Thursday Devotional – Jesus is Worthy of Our Faithful Allegiance (11/14/24)

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

Revelation 2:12-13, & 17           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.

17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

Do you and I 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.

As a family, we just read about recent missionaries to Africa that were threatened to be sacrificed on altars if the tribal community wasn’t convinced in three days that the God of the missionaries was the only true God. The missionaries risked their lives and stayed the 3 days under severe satanic attack. While they were experiencing horrendous opposition, behind the scenes the tribal community witnessed a series of events where God’s powerful hand was clearly at work. It was so unmistakable to the tribal community that they came and admitted to the missionaries that their God was the real true God!  

No matter the outcome in this life, I pray we desire to have and choose to persevere in faithful allegiance to God. As Revelation 2:17 promises, He has eternally satisfying blessings in store for the victorious! 

Thursday Devotional – Jesus is Worthy of Our Faithful Love (10/31/24)

If Jesus wrote a letter personally to you and to me, what would it say? In what areas would He say you and I were faithful and what weaknesses would He point out?

Here’s what He had John write to the Ephesians.

Revelation 2:1-7  “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. ² I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. ³ You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

⁴ Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. ⁵ Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. ⁶ But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

⁷ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Jesus recognized the Ephesian church’s faithful service, faithful doctrine and faithful endurance. They worked hard for Him and were conscientious to uphold Godly standards. However, they had forsaken their faithful love for Him. Maybe they were so focused on their work FOR Jesus, that they forgot to BE with Jesus.

Jesus wants us to faithfully serve Him and uphold His truths, but not at the expense of truly spending time with Him. He desires our love first. He wants a personal relationship with each of His children where we enjoy Him, talk to Him and listen to Him.

Are you and I more focused on serving God than loving and enjoying Him? Often, my answer is yes. Studying this passage really challenged me to take time to be with and enjoy God instead of focusing most of my energy on serving Him. 

What might need to be put off in order to pursue loving God more? Is someone or something else our first love? Or is it God Himself? He loves us so much and desires us to faithfully love and enjoy Him!

Thursday Devotional - Faithful and Right

I’m back! A huge “thank you” to Renae for faithfully, creatively and thoughtfully writing inspiring Thursday devotionals these past 11 months!

It’s been quite a whirlwind of a year! Not only did adding two more children multiply time on meals, baths, laundry, and numerous other things, but I came back to one of the most stressful tax seasons ever. Apparently, it’s still not over, as we have a 2020 update coming out for the Ida disaster relief! 

Anyway, the Lord faithfully helped us through and enabled us to face one day at a time. It’s usually a good thing we don’t know what lies ahead. 😊

Our family memory verse for last week was:

Psalm 33:4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.

This life doesn’t always go smoothly or how we would like, but we can trust everything the Lord says and does. He will be faithful to enable us to do what He’s asked us to do.

The adoption was another fiasco. Packets of paperwork had to be redone several times for various mistakes, pushing the adoption further and further out. Then, we sat, waited and participated in what we thought was the final  adoption hearing, but it had to be completely redone over a month later! In the midst of all the frustration, I kept clinging to God’s Sovereignty, knowing He would still work His plan and accomplish His purposes because He is trustworthy, even when people aren’t.

Another verse we learned this summer was Isaiah 43:1 I have called you by name, you are mine. I’m His, and so are Joe, James, Sarah, Edmund and Alexis! The twins are also finally legally Reas, with official paperwork from a few weeks ago!!!

God is faithful and right, all the time!

How will you cling to these truths this week in your own circumstances?     

Alice

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Abraham got up early that morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the Lord’s presence.  He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace.

But God had listened to Abraham’s request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.  Genesis 19:27-29

We have dealt with a great deal of tragedy this week.  Whether it be our children in fear of their safety or our way of living being challenged and questioned, there is plenty of stress points that impact us.  There was a time where during these moments I would feel like the world was closing in on me all at once.  Yet today, I feel at peace.  Someone reminded me that God is always in control, and thus, nothing happens without His knowing.  Many of us have worries about tomorrow, and simply do not have answers to tragedies.  But I have faith that He will take care of things.  As I continue my journey of faith, I am reminded of God’s faithfulness, and it is in that I carry forward not only with confidence but also with faith that in the end He will help us to make things right.

We should all have surety in God.  As I was reading the book of Genesis, I got a great deal out of the story of Abraham and Lot.  Abraham was of course one of God’s truly faithful servants such that he could request certain things of God.  One was that He protect the city of Sodom if there were righteous people there.  After further reading, we realize that the ‘righteous people’ there were the people connected to Lot, his nephew who Abraham loved like a son.  This was the covenant God made with him.  When it appeared Sodom and Gomorrah could no longer be saved, angels were sent to save Lot and his family.  There are a couple of things we can draw from this story.  First, through prayer we can actually gain favor with God where He will intercede on our behalf.  Second, God is always true to His word.  His promises are without fail.  He is always faithful, and our goal is to trust in this even as things surrounding us may not quite seem under control.

