Prayer

      It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, that we ought to be about the business of praying.  My Father once said in regard to my Mom, "The church is praying for her hands, but they are not any better."  Then, he thought for a minute and said, "But they aren't any worse either."  You don't have to go very far in God's Word to find out that one of the instructions for us to be in prayer.  Prayer is our communication with God.  The Lord Jesus Christ gave us instruction on how to pray by giving us what we have named, "The Lord's Prayer."  I can't say that I am what one would call a "prayer warrior" but I do pray.  This devotion has an attached prayer list to those who want it.  It is a listing of some prayer requests that have come in over the years.  There are a few items that have been on the list for a long time and they will stay there until they are no longer needed.  First Thessalonians 5:17, says, " Pray without ceasing."  
      The Apostle Paul closed out the first epistle to the Thessalonians with a list of things that believers should be doing.  Prayer is one of those things.  It is a short verse. Some have said that in the Greek language, it is the shortest verse in the Bible.  Whatever it is, there is that admonition for us to be about the business of prayer.  It is not just between the hours of 7 to 8 pm on Wednesdays, but a lot more often than that.  It is not just grace before meals nor is it just your final thoughts before you go to sleep.  Paul said simply to pray without ceasing.  Our lives should be characterized by prayer.  I just don't ask anyone to pray for me but when the need arises, I look for that person who is a prayer warrior.  We should want someone to pray for us who has a clear and open line with God.  The life of the prayer warrior has to be free of blocks that would otherwise block the prayers.  We can see some very good examples of people involved in prayer when we look at the lives of both the Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul and other early disciples.    Paul wasn't just throwing words around when he told a church that he was praying for them.  His life always seemed to be filled with the act of prayer for a needy people in one location or another.  The same should be true about us.  Unfortunately, we often find that we are holding a grudge against someone to the point that our prayers are not going past the ceiling of our own homes.  Take the admonition of Paul seriously in this short list of "things to do" that we see at the end of First Thessalonians.  May we all be a people of prayer.  Praise God today that He desires to communicate with us.

The Great Shepherd

     The world is filled with majestic animals such as the horse and the lion and the Tiger, the wolf and the coyote.  You can go out and purchase a lap quilt or blanket with a picture of the animal all over the blanket.  I have worked with farm animals when I was a youngster and often enjoyed their different characteristics.  The pigs seemed to have only two things in mind; mud and food.  The cows were about the same except they added curiosity to their character.  While digging post holes one day, the cows came up to look in every hole and in the process knocked half of the dirt back into the hole.  I never worked with sheep but life has taught us that we, as human beings, are much like the sheep.  I haven't seen a lap quilt with a sheep on it as a protector as they are not the guard type of animal.  Psalm 23:5 says, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."   
     Psalm 23 is a Psalm that we read at most funerals because of its description of death being just a shadow.  God, as always, chose the exactly right animal to present us with a picture of our own condition.  Sheep need t Shepherd.  We need a shepherd.  Sheep need protection.  We need protection.  Sheep need guidance.  We need guidance.  Throughout the Old Testament, lessons can be learned about the life of the sheep and how it is so similar to our own lives.  When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to the Jordan River, he yelled our, "Behold the Lamb of God..."   The Gospel of John goes on to show us deeper lessons in the lives of the sheep especially in John, chapter ten.  Psalm 23 is not just for the funeral, but for life itself.  We can have protection from the evils of the world because of our Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ.  We also find that we have all that we need because of the Great Shepherd.  He leads us from pasture to pasture and even provides a table that has been prepared for us.  When the enemies come, our Great Shepherd is the One Who fights for us and Who is victorious in every battle.  Truly, our cup runs over.  It is filled to the brim and runs down the side.  When you go out today and in the days to come, just remember that you, like a sheep, have a Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is going to give you the protection that you need.  Maybe someday, there will be a lap quilt with a large big horned sheep on it.  Praise God today for the protection that we have in our Great Shepherd.

All Sufficient Grace

     Every language has a set of idioms.  They are words that are used together which have kind of a special meaning.  The meaning is only good in that language and they often become snares for people trying to study that language.  We have a lot of "idioms" in our language. When we went to study Spanish, we purchased the language books and a good Spanish/English dictionary.  After some time, we also purchased another book of Idioms for the culture in which we were living.  English has it's own idioms.  One such phrase could be, "a little bit."  The primary use of this word is that which is put into a horse's mouth.  A "little" bit might be a bit for a pony.    A later definition shows that it can also be a small part of something.  A waitress can offer you coffee and you might say, "Yes, I will have a little bit."  To a foreigner studying English, that might sound a "bit" confusing.  There is one thing we can know about God and that is that He does nothing with just a "little bit."  He supplies all of your need and He fills you to the fullest.  He just doesn't give you a "little bit" of grace but indeed you have all that you will ever need.  Second Corinthians 12:9 says, "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me"  
       This has to be one of the most comforting verses for believers.  While it was spoken to the Apostle Paul, we can learn by an indirect application that it applies to us also.    God's grace is sufficient to meet every need that we have had, are having and will ever have.  We can never run out of God's grace.  You may have the impression that you will need more of God's grace tomorrow and so you ask God for more grace for the problems that you will be facing.  God, however, already knows your situation and His grace is already there. We can't even get down to half a tank of God's grace.  It is always sufficient no matter what situation we face in this life.  Not only do we learn that it is sufficient for every concern of life, but we also learn another peculiar characteristic of grace.  When we are at the weakest, grace is there to provide the strength that we need.  You may have thought at one time or another that you were not going to be able to get through a particular day.  It may have been the tragic loss of a loved one or new beginnings, a new town, a new job, new friends and perhaps even a new church.  No matter what the difficulty, God's grace was and is sufficient to get you through.  So, are you a bit apprehensive about the future?  Are you concerned that you may not be able to bear up under some load or another?  Rest assured in the fact that God's grace is indeed sufficient.  Hang in there.  You'll make it.  Praise God for His faithfulness in keeping us through His grace and mercy.

