For today, I had this great devotional planned that I thought would change people's way of thinking.
However, in light of the events last night, I don't feel it would be appropriate.
For those of you who might be reading this and not know what I'm talking about, our area of the country was ravaged by at least 6 confirmed tornadoes within 3 hours. The worst of which seems to have been located in the town of Joplin, MO, where as of now there are 90 confirmed dead, scores more injured and homeless.
I personally have never lived there, but my parents did 4 years ago and, via text/email/phone calls, are trying to track down all of their friends who still live there.
In a time like this I feel the best thing I could write for a Monday Morning Minute would be a call to prayer. And not just a blanket "God be with them" prayer (which of course he still hears!), but a more focused set of prayers.
I feel we should focus on these areas:
1) Prayer for strength.
It can be so hard to find the strength to go, both physically and emotionally, during a time like this. But King David, at the end of his turmoil of war and conflict with Saul said this in 2 Samuel 22:29 & 30 "O Lord, you are my lamp. The Lord lights up my darkness. In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall."
For some this seems like a wall so high, they might never escape it. But David said (after his experience) that through the Lord he "can scale any wall."
Pray for strength to scale walls.
2) Prayer for guarding of hearts.
No one knows the reason for devastation such as this. There will come crazies out of the woodwork that will say all kinds of things about this being the wrath of God and other such nonsense. Just like after Katrina ravaged the Gulf, people said it was God's punishment on them (which of course in contradictory to the word because after Noah's flood, God said he would never destroy the world through water again...but that's a whole 'nother devotion!)
People will be grappling with the "whys" and the "why nots" for many months to come.
Pray for guarding of hearts, that they might know that, even through they might not have the answers to the "whys," they will not be swayed, but will keep an understanding of the "hows"-through God, they will get through this.
3) Prayer for miraculous encounters
This is a time that God could show himself in fantastic and new ways.
Pray for divine and life changing encounters that will bring eternal changes to people's life, in spite of the physical-world devastation.
4) Prayer for Peace.
For so many, just laying their heads down to sleep, will become a test of faith in and of itself. So many will constantly relive what they have been through and safety will become a foreign concept.
Be in prayer for them, to have peace after the storm.
Psalm 4:8 says "In peace I will lie down and sleep,for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe."
Pray this and share it with everyone....
God Bless and stay safe. :)
Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday Morning Minute-May 16. 2011
This past week we have been meditating on scriptures on gentleness, the second to last fruit of the spirit.
And during this week, our Day 6 Scriptures is taken from Philippians 4:5 (in the NIV translation) and it says "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near."
Great Scripture, right? Paul takes time during this prison epistles (or letter) to remind them of two very important things:
(1) Let your gentleness shine always. The New Living Translation says it this way "Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do."
In no way is Paul telling people to be door mats. Instead, he is telling them to tread lightly when talking to unbelievers. Not every unbeliever will respond to the "hell fire and brimstone" approach to the gospel! Some simply need to be taken by the hand and shown a loving God.
So often in scripture we see people referred to as "sheep" and some people (who for whatever reason have a hard heart to the gospel) use that scripture as a chance to take a stab a christianity and say "oh..they're all sheep... can't think for themselves." That's not at all what it's saying.
Sheep need gentleness. Get too loud or too rough and they run. And usually, they're running for a cliff and don't even realize it.
Know anyone who's running from the gospel?
(2) "The Lord is near."
We hear constantly lately about "the end of time." The famous astrologer/astronomer, Nostradamus and the ancient Mayan calendars both predict the end of the world to be in 2012 (Nostradamus specifically says December 21, 2012.)
The funny thing about it though is that the Mayan calendar was written over 5,00 years ago; Nostradamus made his predictions in the mid 1500s (which equals just over 500 years ago); while Paul pens "The Lord is near" in 61 A.D.
SSSooo...who's right?
