Tag: Psalms

Devotional 172: Be Strong

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1 Chronicles 19:10-13

10 When Joab saw that the battle line was against him before and behind, he chose some of Israel’s best and put them in battle array against the Syrians. 11 And the rest of the people he put under the command of Abishai his brother, and they set themselves in battle array against the people of Ammon. 12 Then he said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the people of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you. 13 Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in His sight.”

Joab finds himself in battle because David did an act of kindness, but the ruler to whom he extended the kindness listened to his council, and shamed David’s emissaries culturally to the point where they couldn’t return from their mission. David would not see them shamed for their own sake; he told them to stay elsewhere until their beards grew back, so they had to live apart from their homes and families until they could be restored. No doubt they endured the scorn of the people of the city until that time.

Now we are here.  It has been a tumultuous year, and the normally tranquil passing of winter into spring has become like the pot of the three witches of Macbeth, adding all manner of foul things to it in order to deceive those prone to temptation and pride, destroying everything good around them to capture a moment in time for their own greed and glory. By giving in, they lose the very thing they sought, and are brought down to great sin and shame.

It will be hard for any believer worth the title to deny that in this time of pandemic, international chaos, and filial hatred, we are in the midst of a battle. As believers called out of the world to minister the Gospel to it, this is not a time to hide. Jesus tells us no one who starts to plow and looks back is fit for kingdom service. (Luke 9:62)

In order to be effective, and see what the harvest would yield, we must be strong not just for our sakes, but for the places where we live, work, and play. We must be strong for those around us having a difficult time keeping it together. We must set aside differences, knowing that the kingdom will be made up of all nations. More importantly, we are not to try to display such strength in our own might. The church, if it does not act in this hour, insulating itself and calling for earthly, flawed, and sinful men to lead us out of that which they helped create, will be found wanting and judged accordingly.

So like Joab, we prepare for battle and go out. We must be prepared to fortify one another wherever needed or we face certain defeat. We are still to do acts of kindness in the midst of the fight if and when we can, even if we are shamed for it. If we believe we suffer ill for the kingdom, the Lord assures us it will be to our credit as profitable servants. (Matthew 5:11)

Our enemy is not weak. He is busy, prolific, and makes those who give in to him defile their flesh as he devours their souls. (1 Peter 5:8)

So let us stand together and pray, above all, that the Lord do what is good in His sight.

If He is good, faithful, just, righteous, and true, then when we call on His Name and seek His hand to deliver us, He will respond. The earth is His, after all, and everything that dwells on it. He will respond to contrite hearts and upright spirits. (Psalm 51:17) He will respond to those who earnestly seek Him in the midst of their despair. (Luke 18:15) He has set before us blessings and curses, and told us to choose. We are, in our freedom, bound by His commandments, statutes, and conditions. We are ultimately subject to His will, whether we deny, qualify, or believe in His very existence.

So let us not fight in our own strength, but pray His will upon the battle. Let us not be wise in our own eyes, lest we shamed. Let us fortify each other and go where we are needed to seek and save the lost, our works shining before men that they may see and we can point them to G-d, that they too might come to glorify Him through the Son, and save their souls through faith in Him.

Therefore I pray:

Father in Heaven,

Forgive us, for we have been a wicked and adulterous nation, serving money and pride as we honored You with our lips, but not our hearts. Our love grew cold and covered over as we corrupted Your Word to suit our purposes, that we might pursue the pleasures of flesh under the guise of heavenly servitude.

But You, Father, see as clearly in the darkest night as You do in the noonday sun.

Our hearts were hard soil, and our ears would not hear.

You have again scattered Your church as You did after Pentecost when those who walked with Jesus became complacent ministering among their own, and enjoying the time, but t were not in the field sowing. And so You struck them with persecutions to make them flee and go where You needed them.

It is no different now, and we must heed the call as the prophecies of Christ unfold. But let us glean wisdom from Your Word, and help us to set aside that which would keep us from working together to prepare once more the way of the Lion of Judah, and not the lamb of G-d. We must move swiftly, for lions are faster than lambs.

As Joab prepared his warriors, let us prepare. As he exhorted them, so let us exhort one another. And as he surrendered the battle to Your sovereign will, let us do likewise.

