Thurs Devo: Faithful and True

Would Jesus say you and I are faithful and true to Him? He said that about the Pergamum church.

Revelation 2:12-13    ¹² “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. ¹³ I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.

Do we openly identify ourselves as a child of God? What if we knew we would be killed if we said we were a Christian? Antipas was supposedly burned for refusing to renounce his faith. Jesus called him His faithful witness for living a consistent faithful life in the face of satanic evil.

Similar situations happen today. The gunman in Oregon reportedly asked his classmates if they were a Christian and asked the Christians to stand up. Then he shot them and continued down the line. Would you and I boldly claim to be Christians after seeing what happened to the first victim?

Antipas and the Christian victims in Oregon are safe in God’s arms now. Nothing will ever harm them again. Jesus has eternal rewards for His faithful and true followers! That's something we can cling to, no matter what happens! 

Alice

Strength in Weakness

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.  Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.  That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

What is true strength?  We are taught to always be a symbol of strength to others.  This is something I believe in, but as I’ve grown, showing strength is so much more than just being strong.  My success as a husband did not come from always being wonderful to my wife.  In my younger years, I would complain too much.  There were times I felt she was not sensitive enough, and other times where she did not do enough.  However, those were not her faults.  They were mine.  I was the one who did not love her and appreciate her enough.  I expected her to fix our failings in the relationship rather than look at the mirror and deal with my own.  In accepting my own weakness as a husband, it allowed God to be the strength of our marriage.  It made me better to her and more accepting.  It gave me not only forgiveness for my flaws but also inspiration to do better.  To be better.  The most amazing thing about it is my story, while unique, led me to the same place other Christians found themselves; saved and loved by Jesus Christ.

God shows His greatest strength through our greatest weaknesses.  We often feel that we must show our strength to others so as to lead them to a better place.  While it is true that we are to live our lives as examples of Christ, it is important that we also share where we are indeed flawed.  The vision Paul shared in 2^nd Corinthians spoke to this very point.  What brings others to God is not how perfect we may seem.  What brings them is realizing just how imperfect we are.  Our flaws are not so dissimilar from those who are lost souls.  However, our difference is that we have been born again through Christ, and He has shown us a different path.  It is a path that we not only proudly follow but also show to others.  A man struggling in his marriage and contemplating divorce is someone God may connect with me where I can say, “Hey.  I know where you are, and I have been there!”  Then God’s light can be revealed to them.

God’s glory is best revealed when He is allowed to shine above all.  There is no better way for it to be revealed than in our own story of weakness.  Romans 8:26 says, “The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.”  Even when our prayers may be weak, God intercedes to ensure they are heard.  So let us focus not just on being the face of God’s strength.  Show others the flawed image of yourself because lost souls do not follow a God they don’t know.  They follow someone who understands them and can be used by God to help them see a righteous path.  How can you reveal your weakness to show God’s strength?  My prayer is that we are able to show true strength through own weakness.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Real delegation

2 Timothy 1:12 “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” (NASB)

Hello,

Delegation – a fancy business word! Have you ever had anything delegated to you, only to be asked about it every 5 minutes? Have you ever delegated something to another person, but then told them how to do every little step of the way? Neither is real delegation! Paul though, he delegated! OK – a bit of a stretch from the true meaning of delegation, but go with me for a moment here. Paul delegated his eternal destination/ticket to Jesus. Paul left it all in His hands. He left it all so assuredly, that he didn’t worry about the “price” he was paying here on earth. He fully trusted Jesus to not just handle his eternity, but to handle the method of getting from where he was at the moment until he entered eternity.

So – you delegated eternity to Jesus and the cross? How much are really showing your trust and faith in that delegation?

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

God-breathed

2 Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

For those of us that write these devotions, I think we all sometimes find ourselves trying to figure out what to write about. We want the words that we share to have an impact on someone’s life, to touch someone that day. I certainly don’t expect that everything I write will have huge meaning to everyone that reads it, however hopefully it helps one person who is maybe dealing with that same topic. For me, that is why I write. That is why I try to share topics that are real to my life. Yet still, I find myself wishing that I was more profound.

Today, this verse really spoke to me, it reminded me that it doesn’t matter what scripture that I use, all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching and training in righteousness.

I want to encourage everyone today, if you have a scripture that really stands out to you that you want shared, feel free to send it to me. I’m sure that God will help me to use it in a devotional.

May His word bless your day!