When Plans Go Awry

     Have you ever had to change your plans because something unexpected came up?  I was talking to a lady at a retirement facility one day and she was telling me how she got there in the first place.  She said she was walking along the sidewalk at ther home, and slipped off the edge of the sidewalk causing her to break her ankle.  Her daughter told her that she could not live by herself any longer and the lady then said, "and here I am."  There are so many people who go through life until a sudden event takes place and your plans are changed forever.  There is a word that I don't use very much, which is, "awry."   We may say that our plans go awry.  It has the basic meaning of, "away from the appropriate, planned, or expected course; amiss."  When was the last time that your plans were suddenly changed?   James 4:14-15 says, "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that."   
     James reminds us that we don't know what the next breath or even the next heartbeat may hold for us.  James says that our lives can be compared to a vapor.  I recently purchased an oil diffuser to use in our home.  The water is put in and a couple of drops of oil and you turn it on.  The vapor comes out instantly and travels about 12 inches until it disappears.  It's gone forever.  James has described our lives as a vapor and that it appears only for a little time and then vanishes away.  He then goes on to say what we should think and say in regard to our plans.  The four words mentioned are, "If the Lord will..."  Everything in regard to your next heartbeat and breath are dependent upon God.  Oh, we don't think about it and instead come up with all of the things we are going to do.  We can write them down on a "to do" list on the computer or in our calendar.  Some doctors have already given me appointments  in the following year.  Well, I may not be here in another year but the appointment is still on my calendar and on the calendar of the doctor. Yes, our plans may go awry in a moment and be changed forever.  There are some who have grown accustomed to saying, "Lord willing, we will see you tomorrow."  It is easy to say but perhaps we have not grasped all of the truth of that statement.  The next time you stand at the kitchen stove, watching the trickle of vapor coming from the spout, remember what God has said about your life.  Praise God today that He is in control of the next moment.

Creation

      Do you have trouble believing what has been written in the first eleven chapters of Genesis? This same group of people will doubt what God said in the first verse.  I can say that I have not had any difficulty accepting the first eleven chapters of Genesis.  I always have been a person who would accept the Scriptures far above coming up with my own idea how things were done.  I accept Adam and Eve, I accept the creation of the universe, I accept Cain and Abel, I accept Noah and the ark, I accept the construction of the tower of Babel and everything that is between. I have believed it all for the first 80 years of my life and I am not going to start disbelieving it now.  hav3e I every been criticized fort this view?  The answer is "yes" and I have been described as a person who has parked my brain at the door when I walked in.  Colossians 1:15-17 says, " Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:   For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:   And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."
       The New Testament is a rather strange spot to find information in regard to the beginning of things, but this passage says a lot.  All you have to do is to establish who "him" is in this verse and the answer becomes plain.  Going back to verses 7 and 13 and you come up with the Lord Jesus Christ.  The passage goes on to use the personal pronouns referring back to the Lord Jesus Christ.   The condition of our country and our belief system reflects our view of this passage of Scripture and its relationship to the first eleven chapters of Genesis.  The Apostle Paul has given us the information that details just how and why things were done.  Here again, I accept the phrase, "all things" as being true and right.  God has communicated to us by using the printed page and the very words of Scripture and I would much rather accept His explanation of things rather than the so called theologians of the world.  We live in a world where sin is rampant and morals are gone and in a place where values have been misaligned.  We can't kill puppies, but we can kill babies through abortion.  We must save the whales and polar bears and not use plastic straws, but we can kill millions of unborn children.  Our rejection of Genesis and the Author of Creation has brought us to the condition in which we are now living.  Only God can straighten out this mess and He has done it in the past and He certainly can do it again.  In all of the sad state of affairs of this life, we still have the hope that is given in the Word of God.  We have read the last chapter of the Book.  Praise God that He will straighten it all out in the end.  Even so, Come Lord Jesus!

