Shine On

“The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,

shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;

they do not know what makes them stumble.”

     Proverbs 4:18-19 (NIV)

I’m an early bird and enjoy watching the sun rise. Of course, dawn doesn’t break and immediately we have full sunlight; instead, there’s the “first gleam of dawn” and then the sky gradually lightens.  Similarly, God’s word is a light to our path (Psalm 119:105), step by step, not a floodlight showing the full road ahead.  I sometimes wish more light would shine in certain areas of my life where I’ve been praying for wisdom and discernment because I get impatient. But even when the path seems dim, believers are assured that God’s true light will guide us if we wait and trust in Him.

By contrast, those in the world are in darkness and because they are without the Light, they stumble and don’t even know why.  I see so much darkness in the people around me (my family, friends, neighbors) and they don’t seem to realize they’re lost; and what’s worse, they don’t want the light (John 3:20).  This can be the case even for those who claim to be Christians.  I’ve recently been quite shocked to hear things from several people I know that don’t line up with God’s word; their words and actions seem to indicate they aren’t truly following Christ. . .and yet, they don’t want to hear the truth, they don’t heed it.

At times like this, I can start to feel overwhelmed, even hopeless; what can I say or do?  I try and shine my little candle, but how can that bit of light make a difference?  Then I’m reminded of something a pastor I know pointed out:  Not all the street lights are clustered on one corner; instead, they are spread out in all the dark places around the city; that’s how they make an impact.  Even a small candle seems bright in a dark place; in fact, the darker the room, the brighter it seems.  So I pray for strength to continue interceding for people and for boldness to keep “shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”  On that day, we won’t need the sun because we will be in the presence of the Son forever. Amen!

Thursday Devotional - The Entire Bible

Have you ever read the entire Bible? Maybe you have, but it’s been a while since you read through the entire Bible. I’ve been part of in-depth Bible studies for years, but it’s been a while since I’ve read certain parts of the Bible. Recently, as I was studying II Samuel, I felt God challenge me to re-read the Bible start to finish in a short amount of time. God re-iterated that challenge through re-reading Joshua and reading some articles on the Biblical illiteracy of professing Christians.

As we saw the last few weeks with Joshua and the Israelites, knowing and remembering God’s commands is vital. With the defeat at Ai (after Jericho) and Achan’s disobedience, Joshua stops to re-read and re-write God’s commands to Moses.

Joshua 8:30-32, 34-35      ³⁰ Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, ³¹ as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. ³² There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses…  ³⁴ Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. ³⁵ There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.

If you haven’t ever read the entire Bible, I challenge you to consider listening to it to and from work. It will only take about half a year if you average a 20-minute commute. Or, there are great One Year Bibles (mine has an O.T./N.T./Psalm/Proverb each day).

We can’t truly love, honor and obey God without knowing Him and His Word!

Alice

Removing The Veil

Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.  Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.

But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  2 Corinthians 3:12-16

What is it you are afraid of?  You might be worried about offending someone or hurting their feelings.  You might lose a relationship or show that you are flawed like everyone else.  But there was one fear of mine that I am going to share with you today.  It’s the one that superseded all other ones.  It was the one that haunted me because no matter what I did or how I tried to avoid it, it always found me in some fashion or another.  My greatest fear was what did everyone think about me.  You see, the only time I truly saw ‘me’ was when I looked in the mirror.  Other than that, I was just a man who fought every single negative stereotype that’s ever been said about people that look like me.  My view was if I ever wanted to get ahead in life, I had to do everything I could to be the very opposite of the worse things people could see when they saw me.  I talked better.  I worked harder.  I took inappropriate jokes easier.  I ignored things because any hint that might seem different would force me into that stereotypical box people had.  And the fact is I did such a great job of it that I lost the real me.

Over the last couple of years, something changed.  God forced me to be different.  He challenged me to be something I had never been comfortable with; me.  It forced me to acknowledge some very tough truths.  One was to love the person I had become.  This was easy because I had a beautiful God-fearing wife who told me as much.  Even when I could not believe who I was, she believed in me.  Next, was to embrace who I am.  I’m not perfect.  I am a sinner.  But I am God’s child, and I am so blessed to have a savior like Christ.  The toughest one of all was simply tell the world who I am.  That is the hard one.  Why?   Because that’s the one that says I’m not like everyone else, and there are things I now say that will ruffle others feathers.  I’m black, and I’m proud.  I am not some militant angry person.  I am Christian, and with all those things together, there are some things that I just simply won’t tolerate anymore.  For example, I will no longer accept someone telling me that I need to respect a leader who under any other circumstance I would not respect at all (easy to figure who that might be).  I will listen to you, and empathize.  I will always show both compassion and care for others, and I will always love as Jesus loves us.  But I am God’s child, and I no longer have to apologize for who I am.

The verses today remind us that we are free to be who God intended us.  Paul’s comparison of the old and new covenant is very telling.  In the old covenant, the Israelites were forced into this feeling that they were to serve God, and this was best done by following His rules or order.  When we think of it, the problem was easy to see.  They were slaves to the law but not God.  This of course was not God’s intent.  Thus, the new covenant through Christ liberated them to serve God in an entirely different way.  It was to love God first and foremost, and through love they would both see and understand those things which God coveted most; our heart, mind, and soul.  They thus had confidence to try to go farther than before for even as they would fail, they would simply get up and strive to be better servants.  This is what changes everything for us.

God did not make us to be meek.  Jesus Himself is humble, compassionate, and loving.  But He is not soft!  He has no problem calling out issues, and was willing to call out the Pharisees even as they would crucify Him.  He chose Saul, a persecutor of Christians, on the road to Damascus to make him a leader of the new covenant.  Do not be afraid of who you are!  God made you exactly as you are to do His will.  It does not mean we won’t have to grow and change.  What it will mean is that we will be stronger and better than we could possibly imagine if we trust Him.  What do you need to remove from your life today to better see Christ?  My prayer is that we are bold as the verses say and remove the veil.  Amen.

Lift one another up in Prayer

Don’t put your Pastor on a pedestal where he can be knocked off.

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Put your Pastor on a Prayer List where he can be lifted up.

This weekend I found out some very disturbing news about a former Pastor of mine.  It got me thinking about the above saying.  Those who teach the Bible, in any form, certainly should not be put on a pedestal, rather lifted up in Prayer.  Yet at the same time, James tells us that those who do accept the calling to teach, will be judged more strictly. 

James 3:1-2

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.  We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

Why is this?  Well, because they need to practice what they preach, and not just say words if they are not going to live them also. 

Yet each person that steps up to teach is also a sinner so brothers and sisters, we need to be lifting them up in prayer, that they would be able to maintain the purity that they have been called to.  We also need to be lifting one another up in prayer as we each having a calling to be a teacher at some sort of level. 

Today I want to encourage you, if you need some sort of prayer request, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the devotion writers.  Today I pray for each of you.  Whether I know you by name or not, I am praying that God would lift you up today.