Anticipation of the End

Revelation 1: 1-7 - The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,  who testifies to everything he saw--that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,  and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,  and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.  Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.

Satan tried to lock John up….to stop his wonderful preaching.  He convinced the rulers of Rome that John needed to be banished to the island of Patmos…where he lived for about a year...legend says in a dark cave. But Satan’s great plans were foiled once again and the good guy won…as God  used this time that John was truly alone to send his very angel and give him the prophetic visions that were transcribed into this marvelously complex book of the Bible.  The book that tells us that Satan will once and for all be defeated on Earth…because Jesus has already conquered him in death. One’s mans punishment and persecution multiplied the great message of faith and hope we have in Christ Jesus beyond the human numbers we use to count our fingers and toes.

We are closer than we have ever been to the time when we will all see his glorious form…descending back to earth in the clouds that took him up to heaven to sit at his father’s right hand. Whether we have already passed into his presence….or are still living on this troubled Earth…we will ALL see him coming back! God and his precious son Jesus have been up there watching us struggle since John’s day….and like any great father…they sent us the directions we need to prepare ourselves for …the mightiest of all battles…the one that will end the world as we know it today.  Like any reader hooked on a great book… I peeked at the last chapter…22…and the good guy wins. He will rule Earth…and banish Satan forever to the darkest place of all.

John’s words are comforting….because even though he says a horrible battle is coming…his words also say that we will be blessed.  We will be blessed through the knowledge this book contains…IF….we take them to heart and believe.  My mind is trying to wrap itself around the wonder John must have felt as he penned these pages for us.  It must have been beyond amazing to have seen the visions he saw. Oh how he must have relied on the holy presence of God when he awoke from his trances and searched for just the right words to describe the full deity of God.  It serves to remind me that I must all rely on God to understand the supernatural occurrences that John penned in these great pages.

Father…I am filled with a mixture of fear and excitement….in anticipation of your coming. Help me today to drink in the fact that you are in control of all history.  You are the creator of this world…and even though it looks bleak and evil in the world today….you are up there watching…preparing to come in your glory and save all those who believe.  Let this be a reminder to me to be more urgent in my prayers for the lost….they will all be banished with Satan in the end.  Help me to stand firm to the end…to use your power to stay righteous and work to win as many of these lost to the good side. Amen.

Power to Change

Jude1:17-23- But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.  They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires."  These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.  But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.  Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.  Be merciful to those who doubt;  snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

The closer I get to the end of this great Bible…this book of directions for living my life….the more urgent the warnings get to stay on the alert for false teachings and the fake Christians Jude warns us about who really don’t believe with their whole heart…they twist the words of the bible to fit whatever they want to do.  They use the church as a conscience check…..sitting in the pews on Sunday…sleeping with their eyes open during the sermon…..maybe lifting a selfish prayer or two…maybe even singing in the choir…or teaching a class.  Their offerings are like Cain’s…left overs…tainted with the sin of selfishness. They party and drink and live immoral lives…some even justify what they do with verses from the bible…pulled out of context.  I know….I have been there….and it was hard to admit that I had become so lost in my own fake world that I believed…and professed quite loudly to the world that I was right. Satan had tricked me so fully that I lived this lie day after day…week after week…believing in my own ignorance because I did not know the truth….didn’t even try to learn the truth.

The truth demanded that I change….that I admit I was wrong…that I put behind me the lie that I had come to believe as the right way. Thanks be to God that I was snatched away from Satan’s lies two long years ago….and I began to study and uncover the sins in my own life.  I did not know then that I was following Jude’s advice…to know the truth…to study God’s word and apply it daily to my life. He also says that we should pray in the spirit….in agreement with God’s laws and teaching.  The prayers we lift should ask God to reveal his will…his big plan for us…how we can help snatch other people out of the world of lies they have built for themselves. We must use God’s love…the love that shows mercy…not judgment…but be careful…even fearful of getting to close to their world of lies. And most of all we should wait…ever hopeful of the day that he will return…and give us a new body to claim the eternal life that he has promised.

Father…I thank you…thank you …and  thank you …and even those shouts of thankfulness don’t seem to cover just how thankful I am that you built a Church like Souls’ Harbor…that at just the right broken moment of my life…you allowed the precious saints in that church to show me mercy and love …and they uncovered the hate…and fear…and selfishness that had allowed Satan to trap me in a world of fakeness. Forgive me Lord….and help me to never listen to Satan’s lies again. Give me a passion to study your great Bible… and really apply everything it teaches to my life. Teach me how to pray in the Spirit Lord…to listen to your voice and know with the certainty of Moses…and Paul…and Jesus…exactly what your will for my life is.   Teach me how to stay in your love…so that it overflows from my heart…and everyone around me may share it.  I can wait for your coming because of the mercy you show to me every day…and be sure of the hope I have in your precious gift of life. Amen.

Loving Rebuke

3 John 1:8-12 -  We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.  I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us.  So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.  Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone--and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

The church that John wrote to is just like ours today.  We can find the ‘Gaius’…the one who welcomes and shows grace and generosity to everyone who walks through the doors.  There is always the true ‘Demetrius’…the one that everyone respects and loves for their great faith and holding to the truth. And Satan is always working to raise up a ‘Diotrephes’ in the mist of God’s true believers….to weaken the church…to trick us into evil…to keep us from doing what God’s truth calls us to do.  John tells us to openly and LOVINGLY….rebuke them and speak the truth back into their wayward soul.

The bible has advice in many books that support John’s advice.  Proverbs 27:5-6 says, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” And we are given clear directions in Matthew 18:15-17…which says, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.  But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2,  “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife.  And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?”…and then adds to this seemingly harsh directive to above all forgive in 2 Corinthians 2:7-8  which says, “Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.” 