Well, if we use scripture to interpret scripture and take a look in Acts 1, we see the apostles ask the resurrected Christ when he will be coming back "to free Israel and restore our kingdom." Christ's response: "The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know."
What does this tell us? Since no one on this earth is or was God (aside from Christ), no one truly knows when it will all end. So why should we waste energy worry about something scriptures tells us we will never know the answer to until the trumpets sound?
Instead, we should focus on the the first part of that scripture...let our gentleness show to all around us, being considerate of what it will take to bring each type of personality to a saving knowledge of Christ.
That is a good use of your energy. :)
And during this week, our Day 6 Scriptures is taken from Philippians 4:5 (in the NIV translation) and it says "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near."
Great Scripture, right? Paul takes time during this prison epistles (or letter) to remind them of two very important things:
(1) Let your gentleness shine always. The New Living Translation says it this way "Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do."
In no way is Paul telling people to be door mats. Instead, he is telling them to tread lightly when talking to unbelievers. Not every unbeliever will respond to the "hell fire and brimstone" approach to the gospel! Some simply need to be taken by the hand and shown a loving God.
So often in scripture we see people referred to as "sheep" and some people (who for whatever reason have a hard heart to the gospel) use that scripture as a chance to take a stab a christianity and say "oh..they're all sheep... can't think for themselves." That's not at all what it's saying.
Sheep need gentleness. Get too loud or too rough and they run. And usually, they're running for a cliff and don't even realize it.
Know anyone who's running from the gospel?
(2) "The Lord is near."
We hear constantly lately about "the end of time." The famous astrologer/astronomer, Nostradamus and the ancient Mayan calendars both predict the end of the world to be in 2012 (Nostradamus specifically says December 21, 2012.)
The funny thing about it though is that the Mayan calendar was written over 5,00 years ago; Nostradamus made his predictions in the mid 1500s (which equals just over 500 years ago); while Paul pens "The Lord is near" in 61 A.D.
SSSooo...who's right?
Well, if we use scripture to interpret scripture and take a look in Acts 1, we see the apostles ask the resurrected Christ when he will be coming back "to free Israel and restore our kingdom." Christ's response: "The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know."
What does this tell us? Since no one on this earth is or was God (aside from Christ), no one truly knows when it will all end. So why should we waste energy worry about something scriptures tells us we will never know the answer to until the trumpets sound?
Instead, we should focus on the the first part of that scripture...let our gentleness show to all around us, being considerate of what it will take to bring each type of personality to a saving knowledge of Christ.
That is a good use of your energy. :)
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Monday Morning Minute-May 9, 2011
We are into our 8th week of our study on the fruits of spirit and are slowly drawing to a close. Even though we still have one more week, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for taking this journey with me. I pray you have grown through these weeks of meditating on God's word and filling your "spiritual basket" to overflowing.
Now...on to week 8: FAITHFULNESS.
On day one of this week we started with a scripture in 2 Chronicles. In chapter 19, Jehoshephat (also known as Jehosephat) had decided to send priests and leaders to be judges in his sted to various parts of the national Israel and as he sent them forth he gave them these instructions is verse 9:
"You must always act in the fear of the Lord, with faithfulness and an undivided heart."
When I was pondering this scripture this week, I kept coming back the idea of "faithfulness" within the context of marriage. No husband or wife can make good decisions and be faithful to their spouse if their heart is divided.
The same went for the judges of Israel and still holds true for us today. We can not be faithful to Christ if our hearts are divided. Matthew and Luke both state that no one can serve two masters.Yes...they were talking about God vs. money, but money can be replaced with career or hobby or sometimes even family, if we choose to use our family as an excuse not to spend time with God.
If God's command to his first leaders was about the faithfulness of the heart, how can we believe we are called to any less?
Psalm 119:89 & 91 even say "Your eternal word, O Lord, stands firm in heaven." and "Your regulations remain true to this day for everything serves your plan", respectively.
And sandwiched in the middle of those verses is that word again-faithfulness.But, this time it is not a reminder to us to be faithful. Instead, it is a reminder of his faithfulness to every generation (vs 90.)
