Everything is Possible

Last night, as I was doing devotions with my son before bed, we read the devotion below and I thought how appropriate it is for all ages, not just kids.  So I thought I would share it today.  This comes from the VeggieTales Growing Day by Day 365 Daily Devos for Boys.

Everything is Possible

Jesus looked at them intently, then said, “Without God, it is utterly impossible.  But with God everything is possible.”  Mark 10:27 TLB

Are you facing a problem too big for you to solve?  The good news is God can do anything.  There’s no miracle that’s impossible for Him to perform.  There’s no job too big, or too hard, for Him.  Whatever the size of your problem, God is bigger.  Much bigger!

Are you afraid to ask God to do something big?  Don’t be.  Your Heavenly Father wants you to ask Him for the things you need.  Everything is possible with God!  All you need to do is ask for help…He’s always ready to listen.

Can you think of a story in the Bible when God did the impossible?

Dear God, I really need Your help.  Thank You that no problem is too big for You!  Amen.

Simply Believe

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Matthew 16:13-16

I have been a sports fan since I was five years old.  That was when I watched what would become my favorite team win the football championship.  The next year, they would win the championship again.  It has been over forty years since they have won the championship.  One might think that someone would become cynical after all that time passing, and it would be ridiculous to actually believe they would win again.  Others might take the approach that each year is one year close to the year they will win it again.  I tend to believe the latter although many would question my senility for doing so.  If you are a football fan in Detroit, you would probably fall into the former.  However, the best thing about being a fan is that you always have hope that one day and for maybe one magical year, everything will change, and the team you root for will win that final game.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we know that we have victory in the end.  Our goal is to maintain this belief understanding there will be many who will question this.  Today’s verses looks into the discussion between Christ and His disciples as to whom He truly is.  First Jesus asks what others say.  Note that the disciples give various answers as to what others say, but when He asks them directly, only Peter jumps in.  It is fascinating to read this because when asked about what others say, everyone chimes in, but when asked directly, only one is mentioned.  Why?  Could it be that maybe they had the mindset of many of the fans who had doubts their team would ever win?  Maybe they had the approach saying, “You know?  I’ve been hearing about this ‘Messiah’ for so long, and people have waited for years.  In spite of the many miracles I have been witness to, why should I believe this person now?”  Well one of them, Peter, jumped into the pool feet first saying, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  He left little doubt as to what he believed, and it is no surprise that Jesus stated that He would build His church on Peter.

We too have a choice as to what we believe.  We may not have felt the presence of God in our lives for a bit or maybe we prayed for something that did not go our way.  Neither of these are reasons to have doubts as to who God is or His existence.  In fact, it could be a test where God is helping you grow, a worldly deception you must differentiate, or some combination of both.  No matter the circumstance, our faith must endure.  We must truly walk by faith, and have a never ending belief that God is who He said He is.

It is a comfort to know that Jesus Christ is on our side.  We have blessed assurance that He is forever our protector and defender.  No matter what we may be feeling and enduring, we must never lose faith that He will carry us through our times of struggle.  That’s what our Messiah will do, and if we believe as Peter did, we have nothing to fear.  What doubts do you need God’s assurance in?  How can you reaffirm your belief as to who God is?  My prayer is that we take God’s word and truths to our hearts and plain and as Peter unabashedly did, simply believe.  Amen.

Tues Devo: His ways

Hello,

There is nothing like a work assignment with 3 other coworkers (or a house project with 1 spouse perhaps) to illustrate that people approach things differently! We have our way of doing things. We will often say “the way I like to do this is ______”. Whether that is humorous or frustrating – it is telling. It tells us things about the other people. The way we do things speaks to our perspective, biases, starting assumptions, trust etc. Too bad we are often too caught up in the frustration or humor to always use that chance to learn more about the people in our lives!

The same can be said for God. I confidently assert that I would like Him to do things some other way in my life many times. Sure, we could dwell on the fact that it is not our way – but what if we were to focus on watching what His ways were, and using that to learn about Him?

In Isaiah 55:8-10, God says ““For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (NASB)

It starts with admitting that He knows what He is doing. His ways are higher – they are the right thing. It must start there for us to be in the right frame of mind to learn. If we do not believe the person we are observing is better at something than us, we aren’t there to learn – but to critique.

