Past Devotions

What is God doing? How often I have 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.  He told them to wait “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]

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 Revival 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!

Happy Mothers’ Day to all you wonderful women!

Twice in the Book of Isaiah, God refers to Himself with qualities we often associate with mothers.

Isa 49:15-16:  “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” [NIV]

Isa 66:13: “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.”  [NIV]

One of my favorite parables is the one of the Prodigal Son. After everything that boy did, insulting his father by asking for his inheritance while his dad was still alive and then running off and squandering that inheritance on what the NIV calls “wild living,” his father was watching and waiting with compassion for his son to return.  “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” [Luke 15:20 NIV]

How our God loves us. He watches and waits for us to return to Him. He yearns with compassion for his lost sons and daughters. What comfort is ours when we return to Him and find that He is not angry with us, that He does not reject us, but instead throws His arms around us and kisses us to welcome us home.

Father, what comfort is found in You, what compassions flow from You. Amen.

I discovered recently that I am a lot more messed up than I thought I was! I don’t cry easily, which seemed to be a plus when working with hospice, hospital and convalescent facility patients. I truly thought it was a strength to not shed tears easily.  When praying for the Lord’s Presence in Revival, however, I realized that not shedding tears is in fact a weakness.

Being able to cry before the LORD, reaching out to him through tears, is a necessary attitude in prayer as we seek His Presence among us for a spiritual awakening.  I am learning to cry before Him, but so far only when alone in prayer. So, I arrive an hour or so before the scheduled prayer time and cry and pray alone with the LORD. When everyone else arrives, my crying is done.

I’ve thought a lot about why that is. Growing up in a dysfunctional family, my relationship with my mother was probably the most difficult in the household. It certainly was the stormiest! I refused to allow myself to cry in front of her. I would not let her see just how our difficulties really affected me. That seems to have carried over to my adult life.

Yes, I am a lot more messed up than I thought I was. But, I serve a God who heals messed up people. He heals not only physical diseases, but emotional ones. He heals memories and brings new life.  He has promised us,

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace…. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” [Mal 4:1-3 NIV]

Jesus, the “Son of Righteousness” has risen. He has brought healing to those who place their faith in Him. I know He will even heal this “messed up” me and my soul and spirit will leap in His presence!  Thank you, LORD!

The Sunday before we left for California we discovered that our kitchen faucet had broken and flooded the cabinet underneath, creating a lot of water damage and some mold.  We shut off all the water, had a mitigation specialist give us an estimate for repairs, told our insurance company what happened and that we would get in touch with them when we returned from California. Since then we have been dealing with our local agent, the mitigation company, the insurance adjusters and the reconstruction company. We also haven’t had any water in our kitchen.

Our hall bathroom is now our go-to-temporary kitchen. The kitchen is still waterless, and now the hall bathroom is no longer used as such.  It’s been a bit frustrating. But each time I leave the kitchen to go fetch water from the bathroom, I am reminded it is only a short distance, a few steps, and that there are many places around our world where clean water is miles away, if available at all.

How precious water is to life.  Physical life cannot continue without it. We may be able to go weeks, or even months, without food, but water must be obtained or we will die in days.

Our spirits also need water. Unfortunately, too often we seek out water that will not sustain us.  God told Jeremiah, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” [Jer 2:13 NIV]

Broken cisterns are what the world offers us.  True Living Water that will sustain our spiritual life can only be found in the Lord.  Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”  [John 7:37-38 NIV]

LORD, flood my soul with the Living Water that only You can supply. Amen!

I find it very interesting that there are references to 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.

Father, I admit I need – I want – revival. 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.

We had a little extra time on Wednesday when we drove from Reno to Modesto midday.  Bob also had a gift card in his pocket for Bass Pro Shop so we stopped at one in Loomis before we got to Sacramento.  Walking around the store we met a clerk and began talking with her. She asked where we were from and we told her Idaho, but that we had lived in California from the early 1960’s to 1993 when we moved. She asked about Idaho.

I remember two of her comments, “Oh, so they don’t tell you when and how much you can water your gardens?”  And her next, “Oh, so the state doesn’t decide where you can ride your bike?”  Nope, at least not yet. She and others we spoke with were having a hard time with what they labeled “California Craziness.”  Yep.

