Each And Every Day

And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, "If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”  1 Samuel 7:3

When I got married, I was convinced in every word that was said in our wedding vows.  To love and cherish.  To have and to hold.  In sicknesses and in health.  Until death do us part.  All that stuff was about Loretta and me.  We didn’t get there overnight.  We had ups and downs, and times where family and my own silliness pulled us apart.  But we always ended back up together.  She stood above all as the best thing that ever happened to me.  I couldn’t say that back when I was going through it with her.  But now, it is crystal clear.  She is worth every fight, argument, disappointment, and tear that we went through to get to today.  And the funny thing is our love grows every day.  This is who we are, and we are committed to making our love for each other better.

When we have a relationship with God, we are bound to a relationship that will continue to grow and have value.  We always think of our relationship with God as at times ‘hot and cold.’  The people of Israel were in their ‘cold’ stretch, but this one lasted for twenty years!  Ouch!  Samuel’s words were to help the Israelites understand that those things that divided them from God were within their control (FYI – Ashtoreths were idols representing the Canaanites goddess Ashtoreth – see https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/ashtoreth/ for more details).  Shortly after following Samuel’s instruction, God defeats the Philistines when they attempted to attack Israel.  When reading the chapter, it should serve as a reminder of our commitment to God.  If we are too proud or focused on things that detract from Him or His will for our lives, we are destined to be in the cold stretch like Israel.  However if we remove those obstacles that could separate us from Him, we will have our great and awesome defender who will move mountains and protect us from harm.  We must ask ourselves, “Why is this so easy to understand and yet so hard to attain?”  The commitments that we have in our lives range from ‘what shirt to where’ to ‘do I want to be saved.’  How difficult the commitment is to God boils down to one thing: Who are you committed to?  Are you committed to the Lord, or are you committed to yourself?  Only you can answer that question, and it is only you who can make the decision.  Any great relationship has struggles.  Whether it gets repetitive or we see something more exciting or new, we can get distracted.  But if we focus on what matters to God, we will always find His faithfulness reassuring and His wisdom filled with something new.

God is constant.  Yes, there will be times where we do not make sense of what He wants from us, and we may stray away.  But whether it be for a day, a month, or even years, He is always there.  Waiting.  Loving. Saying to you as Jesus said to disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.”  (Matthew 16:24b)  Let us remove those things that inhibit our connectivity to our one true God.  What obstacles inhibit your connection with God?  How will you focus on what God wants above what you want?  My prayer is we recognize our relationship with God, and commit to growing our love for Him each and every day.

Tues Devo: Who decides what is important

Mark 10:13-16 “And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.” (NASB)

It is not uncommon to find ourselves making priority choices. We do it every day at work and at home, we teach out kids about the impact of making priorities. One thing that struck me in this section of Mark was how we tend to put priority around the things that make us feel important. Picture these disciples (doesn’t say which ones) who are travelling with Jesus and He is THE person/sight to see. If you need help, He can help….if you just want to see something cool and unique, you go see what He is doing. So these disciples have some authority around Him and the crowds. They start to act as the gatekeeper, deciding what is important enough to get to Jesus. Whatever gets His attention they were part of this. I don’t know for sure, but I can see myself in that situation and starting to place my value/worth on the things Jesus was doing when I was there….so I very likely would have tried to just have the most impressive things be associated with my time with Him.

I don’t know if that was their motive or not, but I feel like this lesson is key for us. Our decisions of what is important are often selfishly motivated instead of Christ motivated. I hope this challenges all of us to check our motives, and align them with Christ.

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

Rejoice, Pray, Give Thanks

First of all, I’d like to thank Erin for covering devotions for me in April as I was out.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Normally when I put the scripture in the devotion, I remove the numbers.  Today however, I wanted to leave them as I love how this breaks it out.  We are instructed to do three things here.

1.  Rejoice always – This is not something that is always easy to do.  Rejoice means to be very happy, be delighted, exult; to feel joy (Wiktionary.org).  There are certainly times that I don’t feel like rejoicing.
2.  Pray continually – I must admit that there are times I forget to pray over my meal, let along remember to pray continually.  Without ceasing! 
3.   Give thanks in all circumstances.  – Giving thanks when something bad happens?  This is extremely hard! 