We place our times in Your hand as we go out to make war, to do work, to guard the supplies, to tend the animals in our care, and minister to the children and elders under our watch that You gave into our hands, whether they be of our blood or not.

And above all, Father, we pray that in the midst of this fight, as seek Your face, as we ask, trust, and believe no matter how it looks to us, You will gather the saved  from the harvest fields, and do what is good in Your sight.

In righteousness, peace, and joy may we honor You.

Amen.

Devotional 171: My Times are in Your Hand

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Psalm 31:12-15

12 I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I hear the slander of many;
Fear is on every side;
While they take counsel together against me,
They scheme to take away my life.

14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in Your hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies,
And from those who persecute me.

 

The Pastor with who brought me to the Lord for safekeeping used to have a phrase for his sermon’s application: “This is where the rubber of your faith meets the road of reality.” It was a play on the saying, Where the rubber meets the road…’ as the surface of tires contacts the road.

But what happens when that happens? The tire is strong, but the road is stronger. The tire itself must be made well in order to withstand the resistance pushing back on it, and still move freely to go the distances required of it. The tire is vulnerable to whatever might be on the road that could damage it.

It’s the driver’s responsibility to make sure to take care of the and keep it out of harm’s way if possible. The difference between the driver and G-d is that sometimes that’s not possible, but in as much as the driver can prepare the tire and keep it from harm, they should do all they can. Prevention is always better than repair.

As our Lord is allowing Satan and his minions to frolic and play, the wound of racism is being cleansed. When cleaning a wound, the ugliness surrounding it has to be cleared away for the caretaker to see.

So as believers, what should our response be in this hour:

If we are to be like Christ, we must do what Christ did in these times: He walked the roads among the people, and listened to them. He asked them questions that revealed the conditions of their spirits, the desires of their hearts, and how far they were willing to go to change their lives forever. To do likewise we must be prepared in our spirits, armed in the Word, and willing to answer the call Who will go for us? (Isaiah 6:8)

Go where you are called, and if it’s not to the center of the fray, sow in the hearts of those closest to you. Do what Christ did, and minister in love without compromise. Speak from the Word and the Lord will fill your mouth with what to say (Luke 21:15)

Pray that the eyes of those who will not see are opened, their ears unstopped, their lives changed, and their spirits reconciled, even if you just plant a seed. It may be the birds come to pluck it, or it may be that another waters the seed. Pray that G-d keeps them, and gives the increase to His glory.

Our nation is hurting, and we are called to go out into it. Let us prepare the tires of our faith, and be caretakers at the nearest scenes of spiritual disasters taking place around us. Let us help clean the wounds of our brothers and sisters, withstanding the stench and ugliness, as Christ did for us on the cross. Let us ask for grace and mercy so that we might emerge from Satan’s work a better nation, a better people, and prove worthy to be counted a profitable servant to the Lord, worthy to send and prepare our people and ourselves for the roads to come. As the tire’s care is in the hands of the driver, and the wound in the hands of the caretaker, so too are our times in the hands of G-d.

Therefore I pray:

Father in Heaven,

In this hour we pray for strength, patience, understanding, and compassion. 

You have struck the nation, Lord, as we have turned away to idols that replace You, and fill us with a serpent’s pride that they could do in our lives what You refused to do.  We have abandoned Your Word for man’s wisdom, which is foolishness, and out of it came the fertile soil which the enemy is now reaping.

To our shame we have been silent, fearful, and seeing ourselves as grasshoppers to those who oppose us. As we go to our prayer closets today, Lord, wherever they may be, or gather together in unison, let us earnestly seek Your face with open and sincere hearts, contrite spirits, and a willingness to do what You will call our hands to do.

Let us be as the sons of Issachar, discerning the signs of the times. Help our unbelief and increase our faith. Enlarge our territories and let us do no harm. Give us boldness and wisdom to speak to the weak of heart and the rebellious of spirit. Let us encourage those who would reach out to one another in understanding, and seek Your blessing on it that they find You and Jesus in the midst of them, One in will and purpose. 

Let us emerge from this not a united states but a united people, working together for the common good so that no one is in need, everyone has their fill, and there is justice and compassion in the land.

Let the healing bring rejoicing, that You may be glorified through the works of Your servants who point to You always, in all things giving thanks for the good, and standing in the gap to intercede and bind the plans of this world’s prince as we go before our King, preparing His way.