Both John and Paul knew that sin is contagious…Paul’s loving words from Galatians 6:1 explain the reason for making sure we confront the Diotrephes of our churches in love. He says, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.”   We must strive to be ‘Gaius’ and ‘Demetrius’….we must work to be respected for our faith and teaching of the truth….we must be known to others by our kind and generous treatment of others.

Father…I ask you to build me into a generous…loving….woman that loves your truth.  Give me eyes to recognize the Diotrephes that Satan sends to trick me. Give me a heart that guards against selfishness….a heart that recognizes that humility should always be a part of her heart. Help me to find the courage and love to speak the truth to those I see drifting away from God’s truth…to use your love to rescue them from sure death and the sadness of separation from you forever. Open my heart as wide as it can be opened…so all of your love can abide inside and help me stand strong and firm against the evil that Satan throws at me each day. Amen.

Love And Pray For False Teachers!

2 John 1:6-11 - And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.  Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.  Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.  Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.  If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him.  Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work. 

Love and truth…they really do go together. John’s letter to this sweet lady was a warning to her..not to entertain those that did not teach the truth.  His warning is just as relevant to us today…for a quick google search produced the fact that around 4, 300 different faith based groups were in existence worldwide. My eyes quickly told my heart that the world had way too many religions that did not base their beliefs on God. And that does not even begin to address the problem of all the ‘so-called’ Christian religions that twist the truth that I have come to believe in the Bible. John is saying that we need to be very careful…that we study and know the truth….and then teach that truth in love to others. He is telling us to never accept any doctrine that is based on a twisted version of what God left us to live our lives by.

For me…that means any religion that does not base itself on the whole Bible…is sending out false teachers….deceivers….  and according to John…they are anti-christs.  That really blows my mind…all these faiths that have rewritten the bible…or added to it….have twisted the truth….so that it is not the truth anymore…it is a false doctrine…that will fall when Christ comes back to claim his children. They have been deceived so completely that they believe…even live out the lies they have told to others. We must be careful to screen any doctrine…any sermon we hear…any book that we read…any conversation we have with friends …very diligently ..to see if what they said is contained in the book God left for us to live our lives by.

John also uses the term love in this command…for love helps us to react to these false teachings in a way that does not damage our own faith. John said to watch out…and not lose what you had worked for…to love the person…not what they believe….to love the heart that has been deceived….and pray that God open a door for them to learn and accept the truth.  John said not to entertain them…get caught up in useless debates about doctrine….just to love them…and pray for God to  clean out the false teachings that twist their minds and hearts. Pray that God send the right people into their lives to model the truth and live what the bible teaches every day.

Father…help me today to love past the boundaries of false religions in prayer. I pray that you begin to uncover the false teachings in the minds of all who have been tricked into believing anything that is not contained in your Bible.  Help me to recognize any false teacher that tries to pull me away from the truth. Thank you God for the bible you gave me to read and study and live my life by.  Help me to be a model of what it teaches to all that I come into contact with.  God…raise up special people that can go out and teach these truths in love to the massive crowds of people who have been tricked into believing a false doctrine. Oh father…how they are lost….and many are people I know ….students …colleagues…. even family.  Help me to know how best to share your love with them…without confrontation…and learn to commit them to prayer…for you to work in their hearts. Amen.

God's Testimony...My Testimony

1 John 5: 9-12 -  We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.  Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.  And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

John makes it simple…we either believe in God or we don’t! If we believe in God we have life. John says that God gives us eternal life…through his son’s death and resurrection. He comes to live in our heart and gives each of us a testimony …a story of what he has done for us and how it changed our life. But how often do we think about the fact that we wouldn’t have a testimony if God had not chosen to share his son to give us life?  God’s testimony….the sending of his precious son to live as a human…raised by sweet Mary and Joseph…taught by priests in the temple….praying to the father on mountains…modeling for us how to heal and teach others…living out the will of his father even unto death on a cross so that God could raise him to the glorious seat of honor on his right side.  This is the basis for my faith! This is the reason I have a testimony to share with others.

My testimony is hard to condense to a short devotional….but I will try. As a 14 year old girl…I gave my heart to Jesus at a youth rally. ..but I had been taught since birth who God was and what he could do for me. I was even dunked at 7…but never really asked God to be my Savior then. I lived to be a servant and help out in every ministry I could….but as an adult I learned that my focus for serving was more about what I got out of it rather that what God gained from my work. I tell people now I lived a selfish life…I call that period my ‘fake’ Christian time of life.  One day I lost a husband to divorce…and God began to speak to me about my selfishness. I even started to study the bible and pray on a regular basis. He even blessed me with a second husband….but that was a gift short lived as I gave him back up to God just one short month after we were married. The loss of that sweet gift …my sweet Mitchell…drove me straight into God’s arms…and I began to really search…read my bible with intent.  It has been a most precious journey…almost two years of reading and writing what God revealed to me each morning…posting on facebook…and even starting a blog…     wakingupwithgod.blogspot.com   …. a few months ago. The reading of that bible…it gave me life…real life that has purpose…God has transformed me into a servant…that wants others to believe in him like I do! Amazing how God’s testimony has transformed my testimony into a story of life…a story of never give up…of helping others find him too! I look forward to that eternal home some day…but I relish more the abundant life he helps me live each day…because I let him give me strength…and power to keep searching for his will here on Earth.

Father…I thank you for the testimony you shared with the world in your bible. Thank you for sharing your son…for giving him the strength to walk in your will every day and drink from the cup of death that gives me life today. Thank you for the strength to get up every morning and search for your will for me.  Forgive me for the time I let Satan trick me into just being here…not really living…just existing from day to day.  Never let me let go of your hand…help me to keep walking side by side with you …and relish each day you give me to share your testimony with others…so that they too will believe in you…and have life. Amen.