Like Him

     I mentioned some time ago that there are many things in this life that I don't know how they work among which was Television and computers.  One of the first computers we had at American Telephone and Telegraph Co. was located in Kansas City.  The size of the computer was actually almost a city block.  Instead of transistors or chips, it actually had physical relays which were either open or closed thus making the "1" or "0" needed for the computer.  It didn't do a lot for me except tell me what type of equalizer to put in a circuit depending on distance, and type of carrier.  I didn't even know how that computer worked, but I still used it.  We use a lot of things in the course of a day in our life in which we have no idea how they operate, but we still use them.  We know enough to have confidence that when we start the process, it will be completed.  When we pick up the phone and dial the number, it works and technically speaking, we don't have a clue about all of the details of the operation.   First John 3:2-3 says, " Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."  
      I am thrilled with the statement of John here where he says, "...doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that..."  We don't know how it is going to happen.  We don't know when it is going to happen.  John didn't know all of the details of this experience, but he went on to say, "but..."  His next statement was "we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him..."   You can reflect back to the appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ in the room that had been locked with the disciples inside and all of a sudden there was Jesus in the midst of them.  They could have touched Him and Jesus gave evidence that He was not a ghost but that He was real in every sense of the word.  So, the statement in First John reveals to us just a glimpse of what we shall have when we see Jesus face to face.  Here it is right in God's Word which explains that we don't know how it is going to be but that it shall be just as God said it shall be.  What is important is that God knows how it is going to work.  God knows when it is going to happen and God doesn't need my understanding in order to make it happen.  So Praise the Lord today that He knows when and how it is going to take place and that someday, we shall be like Him. 

On Being a Good Reflector

     I have come to realize that there are those that want you to condense the Bible into one verse.  Well, it seems that way anyway.  When I graduated from college, they wanted me to put my "life verse" under my picture so I had to come up with one verse or passage that would tell something about my life.  After some time, we chose to enter the mission field and so had to have photographs taken for our "prayer card."  Again, one of things included on the prayer card had to be a passage of Scripture that would be the heart for our reason for going to preach the gospel somewhere else.  Facebook, one of our prime social media activities, also seems to have come up with a "life verse" for people, which I had already mentioned in a previous devotion.  It is hard to do, but we have done it in the past and as the days go by, perhaps your life verse changes.  The following passage was the passage we put on our prayer cards.  Second Corinthians 4:5-6 says, "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."  
      As far as missions was concerned, it pretty much told about our mission.  We didn't want to tell the people about ourselves, but about the Lord Jesus Christ   The message of Christ is one that has been shone forth from God and then reflected back to others.  We are the reflectors.  The Light that we reflect, is that of the Lord Jesus Christ and not anything of our own.  That was what we wanted to do in our missionary efforts.  Trying to do that in a foreign culture with a foreign language was quite a thing to attempt and I can't say that we were the best example of being missionaries.  It was a teaching experience for us, not that we were teaching others, but that God was teaching us which was quite profitable.  Perhaps in some small way, God's Light did shine out of darkness and reflect back to others from our hearts.  At least, that was our prayer, and it was the desire that we had from the beginning.  Well, that was the passage for us back in the early 80's and is still the desire in our hearts.  Times have changed and we have changed, but our desire is the same to be God's Reflectors in a world that needs to see the Light.  It is our prayer for each and everyone of you also that you will be a Reflector for God today and in the days to come even when trouble comes into your life.  So, Praise God today for sending the Light and that you are a reflector of that Light.

Unload the Burdens

       How many things are there in your life that you would call concerns, or "cares?"  People can worry about a lot of different things.  As I think about this topic a number of things come to my mind which might include such things as my lost cat, the government shut down,  the weather, my physical condition, the new sore on my right hand.  Well, you might get the picture.  There are a lot of things that can be classified as concerns.  I got into aromatherapy which is supposed to take care of stress, or at least there is an oil fragrance that will supposedly help your stress level.  I was reading the reviews of an inexpensive oil diffuser and noticed that there had been over 36,000 reviews of this one product.  A different diffuser had over 15,000 reviews.  I came to the conclusion that a lot of people are trying to get rid of their stress through pleasant aromas.  While the diffuser is a popular item these days, there is a better way to get rid of our stress.  First Peter 5:7 says, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." 
         At the closing of his epistle, Peter is much like Paul in giving us a series of final requests that are important for our lives.  This is one of them that is very important.  There is an action that is to be done and a reason that it should be done.  The action is to cast all of our cares upon the Lord.  Verse six is talking about God and so the word "Him" is referring to God in the preceding verse.  The verse doesn't stop there  but goes on to say that the reason why we should cast our cares upon Him is that He cares for us.  Our cares are all of those things, big and small, insignificant and mighty that seem to haunt our lives.  Every life is filled with them.  About 60 yeast ago, I met a man in Wisconsin who was going around the county fair looking for a quarter.  He had found one and was spending the rest of the day looking for one more as he had paid fifty cents to get into the fair and if he would just find that other quarter, he would have his admission price back.  I don't know if the ever found it but he was missing the fair that he had just paid 2 quarters to see.  He was missing it because his cares were preventing him from enjoying it.  There are many in this life that are missing the events, the blessings, the exciting things of life, simply because they are burdened down with the cares of this life.  The answer is one that is so simple that you would think everyone would be doing it, but that isn't the case.  The answer is to simply give your cares to God and then to leave them there..  Praise God that He takes care of all of the things in our life.