Bless us, Lord, in this time, and preserve us as we call minister to those whom our Savior would bring to You, for no one comes to You but through Him. (John 14:6)

Our times are in Your hands, and into them we commit our spirits.

In righteousness, peace, and joy may we honor You. 

Amen.

 

 

Devotional 168: The Years of My Pilgrimage

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Genesis 47:5-10

5 Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”

7 Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” 10 So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

Here’s a short definition of pilgrimage: “A trip to a sacred place for religious reasons.”

The Earth was once sacred, but dominion was handed over to its enemy by Adam, and we came under the Lord’s rebuke, our days now few and evil. But the Lord redeemed sinner Jacob, and changed his name, for nothing can remain the same under the hand of G-d.

We await the arrival of the new earth we are to dwell in, by the light of G-d, under the Savior’s rule, for eternity.

Today, with all that’s going on globally, with all the losses of the sureties we came to rely on, we are reminded with a heavenly certainty that those things were in fact, never sure at all, and that we are here for a time and then no more. A life that’s a vapor.

Our relationships within our homes, and in our communities, and spreading out to the world newly consider our relationship with the Word: the commandments, the conditions, (If you do this…), all of Christ’s prophecies, and all of the Father’s promises.

This plague, which ravaged us without even reaching the point of plagues past, should make us reflect on our most important relationship, the one we have with the One who will judge our works, hold us to account for all that we’ve done and said, and welcome us into the kingdom or cast us out.

In the midst of our enemy using all the vices of the flesh that corrupt the human spirit, we are to be mindful to not walk in fear, but to not be wise in our own eyes. There is a saying:

 “Call on G-d, but row away from the rocks.”

We are given the oars and the boat because we can’t walk on water, stop its flow, or calm it down.

Today, in your pilgrimages, wherever they may take you, bless those within it when you enter and when you leave, as Jacob did Pharaoh.

Our days are few and evil, and likely will not attain even to Jacob’s years, but the Lord our G-d will advance us to where that we may finish the work He called us to, if we are faithful and patient to keep possession of our souls.

Therefore I pray:

Father in Heaven,

          We come before Your throne today under the covering of Christ’s blood, to thank You for giving us the strength to make it through the past few weeks as the plague that came upon us cut its path through Your creation, and is still at work.

        The daily routines of our lives were shattered, and while the faithless rail and panic, and the false invoke You as they threaten harm, we use this time to pray and draw closer to You not in hiding, but in rejoicing that You are Jehovah-jireh, our Provider.

       We place the blood of Your Son over our hearts, and pray healing for the afflicted, salvation for those taken in His name, mercy for those who died in their sins, and unity in the Gospel amid a lost and dying culture.

      Impart to us the mercy and grace of the Son’s new covenant once more where we have failed to live up to His image, and to give You glory.

     We are reminded today that the Earth, and everything in it, is Yours, and You knew all of all Your work before its creation. (Psalm 24:1, Acts 15:18)

     Bring us through this time to emerge on the other side as better than we were, closer to You, and one another. Purify us, Father, and keep us by the power of Your Spirit, doing greater works that reveal deeper truths as we move from glory to glory, sanctified and justified, spotless and blameless, on our pilgrimage to redemption.

   In righteousness, peace, and joy may we honor You.

   Amen.

Devotional 166: Uneducated and Untrained

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Acts 4:13-17  The Name of Jesus Forbidden

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”

The Word of G-d is full of story after story about how the attempts at oppression, in all of its forms of ugliness, tries to keep the words of the Gospel, the Atonement, and the Resurrection from spreading,  but Jesus has already told us that His words will not pass away (Matthew 24:35) and that He speaks that which the Father has told Him to say (John 7:16).

Let us be reminded, particularly, of the story of Bartimaeus, who cried out all the more when the crowd tried to stop him. He was so loud that he actually got Jesus’ attention, and was healed on the spot. (Mark 10:46-52).

In this hour of wretchedness and disease, the human need to control things, combined with faithlessness and false worship, has stirred the hearts of men to frustration, fear, despair, anger, hate, defiance, and rebellion.