I found 2 other passages that speak well to learning about God by looking at His ways and following them:

In Exodus 33:12-13 Moses recognizes this – “Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” (NASB)

Then, in Deuteronomy10:12-13 this is taken from just knowing the ways of God, to God instructing us to follow in His ways “Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?” (NASB)

Following and imitating the ways of God is not just for us to know Him better – but it also is what sets the example for others to see who may not know God….after all, to get to know someone, you can watch their ways.

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

Praises to the Lord

Psalm 68:4-5

Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him – his name is the Lord.  A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

Lately, everything has been crazy for me.  I’ve mentioned a little here about some health issues, I have a 3 year old that doesn’t believe in sleep and we’ve been having our kitchen renovated (wow, that’s more stressful than I expected!).  Some days, I get so frazzled and just want to sit and cry.  Yet this morning, I read this verse and instantly, I felt peace. 

I really don’t have a lot of deep thought to share on it, more just a reflection of how amazing our God is!  In the good times and the rough times, there is always a reason to sign praises to his name!

Have a blessed weekend!

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

Married to Christ

For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.  He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.  Ephesians 5:25-27 

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of my marriage.  I have been truly blessed to have Loretta as my wife.  She has been incredibly supportive of me, and brings joy to my life each and every day.  Despite how I can be a challenge to deal with, she continues to love me unconditionally.  In the midst of a world where there is such uncertainty and so much discourse, I can always come back to her and be centered and balanced.  She is truly my better half as I have written before, and when I look for an example of godly living, she is quite simply the best!  Thus, it makes today’s verses both easy and challenging.  Easy because she is indeed easy to love.  Challenging because I have to love her the right way giving to her as Christ did so to us as the church. 

Christ’s love for the church is both a gift and a challenge.  We know Christ loves us, but it is important to note just how He loves us.  He did not just give His life for our sins but He did so to remove all sins such that when we can go before a Holy God in Heaven and become truly blameless.  My daughter got caught in telling a fib the other day, and it was clear she knew what she did was wrong.  My wife and I had to hold her responsible for her actions, but we still love her nonetheless.  As Christians, we will often do things that we know are wrong, but we are given grace nonetheless.  Our challenge is to be the hope that Jesus has for each of us.  We are challenged to represent the church through understanding God’s word and make it as it has always been intended; truly living through our actions and deeds.  

Jesus Christ chose us as His bride, and our accepting Him as Lord of our lives requires our commitment this relationship.  Despite our flaws and imperfections, we are made whole through Him, and He loves us unconditionally.  While we know we are unworthy of such gifts, we have been given new life through Him.  As such, we are called to be something greater than what we were before He came into our lives.  We are to represent His church in a manner than both honors His sacrifice and produces in us “through the power in Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him.”  (Hebrews 13:21b)  What can you place greater focus on your relationship with God?  How can you better represent yourself as “without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish?”  My prayer is that we are fully representative in our marriage to Christ.  Amen.  

Tues Devo: The pairing of unity and division

Hello,

The last couple weeks I have been thinking about the unique pairing of ideas we are presented with as we follow Jesus. One of those is seeking unity, while knowing that our beliefs naturally bring division.

How can this be? Twice in the gospel of John the words of Jesus brought division in the crowd:

7:43 “So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him.” (NASB)

10:19 “A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words.” (NASB)

But, we are called to unity multiple times. Some examples:

Ephesians 4:3 “being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Colossians 3:14 “Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

So – what are we to do? Jesus brought division, but we are instructed to work towards unity. If you look at the verses about unity a couple themes will stand out. First is the audience. This is directed to believers. Many times this is also directed at believers towards other followers of Christ – though not always – we are also told in Romans 12:18 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” (NASB)

The second theme that stands out to me about unity is that is executed by love, and that love is driven by our relationship with Jesus.

This is where the division comes. A relationship with Jesus stands for something. He is absolute truth. Whenever you stand for something, there will be those who oppose. Our call to unity is not to be at the cost of our obedience.

Rather, our call to unity to act in love – without compromise towards sin – to all, especially those who are followers of Christ. The commitment to Him and continued displays of love will give us the opportunity to share our source – Jesus Christ as the hope for others.