Perfect Love

1 John 4:15-21 - If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.  In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.  There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.  And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

John had experienced the perfect love of God.  He was transformed by it….made complete in it.  He allowed the love of God to live in him…and cast out all fear of the unknown.  John had allowed the love of God to reside so fully in his heart that all traces of hate ….for anyone on Earth…were erased.  Oh how I wish all of us could grasp this concept…love everyone….in spite of all our human flaws…in spite of the mistakes we make when we allow our human flesh to live in the world.  The answer to world peace is not in some document signed in the congress of the US…or the UN…or the bringing home of every soldier outside the US…world peace will only come when we begin to share the perfect love of God with those around us…when we allow the perfect peace of God to transform our hearts.

Love is an amazing thing…it can turn any age man or woman into mush with just a glance. Love can overlook a multitude of mistakes….work through issues with patience….and trust to the very end.  But John is telling us here that we can take this love we feel for those close to us…the ones we know and have relationships every day….and we can grow in love…that once we allow God’s love to really transform our heart….we will love unconditionally like Jesus.  John is telling us here that if we truly love God….we can no longer use the word ‘hate’….it should become a four letter curse word to anyone who claims to have the love of God in their heart.

I am trying to wrap my brain around this command …does God want me to love the one who murdered…who flew that plane into the twin towers…who stole stuff from Wal-Mart….the woman that caused my first marriage to fall apart? Yes….God wants me to be so in love with him that his love gives me the ability to love everyone…no matter what they have done to me or to my friends or to my country.  I must love the person…not what they have done. I must love the soul that is lost…not what  Satan causes them to do because he has such a grip on them that they do bad things…that hurt others.  Matthew 24:10-12 says,  “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,  and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Makes me think of that great prayer of Paul to the Ephesians in Chapter 3:14-19   -For this reason I kneel before the Father,  from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Oh father..help me grow in your love like Paul and John ….to be so in love with you that I love everyone…no matter what they have done to me or to those that I love. Forgive me for ever hating anyone…give me the power and the strength to search my heart for anyone I still harbor hate for…and ask you to release this bitter emotion from my heart…so that you can fill this space with more of your love.   Amen.

God's Great Love

1 John 3:1-2 and 11 -  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ……. This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

God’s deep love…lavished on me every day…so much that I just can’t wrap my brain around the ways that he show his love to me. It is amazing to wake each morning and walk close enough to him to hear his voice and hold his hand.  He has loved me through the worst storms of life … and his love helps me to understand why everything in life is not picture perfect.

God loved us so much that he gave up his only son….to die for the many sins we commit each day. His love is a free gift…that I sure don’t deserve. It makes me think of the time I had to run out of the movie theater in tears.  I was watching the Passion of Christ…..and I just couldn’t watch them beat him anymore.  I kept thinking about how it was my fault…he didn’t deserve that horrible treatment.

John is telling us that this gift we receive from Christ…it should transform our selfish nature into the same loving nature that Christ had…the same as his father. John is telling us that we won’t ever really understand the love of God…but to just let it wash our old selfishness right out of our hearts and allow God’s love to take over.  God’s love will begin to teach us how to love others the way he did…without regard to gender…lifestyle…economic status…or color.  God’s love knows no boundaries…it lays its life down for others….so that they too can know the great love and peace of the father.

Father….I thank you for this reminder that I am to love no matter what.  Help me to really grasp how to love all people…no matter how they are dressed…where they work…or where they live.  Teach me how to really love others the way you did.  Forgive me for putting boundaries on my love in the past.  Help me to never build up those walls of judgement again….but to always look at others with your eyes…and react to them with your heart. Amen.

Restoring Joy

1 John 2:3-6 - We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.  The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:  Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

John must really want us to get this…he has already told us once…that we are liars if we do not obey God’s word and walk like Jesus did.  He is saying that when we truly allow God to have control of our lives…we just naturally imitate his loving nature…and begin to walk like the son he gave up for our sins.  He is saying that when we give our life over to God…study his word and pray for his guidance each day…he will transform us into loving …caring…unselfish children of God….just like his son Jesus.

Sin is not normal…sin is the outward sign that God does not have total control of our life.  Sin is sneaky…it disguises itself as good…or fun…or beautiful….it tricks us into thinking that we are doing nothing wrong. But that sin we allow to manifest itself each day…it robs us of the joy that God wants us to have.  That sin we allow to stay in our lives…it separates us from God…just like Adam and Eve in that beautiful garden….when they hid from God …because they disobeyed him and ate the fruit of the tree of good and evil.  Remember that once Adam and Eve sinned..they were banned from that beautiful garden.

Father…give me strong eyes to see through the tricks of Satan and remove all the sin from my life that makes me a liar. Wash me clean each morning as I confess them to you.  Forgive me for keeping these sins in my life….for allowing Satan to trick me into thinking they were good. Thank you for models like King David who wrote…. “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” ….in Psalms 51:12.  I ask for you to restore my joy today…and help me put out of my life anything that keeps me from experiencing more of you! Amen.

God's Revealing Light

1 John 1:5-7 -  This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

How honored John felt to have walked by Jesus’ side. To have conversed with him….to have learned from him..to have known him in the flesh.  Jesus was a light to him…so focused on God that everything he did…everything he said…exposed the sin in John’s life….caused him to confess to the father…so that after Jesus gave his own blood to pay the price for our sins…John was able to experience the light of God too.   The light that exposes sin….shines on the truth…allows us to turn from them and be righteous again….allows God to use us to disperse his love to others.

This light of God…it calls us all to be truthful…to confess our own sins and begin to clean up our lives…to change the things we did that were sinful and begin to share the love that comes from knowing God to produce service in our lives. John is telling us here that our faith is simply a lie if we have not allowed the love of God to overflow in our hearts to others.  John is telling us here that we must allow the light of Jesus to expose our sins ...that we must confess them to him and the believers we worship with so that he can wash them away…forgive us. Then we will begin to make our joy in the Lord complete as he begins to use us.