As many of you already know from what I’ve shared in devotions in the past, I had a miscarriage before my son was born.  Recently I was talking with my son, who is 5.  He asked me, “Mommy, is it true that if my sister would have been born, that I wouldn’t be here?”.  I told him that it was true.  His response made me smile.  He told me that he was sorry that I had to lose my baby but that he was really happy that Jesus gave me him.  It was in that moment that I realized that I need to follow the instructions here in 1 Thessalonians and remember to rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances.

Today I’d like to have you think about something that you could improve in your life if you lived by these three instructions.  Have a blessed day!

Thursday Devotional - Suffering in Anticipation of New Life!

Normally I write the devotionals on Wednesday evening after the kids go to bed. However, I was “in” Connecticut (via FaceTime) last night while my youngest sister gave birth to her 2^nd child (Heidi Elizabeth, 7 lbs. 15.2 oz, 21 inches and 9 days late). My sister, Mary, had complications with this pregnancy due to a large hemorrhage. They thought they lost the baby several times, but now they have a healthy baby girl that even nursed in the first 30 minutes!

It’s a huge answer to prayer after lots of concern and waiting. God graciously blessed Mary with strength for an all-natural deliver of only four hours of labor and 1-2 pushes!  Sarah has been praying for “Aunt Mary’s side not to bleed and the baby to live” for many months now! She will be very excited this morning when she wakes up!

As children of God, we are eagerly awaiting our complete salvation and fulfillment of eternal life! Just like childbirth, suffering proceeds blessings.   

Romans 8:16-25     The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

As God helped Mary focus on the impending blessing as she persevered through suffering, we can do the same as we patiently and eagerly await our full inheritance as God’s children!

Alice

Godly Discomfort

But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.  Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them.  But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.  1 John 4:4-6

I had a great conversation the other day with a new friend in Christ. We talked on several topics touching on faith.  We discussed things we believed, and they spoke to me about preaching God’s word and not false teachings.  I let them know that I humbly pray that the things I speak of are truly God’s thoughts and not my own.  This is a huge part of my devotion writings.  My prayer is always that the words used speak for God and not me.  The use of my experiences is to give only context toward what God is trying to teach me, and many times, my devotion topic and its meaning have changed specifically because my understanding of the word challenged my belief at the time.  Why?  Because my original stance was Biblically unsustainable, and it made me uncomfortable staying with that original belief.

God should at times make us uncomfortable because that means He is changing us for His greater purpose. We often focus on our life and what makes us comfortable.  Along those lines, we at times expect God to make us feel comfort.  My devotion last week focused on relying on Jesus to give us rest in the storm.  That’s one comfort, but the comfort that is dangerous is the one that says, “I will do what I am currently doing because it makes me feel good.  And what feels good must be right.”  These have been some of the most difficult debates I have had within myself.  The question as I mentioned above is, “Am I doing what I want, or what God wants?”  We should spend time in His word and prayer confirming we are on the narrow and righteous path Jesus would ask us to follow.  Of course, we will never perfectly follow that course, which is why we need Jesus as our savior in the first place.  However, we should continue striving to make Christ centered choices such that we consistently choose His way more than we had previously.  This is what spiritual growth sounds and feels like.

Following Christ is a life transformative process. This choice does not mean all is a garden of roses.  Then being said, it resembles it in that before a rose bloom, it’s going to have thorns.  Knowing the time had come for one of His disciples to betray Him and His eventual crucifixion, Jesus prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” (Matthew 26:39b) These are the words of a God who intimately knew His Heavenly Father, and would follow His will even if it meant sacrificing Himself.  This is where we must be with God; willing to surrender all He (Jesus) wanted to do for what He (The Father) wanted.  Let us put in the work to ensure we follow this example.  What area do you struggle to surrender control to God?  How will you embrace the discomfort in your faith?  My prayer is that we continually work to the find a place of Godly discomfort.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Take accountability

Romans 14:11-12 “For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.” (NASB)

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (NASB)

Hello,

So yesterday, I confronted my oldest child and raised my voice too much. During our interaction, I realized that the very thing I was upset with him about – I had just done. After apologizing to him and talking about why it was wrong, I decided that the discipline he was getting (we do lots of up-downs in this house), I would also do – since I was guilty too. He looked at me funny to see if I was serious. While the discipline ended up feeling light hearted to him, he also had the chance to see someone take accountability for their actions.

It got me thinking about accountability. There are a couple elements of accountability – knowledge and ownership. When we know and are in control of at least part of that item, we become accountable for our actions in that area. In the case above, I knew right response and as an adult I am in control of how I respond. In the same way, when we come to know Jesus and claim Him as our Savior, we are accountable for how we handle that relationship. Do we give Him time? Do we give the relationship the respect and position it deserves? Since we know the impact that relationship has both now and for eternity, are we modeling and sharing that with others?

