Perfect Peace

Open the gates to all who are righteous;
    allow the faithful to enter.
You will keep in perfect peace
    all who trust in you,
    all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Trust in the Lord always,
    for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.  Isaiah 26:2-4

I would like to share something that many of you might be startled by, and I rarely share these stories because it’s hard for me.  Hard because I typically prefer not to touch topics based on race.  Someone decided they would, and would attempt to use God to point this out.  A gentleman told me that I should be thankful that (please forgive the language) white people gave me the gospel, and I should be thankful ‘his’ people had shown my people who God was.  I had a choice right then and there.  I could lash out in bitter anger.  Or, I could choose to respond with God’s heart and wisdom.  I chose the latter responding that even if his claim were true, God is big enough that I am pretty sure He would have gotten the word of Christ to me.  After that response, he said that I clearly have a hatred for white people because I would not acknowledge that fact.  I simply smiled ending the conversation saying, “That’s interesting.  I will make sure to tell my white pastor that.”  You see, it does not bother me that there are people who would hate me just simply because I am a black man.  As long as I find peace with God, I can respond with His love in my heart and wisdom in my mind.

Finding peace with God can lift you up beyond your situation or circumstance.  There are many who say God sees us all the same.  I agree with that idea with the understanding that while He sees us all the same, He made us different so that we would not see Him the same.  I’m sure there is that ‘What’s Kent talking about now’ thought in your mind.  Here’s the thing.  There are differences in races.  In fact, I would say that God intended us to be different culturally because He is too big to see from just one perspective.  He is peace to two people but for two different reasons.  One may be because He provides peace from an unjust world.  Another may be because He provides peace when the world doesn’t make sense.  Two different views, but yet, the same awesome and amazing God.  Remember our stories of how we came close to God are rarely the same, but yet, we all ended up under the same umbrella.  Perfect peace does not explain our journey.  It is our destination.

God is our perfect peace.  Whether it is due to our falling short in one area or suffering duress in another, God is always there to pick up, comfort, strengthen, and reinforce us.  Our difference does not make one more or less perfect than the other.  It makes us all perfect under Christ for He is the perfecter of our faith.  Let us all choose to embrace each other’s difference realizing this is what God truly intended.  How can one’s different story of faith be of encouragement to you?  How can you be more embracing culturally of another’s view of the same loving God?  My prayer is that no matter who we are, we embrace God’s perfect peace.  Amen. 

Thursday Devotional - Faith and Boasting

Did James and Sarah do anything to become part of our family? Do they have any room for boasting about earning their new status as a Rea? Can anything they do make them more of a Rea or more a part of our family? No, no and no!

The same is true in the family of God. We don’t do anything to become a part of His family and have no room to boast about our status as a believer.

Romans 3:27-28           Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

True saving faith isn’t wishful thinking but trusting on God’s plans and promises and acting on that trust with courage. When I have true saving faith, I’m not boastful. I remember all I am, all I have, and all I’m capable of comes from God. I don’t earn faith or justification.

  

What do you and I cling to, to deserve a right standing before God?

Are you and I boasting in our confessions/prayers/works/faith or in God’s justification?

True saving faith results in gratitude, and not pride or boasting.

Alice

Fixing Our Disconnect

So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.  This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.  So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.  Hebrews 4:14-16

Some things are easy to do and hard to maintain.  For example, I tend to be a pretty good time manager.  I have days, weeks, and months planned so that I can get tasks done.  Notice that I said, “I tend to be good.”  Every so often, I get caught up into things that drive me to where I am not as focused as I should, and as a result, my management of time goes awry.  I will lose my place and things seem to not be where it should be.  However, when I can sense things don’t look well, I devise a plan, and ask myself what I need to do to get back on track.  Then, I can fight my way back to where I should be via taking out more time or rearranging things.

This brings me to a situation we all can at times attest to; losing our connection with God.  I’m not talking about feeling like God is not there.  It’s that feeling where you do not feel in sync with Him and His will.  You are off in your thinking, and you react to things as if you do not even know He existed.  It is at that point we need to figure out our own plan.  What disciplines consistently connect us with God?  What is ‘Plan B’ if our normal ‘go to’ does not seem to work?