I feel sorry for the ones who just don’t get this concept.  The ones John was talking too….they were Christians in name only…sitting and listening…following the ten commandments and laws handed down by Moses (sometimes…when it fit their agendas) maybe even reading the word of God and lifting up random prayers.  But they were lying to themselves…God…and the ones around them. They were living a lie…and someday…after they have lived this lie long enough…the lie becomes so real in their heart that it destroys their spirit.

Now don’t start thinking of all the people that you know that fits this today.  John is talking to me…to you…to every Christian who has walked the isle….been baptized and does not change EVERYTHING sinful about their lives. If you have been told that anything you do….or say….or think….is wrong….and the bible agrees with it….you are living a lie...your relationship with God WILL slowly be put on the back burner…and you will begin to be tricked into service for Satan. I know…God identifies new sins in my life every day.  I should not hesitate to put them out of my life…like that refrigerator I came home to yesterday…full of rotten food and leftovers from 4 weeks ago when I left to help take care of my mom. I have to go through every jar…carton…to go box…and make sure I remove anything in my fridge that might make me sick.  It might look good…but it contains very dangerous germs…that can prevent me from being healthy….keep me from doing the things I know I need to do.

Father I thank you this morning that every day I read my bible…and write what you have helped me to understand about it…I have to change something.  I thank you that your light does not depend on Earthly electricity…but is powered forever by your love for me.  Help me to always confess the things you tell me are sins quickly to you…to my Christian friends…so that you will remove them from me….and make me a stronger warrior for you. Forgive me Lord for leaving some sins too long….for allowing them to trick me into thinking that they were not sins anymore….for allowing the lie to keep me from being as effective for you. Give me a new strength to act quicker when you expose the sin in my life.  Give me  heightened vision to see the sin in my life so I can confess it and let you wash it out of my life. Amen.

God's Concept of Time

2 Peter 3:8-9and 14-15- But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance…….. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.  Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.

I had this flashback of my parents…most of the time my mom…giving me those last minute instructions before a trip.  Be sure to brush your teeth…and put on clean clothes everyday…and write me. Oh my...I just dated myself terribly...lol! Peter is saying goodbye here too.  He is writing his last letter to the Christians in Rome that were struggling to ‘fit’ in a world where…frankly..it was just hard! We really have no clue just how hard…we think waiting in the drive through line more than 5 minutes is torture!  He was telling them to never forget the peace of God that allows us to find contentment and patience in this crazy….hurry up to hurry up again ….violent….abuse filled world.

Peter didn’t know it the day he wrote this letter…but God knew that he was really telling all of us...that have accepted his love into our heart two things here.  One is that we need to grasp the concept of patience…as it pertains to others and leading them to Christ. I could just see Jesus…sitting next to his dad…hand gently placed on his shoulder.  “Hey dad…I was just hoping that I was not going back to Earth for a while…I know you said it was soon the last time I asked…but…. there is that group of kids over there in Kentucky…the ones that just left camp.  I know that they are going to lead a t least 100 more kids to your feet in a few weeks.” Wow…I understand how Moses could change God’s mind with his prayers now!   The other is that we need to keep growing in knowledge  ..and seek the peace that passes all understanding for ourselves..so that we can become comfortable sharing it with others…so Jesus can keep going to his dad and say….”hey dad….I hope…cause this one is really on fire….they are adding 5 people a day to your kingdom.” 

I sure can’t remember ever thinking about time this way.  I can recall those nights as a young child…when it was clearly bedtime…and you begged for just one more TV show.  And more recently….the sleep deprivation of summer youth camp takes on a new meaning.  Maybe those 2:00 bedtimes and 5:00 showers had more meaning than I will ever know! Other bible authors have given us the same message…but the distance between chapters and books distracts us from seeing it.

We need to develop a new way of praying…like Jesus taught them in Matthew 6:9-10 ..when he told them to ask for God’s kingdom to come. Oooooh….maybe that conversation between God and Jesus is the other way around.….”Dad Can I go back today…I really miss them…would love to get that Earthly Kingdom going” – “No son…not today…I am adding 3,000 people to the kingdom today.” 

Matthew 24:24 also tells us that we need to witness…stop sitting in that pew on Sunday and thinking that we have done our part.  Quit being afraid to ask the person across table..or the CAN that takes care of your mom if they are going to be your friend forever! AND as we wait…we need to seek his will and be obedient to ANYTHING he asks us to do..just like 2 Peter 3:14 says.

Father…I am amazed at the wonders of your word…and I thank you for revealing this small piece of your heart to me.  Help me to internalize its message….to not just be able to recall the words…but to really live them.  Give me a new boldness to sneak that question in…in creative ways that does not put people on the defensive…or cause them to spout out excuses.  Keep revealing your truth to me..and help me to share it any time I feel the spirit move me to do so! Amen.

No Distractions Allowed!

2 Peter 2: 20-23 – If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were in the beginning.  It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “ A dog returns to its vomit” and  “ A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

False prophets…serious stuff.  Heavy penalties too! Those people out there who have lived the lies they were told so long….they have internalized them and live them as though they were true. They spread their false testimonies everywhere they go …tricking even the most faithful of Christian believers to follow their lies. But Peter’s warning here is really for all of us… I dare one of you to tell me that you have never been a false witness to anyone. I wanted to say I hadn’t..my heart just not letting it sink in that I was guilty of such a horrible thing. And as usual I have to admit …when I first read it…I started to skim over it…I just don’t consider myself one of ‘those’. And I just could not see how these verses about  ‘false prophets’ could have anything to do with any sin I needed to ask God to remove from my life….then I read it again…and I let the distractions around me win.

Maybe it was the distraction of camp noise…just before the lights out rule of any summer camp is a reality…..or maybe it was just the fact that I was trying to multitask and wash dirty towels while I read my bible at midnight last night…but I just didn’t seem to see a message for me last night. As I look at my notes I see the  long list of words that Ray Steadman used to describe  false prophets …I wrote them more out of the need to not have a blank notes page to look at this morning …words like ….presumptuous….fearless (in the sense of a wild animal) …shameless…greedy…boastful…slave to corruption…and at the bottom of the list was this note…aware of the scripture…very smart…able to use the bible in an out of context sort of way to support their false claims.  Then I closed my bible and talked for a few more minutes with one of the counselors…listened to her pour out her own heart about life and offered some pretty flimsy words of encouragement…prayed with her…and drifted off to sleep.