I pray this challenges you as it did me to be each individually accountable for our relationship with Christ and what we are doing with it.

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

Thursday Devotional - Condemned or Not Condemned?

We can’t ever be good enough or meet God’s expectations. We are born sinners, sinful and condemned. That’s why God sent Jesus to live the perfect life we couldn’t. As the perfect human, He paid for our sins to save us from our condemned state.

John 3:16-18       For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

The only way we won’t remain condemned is by believing in Jesus’ work and letting His righteousness cover us. He then gives us the Spirit to help us live the life He intended us to live!

Romans 8:1-4      Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

How are you and I submitting to the Spirit, allowing Him to rule our minds? What areas of our mind do we still need help to give over?

Let’s praise God for His mercy to save us from condemnation and live in freedom by submitting to the Spirit!

Alice

Finding Rest

 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT)

The doctor asks, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how severe is your pain level?” My wife replies, “Seven.”  I thought to myself, “Seven?”  She didn’t tell me that!  And in a moment, my week began not with the plans I had made or the various arrangements to ensure a very productive week.  Now, I had to make do with a new plan.  Focus on Loretta.  Then as the minutes went to hours, my focus went to my daughter.  What do I do about her dinner?  I can’t leave my wife’s side!  And I have so much work to do and things to plan for next weekend’s church service.  How am I going to figure this out?  Lord, I can’t.  I just can’t!  And then, I read words that I had heard numerous times.  “Come onto me.  All ye that labor.  And I will give your rest.” (Matthew 11:28b – KJV)

We should always take a moment to focus on God where we are. Not just as part of a ritual.  We all have various points in life where all of its issues and burdens seemingly come together.  It can be challenging and difficult to put things together, and you may feel out of sorts.  But Jesus Christ understands not just who you are but whose you are.  Furthermore, He is not only our savior at prayer time but also at stormy times.  We must always remain focused on the simple fact that when things are out of control, He is always in control.  We must rely on Him with the perfect peace that only He can provide.

There is nothing too big that our God cannot handle. It is paramount we remember that while we may not know the outcome of our story, we know who ultimately wins; Jesus Christ!  As such, we must remember that while we may struggle in our times of troubles there are a couple of stories that should instill confidence in Him.  First, Peter, when he started to sink while walking, “Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”” (Matthew 14:31)  Finally, Jesus reminds us in times of trouble, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)  Where are you filled with sorrow, grief, and worry today?  What can you do to ensure you find the peace Jesus Christ speaks of?  My prayer is that when we are worn down with the various troubles of the world, we find rest in our savior; Jesus Christ. Amen.

Tues Devo: In and Out

Hello,

So yeah, not really talking about the burger place today – sorry for the false hopes there.

These days we hear a lot about the impact/effect that food intake has to people. We are vigilant with various allergies – for some are very aware of the reaction to certain foods. If you have kids you might be careful about when they get chocolate (I only like to do that when I know they can outside and burn it off!) or other sugar, because you know the reaction it will have.

What we put in us, impacts what comes out.

Of course, this is nothing new.  The Bible has many food references, but also has several mentions of that which is in the heart coming out in what we say. I like in Luke, where we see this extended on the front of the equation - Luke 6:44-46 “For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.” (NASB)

At the end of v46, we are not informed that the mouth speaks from the heart – but from “that which FILLS the heart.” That is, what we put into our heart will impact what comes out.

We have to guard what we put into us, what we consume, what we choose to surround ourselves with. What we put in, will impact what comes out.

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

Thursday Devotional - Delight in the Deliverer

Before becoming a parent, I didn’t think of myself as impatient, but I do now! I thought being married to Joe for almost a decade beforehand had helped me let go of some of my perfectionist traits, but apparently not all of them. I’ve prayed a lot this year for God’s help to be more patient.

It’s hard to imagine Paul also struggling with sin, but he did:
Romans 7:19-25a  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Paul delights in God’s law but can’t carry it out in his sinful nature apart from God’s deliverance. Delighting in and obeying God’s law is only possibly by His  help. He wants to deliver us! We must be willing to be delivered.

What sin are you and I trying to overcome in our own strength? How can you and I let God deliver and rescue us?

We may not overcome it overnight, but the more we give it to God, the more He will help us. Delight in the Deliverer!

Alice