We should always be adaptive to changes in our lives to ensure we stay connected with God.  Now I am not saying to change daily rituals like prayer and bible readings.  However, we should be aware of when those very things become ‘things to do’ and not ‘time to experience.’  Sometimes our rituals may become just that; a ritual.  It is not true connection with God.  For me, I look to connect with people when things like reading the Bible becomes fruitless.  It helps me connect with God because it forces me to live out what He says, and that creates a connection when focusing exclusively on His word is not working.  You see, God should be something we feel in our head, hearts, and spirit.  We should gain knowledge through His word, and experience His love for others as well as ourselves.  Then, we must connect to our spirit through church, friends, Bible reading and other means.  That is how we maintain a firm grip onto what we truly believe in; a loving and forgiving God we are blessed to serve.

God is all knowing.  When you don’t feel connected with Him, trust that He knows that.  Don’t fall into the helpless trap of ‘I’ve fallen, and I can't get up!’  Remember God is there even when you may not quite feel or see Him.  Furthermore, know the great treasure that awaits us once we have finished our race; our place in Heaven with Lord Jesus Christ.  So, let us hold firmly to this belief.  What signs tell you that you are off track.  When disconnected from Christ, what’s your Plan B when Plan A doesn’t work?  My prayer is that we continue to focus our belief in Christ and not move to self-doubt as we move toward fixing our disconnect with Him.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Waiting is not always fun

Genesis 40:21-23 “He restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and he put this cup into Pharaoh’s hand; but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.” (NASB)

Hello,

As I was reading more through the story of Joseph, the repeated theme of waiting in a not-fun circumstance struck me about Joseph. Almost all of his life was about the promise of what was next – but having to wait through tough circumstances to get there. In this story we see Joseph in jail interpreting dreams for 2 of the king’s servants. The cup bearer and the baker both were told by Joseph what their dreams meant. After he told both their dreams and the meaning he said to the cup bearer (who was to survive) that he wanted to be remembered….but he wasn’t. Later – this finally happened, and the cup bearer was able to be a part of his release 2 years later – 2 years of waiting in jail.

Don’t get discouraged – keep doing what is right before God. His time is not our timing, but His timing is best.

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

Thursday Devotional - Faith and Forgiveness

The other day I got angry with James for throwing snow in Sarah’s face soon after I asked him not to do that. In my anger, I went back to vigorously shoveling. A few minutes later James came up to me and asked “Mom, do you know about forgiveness?” “Yes,” I said, “do you know about forgiveness? You could ask Sarah to forgive you.” I overheard him walk back to Sarah and ask for her forgiveness. Later that night he also asked for my forgiveness and said he had prayed and asked God to forgive him. I had to ask God and James for forgiveness, too… 

As we talked last week, we show our love for God by obeying Him and His laws. Just like children don’t always follow their parents’ rules, we don’t always obey our Heavenly Father. What do we do with our sin? What will God do with our sin?

God is holy, so He must punish sin. He can either punish us for our own sin or we can accept His punishment of Jesus.

Romans 3:25-26                   God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Do you still stand guilty in your own sin or has God justified you? Have you accepted His punishment of your sin on Jesus? If so, then you have been forgiven and justified!

Alice

Tues Devo: Who are we sinning against?

Genesis 39:7-9 “It came about after these events that his master’s wife looked with desire at Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?’” (NASB)

Hello,

I have been working on reading through the Old Testament, and this week I am covering the story of Joseph. Something that really struck me here is who Joseph was worried about. While he mentioned his boss, it was clear that Joseph knew his true accountability was to God. His deterrent for improper behavior was not what could (or in later in the story, what was) be done to him by human hands – but his deterrent was his understanding of who God is, and his personal accountability to God.

I pray we are all challenged this week with aligning our choices to our accountability to God.

Will Hill

Golden Rule

Matthew 7:12

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

The Golden Rule is something we are taught from a young age.  Do onto others as you would have others do onto you.  It’s simple in concept, yet so complicated to live by at times.  Earlier in Matthew 7, it talks about not judging or you too will be judged in the same way.  We are all guilty of this at one point or another. 

The thing we need to remember here is that we are not told to never tell someone they are wrong about something, rather it is how we go about this judgment.  We need to act in love.  If you receive feedback on something you’ve done wrong, you’re more likely to be accepting of that feedback and work to do things differently if that feedback is given with love.  Therefore, you should treat others the same way.

Are you treating others with the love that you want to be treated with?