It isn’t hard to describe the difficulty of writing this morning….my passion to create a devotional as I process the scripture I read each day is really the only thing that has kept me from giving up today.  The morning started at 5 o’clock …shower …sat down to ask God to help me pick scripture….picked scripture…sat…sat…fixed hair…sat again…changed locations …sat…drank coffee…sat… ate honey bun…drank more coffee…sat…wrote…stopped…drank more coffee…talked about whether animals go to Heaven….sat discussed which version of the bible is the best…typed a few more words…(it is now 7:42) you get the picture?  I start to process...get distracted ... try to get focused again…write a bit…something else happens to distract me….like ….I just pasted an devotional from two days ago into this one…oh goodness me it now it is 8:13!!!!

The world…Satan’s domain…has an unending battery of tricks to suck us into believing more in it…than to really concentrate on God.  Satan’s unending way of distracting us from God …keep our eyes so unfocused on him that we miss too easily what he is saying to us.  You saw it before me didn’t you…as usual I am the last one to process the simple message he had for me today.  I AM A FALSE PROPHET….when I am presumptuous …..wild ….shameless …greedy …boastful…corrupted…or allow my knowledge of the scriptures to get twisted.

Some days…we just have to keep trying…because we live in the world…and fight to separate ourselves from its distractions to find God.  As Peter says in verse 19…we allow those distractions to make us slaves....and we give up…give in to their endless repertoire of disruptions.  We take our eyes off Jesus…and follow the closest thing we can find…because it is easier…and become examples of how to be distracted ...in the same boat as Peter puts these false prophets.  He told us that even the angels in Heaven were distracted once….exiled from Heaven to wait in dark dungeons for the judgment of God.   The danger is clear here…it is better for us to have never known God than to have known him and let the world distract us away from him so much that we teach false things to others.

Father thank you for allowing me to keep my eyes on you this morning and not give up.  I get it….and I never want the world to win again.  Give me strength every day to discern the distractions of the world…to see through the trickery of Satan and focus on only the things that will keep me moving forward in my relationship with you.  Help me Lord to recognize immediately when I am beginning to drift away from you.  Help me to stay so close to your side that even in the distractions of a youth summer camp….on 8 hours of sleep in 72 hours….you can still be heard ABOVE the noise and tricks of Satan…and  the message is still spoken.  Now give me a chance to apply your truth…so it becomes a part of my heart. Amen.

Seeds of Faith

2 Peter 1: 3 -8 – His divine power has given us everything we need for life and Godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self control, perseverance; and to perseverance,  godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I am struggling to grasp this great promise...for if I believe its message…I must accept the fact that everything I have ever needed to be what Christ wants me to be has been there since I accepted him as my savior.  That sweet day when I was 14…when I asked him to come and live in my heart….Christ brought everything he had…he piled into my small heart everything I needed to become his child. It is hard for me to grasp…cause I never leave a gift unwrapped.  But somehow…over the years…I have done just that..I left the great gifts that God delivered to me unopened…just laying around…tricked by Satan to even forget they were there.

Why do we allow ourselves to be tricked so….to allow the great love of Jesus to just lay there…unused?  Like a new seed package…we tore off the corner and began to plant it…but something distracted us..and we laid the package down…never watered it.  The goodness stayed in the package.. just patiently waiting for us to come back…to realize that we forgot it there…the goodness that God wrapped up in that seed lying dormant….not growing…not yielding a crop at all.

Peter is telling us here how to find that seed and water it….turn it into the mature plant God intended it to be all along…before the world corrupted our salvation with its trickery .  He says we need to fertilize our small seed of faith with goodness….then add to it the word of God which is all knowledge….then add to that small stem that grows from our studies and prayers self-control….and just learn to wait….wait for God to show us his will and guide us to the job he had waiting on us when our faith is mature enough to be controlled only by his mighty spirit.  For his spirit will produce mighty fruit on that faith watered by knowledge and goodness….it will produce the fruit of godliness….the same sweet..kind spirit that dove the son of God to love everyone..even call strangers his brothers.

A well taken care of plant will produce fruit for a long time…so we need to be sure of our calling.  We need to be more like we are on our birthday…or even Christmas morning…when we woke our parents up at the first hint of light and begged them to go down and open those presents.  To keep searching the underside of that great tree for one more package to open…one more gift to unwrap…until we find everything he gave us to make that plant grow strong and mighty…able to discern the truth in any situation….able to see what he provided to help us build a bridge to the next part of our journey with him.

Father…I am so sorry once again this morning  that I have allowed my seed of faith to stay dormant for so long. I thank you so much for standing close enough to me to remind me that it is still there….still a great time capsule with everything I need to be whatever you have called me to be. Help me father to open hat storeroom of tools that you placed in my heart..and begin to cultivate the faith you gave me.  Teach me how to use each tool…open my eyes and ears to understand the knowledge you hid in your word…give me more time to seek you in prayer and really listen to your instructions for each day.  Take that small plant that you have helped me grow..and show me how to add kindness, self-control, and love for others…so that it will grow into a mature plant and start yielding fruit for your kingdom. Amen.

No Worry Allowed

1 Peter 5: 7-9 – Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.  Be self controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers  throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

I can just see the devil…stalking the world…prowling around and listening to our conversations…watching us and waiting for us to let go of God’s hand long enough to become weak.  He must not have found anyone the day he was handed Job. God knew Job could not be shaken…even if everyone…everything…including his health…were taken away.  Job was faithful to God ...he stood firm. Job’s secret is in the first verse of these passage….he had no anxiety…he had cast his fears on God…and trusted wholly that God had his hand…no matter what.