God is always righteous and always right on time.  A hymnal that always keeps me grounded speaks of God in such a way.  It begins simply:

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

As the hymn says, He is never changing, compassionate, and of course faithful.  Let us move with confidence knowing God is always with us for we have asked Jesus Christ in our lives, and for that, we are truly saved.  What can you draw from Abraham’s faith into your own?  What surety can God provide in your life?  My prayer is that we remember who God is in times of uncertainty and indeed how Great is Thy faithfulness.  Amen.

Thurs Devo: Kids - Our New Ministry

With the placement of the 2 foster kids (as I talked about last week), I will be going on parental leave for the summer. Even though we’ve kept the kids several weekends over the past 6 months, it will be quite an adjustment to care for them full-time! We know it won’t always be easy, but God has made it very clear these are the children for us. They are our new daily ministry for a lifetime! Joe and I have been praying for help to faithfully point our children to God and His ways daily. Of course, it will start with our own love for and obedience to God.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9     ⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Today is my last day in the office and Erin Miller has willingly agreed to write the Thursday devotionals in my absence! (Thank you, Erin!) I plan to follow along via our external blog – Workplace Devotions (http://trdailydevotional.blogspot.com/). Some of you already know this, but when we moved the devotionals to the Hub, this was a way to continue to include former co-workers, friends and family that also wanted to continue to receive the devotionals. So, if you know of others that would appreciate and be encouraged by these devotionals, then please pass the word about our external blogspot.  

May God bless each of you with a deeper understanding of Himself this summer!

Sincerely,

Alice

Always Loving, Forever Faithful

Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O Lord, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’  I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps!  O Lord, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children.  But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.’”  Genesis 32:9-12

A while ago, I was dealing with an issue at home that would not seem to go away.  Each time I thought it was resolved, I would only find that it had returned.  It got to a point where I believed more drastic measures that could harm relationships with family and friends was needed.  Prayer after prayer and day after day, it seemed that things did not change, but I kept coming back to God.  Looking back, I realized He did not necessarily give me the answer I might have wanted at the time, but He always gave me enough to keep moving forward.  Then one day, the issue went away, and this time it was for good.  I had a moment where I actually said to myself, “Has this really happened?”  My faith in God did not waver although I have to say I did a lot of questioning, and the experience reaffirmed that God is always with me.  It was so humbling that in spite of all my own flaws, God still loved on me and was faithful.

God is always faithful even when we at times are not.  In reading the story of Jacob, I found that there were a lot of things that he did that were not so nice.  He stole a blessing from his older brother, Esau, and denied his family stole idols from a relative even though his wife did.  Granted he did not know of his wife’s doings, but still his family certainly had some issues.  Furthermore, both of his wives were sibling rivals to the nth degree!  So now, here comes Esau with an army of men.  I thought, “Now he’s going to get it!”  However in Jacob’s blessing years previously, God promised that He would protect him (Genesis 28:15).  Fast forward to today’s verses, Jacob goes humbly to God reinforcing (maybe to himself?) of His promise.  In the end, Esau, instead of coming back at him with a vengeance, hugs Jacob, and their relationship is restored!  All was well, and they made peace.  We often encounter situations where we feel all is lost.  Sometimes we wait days, but others times we wait months and even years.  However, we must always remember God’s promises to us are unfailing.  They never change, and He is always faithful.  We are to be both grateful and humbled knowing that in spite of our own flaws, we can always trust in His word.

God is always right and right on time.  We often find ourselves questioning if God is with us because of our own timetable, but we should always remember that whether we are dealing with strife for an extended period of time or like in Jacob’s case doom and gloom comes back from years ago, God will be faithful.  Trust in His word, and humbly present yourself to Him.  He will take care of you.  How can God’s promise reassure you in your troubles today?  What can you both earnestly and humbly pray to God for?  My prayer is that we gain strength knowing that even when underserving, God is always loving and forever faithful.  Amen.

Thurs Devo - Help for the Pain

My Mom just called from Virginia and said Mary is finally going into labor. Her contractions are now 1 minute apart! They are headed to the hospital now! She is in a lot of pain and throwing up, etc. from it all. She is a healthy and very strong lady, so we are praying she will be able to endure the pain well and that God will help Mom and Mark (her husband) know how to help her through this.

Because of sin, childbirth is quite painful, among many other things in life!

Genesis 3:16-19   ¹⁶ To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
    with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
    and he will rule over you.”

¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life.
¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.”

God is there to help us through the pains of this life, though.

Hebrews 4:16     ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Psalm 46:7 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Even before He helps us through our pains and suffering, we can praise God!

Ephesians 1:3     Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

How will you and I trust God today for the pains, sufferings, troubles and difficulties we will face? We can praise God now, knowing He is faithful to help us!