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

Unfailing Love and Faithfulness

But you, O Lord,
    are a God of compassion and mercy,
slow to get angry
    and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
Look down and have mercy on me.
    Give your strength to your servant;
    save me, the son of your servant.  Psalm 86:15-16

This weekend, we were reminded that the world we live in can be a sad and cruel place.  Some might look at the tragedy over the weekend and have a sense of fear or uncertainty.  Others may be filled with anger, and look to lash out against others who do not share our faith.  A select few may look at words of God, and say this is God’s judgment against those whose lifestyle is sinful.  In thinking of all of these, I asked myself, “Is this what God would want from me?”  My answer is that God would want me to look from what He has put within my heart, and respond outwardly.  As such, my focus is not on condemning or pushing for God’s righteous judgment of others.  It is instead to remind myself that we all are in need of God’s compassion and mercy, and it is me who is underserving of God’s love and mercy.  Yet, I am humbly grateful that He has been merciful on me.  Thus, I need to be an example of this; His example of this.  Not look to blame or spew hatred toward others who may have a different religion or lifestyle than mine.  Instead, it is to be slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness toward the victims and others no matter their affiliation or beliefs.

We serve a God that protects us in spite of our flaws and wrongful choices in life.  He encourages us not to be filled with hatred but to share his son’s message, which is one of salvation.  As we look at the tragedy yesterday, we should ask ourselves if the words we speak represent our beliefs or God’s.  Yes, God would want us to speak strongly against the type of violence that befell us, but He would also ask that we both act and speak lovingly with compassion and mercy as examples of Christ himself!  Furthermore, we are not to be fearful for what is to come or worry about things we have no control of.  We are to be reassured of God’s mercy on us and ask for courage and strength to serve Him faithfully in spite of all we see in front of us.

God will take care of us all.  Ours is not to worry, be fearful, lash out, or condemn.  Ours is to be merciful and compassionate filled with a seemingly limitless amount of love.  Lin-Manuel Miranda may have captured the spirit of this best at The Tony Awards ceremony last night saying,

We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger
We rise and fall and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love last longer
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love
Cannot be killed or swept aside.

What do you chose to do today?  Would God be pleased with your response?  My prayer is that we do not question.  Instead we respond as God responds to us . . . with compassion and mercy filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.  Amen.

Forgive

Colossians 3:13

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Forgiving someone has times that it’s really easy.  For example, someone accidently steps on your toe.  They apologize and ask for forgiveness.  No problem, easy to forgive.  Other times, it really isn’t that easy.  Sometimes, it’s actually almost impossible, or at least that’s how it feels. 

I want you to think about a time that you did something wrong.  Something you knew you shouldn’t have done.  Maybe you struggled with an addiction, maybe you cheated on someone, you may have even committed a crime of some sort. 

Did you ask forgiveness for what you did?  Did the person you wronged easily forgive you? 

Each and every day, every single one of us sins.  Our sins nail Christ to the cross, over and over and over again. While we might not have been there when Christ was crucified, every single one of us is guilty of murdering him by our sins!

And yet, he has forgiven us!  So then, we are instructed to forgive as the Lord has forgiven us.  If any of you are holding a grievance against someone else, I encourage you today, to reach out to them and truly forgive them.

Thurs Devo: Great and Marvelous!

Last week we saw how God called His people in the last days to endure patiently, even to the point of death. He promised blessings for it. This week, we see God follow through on His promise!

Revelation 15:1-4     I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. ² And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God ³ and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are your deeds,
    Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
    King of the nations.
⁴ Who will not fear you, Lord,
    and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
    and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Those who endure patiently will be victorious and live a great and marvelous life with God in heaven. They will understand, experience, and worship God for all that He is!

I haven’t patiently endured the last days, but Joe and I have endured (sometimes patiently and sometimes not) infertility for over 8 years (as many of you already know). However, come June 18^th, the 2 foster kids we’ve gotten to know this past year will be placed with us for adoption! They are a sibling pair – 3 ½ year old boy and a 2 year old girl.

We are praising God for His help to endure as we awaited His timing, His plan and His children!!! Victory (both great and small) belongs to the Lord God Almighty! He is Great and Marvelous! 

Alice