The devil must have some kind of radar that senses when we are worried…and our anxiety becomes  a magnet that draws the devil to us and gives him a huge battlefield to fight us in.  We have many examples of bible greats that showed us how to overcome the temptation to worry…they show us how to hold tighter onto God’s hand.

Moses did it with a simple rod…a staff fashioned to help him care for the sheep of his father-in-laws large stand of land. God ask him that day he appeared in the burning bush what he held in his hand…then he took what Moses knew…and turned it into a staff to lead people. God used that staff to channel Heaven’s power to his people.  The devil wasn’t able to find a foothold as long as Moses listened closely and stood firm on the directions he was given.  Moses wasn’t worried…he held the rod that God told him to hold….and it gave give more strength than any human alone has ever known.

If we don’t cast our cares on God…if we continue to allow them to grow and multiply they eventually begin to overtake our relationship with God. And the prowling lion…who seeks to destroy us…wins…temporarily….and laughs at how easy it was for him to convince us to let go of God’s hand. We drown in our own worries….and forget the powerful God that would love to hold them for us…just because he cares.  Kind of reminds me of my great mom and dad…when I was really young.  I believed everything they told me.  I trusted them with anything.  My parents were the all powerful..all knowing…could take of any situation…powerhouses that I let do anything for me when it was just too hard on my own.  Until I let the world convince me that they couldn’t magically mend a hurt knee with a kiss…or fix the wagon I wrecked going too fast down a hill. I stopped casted my worry on them…and started carrying it on my own.

God is the all powerful…all knowing…can take care of any situation…remedy for any anxiety we have.  Peter sure makes it easy here…he says just cast them on God..he will worry for us…he will keep the devil from devouring our soul…and the relationship that we have with our great Heavenly father.

Father..I thank you for the love you have given so freely…because you care for me.  Forgive me for having such a hard time turning my worries over to you. Help me to take each care and worry about the life you have asked me to walk and give them straight to you. Give me the power to leave them in your hands and trust that you are melding together a master plan to give me rich blessings beyond my imagination.  Forgive me this morning for ever thinking that I could do one thing about any worry I have ever had. Help me to rely on only you…so the devil can not destroy my relationship with you. Amen.

The Attitude of God

1 Peter 4: 7-11- The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.  Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Good advice…Peter is telling us that it is all about our attitude. The first verse of this chapter even tells us that it should be the very attitude of God. But this group of verses tells us just what the attitude of God is…the indwelling spirit of God…empowering us to share the gospel…with confidence.  A constant spirit of love for others…hospitality to even those we have never met…with joy and contentment…NO GRUMBLING ALLOWED!!!!  Faithfully speaking God’s words…with God’s strength…so that God receives ALL the credit and praise.

I am thinking about Joseph…that shepherd boy that God allowed some mean brothers to sell into slavery…who bore all kinds of persecution he did not deserve…until God blessed him with a way to save his family during a famine…even his whole nation.  Or what about Moses..who after trying to bring justice on his own…ended up running away to hide from his sin.  God appeared to him in a burning bush and empowered him to lead the whole Israelite nation out of slavery.  Or Jesus…that HUMAN baby that grew up and used the power of his heavenly father to endure death on a cross…so that you and I can enjoy a home without a mortgage in Heaven someday. 

Peter wants all of us to realize that we can have the kind of relationship with God that Joseph, Moses and Jesus had with him…so we can learn to love and serve others without so much as a gripe or complaint. Rejoice as he says in the suffering he allows to train us…because it is that suffer that teaches us how to be more like these great examples of faith that we read about in our Bible.  What a better day than Father’s day to proclaim our love to the one who is always there for us..the one who chases after us when we run away…who picks us up and retrains us until we get it right!

Father…thank you for being the best dad. And thank you for blessing me with a pretty awesome Earthly father too…who must have learned this great lesson from Peter way before you placed me in his life. I love you both so much and feel so blessed to have Christian parents who taught me at an early age about you! Help me to keep loving on every person I meet with your love…bearing every seemingly hard season in life…until you have trained me to rely on you for my strength…to know that you are girding me every moment with your power. Amen.

No Fear Allowed!

1 Peter 3:13 - 17 -  Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Peter…he understood fear.  He saw Jesus one night walking to the boat he was in …on the water. The story in Matthew 14 tells us that the disciples called out in fear because they thought Jesus was a ghost. Peter’s faith was so weak he didn’t even recognize his Lord….so he asked him to prove it.  Jesus treated him just like he does us…he let him come out to him…and it was really cool…till Peter took his eyes off Jesus…and felt the dread that fear causes for the second time that night….and began to sink.  Jesus rescued him twice…just in that one night!

I have heard many times…and a facebook friend reminded me just this morning …that we are told 365 times in the bible not to fear.  That is one reminder for each day of the week..and still most of us struggle each day with some type of fear.  Maybe we just don’t fix our eyes and heart on Jesus like we should.  Maybe we just don’t trust God to do what is best for us.  Maybe we just need a little more faith. I wish I could say I had the magic answer…but I am just like Peter.  I know I need to fix my heart and eyes on Jesus..but I let the world distract me and just like that the fear creeps back in to my world.

Christ expects us to live positive, hopeful, exemplary lives.  Christ knew that Peter would eventually conquer this world of fear when he hinted in John 21….that Peter would stretch out his hands and be led where he did not want to go. Peter fulfilled this prediction with his exemplary life after Jesus reinstated him as a full apostle after his denial.  Just proof to me that God can use us…no matter what mistakes we make in life…and that those mistakes…those huge falls we take…land us right smack dab in Jesus arms…and he gently picks us up and places us right back where HE wants us.