Thursday Devotional - Love and Laws

Romans 3:19-24            “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”    Romans 3:19-24

God’s laws in the Bible point out our sin in light of His righteousness. If we have faith in Jesus Christ and have accepted God’s free gift of salvation, we will desire to show our love to Him through obeying His laws. 

I frequently tell James and Sarah that they show love for God and for me, when they listen and obey the first time. James is quick to verbally say he loves us and he gives hugs generously which shows he loves us. He’s working on the immediate obedience part! J If we’re honest, we all struggle with immediate obedience.

Knowing God’s laws are necessary so we can obey immediately and identify and avoid sin.

How well do you and I know God’s laws?

If we were to ask God, what would He say about our knowledge of His laws? 

What sins in your life and my life have recently come to light and how are you and I obediently addressing those sins?  

Alice

Godly Love

A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape.  So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks.

Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.  Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!  The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself.  But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!"

The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.  Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  Acts 16:22-30 

The most difficult thing to do is to love someone when you have no love in your heart for them.  It is not often that I encounter such a feeling, but indeed it does happen particularly when I have been wronged by them.  The mere thought of feeling any kind of warmth, sympathy, or compassion for that person has me in knots inside.  Furthermore, it usually impacts my feelings with those in the middle of them and me.  When this feeling occurs, I hearken back to when a person in the middle became my saving grace.  It was him who brought into my sight God’s vision; one of His Kingdom, love, and grace.  Those things led to my finding love for my rival because God’s love filled my heart such that I could not do anything else.

To be filled with Godly love is transformative.  I say this not because it sounds easy.  In today’s verses, Paul and Silas are beaten and jailed, but are given the opportunity to escape.  Why did they not run?  The answer was quite simply love for their fellow man.  You see, the guard, who awoke to find the prison doors open, knew the government would find him responsible for the prisoner’s escape, which is why he would attempt to commit suicide.  Obviously, so did Paul.  Thus, Paul, Silas, and the other prisoners stayed giving up their own freedom to save another. 

As we recently celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Day, I was pushed to read his letter from a Birmingham jail cell.  Here is a man who is jailed for civil protest, and he too is being called a troublemaker by … other pastors?  Kinda hard to have love for your fellow man in that situation.  Yet, here he is not only addressing them, but doing so with both conviction for his cause and civility toward their dissenting opinion.  How could one could pull off such a feat.  The answer is simply love.  Here is the closing to his letter:

If I have said anything in this letter that is an overstatement of the truth and is indicative of an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me.  If I have said anything in this letter that is an understatement of the truth and is indicative of my having a patience that make me patient with anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.  

You can have love for your people and cause, and yet still love those who would oppress you.  Love for your jailer?  That’s Godly love.

We all have an opportunity to embrace the love God has shown us.  While one might consider being cold and hard toward someone who has wronged you, loving them is a much harder one to master.  However if you are willing to see the bigger picture of God’s Kingdom instead of your current circumstances, you will find that He has plans for you.  Let’s all have greater vision beyond our circumstances and focus on His love for us that is enduring and stronger than even our worse circumstances.  What challenge do you have today that needs a more loving perspective?  How can you replace your disdain with God’s love?  My prayer is that we focus on that which never fails; Godly love.  Amen. 

Pray with Faith

James 5:13-16

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.  Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

It seems that everyone around me, at home, at work, at church, has been sick lately.  My son, still too young to really understand, sat crying because he was so miserable.  He kept telling me that he didn’t want to be sick and didn’t like it.  As a parent, you just want to fix things, you want to make them feel better.  Yet there are times that you really can’t do anything.  After having been up with him for hours through the night, I sat on the couch with him, just praying over him.  While there was nothing that I was really able to do, I prayed that God would give him rest.  Of course I prayed for healing as well. 

When you pray, do you have faith that your prayer will be answered?  This is one that I am not always great about.  It isn’t even so much that I don’t believe God will answer my prayers, however sometimes those answers aren’t exactly in line with what I’m hoping for so sometimes it seems like the prayer is not being answered, even though it is, just not how I had hoped. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are told to pray for one another.  We are told to pray in faith.  Each of us is sick.  We are sick with a very deadly disease called sin.  How often do you pray that God will heal you from those sins? 

Today I pray that each of you will start or will continue to pray with faith.  Know that God answers prayers, even when it’s not always the way that we had hoped for.