Think about that....His faithfulness extends to every generation. The fact that it extends to every generation is the very definition of faithfulness. Being faithful means to be steady and constant.
So why, in our times of need, is it so easy to forget that constant means constant. You are not an exception to his rule of faithfulness!
Your situation is not new to him and neither is your sin.
Proverbs 16:6 says "Unfailing Love and faithfulness make atonement for sin. By fearing the Lord, people avoid sin."
It's his faithfulness to keep his promise of the cross is our cure for sin. And to take it one step farther we're told that even though the price was paid for our sin, if we choose to have a (healthy) fear of the Lord, it would help us to avoid sin altogether.
Sometime in the course of history, I'm sure God has thrown up his hands and wanted to it quits but Jesus, seated at his right hand, has talked him back from the ledge and reminded him of his promise to be faithful and forgive our sins.
OK...maybe not. But you get the idea? It's through his constant faithfulness and unfailing love that we can continually mess up and still attain heaven and live a privileged life on this earth as God's children while on earth.
And it's a message that too many times, even thousands of years ago, fell by the wayside in history of the children of Israel. they would turn to idols and false gods every few generations. Why?
Because one generation did not tell the next generation about the faithfulness of God and is doing so, condemned the younger generation to wonder in a spiritual desert, complete with mirages of righteousness. Since they were not instructed in rights/wrongs, they believed what they were doing was right!
That's why Isaiah 38:19a admonishes "The father to the children shall make known they truth (or faithfulness."
How else will they know if they don't learn it from us?
If we don't, we run the risk of becoming like the children of Israel in Hosea 4:1a, 3. The prophet Hosea, through the prompting of the Holy Spirit said, "There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land, ....that is why your land is in mourning and everyone is wasting away. Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea are disappearing."
Not only would future generations suffer, but the word says that even the very earth will begin to mourn the lose of the knowledge of Christ from among his people.
Look at America now...We've lost so many our fundamental truths that this country was founded on and we are slowly watching a nation that was once "once nation under God" turn into a land of mourning because there is no knowledge and our land is wasting away because of it.
God's faithfulness is constant and applicable to all generations for the continual atonement for our sins, but if we choose not to tell them, we are sentencing them and all future generations to a future of a dying land.
What can we do to remember God's faithfulness? (These might, of course, be obvious, but it never hurts to be reminded of what we SHOULD be doing or what we COULD be doing better.)
1) Keep a faithfulness journal. Having your own personal experiences or experiences of those close to you to look back on can buoy your faith during seasons of uncertainty.
2) Talk about God's faithfulness. To your kids. To your friends. To unsaved friends. Whoever will listen! Much like journeling, keeping stories of God's faithfulness on the tip of your tongue keeps them in the front of your mind and not pushed back to places of shadow. Doing so will make it harder for Satan to push a wedge between you and God during those hard times.
3) Continually be in the word! Next to your own personal experiences, reading first hand accounts of his faithfulness and how it has not changed in all these years since the words of the Bible were penned is an amazing experiences. His love for Adama & Eve, Moses, Hosea, James, Luke, Paul, Rehab, David, Timothy and every other person in the bible (named or unnamed) is the same love he holds for you and obvious faithfulness in the pages of scripture are promises to you and not just mere stories.
Now...on to week 8: FAITHFULNESS.
On day one of this week we started with a scripture in 2 Chronicles. In chapter 19, Jehoshephat (also known as Jehosephat) had decided to send priests and leaders to be judges in his sted to various parts of the national Israel and as he sent them forth he gave them these instructions is verse 9:
"You must always act in the fear of the Lord, with faithfulness and an undivided heart."
When I was pondering this scripture this week, I kept coming back the idea of "faithfulness" within the context of marriage. No husband or wife can make good decisions and be faithful to their spouse if their heart is divided.