I thought as well how much I wish I were like the great Noah.  He could have cowered at his instructions to build a boat…even skeptical of such a crazy notion as rain. But he allowed God to provide him with a stability and peace….his great ability to fear only the Lord is exactly what Peter is talking about in verse 17…why are we afraid of anything God allows to cross our path but separation from him. It is one of Satan’s strongest tricks…if he can get us to fear the world…we let go of Jesus’ hand…and begin to sink…like Peter.

What a great testimony we show others when we let go of fear…and begin to show all the positive attributes of our faith to everyone around us.  They will see us doing good….praising God in spite of any bad things that happen…keeping our eyes on the father who has a plan.  Jeremiah 29:11-13, “ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” When we seek him with all our heart…he can free us even from the Fears of this world that hold all of us captive…more than it should.

Father..I am sorry you have to remind me so much not to be afraid.  Help me to grasp this great lesson from Peter…who learned from his mistakes just how powerful you are…and how you are bigger than any problem or storm raging around him.  Thank you for rescuing me so many times …and picking me back up and placing me where you want me to be.  Help me to truly set you apart in my heart…and fix my eyes permanently on you so I can accomplish what you placed me on this Earth to do.  Amen.

Get Serious

1 Peter 2: 1-3 -  Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,  now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Peter sure doesn’t ‘mince words’…he just ‘cuts straight to the chase.’  I shouldn’t be surprised…here I am…close to the end of this great Bible I have read from beginning to end…and Peter is given the task of writing down in plain English what I should have all figured out on my own.  His words literally shout to my soul, STOP BEING SO CASUAL WITH YOUR FAITH!

This journey through the bible has caused me to really start absorbing the message God laid out for us through these great writers, some of whom, had the privilege of walking day by day with the Christ himself. They didn’t get it at first either…their hope of an Earthly King like the great David kept them from really understanding most of the heavenly wisdom Jesus tried to teach them.  It was after his death…on the Emmaus road for two of them.  I just had this gut feeling that one of them might be Peter…and sure enough a quick Google search produced the verse Luke 24:18 ….which says that one of them was called Cleopas. It went on to say that there is no direct evidence as to who Luke intended the other to be, but it was probably Peter, since Peter is mentioned at verse 24:12.

I am not surprised by this command from Peter…his failure to verbalize his love and loyality to Jesus that awful night before his death…taught him a very hard lesson…and provided a means for Jesus to show him his wonderful mercy and grace.  Peter… of all the disciples …understood how you just can’t accept life without Jesus...once you have tasted his goodness.  My trials...and the presence of God that has not just gotten me through them…but helped me grow in ways I never dreamed…helps me understand this statement too.  It is time to become radical…radical like Jesus…serious about the God we claim to love and obey.

I want to recommend some excellent authors that have helped me along in this spiritual journey.  Their writings compliment this great bible I have been studying…and have helped me to see the truth..you know..the way we tell ourselves not to get too serious…stay on the fence…don’t get to involved. We are so good at justifying not overdoing it that we sometimes do nothing at all… our daily walk with God consisting of a Church service weekly and a prayer when things get tough. It is no accident that this first book was placed in my hands just after my sweet Mitchell passed. A sweet mother from my son’s baseball team handed a copy of Radical, by David Platt to me.  She said it just wasn’t her “thing” but since I was talking at the time about going into missions in Africa…it sounded like something I would like.  Its message of serious Christianity..rang fresh in my ears as a new widow…don’t read it unless you are prepared to change some things about the way you live.  And you can’t go wrong with any Max Lucado book…he has a way with words that just speaks straight to your soul. And one more must read…if you really are ready to get serious…is Crazy Love, by Francis Chan.  He will challenge your present routine…really have you looking at your motives for how you live.

Once we have truly tasted the joy and peace of Jesus…we just aren’t satisfied with things they way they were.  When Jesus lives in our heart..our soul will thirst for more and more…pure milk of the spirit as Peter puts it.  I guess it is like when we were teenagers.  We got our first taste of freedom and nothing would stop us from being on our own. I remember wanting to live on my own so bad…knowing I wasn’t ready for it…but I had this passion..and just had to do it. That’s the way I feel these days with my faith.  I want more so bad…it gives me a felling of empowerment…makes me feel fearless.

Father…I could never thank you enough for how you have jump started my heart to learn more about you.  And what is really great is I don’t ever have to worry about trying.  Your grace and love cover every mistake and crazy mess up I have caused in my life….and you love me in spite of it! Amazing!  Lord…quench this thirst with your pure spiritual milk…and get me ready for the radical life you have planned for me.  Strengthen me and guide me and help me hear your voice tell me each road to take and exactly when to take it. Amen.

No Strangers Allowed

1 Peter 1:1- 5 -  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time

When I read the word stranger…I had a hard time accepting it. One of my gifts is the ability to speak to anyone…to strike up a conversation with someone I have never met…it is easy for me. But in  Peter’s world... persecution must have made them very suspicious of others they did not know….were they a believer…or someone who would do them harm if they knew they believed in the Messiah.  And he speaks also of how they were divided by distance…unlike our world where technology has shortened the distance between the great span of nations in our world…at least for conversation. The believers of Peter’s culture must have felt that many they saw every day were strangers…spread so far apart with no means of communication except letters or personal visits. 

 I guess if I really think about it….we are all strangers until we happen to cross paths with the ones God chooses to send our way…either for us to help…or for them to help us. And as Peter describes for us here..if we allow the Holy Spirit to provide the strength and power for us to be obedient… a wonderful thing happens…we begin to develop that chance meeting into a relationship of support or encouragement…a stranger becomes a friend to talk to…a fellow sister or brother in Christ.

One reason God gives us this gift of friendship…of relationship with others is to support us in our times of trials. Peter tells us just a few verses more how we must stand obedient in the trials God allows to envelop our lives is to develop our faith…to prove it genuine to the others who are watching us.  He says we need to prepare our mind…be holy( which in this passage is to be reverent ….to understand that God is sovereign…in control).  He also tells us to be self controlled…to be obedient because the world will fade some day soon from our sight…our home is Heaven is our permanent dwelling where he will take all of us who have asked him to live in our temporary heart on this Earth.