Their faith has been placed in those who haven’t the knowledge, skill, or motivation to seek wisdom in counsel to plan or lead. Their hearts are made weak and their minds fearful by agenda driven programming, and in the meantime the crisis at hand continues to exact its price among them.

Let those of us who claim to hold fast to faith now manifest it, let those of us who have heard and received the Word in faith now go forward and do the work it has called us to do, for we are told faith without works is dead. (James 2:14-26)

Let us be as the sower of seeds, in truth, boldness, and faith. For those who can, let us be in the makeshift pulpits of our surroundings, at our keyboards or on stage, and sow that into the fields to let the Holy Spirit bring to the Father those He has called out of the world.

For those who have no such training, ask G-d for boldness to be a light on a  hill where you are to those around you having restless, fearful, and angry spirits. Cry out all the more when they come against you, and having done all you can, stand in faith on the promises of the living G-d (Ephesians 6:13) Bring to mind, should you see yourself a grasshopper in your own eyes, these Apostles, uneducated and untrained, taught by a Rabbi who never studied, yet astounded them with His teaching.

It is He who will give you a mouth and wisdom (Luke 21:15)

Therefore I pray:

Lord Jesus, 

In this, the hour of our visitation, let us be stirred to be one of accord, rejoicing in faith and not fear that You have given us this opportunity to be sowers of the seed of Your salvation, that we might be reconciled to the Father before His restoration of all things in the new heaven and new earth.

Before the throne, we humbly ask to speak the Word with boldness before a wicked, adulterous, perverse generation that mocks, scorns, and falls away. Let us follow fast our Shepherd, that we will not be stand in the presence of the ungodly, scornful sinners. 

Today, we seek Your presence Lord, that we might fellowship with You in a time of refreshing. The path to the other side of a dark hour is emerging, but is not finished yet. 

We are but flesh, seeing what we want to see, hearing what we want to hear, believing what we want to believe, but You have told us the Father’s Word is truth. We are not only to hear it,  not only obey it, but manifest it in love among ourselves and to a dying world.

But we too, are sometimes frail of heart, timid of will, and shouted down. Help our unbelief, Lord, and strengthen us. Stretch out  Your hand to save us from the distractions and destroyers of our faith that allows us to step out and come to You in the midst of the storm.

It is good that we are uneducated, untrained, and unfruitful, so that when Your power is manifested through us, we can’t boast of our own strength and wisdom. Our legacies of ministry, however humble, however obscure, belong to You. They will be the only works that withstand the power of the testing fire in the day of judgement.

Until then, we abide here, witnessing the coming of a new age, watching Your prophecies begin to come to pass, and we pray that we are counted worthy to be profitable servants in whatever way You would have us share the message of salvation, that we might enter into our Father’s rest.

In righteousness, peace, and joy may we honor You.

Amen.

 

 

Devotional 164: The Time of Visitation

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Luke 19:41-44

Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, 44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Our Lord wept over Jersualem because of the relentless resistance, faithlessness, and rebuke of the religious leaders who relied on scholarly knowledge and loved the praises of man.

As we our now shut in, we see the pockets of resistance to something we’ve never encountered before that has hindered us, and in our earthly arrogance would think to throw off the chains it has placed around us.

In the midst of this, pastors are testing G-d, and some are even asking for donations of personal stimulus checks.

This could be the very hour Jesus comes to visit us not as the Lamb of G-d, but the Lion of Judah. We misread the signs of the times to our peril, and must be more discerning like the sons of Issachar (1 Chronicles 12:32)

It is time to be silent before the Lord, to be obedient and practice wisdom that protects ourselves, our families, and our neighbors. There will be a renewing of our souls as well as the land if we can stay obedient to the call of not moving ahead of G-d’s will; it will not ever be superseded by the will of man. (Zephaniah 1:7)

Let us use this time to spend with our Lord, and recognize this as a time of visitation from Him to reset ourselves, repent of our sins, renew our faith, and renew our commitment to the narrow path that leads to life everlasting, even as we mourn with those who mourn, and rejoice with those who rejoice, not becoming wise in our own opinion. (Romans 12:15-16)

Let us not have Jesus weep over our arrogance, keeping in mind His warning that not everyone who says to Him, “Lord…” will enter into Heaven’s rest with Him. (Matthew 7:21) 

As we cannot know the hour of His return, let us at least discern the hour of His visitation.