Comfort One Another

        In baseball, when a ball is thrown and is heading in one way and then begins to go another, we might say that it is a "curve" ball.  We figure that it is going to be at a certain place at a certain time and get ready to swing the bat but then find that it isn't where it should have been.  Life is filled with a lot of "curve" balls.  I seem to have had a few the past few days but we have to put up with the curve balls that come our way.   First Thesssalonians 4:18 says, "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
      What we need to realize is that there is comfort in this life even when the curve balls come, and if they have not come already, they will pop up every now and then.  This verse is but one of over 100 times that it occurs in the New Testament.  This one, in First Thessalonians, is the "biggy."  We have comfort in this life because of what is going to take place in what we call the "rapture" of believers.  So, no matter how bad things look or feel, we can have comfort in the outcome.  No matter, how cold, how desolate, how discouraging or how unhappy we are at the time, God has a way of comforting us.  In this case, He comforts us with the words of one of the greatest promises ever given.  The description of the event goes from verse thirteen to verse eighteen and Paul says at the end, that we can comfort each other with these words.  It is because we can read the end of the story and know how God is going to take care of everything in one of the most spectacular ways ever.  There are a lot of people alive in the world today that do not believe in the possibility of the rapture of the church.  It doesn't sound possible to them and so they just laugh it off as a fairy tale.  I, however, believe in the miracles of the Scripture even when they don't seem possible.  I believe in the miracles of the New Testament and the Old Testament, and I will cling to the hope they give even as the Apostle Paul said in this verse.  I don't know how television works, but watch something on it almost every day.  I don't know how my phone works, but use it anyway.  There are many things that come to me in the shape of a curve ball, but I still have hope in what God did, what He is doing and what He will do in the lives of each and every person upon this earth.  I often end these little devotions with an admonition to praise God.  Certainly, we should praise God for what He is doing in our lives today and to worship Him, not just a few times a week, but each and every day and then to rejoice in His statement through the Apostle Paul,  "Comfort ye..."

God's Arsenal

        Indiana had a lot of tornadoes.  I lived in the northern section and it was just a way of life.  One tornado hit Elkhart, Indiana and a bank was destroyed.  they found canceled checks from that bank in Toledo, Ohio which is about 60 miles east of Elkhart.  God has a lot of things at His disposal when getting our attention.  Some of them, we just don't even think about happening.  Moms and Dads often use the threat of corporal punishment as a deterrent to disobedience but God uses methods we would never think about.  Take for instance the story of one man named Jonah who was given a great opportunity to preach.  Jonah 1:3-4 says, " But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken."  

      The story of Jonah is one that is well known and also one that has come under great criticism.  Everyone seems to think that the great fish was a whale and then tries to make everything fit together, which it doesn't.  God, being God, can and does create anything He want to create when and where it is needed whether it be a "great fish" a "whirlwind" or "manna."  Jesus calmed the sea in the middle of a storm and stood before men and women on the Mount of Olives and rose up into heaven during His ascension.  We often question why God allows certain things to happen and when we have the limited knowledge that we have, we should be able to come to the conclusion that only God knows the reason.  The sailors on the ship that carried Jonah were anxious to get rid of Jonah when they found out that he was the cause of their pending doom, so over the side he went, but the fish was there and Jonah was going to get a second chance to get his priorities straight.  The request was repeated a second time in chapter three and after the experience that Jonah had come through, he was wise in heading to Nineveh to preach a simple message.  God may chose to use some other way to get you to do what He has planned for you to do.  It is best for you to know what He want you to do and then to do it rather than waiting to find out what His alternative way is going to be.  After all, in the end, God gets His way accomplished.  It is fortunate for us that we have the record of the reactions of men and women to the message of God in His Word.  It should be a valuable lesson to each and every one of us.  Praise God for His Word.  Read and Learn!

How Big is your Hiding Place?

       As a child, I liked to find hiding places where my parents couldn't find me.  I had a number of them including the center of the huge lilac bush and even at one time, I had constructed a pit with a cover over it.  There were spots that I could retreat into and feel secure even though it was a false security.  My hand dug pit could have caved in on me.  I also found refuge in the middle of a corn field when the corn was almost ten feet tall.  We sometimes feel that there is safety when we can't be seen by anyone, so woods and fields, bushes and caves become our hiding places.  Even in the winter, I would construct miniature igloos of blocks of snow.  We often hear the word "Man Cave" which is supposed to be the description of a place where a man can go, usually to watch sports events or to decorate in some outrageous fashion where no woman would have a desire to enter.  So, we construct man caves and probably women caves in our own way and make them something personal and where we feel that we are the king of the castle.    Psalm 139:7-8 says, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?   If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there."  
       Psalm 139 is a Psalm that details the omnipresence of God.  The Psalmist goes on to say that there is no place where man can go where God cannot know where he is.  While we may seek to isolate ourselves from the problems of the day or to seek refuge in our man made space, we still cannot escape the knowledge and the hand of God.  Our man made fortresses are nothing when compared to the power of God.  Romans 1:20 reminds us, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:"  Even our unbelief in God makes no difference as God is still there and His witness to all people is made manifest in His creation all around us.  Some will seek to hide in unbelief of God but their foolishness is quickly dashed to pieces by the manifestation of God's wonderful creation.  Truly, there is no place that you can go where God cannot reach you and know where you are.  You cannot hide under a Juniper bush, a cave, a fortress or in the middle of a corn field.  God is always there, where you are.  Because of this great promise, we cannot escape God's presence.  He is there to reach down and to comfort, guide and calm our troubled spirits.  So, Praise and Worship God today  for His presence in our lives and for the fact that we cannot hide from Him.