California is what happens when we put our trust in human leaders, in “Princes” we think are going to give us everything we need to make heaven on earth.  And to be fair, craziness is not indigenous to California; it’s happening all over this nation – even in Idaho. California just gets the headlines.

The Bible warns us quite clearly, in many places, just where we are to place our trust and it is not in man or in princes.  Ps 118:8-9:  It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes. [NIV]

Ps 146:3: Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. [NIV]

Isa 40:23: [The LORD God] brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. [NIV]

(Oh, and just a side note, I got a nice new cast iron skillet with Bob’s gift card! That worked out very well!)

I always have intense feelings when we visit our California grandsons, the oldest almost 15 and the youngest now 9. My yearnings bubble to the surface and I want to move back to California to be near them. I’ve missed so much of their lives. This trip, like always, God reminded me once again that He wants me in Idaho.

I wear a Garmin Vivofit to monitor my activity and tell me the date and time. It’s supposed to change time zones when I sync it with my computer. When I arrived I manually changed the computer from Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) to Pacific. The Vivofit instructions told me that all I need to do to change to the correct time zone was to press the sync button. I did. Nothing happened. I tried to sync my Garmin with my computer repeatedly, and the time would not change. It was frustrating. I finally gave up and left it on MDT.

As I mused on Friday morning about returning to Boise, missing the grandsons once again, thinking about moving back to California, I started to laugh.  OK God. Message received loud and clear. I’m to remain (like my Garmin did) in MDT. God’s work for me is in Idaho, at least for the present.

Jesus reminded us that in this life there will be separations, many simply by distance.  We must be obedient to go where He sends us and to work where He puts us.  Our reward is that one day, there will be no distance and no separations when we inherit eternal life.

“Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children [or grandchildren] or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” [Matt 19:29 NIV]

Lord, looking forward to that day!  Father, I pray that all my children, their spouses and my grandchildren rejoice with me together around Your Throne in that eternal day.

Thursday, we attended grandparents’ day activities at Modesto Christian School (MCS) where our grandsons attend. The pre-school through fifth grade put on a performance of Christian music and Scripture verses to commemorate the National Day of Prayer also. Some of the songs they chose to sing weren’t all that easy either! (“The End of the Beginning,” “God’s Not Dead” and others)

They also had three young girls worship dance with flags while the different grade levels changed places. I’m not sure when I started to cry but I think it was when the youngest girl worshipped with her flags to “Flame of Fire, Rushing Wind.” She was so in tune with the music and her face almost rapturous as she twirled and spun around on the stage.  After that it was silent tears running down my face.

California is not an easy state in which to be a Christian. That was evident as we talked to some of the grandparents lined up waiting for the doors to open.  I realized as I watched these little ones sing and recite and worship that this next generation of Christ followers is not going to have it easy. Yet God will always have a remnant, and I was watching many little ones who will be part of that remnant should the Lord tarry.

It is so important that we teach and train the next generation. Right now, they are the target of the enemy. He will do anything and everything to claim our young ones. He’s bidding high for their souls not just in California but in every place the name of Christ is called upon. We must bid even higher.

“We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.”  [Ps 78:4 NIV]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdWx7NLTFpY

I was offline for a few days because we made a quick trip to California to see our grandsons play baseball and to go to grandparents’ day last Thursday with the youngest.  We had to be in California by 3:30 PM on Wednesday for one of the games, so we took two days to travel down, spending Tuesday night in Reno.

After checking in to our downtown Reno hotel we decided to walk around a bit and find an inexpensive place to eat. We don’t normally stay in downtown Reno, usually on one edge of the city or the other. I think it has been decades since we walked around downtown under the “Reno Arch.” It was an experience.

There were so many men and women who were what my parents used to call “down on their luck.” They were asking for spare change, sitting on the sidewalks, a couple were in wheelchairs, each one was thin, dirty, and with that look of hopelessness emanating.

Inside the casino where we found a buffet, it was a different story and yet curiously much the same.  Most people at the buffet were “well fed,” but many had that same look of hopelessness I saw on the streets.

I was reminded on Tuesday that living without hope takes its toll one way or another. And when hopelessness reaches its end, it devastates men and women, leaving them as if they have been hollowed out and left with nothing but a shell of life.

I cannot (will not) cease praising God for the hope I have found in Him! “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” [Rom 5:1-2 NIV]