Therefore I pray:

Lord Jesus, 

   The hard teachings have now come to the fore during hard times. As Your followers, disciples, missionaries, ministers, artists, and those to whom You have revealed the Father in order that we might serve the kingdom, we ask that You grant us discernment to come to You and see what You would have us do, how to use our gifts, to point the faithless to the Father as they see our good works, and perceive our love for them and for each other. 

   We would not have this hour pass us by in idleness and distractions. Keep our lamps pure and clear, that we set nothing wicked before our eyes, and let us walk uprightly in our homes. (Psalm 101:2-3)

    We rejoice in the days we are yet given, if not the circumstances we find ourselves in at this time. Let us continue to offer praise to You and the Father, seeking through the Holy Spirit to remain connected to the True Vine. 

    Don’t leave us or forsake us, Lord. Forgive us our backsliding and lapses of faith. We would keep our hands on the plow, and not look back, and not turn back, for then we will not be fit for the Kingdom of G-d. (Luke 9:62) 

    It is a dark hour across the world, and we ask that You reach down to us to keep us in Your presence, lifted above the things of the world that hates us. Like Peter, in this hour we cry out, “Lord, save me!” and acknowledge, as He also did, that You are the Son of G-d to whom all authority has been given by the Father.

    We bow our knees, confess with our tongues, and rededicate ourselves to You in service, obedient to the calls on our lives as You finish the work You began in us.

     In righteousness, peace, and joy may we honor You.

     Amen.

Devotional 163: All That I Have is Yours

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John 16:12-15

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

Luke 15:28-31

28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.

John 8:34-36

34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

If you’ve the privilege of loving someone unconditionally, mutually, reciprocally, where trust and honesty are the foundations out of which that love springs, we can rest in our Savior’s promise that what He has told us has been given to Him as the will of the Father, to redeem our souls to Him, and that we shall inherit with our Lord and Brother a heavenly kingdom..

Grafted in as the sons and daughters of G-d among His chosen, we must remember that in order to inherit the glory, we shall not be made immune from suffering or the world’s troubles, but we have been called out of it to be witnesses to the Atonement of the Son that leads the way to Redemption, that we might live in the light of the Father’s presence, redeemed, spotless, and blameless under the Blood of Jesus.

Through faith we believe this, through prayer we seek the paths to walk, the strength to persevere when persecuted, the power to resist temptation and turning back, to have patience in keeping possession of our souls until the Harvest, and unwavering faith in His promises, which He tells us He’s received from the Father to convey to us.

As He has ascended to G-d’s right hand, the Holy Spirit now imparts to us that very same will. None of the words fall to the ground, none of the doctrine is changed, and mercy and grace are provided for the short term, but repentance and fleshly crucifixion of earthly desires are required for the long term.

It is a discipline, and a sacrifice, producing the spiritual fruits of righteousness and peace. (Hebrews 12:11)

We are the midst of prophetic times, seeing through spiritual eyes all that the Savior has said beginning to unfold.

Let us hold fast, and wrap ourselves in light as with a garment, as our Lord does when He comes to us. (Psalm 104:2)

Therefore I pray.

Lord Jesus,

In the days ahead, in the midst of the trials, we pray for our leaders, our neighbors, our families, and ourselves, that we might acquit ourselves of the spirits of fear, greed, and confusion, which have no part in You, and therefore should not in us. 

Forgive us, and grant us grace if we’ve forgotten, if we’ve fell into temptation to let the world infect us with them, and to let them hold sway over the Comforter You’ve sent to us from the Heaven. 

We repent, and return to that which we know to be true, that You are our Shepherd, and we shall not want. We hold fast to the promise of G-d, that whatever befalls us, our faith in You connects us to He who sent You. We need not walk in fear, but we do not set wisdom aside.

Your words are spirit and life, and we hide them in our hearts, even as we proclaim them from the rooftops, even now, in the midst of present trials. (John 6:63)

Let nothing take us from Your hands, Lord Jesus. We look to You for guidance, strength, and healing, as we pray the earthly leaders raised up in this time begin to look to You as well in all things.

We thank You for protecting our families and ourselves, for You have said the faithful shall be spared according to Your divine will.

In righteousness, peace, and joy may we honor You. 