A Death of a Saint

    I was doing some work on the computer recently when I came across a recent bit of news.  I read where Don Richardson passed away on December 23, 2018.  I then followed a link to a service that was broadcast on the internet on Saturday, January 12.  I watched the almost 2hour service that was a memorial to a missionary who worked in what was than called Iran Jaya which is now, Papua, New Guinea.  He was instrumental in bringing the gospel message to a tribe in that area and he also authored a book called, "Peace Child."  The almost 2 hour presentation was filled with testimonies of Don's relationship with God.  The accounts of his children were inspiring as was seen in how God worked in the lives of Don and Carol Richardson all the way through his life.   Psalm 116:15 says, "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."
        I have been in the midst of a word study during the past few days, which, when I get finished, will have no profound effect on anything. It will not have been instrumental in taking the gospel anywhere, no one will probably ever read it or even care about the difference in the Bible of two words.  When it comes right down to it, there are many things in this life that occupy our time which have no benefit in regard to the kingdom of God.  They might be important in our own lives but they have replaced important time and energy with an attempt at self glorification which, in the end, have no eternal value.  While we pursue our worldly endeavors, souls are perishing, not just around the world, but next door or down the street from where we live.  Relationships are broken even in our churches as people hide behind masks of apathy and shame.  It is comforting to know that there are souls like Don and Carol Richardson who respond to God's leading and never look back, but keep on going forward with the message of hope, peace and love that can only come from the spreading of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is also comforting to know that God is aware of His army of soldiers that are marching around the world.  People who seem  to be indifferent are hearing the Gospel message and responding.  Souls are still being saved and lives are still being changed as men and women such as Jim Elliott, Nate Saint, Don and Carol Richardson, go about the world today spreading the Gospel message.  It is not just the famous such as those just listed, but you and I that are also in the Lord's Army.  So, don't get side tracked with insignificant things, but keep your eyes on the goal of winning people to the Lord.  When the worship of God exists in every corner of the world, you can stop,  but not until then.  Praise God for the Gospel Message.

My Redeemer Lives

       I was sitting on a pulpit next to a recent seminary graduate who had come to our church to deliver a message.  He made the comment that when he went into seminary, he felt that he knew all there was to know about theology but upon graduating from Seminary, he then felt that he knew absolutely nothing.  Sometimes we get caught up in the amount of knowledge we think we have only to find that we are really quite short in that department.  There are a lot of people in this world that can say something about a lot of things but who are really not experts on any one thing.  That however, doesn't stop them from talking about what they don't know.  There are times, however, when a statement is made, that  one might think, "How did they know that?"  Such is the case in the following Scripture passage.    Job 19:25-27 says, "  For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:   And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me."  
       If Job was a New Testament book, we might better understand his statement, but, obviously, the book of Job is Old Testament and considered to be perhaps the oldest book in our Bible.  Job, however, had wisdom from God and could make the above statement which is a statement that is far greater than many people can make in this age.  Job, in his day, could declare that he knew that His Redeemer lived and that he, Job, would someday see him in his own flesh in spite of the fact that he would die.  The promises of God are rich in these few verses.  It wasn't going to be a second hand experience because he was going to see for himself and stand before God.  Wow!  What a promise.  It should be an encouragement to us in these days that even a man in the time of Job could know that His Redeemer lives.  There are many  people today who cannot say this simply because they do not know God and feel that they are just wandering about on this earth and someday will die and that will be it.  They are filled with despair and have no hope.  We, one the other hand can rejoice even as did Job that our Savior lives.  Praise God today that He has given us His Word.

Commands

     It is probably a true statement to say that there are always people who are over you and who are giving you instructions to either do something or to stop doing something.  Parents do this a lot especially during the first 20 years of the lives of their children.  At least, that was the case in my life as I reflect back on my childhood.  One of the instructions given to me came in a letter from my mother in regard to my then recent induction into the U. S. Navy.  I wasn't too happy about my treatment by my superiors in boot camp.  It wasn't the most enjoyable experience for me, but one that was necessary.  My mother wrote to me and stated simply, "Grow up and be a man."  Wow!.  Mom had no sympathy for my predicament.  There are always those experiences in your life where someone is giving you a "command" to do something.  Parents did it and your supervisors did it and your teachers did it and now we come to the point where we realize  that God does it all the way through His Word.   Ephesians 4:31-32 says, " Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:   And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."  
     We can refer to these expressions as "commands" and God certainly gives us a lot of them throughout the Bible.  I often have remarked how there are no "imperatives" in the first three chapters of Ephesians but there are about 38 of them given in the last three chapters of the book.  The above passage is but one of the commands that have been given to us in the book for our practical living in this life.  These are times where you can't argue about the instruction.  As usual, we can't debate the issue whether it came from our parents, our boss, our professor and in this case, God Himself.  The response to an imperative, or a command, is quite clear.  You have to do it and if you don't do it, there will be repercussions either immediately or somewhere down the road.   You could spend your whole life just trying to do the imperatives that are in the Book of Ephesians, but the rest of the Epistles and in fact the whole Bible, continue with commands for us to do.  So, as many would say, this is a no brainer.  We have to do what God commands us to do.  They are not suggestions for the Christian life, but rather commands that have to be done.   Oh, and by the way, the one mentioned above, speaking about kindness and forgiveness is one of the hardest to do.  People hold grudges and fail to forgive others and the result is a bitter life.  Praise God today that he has given us a very complete list of things to do in the Christian life.