The same went for the judges of Israel and still holds true for us today. We can not be faithful to Christ if our hearts are divided. Matthew and Luke both state that no one can serve two masters.Yes...they were talking about God vs. money, but money can be replaced with career or hobby or sometimes even family, if we choose to use our family as an excuse not to spend time with God.
If God's command to his first leaders was about the faithfulness of the heart, how can we believe we are called to any less?
Psalm 119:89 & 91 even say "Your eternal word, O Lord, stands firm in heaven." and "Your regulations remain true to this day for everything serves your plan", respectively.
And sandwiched in the middle of those verses is that word again-faithfulness.But, this time it is not a reminder to us to be faithful. Instead, it is a reminder of his faithfulness to every generation (vs 90.)
Think about that....His faithfulness extends to every generation. The fact that it extends to every generation is the very definition of faithfulness. Being faithful means to be steady and constant.
So why, in our times of need, is it so easy to forget that constant means constant. You are not an exception to his rule of faithfulness!
Your situation is not new to him and neither is your sin.
Proverbs 16:6 says "Unfailing Love and faithfulness make atonement for sin. By fearing the Lord, people avoid sin."
It's his faithfulness to keep his promise of the cross is our cure for sin. And to take it one step farther we're told that even though the price was paid for our sin, if we choose to have a (healthy) fear of the Lord, it would help us to avoid sin altogether.
Sometime in the course of history, I'm sure God has thrown up his hands and wanted to it quits but Jesus, seated at his right hand, has talked him back from the ledge and reminded him of his promise to be faithful and forgive our sins.
OK...maybe not. But you get the idea? It's through his constant faithfulness and unfailing love that we can continually mess up and still attain heaven and live a privileged life on this earth as God's children while on earth.
And it's a message that too many times, even thousands of years ago, fell by the wayside in history of the children of Israel. they would turn to idols and false gods every few generations. Why?
Because one generation did not tell the next generation about the faithfulness of God and is doing so, condemned the younger generation to wonder in a spiritual desert, complete with mirages of righteousness. Since they were not instructed in rights/wrongs, they believed what they were doing was right!
That's why Isaiah 38:19a admonishes "The father to the children shall make known they truth (or faithfulness."
How else will they know if they don't learn it from us?
If we don't, we run the risk of becoming like the children of Israel in Hosea 4:1a, 3. The prophet Hosea, through the prompting of the Holy Spirit said, "There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land, ....that is why your land is in mourning and everyone is wasting away. Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea are disappearing."
Not only would future generations suffer, but the word says that even the very earth will begin to mourn the lose of the knowledge of Christ from among his people.
Look at America now...We've lost so many our fundamental truths that this country was founded on and we are slowly watching a nation that was once "once nation under God" turn into a land of mourning because there is no knowledge and our land is wasting away because of it.
God's faithfulness is constant and applicable to all generations for the continual atonement for our sins, but if we choose not to tell them, we are sentencing them and all future generations to a future of a dying land.
What can we do to remember God's faithfulness? (These might, of course, be obvious, but it never hurts to be reminded of what we SHOULD be doing or what we COULD be doing better.)
1) Keep a faithfulness journal. Having your own personal experiences or experiences of those close to you to look back on can buoy your faith during seasons of uncertainty.
2) Talk about God's faithfulness. To your kids. To your friends. To unsaved friends. Whoever will listen! Much like journeling, keeping stories of God's faithfulness on the tip of your tongue keeps them in the front of your mind and not pushed back to places of shadow. Doing so will make it harder for Satan to push a wedge between you and God during those hard times.
3) Continually be in the word! Next to your own personal experiences, reading first hand accounts of his faithfulness and how it has not changed in all these years since the words of the Bible were penned is an amazing experiences. His love for Adama & Eve, Moses, Hosea, James, Luke, Paul, Rehab, David, Timothy and every other person in the bible (named or unnamed) is the same love he holds for you and obvious faithfulness in the pages of scripture are promises to you and not just mere stories.
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