Amen.

 

Devotional 162: Where Two or Three Gather…

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Matthew 18:18-20

18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

If indeed, the Father has handed over all to the Son, who has proven Himself worthy on Calvary, in the times we cannot gather in unity to praise and worship in corporate fellowship, we can still yet gather, like vineyard clusters, and still have Him move among us.

If we hold by faith to the tenet that He is omnipresent, how then, especially now, can we neglect to ask for heavenly intercession to bind our earthly suffering?

We became for a long time a proud, indulgent nation full of self-righteousness and hatred for our brothers and sisters, enjoying mocking of the faithful, believing in the demon’s call to kill based on skin color and languages;  even now, our Asian brothers suffer slings and arrows, both verbal and physical, through the tongues and hands of ignorant people.

Let’s not neglect to pray for them, as well as each other.

Let us turn our eyes, thoughts, hearts, words, and deeds to Heaven, that we might bind up the suffering, give strength to the struggling, peace to the dying, and light to the spiritually blind, and when they finally look to the hills, let it be our light surrounding His that they see, that they might glorify G-d. (Matthew 5:16)

Let us take heart in the fact that our Father has already seen the fruits of the ending of this plague, and let us go about doing the work in faith, the former and the latter thing, for such work pleases Him, and makes us profitable to the Kingdom. (Matthew 23:23)

The end will come, both the end to this plague, and the end of all things.

We, His hands and feet, His tongue and heart, must remain steadfast in our service, and consistent in our beliefs, though the accuser throws the last of hell’s storehouses at all we hold dear, for there is an end to him and his kingdom as well. It will be renewed, cleansed, and purified by the light of the G-d Himself, for the earth is His, and everything in it. (Psalm 24:1)

Therefore I pray:

Father in Heaven, 

      We are afflicted, for You have allowed it to be so by Your sovereign will. Your creation suffers, and wonders, and grieves, and flares up in bursts of anger and fear, but Your Children, the grafted in and the chosen, are also in the world, and afflicted, for You have not spared them, calling them out of the world to rest and come home.

     We who remain cry out to You to bind the enemy’s workings, that we might be a healed land who once again acknowledges that the earth, and all in it, and the silver and gold, are Yours. 

     We plead the Blood of Jesus over the spiritual strongholds of hate and pride that grip this land in a gory fist of hellfire, that our wounds and diseases might be healed, our hearts burn within us with holy fire, and our eyes opened to the Truth, and Your promises to Your people, for You are not a man that You should lie.

     Reveal Your presence to the gathering clusters of believers who still seek Your face, and ask once more for mercy, grace, and love that we are not worthy to receive, but You still bestow upon us. 

     Forgive us for our pride, and thinking we have done all this in and of ourselves, not realizing that we even breathe but by Your will, until our appointed days are fulfilled. 

    Let us now run the race with an urgent joy, that we might see Your people saved, and once again humbly seek Your presence to start anew, and serve one another down to the least, who is the greatest in Your kingdom. (Matthew 23:11)

    In righteousness, peace, and joy may we honor You.

    Amen.

 

 

Devotional 149: Take Heed to Yourselves

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Luke 21: 34 –

The Importance of Watching

34 “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

37 And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet. 38 Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.

As believers, we are to lean on the power of Christ’s divinity and sacrifice to be redeemed from sin into the Father’s kingdom, and while it comes with few outlying conditions or duties that we must perform, neither does it come without effort on our part.

After the redemptive truth of the Gospel is revealed and our fealty for Christ declared, we must then expend something to establish it, or as Jesus would say, to ‘settle it in our hearts.’ He told us we would have difficulty doing this, because the world hates Him for testifying that its work are evil (John 7:7) and as His followers, we are called to do the same, and are therefore targets of His enemies, both physical and spiritual.

We are also called to do more than our share  for we are unprofitable to Him if that’s all we do. (Luke 17:10) . The list is daunting: love one another, keep His commandments, give (not sell) to the poor, pray, repent, flee from sin, forgive, and glorify G-d in all we do, say, and think.

How do we accomplish this? By abiding in Him (John 15:5) and by taking heed to ourselves. There are so many pitfalls on the Narrow Path, that even as we follow Him, we are to keep watch over ourselves. This goes to the heart of our mortal pride. Remember the boast of Peter  (Matthew 26:33)  and what came of it.