Imputation

      I have been on a lot of diets during the years and have lost the same 40 pounds over and over again.  One diet, promised success if I ate their food as directed.  The pictures of the food on each container were wonderful and held great promise of eating well and still losing weight.  Unfortunately, the product inside the container did not match the picture on the outside of the container.  The food had been in the container for at least several weeks if not longer and had no resemblance to what the picture showed.  Everything looked good on the outside but actually terrible on the inside.  I often joked that it would be better to eat the picture than the actual contents of the box or can that it came in.  When you think about it, we are in the same condition.  What is inside of us does not match the picture of what we ought to be.  Second Corinthians 5:21 says,  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."   The Apostle Paul said through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, just a few verse back in verse 17 that if a person was in Christ, he was a new creation..."  
      This new creation however is still living in this old body.  The really remarkable statement is the verse for today which states that Christ was made to be sin for us in order that we might be made the righteousness  of God in Him.  Our sins were imputed to Christ and His righteousness was imputed to us.  Christ, Who knew no sin, bore all of our sins on the cross at Calvary, paying the full price for our redemption and as a result of our sins being paid in full, we now have the righteousness of God in us.  To say that we got the better end of the deal would be a great understatement.  We received from God the wonderful blessing of having our sin paid for and receiving in its place, that which we didn't deserve which gives us an eternal home in heaven and unspeakable blessings here on earth.  Does that mean that we excuse our behavior because of God's work in and for us?  Certainly not.  We are to still pursue after holiness as the writer of Hebrews admonishes us to do in Hebrews 12:14.  We are on a journey to learn and to do what God tells us to do no matter how tough it is to complete.  That is why we study God's Word and then begin to apply it into our daily lives.  We may look good on the outside, but there is a lot going on in the inside.  That is why Paul made the statements that he did in Romans 7.  The things he wanted to do, he didn't do and the things we didn't want to do, that is what he did.  We can all relate to that.  When it comes to the end of the day, you can still rejoice in the lesson from today's verse.  Praise God today for His righteousness.

Send the Word!

        After take a course in typing in high school, my parents purchased a Royal portable typewriter.  i would use that typewriter the rest of my days at high school and then in college.  Upon entering the U. S. Navy, I was at boot camp and during service week, the question was asked, "Can anyone here type?"  I raised my hand and then spent the next week supposedly typing for some officers in the next camp instead of peeling potatoes  I actually never typed a letter during my time there, but made coffee the whole day.  My typing was not the most accurate as you probably can see by the devotions that come out.  In those days, we used a lot of white out in order to correct mistakes or we simply had to do it again from the beginning.  Then, along comes the word processor where the white out is not necessary, but you just have to move the cursor back to the mistake and type over it and it makes a perfect document.  Once finished, all you have to do is hit the send button and away it goes, which by the way, I failed to do on Tuesday making my devotion almost late.  Once the document, or in this case, the devotion is finished, it can be sent to many people at the same time.  We are indeed fortunate to have this aspect of technology.  God always has His ways of getting the message out to those who need to hear it.  Acts 4:4 says, "But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand."   
       When Peter preached, people responded to the message.  This passage speaks of about 5,000 men.  Add the number of women involved and the total probably doubles.  At his first preaching, 3,000 souls were added to the church.  How would you have liked to have been at that meeting?  In Peter's day, there was no word processor, no Royal typewriter, nor was there a fancy public address system.  Pentecost was even greater as they had the word translated by the Holy Spirit so that everyone there heard it in their own language.  The United Nations needs to have a person translate each individual language but God did it all at once.  Many of the meetings in the days of Paul were done in the open air and yet people heard, were convicted by the Holy Spirit and then converted when they heard the message.  We have padded pews, heated or air conditioned churches, pleasant music and communion in small individual cups all sanitized and ready to go.  Our bread is cut into small pieces and will keep for months without spoiling.  Our conversions of lost souls, however, is far less than the Apostle Peter who was preaching with the power of the Holy Spirit.  Praise God that He gets His message out to those who need to hear it without the word processor, the typewriter, the PA system or the padded pew.  Yes, God works miracles even today.

What Seems Right?

       I was riding my bicycle a few years ago with house slippers on my feet.  Our driveway has a slight slope to it and so I coasted into it and put on the brakes.  When I went to get off the bike, it leaned to the right, which was opposite for me and so I started to get off on the right side.  My foot slipped in the slipper and I ended up on my back with the bicycle on top of me.  It was not my usual way of getting off the bike, plus the slippers, made the whole thing a tad unsteady.  We usually have ways that we do things and we never question them.  We just do them.  We may get on a horse the same way every time.  We may back the car out the same way every time  We may always put on the left shoe first every time.  It's just the way we do it.  After 75 years of opening a banana from the stem end, I have switched to the other end after being told that monkeys never open it at the stem end, but the other end and who should know more than monkeys on how to open a banana.  Proverbs 14:12 says, " There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death."  