Alice

God Will Take Care Of You

But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, son of My friend Abraham,  I have taken you from the ends of the earth. I have called you from its farthest parts, and said to you, ‘You are My servant. I have chosen you and have not turned away from you.’ Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will give you strength, and for sure I will help you. Yes, I will hold you up with My right hand that is right and good.  Isaiah 41:8-10

As I start my devotions for the New Year, I realized something that many of you may have already acknowledged.  2015 was a hard year!  I know that I had my challenges, but when I recall a lot of the pain and suffering many of you have had to endure, my troubles seem to pale in comparison. Some people I know have even begun to question where God fits in their lives or even if He exists.  When you hear the conversation circle around that fact, you know things have been tough.  We all get knocked down at some point, and yes, the life we live can at times be discouraging.  But today, I want to follow along the verse of 1 Thessalonians 5:11; to encourage you and build you up by assuring that God is still God, and He is with you.

God is with you each and every step of the way.  The challenges and suffering you may have faced last year will not last, and the uncertainty and fear you may be dealing with shall not endure. God knows exactly where you are, and wants you to know He has not forgotten you.  David wrote in Psalm 23:4, “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid for you are close beside me.  Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.” These are words of encouragement whether in good times or bad.  For those of you who may be in a time of prosperity, let this be a time to pause and reflect on the blessings God has given you, and for you to ask what you are doing for God.  Deuteronomy 8:11 says, “But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today.”

The New Year is a time to reset and look ahead at what God has in store for you.  We have been saved through Christ so that we will one day live with Him in Heaven. Thus while we may have uncertainty in our lives, we can be assured that God is always with us. What can you do to focus more on God’s promises and less on your current situation?  How can you in live by 2 Corinthians 5:7 where you walk by faith and not by sight?  My prayer for you today is no matter where you are and what you are going through; keep the words of an old gospel hymnal in your mind and heart;

Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you;

Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you.

God will take care of you,

Through every day,

O’er all the way;

He will take care of you,

God will take care of you!

Amen.

Prosperity and Hope

This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.   For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.   In those days when you pray, I will listen.   If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.  I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”  Jeremiah 29:10-14

One of the great debates for the sanity of the church is the idea of the prosperity gospel.  To simply it, let’s talk about Joel Osteen.  Many agree with Joel’s belief that if you trust in God you will prosper beyond what you see today.  Others feel that life is not about prosperity.  It’s about spiritual growth, and growth as any child knows can be painful.  Now to be clear, I fall in the latter ‘spiritual growth’ camp, but many of us in this camp are missing a very significant point about what Joel Osteen has tapped into.  And that is quite simply the word ‘Hope.’

As Christians, we are to always live with the hope in Jesus Christ.  When reading Jeremiah 29:11, many people conclude that it is all about the great things God has planned for them.  Kind of like the prosperity Gospel, right?  But you see when you read the entire context, you realize this is not about some great prosperous unknown.  This about knowing what God has already promised!  These verses speak to a people who have been exiled from their homeland and are enslaved in Babylon.  They are in a situation where they have to feel that they are to never find home or have anything of their own.  But God tells them to not be troubled or dismayed.  He has not forgotten them or His promise to them. They may have to wait a generation, but they will be free and prosperous again.  Thus, they are to live their lives for God with the hope their hearts and minds are connected with Him.  Now if you were middle aged back then, this had to be somewhat discouraging. However if they were to remain faithful, you would rest easy with hope knowing that the future was indeed bright.

Hope is about patience.  Hope is about trust.  Hope is about knowing something that will come to flourish in the face of all signs that say otherwise.  Our hope in Jesus Christ is not for our salvation.  It is rather that we are living a life for Him that when the day is done, we can say in the words of 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.”  How hopeful are you in God’s promises to you?  How can you find hope in times of despair?  My prayer is that we prosper through good times and bad realizing that we always have hope through Jesus Christ.  Amen.

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

Thurs Devo: Letter from Jesus

If Jesus wrote a letter personally to you and to me, what would it say? In what areas would He say you and I were faithful and what weaknesses would He point out?

Here’s what He had John write to the Ephesians.

Revelation 2:1-7       “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. ² I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. ³ You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

⁴ Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. ⁵ Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. ⁶ But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

⁷ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Jesus recognized the Ephesian church’s faithful service, faithful doctrine and faithful endurance. They worked hard for Him and were conscientious to uphold Godly standards. However, they had forsaken their love for Him. Maybe they were so focused on their work FOR Jesus, that they forgot to BE with Jesus.

Jesus wants us to faithfully serve Him and uphold His truths, but not at the expense of truly spending time with Him. He desires our love first. He wants a personal relationship with each of His children where we enjoy Him, talk to Him, listen to Him, etc.

Are you and I more focused on serving God than loving and enjoying Him? Often, my answer is yes. Studying and teaching this passage this week really challenged me to take time to be with and enjoy God instead of focusing most of my energy on serving Him. 

What might need to be put off in order to pursue loving God more? Is someone or something else our first love? Or is it God Himself? He loves us so much and desires us to faithfully love and enjoy Him!

Alice