As Oswald Chambers wrote: “Peter thought he knew where the test would come, and it did not come where he expected it.” (My Utmost for His Highest)

King David asked to set a guard over his mouth (Psalm 141:3) and his son advises us to guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23), and so our Lord and Savior reinforces this to us.

Today, let us release that which concerns us and go to Him, because He’s told us that those who seek Him, He will not cast them out. It is up to us, however, to count the cost to follow, and to choose whom we will serve.

If we are to follow then, it is with the understanding that there will be no compromising for our backsliding, no looking the other way.  He will judge us before the throne of His grace, and the works not done for the Kingdom will be cast into the fire, quite possibly alongside us if we are found to be lacking.

Attaining the Kingdom, then, is not a drag-along prospect, but a willing, voluntary following to say to the Father, Son, and Spirit,

‘Yes and Amen. Our spirits align with Yours, and we would enter into our Father’s rest under the reign of the Son, and be filled eternally with the Holy Spirit.’

Therefore I pray:

Lord Jesus, 

       We rejoice today that You have sent us a comforter, one who reveals to us all the things that are of You and the Father, One in will and purpose, to redeem the souls of unprofitable servants who stumble, backslide, succumb to sin, and frequently need Your mercy and grace to continue on the Narrow Path to salvation. 

       We praise You for letting us know beforehand that we have been deemed worthy to hear Your shout on the last day, and be raised. (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

      We abide in You today, Lord, with repentant hearts and contrite spirits, that You may renew us, cleanse us, anoint us, and sing over us once again to restore our tiring spirits in this body that demands to go into the flames of condemnation. 

     Today, and as we abide in You, every day after, we set a guard over our hearts and mouths, we stay in the Word that will not pass away, and we love one another as You love us, edifying the Body, and doing more than our share as we are called to preach to every man, and keep watch.

Lord, we will take heed to ourselves, lest when we think we stand, we fall. (1 Cor 10:12) 

Let it be done to us as You have said.

Amen.

Devotional 140: The Gift of Christ’s Revealing

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Luke 10:21-25

Jesus Rejoices in the Spirit

21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. 22 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

23 Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; 24 for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.”

We have professed our belief, but what ensues after that is the enemy trying to see in which kind of soil the seed was planted; the persecutions and temptations that follow do all in their power to dislodge that seed.

This is why our Lord emphasizes not only the hearing, but the doing, of the Father’s will. It is why James tells us faith without works is dead (James 2:17)  We put distance between ourselves and our accuser when we manifest our faith in the covenant we’ve entered into: that we believe in the atoning work of the Son, that we may dwell eternally in the Kingdom of G-d.

At one time, our lives were such that we turned seek G-d, but the Father granted authority to the Son to reveal Him to those who sought Him.

YOU were chosen to be given the truth that buried doubt, subdued sin, granted you peace, answered your questions as to G-d’s very existence, and removed you from the impending judgment of the Father’s coming wrath.

What it does not remove us from is the enemy’s grasping attempts to pry us loose:

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

33 But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.”

34 Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”

Satan not only asked, but Jesus granted him permission. The most volatile of the Apostles, the one whom Jesus called the Rock on which He’d build His church, would deny Him in His hour of need.

Here we see the power of our Lord’s prophecies at work again: He knew Peter would return, because He said ‘when,’ not ‘if.’ Peter then went on to deliver some of the most searing sermons ever preached, but he went through a time of sifting by Satan, and indeed, had a broken heart and contrite spirit.

Hard soil was tilled. Peter was the only disciple who went into Jesus’  tomb to make sure it was, in fact, empty. He was the only one who stepped out of the boat when Jesus called him.

Have we treated the revelation and gift of salvation, given to us by the Father and revealed to us by Christ, as the gift it truly is? Have we contemplated remaining in faith, repentance, obedience, and works that we might be granted eternal life.

Jesus said to His disciples, when they returned from their missions,

 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

Are we rejoicing in our spirits today?

Psalm 118:24

24 This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Therefore I pray:

Father in Heaven,

There are days we have taken for granted the gift of the Son’s grace to reveal the Truth of of Your word to us. We ask through the power of Your Son’s holy blood that You forgive us for treating it as a common thing.