        Spiritually speaking there may be a way that seems right to us for getting into heaven.  There are many who simply believe that death comes and that's the end of the story.  Nothing takes place after that.  At the same time, there are those who say, "Yes, there is a God and all people will end up in a blissful state for all eternity because God is so nice He wouldn't send anyone to a place called hell."  Man's reason or his logic is flawed due to the sinful nature and so his conclusions are not the way to heaven at all.  The writer of Proverbs has stated that the way seems right to a man but the end is going to be just the opposite.  We might ask the question, "Is there a way to know the truth that is not biased by our own logic?"  The answer, of course, is as it always is.  The answer can be found in the Bible, God's Word, His message to us.  Once you discover that something is flawed, you shouldn't keep using it.  If I want to know how to get to heaven, then I should consult the One Who has given us the way to go there.  If I want to know how to live this life even in this body and in this time, I should consult the Bible and not to trust my own instincts.  When things take place in your life, make sure you respond as being instructed in the Scriptures and not depending on your own way of doing things.  The Apostle Paul gave the Philippian Jailer the way of salvation in Acts 16:31.  It wasn't the Jailer's way, but it was God's way.  Praise God today for His Word.

Little Epistles

    How much influence does someone else have a portion of your life?  I do recall that in high school, there was a certain color of trousers for boys that was limited to only the senior class.  When you went to the Boston Store in the city, you had to ask for "senior Cords."  It was the coveted cream color trousers that only the senior were allowed to wear.  The school didn't say anything, but it was an unwritten rule that could not be violated.  My cousin decided to wear a pair when he was a sophomore.  The trousers ended up on the flag pole and his mother was called to bring him another pair of pants as he was trapped in the rest room.  Our actions begin to reflect our desires in some cases.   Second Corinthians 3:2-3 says, "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." 
       Paul reflected to the people of Corinth about the input that they had over the lives of other people.  We always desire that people read the Bible and we promote that as much as we can.  It is easy to get Christians to read the Scripture simply because they are Christians.  How do you get the unbeliever to read the Scriptures?  You can give them a copy of god's Word, but they may never read it.  Paul reminded the Corinthians that they were epistles that all men could read.  We have heard the expression that there are times when  the only Bible that people will ever read is the living epistle that is standing in front of them.  We are those living epistles just as the Corinthians were to those that were around them.  Your actions in the world today we be what people read. Sometimes, the message gets a little muddy because the actions are overpowering the words of our message.  Paul could say that he desired to people to follow him, because he followed Christ.  Can we say the same thing?  Paul must also have known that he was not perfect according to Romans 7, yet he still desired to have people following his example even as he preached to King Agrippa.  My Father had one of his sayings that went, "Put your mind in gear, before you put your mouth in motion."  You are going to be an example to others wherever you go today and the rest of your days, so may your example truly reflect your belief in God.  Praise God that He has given us the message of reconciliation.

The Best Instructor

     There are many things in this life that I have no idea how to do.  I can't fly a plane.  I can't play a French Horn.  I can't weld to pieces of metal together.  I could go on forever trying to list all of the things of which I have absolutely no knowledge how to do.  It would  be a lot easier to list the things that I can do than to go over the list of things I am not able to do.  If, however, I decided to do something that was out of my realm of knowledge, I would look for an instructor.  I would look for a person who had the skill to do the thing that was new to me.  While at Indiana University, I had the honor of taking bassoon lessons from a man that knew how to play the bassoon.  His name was Roy Houser and while he was a tad strange in some ways, He could play the bassoon and he was my teacher.  He could play a musical passage and then say, "This is the way it is to be played."  There are those teachers, or instructors, or professors, that are excellent in their field and can teach others.  God has not left us without instruction in the area of our spiritual life.  First Corinthians 10:11 says, " Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." 
        God gave us many examples, both positive and negative, as to how things should be done.  The Old Testament is filled with the record of God's dealing with His people, Israel.  He has shown us how things can be done and what happens when thins go as they are supposed to go and then what happens when things don't go as they should.  The passage for today comes at the close of a list of things that had taken place in the Old Testament.  It is then stated that these things happened in order to be examples and that they were written in order to be an admonition to us.  As we go through the the Old Testament, we see both blessings and curses, the good and the bad, as God dealt with a rebellious people who were excellent at complaining and murmuring at the slightest thing.  They saw miracle after miracle and yet complained constantly at what was taking place in their lives.  They say no beauty and only recalled how good things were when they were in oppression.  They remembered the leeks, the cucumbers and all the rest of the good things, while not recalling the oppression under which they lived.  Does that sound familiar?  We often do the same.  We are able to see God's handiwork all around us and still ask the question, "Is there really a God?  Every element gets heavier when it it in solid form, except one.  Water.  When water becomes solid, it floats.  Ask yourself why that is and why did God make it that way.  Praise God today that He is our Great Teacher in all things.

