responses to life will prove our character. They will make it visible for all the world to see. We may be people of honorable character; or we may be people of dishonorable character. We may even be able to keep our bad character hidden from others for a while, but eventually that will prove a fruitless endeavor. What we are inside will be seen by all.

I was driving the freeway the other day. To my left was a semi pulling three trailers. I was paying attention to that as I passed them when I glanced in my rearview mirror. The car behind me appeared to be in my backseat. We couldn’t have been more than two-feet apart at 65-miles per hour in the far-right lane as we headed for the next exit.

I have had people tailgate me before, but this time was highly unnerving. The car’s owner (a woman was driving) had stenciled large white lettering on the top of the windshield, which when read in the mirror said: “MOVE OVER” and had an arrow pointing to the right. She followed that way for nearly a mile and shadowed me on the off ramp. Only when the lane split into two did she go around me, then proceeded to tailgate another car. I watched her fail to stop at a red light, whip around a corner, and tailgate the next person. I don’t think I have ever seen such a rude, reckless driver.

Now maybe there was a purpose in the message she had on her windshield. Maybe her job is to precede some sort of big equipment trailer or construction vehicle down the road and needs to warn people to move over for it. That doesn’t excuse the way she was driving that morning.  Then again, maybe, she’s just rude and reckless.

That experience left me shaking. Not so much for myself and my trip that morning, but for our society. I keep asking myself, what part of our culture would lend credence to that kind of behavior in anyone. How can anyone be so arrogant as to think they have the right to bully others with their vehicles.

I have always been hopeful for our nation, that she could be turned to God. “Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD.” [Psalm 33:12a]

I still am hopeful … but there is also in me now that vision of what we will look like if she does not—because that leaves us with “woe” as the portion of the nation who rejects God.

I saw a one-frame cartoon on Facebook a week or so ago. It showed Charlie Brown and Snoopy sitting on the ground facing a sunrise or sunset in the background. Charlie Brown says to Snoopy, “We are all going to die one day, Snoopy.”

It’s Snoopy’s response that has stayed with me, “Yes, but every other day we are going to live.”

Wow. Can it be that simple?

We worry so much about dying that we forget that is only one day, while we have years of days to live. Some may have more than others, but I don’t think God is concerned with quantity of days as much as quality of days. After all, He is already aware of the number of days we have. “…all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.”  [Psalm 139:16b Christian Standard Bible]

What are we doing with our days? Are we living them in abundance of God’s grace and mercy? Are we bringing the light of Christ into the darkness of others’ lives? Are we seeking our daily bread from the source? Are we drinking in the Living Water? Are we growing in Christ Jesus … loving each other the way He loved us? Are we caring for the poor of this world, the blind, the naked, the imprisoned as He commanded?

Are we living every day we have or merely going through the motions? Every day presents opportunities to grow in our relationship with God and our relationship with people.

Let’s live with an “every other day we are going to live” attitude and let God handle that one day we are going to meet Him.

I want to go back to Revelation Chapter 5, where we were in yesterday’s devotion. I want to go back to look once more at a group of people described simply as the “24-elders.” There are many scholars who believe these twenty-four represent the twelve tribes of Israel (the OT saints of God) and the twelve Apostles of Christ (the NT saints of God.) If that is true, then that is us!

If that is us, I want to know what I’m doing, don’t you?  I noticed three things.  We are gathered together around the throne of God. We are singing. We are falling down in worship.

We are all there together. All the people of God from all the ages, all the nations, Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free. We are together with Him before the throne.

And we are rejoicing, singing of His glory. I think there might even be some dancing going on. I can picture David whirling and twirling in his praise with a bus driver from Queens. There’s Paul singing loudly arm and arm with a martyr from Rwanda. Billy Graham and Martin Luther are side-by-side and Mother Teresa is hugging a Chinese believer. Maybe Peter and the Centurion are back together.  And in the middle of them all—there’s you and me.

Then suddenly as we sing, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever,” all of us are overcome with the desire to fall down together and worship the Great I Am and the Lamb. [verse 13]

We are together. We sing His praises. We bow before Him in worship. We probably should start practicing that now. (Smile)

Take a moment and read Revelation Chapter 5. It’s only 14 verses and takes about two minutes. It is full of music and full of worship. First the four creatures and twenty-four elders play their harps and sing. Then the thousands upon thousands and ten thousand upon ten thousand join in. Finally, the “Cosmos Choir” made up of every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth and in the sea begin to sing.

While I can only imagine what that will be like, there is a verse in that wonderful chapter that reaches deeper in me than I can even express. The NKJV renders the wording beginning verse 6, “And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain ….”

But it is the way the NIV renders it that grabs my soul, “Then I saw a Lamb ….”

I saw a Lamb … I saw the Lamb. As John stood before the Throne in the heavenlies, John saw the Lamb, the One slain from the foundation of the world. He saw the one upon whom he had rested his head at the Last Supper. He saw the One who loved him so. He saw the One who died for him, stripped naked upon a Roman cross. He saw the One laid in the tomb and he saw the One risen from the grave. He saw the One who ascended before his very eyes into the clouds. He saw the One who took away his sin and his guilt. He saw the One who alone now has the authority to open the scroll that signals the beginning of the New Heaven and the New Earth.

I want to see what John saw. I want to see the Lamb. I want to hear the heavenly choir. I want to stand shoulder to shoulder with the saints of all the ages and worship the One who sits on the throne and the Lamb forever and ever.

I want to see what John saw:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hy5VxG6q98

Holiness has another meaning, not just “wholly other/wholly above” as God is, and “wholly set apart” as we are, but “wholeness.” It means to be completely healthy. We see this expressed by our Savior in Luke’s Gospel when Jesus met up with the ten lepers in Chapter 17. Luke tells as that as Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee, He was approached by ten men who had leprosy. They called out to Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy (pity) on us!”

Jesus response was to tell them to do what the Scriptures outlined, go show themselves to the priests to have their leprosy evaluated. Along the way all were “cleansed” or “made clean.” When one of the lepers saw that he was healed, he did an about-face and headed back to Jesus. There he began to shout praises to God and threw himself at Jesus’ feet thanking Him.

This amazed Jesus, first because he was the only one who returned when all ten were healed, and secondly because he was a Samaritan, one considered an outcast by the Jews. Jesus’ response, “Get up and go on your way. Your faith has made you well.”  [v 19 Christian Standard Bible]

The word Luke employed and often translated as “well” is sozo (sode’-zo), and the King James translates it as “whole.” It means to be or make whole. Wholeness. No longer broken apart or fragmented by sin and guilt. No long torn asunder by failure, addictions, bondages, perversions or oppression. All our pieces are brought together and re-created into a whole, new, creation.

Jesus not only cleanses and heals, He brings holiness, “wholeness,” to those who come to Him by faith. Praise His Holy Name. Amen and Amen.