The other reason is tucked into verse 8, it says, “ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,” …It is very hard to describe this joy of the unseen Christ to someone who hasn’t met him yet…but the joy provides the message for those of us brave enough to speak to those strangers around us.  We must remember that our redemption was necessary…none of us was perfect enough to get to Heaven on our own.  And this salvation we enjoy…the joy that we experience came at a costly price…not just to the Christ who hung on the cross…but to those disciples like Peter who did not allow their fear of the world’s persecution to stop them from spreading the gospel to others. God planned it that way…so we could prove we really meant what we said when we acknowledged him as our Savior.  Our lives now are to be marked by holy reverence…allowing our faith to shield us from any danger Satan throws in the way to try and stop us.

Father…I thank you once again this day …for allowing me to be your child.  Give me new strength and power against the tricks of Satan that try to make me believe I am powerless.  Help me be bold and share your love with all that you place in my path.  Give me a reverence for you that keeps me obedient in every task you give me to do. Continue to give me the strength to walk through these trials you allow in my life to prove my genuineness.  Thank you for choosing me….sanctifying me…and giving me new power each day to accomplish everything you have given me to do. Help me to hear your voice when you have something for me to do…even if it interrupts my schedule for the day. Amen.

Koinonia

James 5:13-16 -  Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

My office at MacDonald’s ended up being next to a sweet gentleman who talked my ear off. He had probably been sitting there most of the morning…just killing time. He said he was from Knox County…twelve miles from where we were. He was ‘retired’ …disabled from a stroke….just came to sit and watch people as they came in and out of the restaurant.  He needed what James was talking about here…a family…the kind that does not wear a mask…the kind that shares each other’s hurts and joys. The kind that prays for each other and loves us in spite of the mistakes we make.  The kind that does not abandon someone because they become unable to care for themselves…or become unable to work and make a living on their own.

I am blessed to have two …no…three great families…I thought of them as I read last night…even stopped to thank God for so many people in my life to share my pain and my joys. One of them is my natural family…a great mom and dad…super sisters…they have always been there for me in more ways than I will ever be able to thank them.  Another family is my great church… they are the place I worship my awesome God…learn more about his ways…and they allow me to be God’s servant as I work in some of the ministries they provide.  They introduced me to the third family...my Celebrate Recovery group.  This group immediately came to mind as I read last night…for this group is truly a place where I talk openly about any problem I have…with sisters and brothers in Christ who understand my pains. They circle around each other like the old covered wagons that need to protect themselves from the attacks of Indians.  This group has been a conduit of God’s love like no other…a place where I have grown more than I ever dreamed.

It is important for us all to have such a family...to become a part of a group that supports each other…prays for each other…confesses to each other.   James uses the word ‘koinonia’ ...which means to have communion with intimate participation. A feeling of connection that comes only from really knowing who and what the ones around you really need. To become …intimate… with anyone requires time…time to listen to their needs…time to pray for them…time to consider how God has equipped you to help them. To many times I know I have asked a colleague or friend how things are..and received the standard…”great” or “fine”….knowing they were holding back how they really felt. I guess I had better get to know them a little more…make an attempt to really help them see they can trust me with an honest …”oh life is so hard” or “ I really feel so beat down right now.”

It is no accident that I was ‘interrupted’ today as I quickly sat and ate my lunch to write today. God was putting what I read into action…as I actually wrote about family...he taught me that I should be more aware of not only my own families…remember I am blessed to have three…but I should be ever watchful of those that have no family.  He summed it up in the last verse of his book.  In verse 20 he says, “ remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” That sinner may be one who has no family …no support system…no friends to share the gospel.

Father…you are so amazing…to bless me with so many friends and loved ones.  I thank you for all my family and friends that you have sent my way to help teach me about you.  Help me to be more aware of those that have no one…open my eyes and ears and give me courage and an unhindered love for those around me that need to hear about you. Thank you for the humility lesson today…and help me to never take for granted the great family you have allowed me to share. Amen.

Double-minded

James 4:2-10  -  You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.  You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

I started to say I was sorry…that I had a much longer group of verses for you to read…but upon reflection I will not apologize for them…for they contain a very intense message. That word…’double-minded’….it hit me right between the eyes last night.  God is once again speaking straight to my ME disease.  I must not be the only one who suffers from this trickery of Satan.  It must be a disease he has fought in his children for a long time…for James was given these words a long time ago...for the people he wrote to as well.

Double-minded…a man with two souls…one that wants to be in the world…and one that wants to grasp the peace of heaven at the same time. The double minded man wants to hold on to the pleasures…to seek his happiness from the material things he can purchase with money and favors to people…and still seek God’s peace…hold a piece of heaven in his hand…just in case. But James is clear here…you can not have your cake and eat it too…you can not be of the world and have God’s love as well.

That sounds pretty final to me...I guess I had better start working a little harder to get rid of the rest of the world in my life.  And I admit up front that it will be hard…but after reading these verses…how can I justify ever choosing a pleasure from this world over the God who has worked so hard to show me who he really is?  James words…I have read them before…in many  books before his….the ones that told me to humble myself….purify my heart…to ask God for the strength and power to rid myself once and for all from this ME disease that keeps one foot in the world…that keeps me from jumping into the deep end of the pool on pure faith.

Father…I hear you loud and clear today….give me a double portion of your power and spirit as you continue to reveal to me the things of this world that keep me from knowing you as deeply as you have planned for me. Forgive me for needing so many messages…so many times that you needed to tell me to give up the world’s pleasures so I can experience more of you.  Help me to see and throw off quickly anything you tell me is separating me from the sweet love and peace that comes from trusting in you COMPLETELY…and bind Satan from tricking me with any new schemes.  Thank you for helping me to come this far…so close that I could not bear it if I strayed farther away. Amen.