Perfect Peace

    Trust can be relative to the object in which you have placed your trust.  I once built a raft out of old boards.  I must have done something wrong as when I pushed the raft out into the pond, it sunk to the bottom.  I don't know how that could happen, but it did.  I thought that something made of wood could float in any circumstances.  Well, it didn't.  Then, there was that day that I stood on the deck of the U. S. S. Mullinix, DD 944 that was going to be my home for the next 4 months.  It was made of steel and yet I was able to stand on it and feel safe in doing so.  My trust was not in the fact that wood floats and steel doesn't, but in the object that was made of the steel.  In that case, it was a ship 300 feet long, thirty feet wide and 30 feet deep.  I had put my trust in the ship rather than my raft.  Isaiah 26:3 reminds us, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." 
     This passage has always reminded me of a peace that goes beyond my own understanding.  Verse 4 goes on to say, "Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock."  We can have a peace that surpasses all of our understanding because of the Object of our trust.  In this case, we are to be putting our trust in God Himself for each and every things that transpires in our lives.  When you get right down to the bottom line, we put our trust in something each and every day.  I trust that my car will start.  I trust that all the drivers will be following the same rules of the road that I will be following when I get out on the highways.  I trust that the chairs will hold be up without a lot of examination as to their condition.  While these are all small items, there are some much bigger and important ones that demand our attention.  One of them, which is very important, is the matter of eternal destiny.  Where will I spend eternity?  Isaiah has mentioned in this verse that we can have a peace that is perfect.  It is the best peace of all and is a guarantee of peace because of the Object in which it is place.  This perfect peace comes by placing our complete trust in God.  We may not understand every detail, but God does.  As you go out into the world today, make sure you have this "perfect peace" which in Hebrew is, "Shalom, Shalom."  Praise God today that He can and does give us a peace that passes all understanding.

The Foundation

      A person needs to have a good foundation when they are going to build anything at all.  When I was a child, it became necessary for us to build a new house as the old one was involved in a fire.  My Father hired a man with a bulldozer to dig the hole where the new house would be built.  My Father then went about making plans for the foundation with trenches around the new construction and a lot of measuring tapes and chalk lines with levels hanging on them.  I don't recall every detail or how he did it, but the foundations were soon poured and after a time, were ready for the first row of blocks to be laid.  You realize the importance of that first row of blocks since they have to be level with no margin for error.  If you are off just a little bit on the first tow, then it is going to be compounded in the rows to come.  A perfect foundation will make the rest of the construction stable.  In life, a good foundation is also crucial to every detail to come.  Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."  

      I got a text message from a friend yesterday that made a comment about this verse of Scripture.  It said, "If we get it wrong here, it will be wrong everyday hereafter."  There certainly is a lot of confusion in the world today on how we got to where we are.  There is that continual search for our "roots" in that we want to know how we were created.  A recent news broadcast mentioned the joy of discovering a large piece of matter that is floating around in space that could hold the answer to how we were formed.  Along with the commentary was the statement that we were formed billions of years ago and that this matter floating around in space has the answer.  The answer, however, is where it has always been and it is in the first words of the Book of Genesis.  "In the beginning God...."  This is where the foundation begins in the sense that what we believe about origin, life, destiny and the eternal state lies in the opening words of Genesis.  If I don't believe in Genesis 1-11, then I am going to have an even greater difficulty believing in the virgin birth, the resurrection, the flood, the crossing of the Red Sea and the Plan of Salvation and all the rest of the doctrines in the Bible.  With a failure to believe in the opening words of Genesis, I will find myself with a crumbling foundation that will erode  my own belief about life itself.  As my friend said, "If we get it wrong here it will be wrong everyday hereafter."   The term, "Thus saith the LORD" occurs some 415 times in the Bible and we can be confident in every Word that God said.  The simple phrase consisting of ten words in the KJV give us the answer to the question of our origin.  For me, If God said it, I believe it and that settles it.  Praise God today for what He has done, what He is doing and what He will do in the future.

To God Be The Glory

     It seems as if everyone wants to have good luck.  While in Spain, we had a number of traditional items that would give us good luck if we did them.  Around this time of year, a round cake was baked.  It was a ring shaped cake and there was a small trinket placed inside of the cake and the cake was baked with the trinket inside.  If you were the lucky one to get the small toy in your mouth, you would be the recipient of good luck for the year.  That would be true if you didn't break a tooth on the trinket.  We also had the task of eating 12 grapes on New Year's Eve.  If you were able to do this, your life would be prosperous for the coming year.  It's not as easy as it sounds.  When it comes down to the bottom line, we don't need luck.  We don't need a lucky penny, a rabbit's foot, a horseshoe, twelve grapes nor a trinket in a cake.  Psalm 32:8 says, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye."  
      Luck has nothing to do with it when you are trusting God.  We find that this passage reminds us that it is God Who is giving us the direction that we need.   He alone is our Guide so it is not a matter of luck but that of following His leading in the path of life.  God shows us the way in which we should go each and every day, each and every moment.  This should remind us that it is imperative for us to be in God's Word.  We can learn about the fate of people who disregard God's Word.  We can learn about those people who were following God through difficult circumstances.  We can see the promises of God and how they were fulfilled.  We can see the guidance of God to a people who traveled in the wilderness for 40 years with no Seven Eleven around and yet were given a daily supply of food and water and who's shoes did not wear out.  We can see God's provision of meat through quail and water from a rock.  The Israelites did not need to eat 12 grapes or carry around a rabbit's foot to be sure of food for tomorrow.  They didn't have to win the lottery in order to have their provisions met.  God did it.  The truth of God's Word is still there today as it was so many years ago.  God is still our Guide and our Teacher and you need nothing more than Him to get through your day today and the days ahead.  I must admit that there was a time when I found a four leaf clover and I picked it and kept it in my wallet until it dried up and fell apart, but it was God Who did it all and not the clover.  He has never failed me in the past, present, and I don't expect Him to fail me in the future.  To God be the Glory.  Praise God today that He is our Guide.in all of life.