We would not crucify our Lord again. 

Today, we pause to give thanks for all You’ve provided, for seeing us through our trials, for delivering us from the sifting of our enemies, for as Paul tells us, we contend in a world of warring spirits for the value of our souls. 

Today, we reflect on the grace of our Shepherd to bring us into the light and green pastures of Your peace, the bloody wrath of Your impending day sparing those of us who believe in the only Name under heaven by which we are saved.

Today, we rejoice that we have made our Lord rejoice in His spirit, that our own unworthy names are written in Heaven, in the Book of Life. Let our works shine before our unbelieving brethren, that they may come to believe and glorify You, Father. 

Today, let our spirits be renewed to not only hear, but do, Your will, abiding in Jesus, for we can do nothing apart from Him, that we might bear fruit that withstands the testing fires.

We rejoice that we too, will be raised up on the last day, to dwell in Your house, and in Your presence, now, and truly forevermore.

May it be done to us as You have said.

Amen.

Devotional 139: New Hearts, Right Spirits

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Ezekiel 36:26

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

What we consistently fail to understand about the Father’s will to cleanse us is that it is as uncompromising as it it unwavering, though it does not come without requirements.

People who claim the Word is contradictory have been blinded, given hearts of stone, and ears that cry out for tickling, adapting the infinite, glorious, majesty of G-d to their limited knowledge and puffy intellects.

They place Creation under the tangible but cloudy lenses of ‘Science’ and ‘Evolution’, which has theories it takes just as much, if not more faith, to believe in. But the know there’s no G-d. They are, at best, houses built on shifting sand, and such believers in it are willing to go with it as their source.

And yes, they have their time and place, for He gave us a mind to establish dominion over the earth and subdue it, but they don’t replace Him. It is simply that they can’t fathom the mind of G-d, but the Father is not inconsistent in dealing with His creation.

The matter of hearts and spirits is like a ‘pop-up’ ad throughout Scripture, perhaps the most known of them being this verse:

Psalm 51:10

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

    Repentance is the cornerstone of renewed fellowship with G-d, just as faith was the cornerstone of Christ’s miracles manifesting themselves in the lives of those who sought Him.

G-d is not ignoring our sins because we make them legal, and nothing is being done unseen before His eyes. Those things He’s called abominations have only morphed into more forms of spiritual confusion and deception.

The tide of faithlessness is rising, and the current of persecution disguised as legislation moves more swiftly, yet the questions remain the same: “Where is your G-d?”  “Why doesn’t He just save us/ purge evil?”   “You really believe that nonsense?”

Yet Christ tells us:  We will suffer for our faith (Matt: 24:9) The love of many will grow cold (Matt: 24:12) False christs shall rise (Matt: 24:24) He will come at an hour we don’t expect (Matt: 24:44) Not all who call on His name will enter into His rest (Matt: 7:21)

Right hearts and renewed spirits, then, have become things we can’t do without in these times. Peter tells us:

Acts 3:19-21

19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. 

Are we prepared for the unexpected?

Therefore I pray:

Father in Heaven,

It is no small thing to walk behind our Shepherd through the valley of death’s shadow.

The path is narrow and steep, and the unholy line both sides of it, waiting for the weak to fall, the foolish to stray from under the protection of His rod and staff, for the inattentive to lose their way, the tired for fall behind, and the fearful to turn back.

Our enemy speaks to us, as he did in Eden, of the fleshly good of Your creation, tempting us with pretty things, and planting seeds of doubt about what You’ve said to us: Did G-d really say…?

He proclaims to us in moments of spiritual fatigue and moments of crisis: All these things I will give to you…

So Father, today we repent of our sins, we confess them to You that we may be cleansed of all unrighteousness, all doubt and uncleanness, all fear and sorrow. Renew our hearts, Lord G-d, and refresh our spirits.

Restore us to fellowship with You, and each other.

Keep us from invoking Your heavenly Name to justify our earthly evils.

We present ourselves before the throne of grace and judgment. We come to You in our filth, with wretched hearts, weak flesh, tired minds, blind eyes, and hard hearts, that You might send the Son to us again to bring us back to You.

We say to Him today, in Your sight and by Your grace:

“Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

May it be done to us as You have said.

Amen.