The comfort of the Lord

Psalm 23:4

Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

Over the past week, I have traveled a very dark valley with my husband and his family.  We watched helplessly as my husband’s sister, came to the end of her battle with cancer.  We watched helplessly as her husband and kids tried to understand why and how they would go on.  We watched helplessly, yet we feared no evil, as we knew the Lord was with all of us through this dark valley.  His rod and staff have been there to comfort us and we know they will continue to be there to comfort us.

What has been hardest however, is watching as some of those that loved her, do not know the Lord and therefore do not know the comfort that we have in him.  I thank the Lord that Mary was a born again Christian and loved the Lord, yet struggle with how this will impact her husband and kids that do not have that relationship. 

Today, I ask that you pray for those around you that do not know the Lord.  This world can be dark and hard to survive without the love and comfort of God. 

Storm Shelter

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower;

the righteous run to it and are safe.”

     Proverbs 18:10

“For You have been a shelter to me,

a strong tower from the enemy.

I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;

I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.

Selah.”

     Psalm 61:3-4

Spiritual storms come in all shapes and sizes, and none of us are immune from them. It’s been said that if you’re not in a storm right now, you’ve either just come out of one or one is heading your way.  That’s why it’s so helpful to know the many promises of refuge and shelter in the Bible, such as the two listed above.

A daily infusion of the word of God helps us prepare, so that when the storms start raging, we’ll know (or know where to find) pertinent verses to strengthen and encourage us.

I’m grateful that the Lord’s name is a strong tower and that when I run to it, I’m safe.  I’ve experienced God’s shelter under His wings and I know it brings rest and peace, even in the midst of a storm.

God doesn’t promise that we will avoid the storms, but He will be with us and help us through them.  Hide God’s word in your heart, run to Him when the dark clouds appear and know that He is a strong tower of protection for you. 

Thursday Devotional - Clearing up Confusion

At the tower of Babel (Genesis 11), God confused the people’s languages because of their disobedience. They had refused to scatter over the earth as He commanded, so He made it so they had to scatter because they couldn’t understand each other anymore. However, on the day of Pentecost, God united the different languages.

Acts 2:1-6, 11-12      When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken… ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Peter boldly answered their question by sharing the truths about Jesus.

Acts 2:32-33, 36       ³² God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. ³³ Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear… ³⁶ “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

Peter then boldly called them to repent and turn to God for forgiveness and salvation. God brought all the different languages together. Jesus had died for all of them, no matter what their nationality or background. His plan of salvation is available to any who will accept it.  

Acts 2:21       And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Who do you and I know that is confused and needs clarity about God and His truths? Like Peter, we can clearly, lovingly and boldly share God’s plans with them by the Holy Spirit’s power.

Alice

God's Will

Romans 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

When faced with tough decisions, sometimes it can be hard to figure out what is God’s will, verses our own will.  This is especially hard if we conform to the pattern of this world, or their way of thinking.  If we look at the world and how they have twisted the command to love everyone to instead mean be accepting of everyone, we see just one example of how we can then no longer be able to clearly test and approve what God’s will is. 

Rather if we allow our minds to be transformed to how God wants us to live, we can clearly test and approve when something is or is not his will. 

I’m sure each of us has something in our lives that we are trying to figure out what the Lord’s will is with it.  I encourage you today to allow him to transform your mind so you will know.

Seasons

“While the earth remains,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat, winter and

summer, and day and night

shall not cease.”

     Genesis 8:22 (NKJV)

“Jesus Christ is the same

yesterday, tomorrow,

and forever.”

    Hebrews 13:8 (NKJV)

I saw a church sign near the Eagan office today and it said: “Seasons change, God does not.”  It made me smile because it’s true. 

Here in Minnesota, we’re in the midst of fall with beautiful colored leaves, cooler temperatures and shortening days.  I do love the changing seasons.  But I love even more the fact that our God does not change.  He is eternal, beyond time and beyond the seasons He creates.  Our Savior Jesus Christ is always the same--yesterday, tomorrow and forever.  That stability is a great comfort, knowing that He is our solid Rock.

I also take comfort in knowing that God made the seasons to give order to our lives, to provide a rhythm to the days and months.  “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)  Almighty God is sovereign and His gracious hand ordains the seasons in our calendars and the seasons in our lives. 

As you’re out raking leaves or enjoying a walk in the sweater-weather, take a moment to thank God for His beautiful work in the seasons and praise Him for His unchanging character. 

Thursday Devotional - Times of Waiting

What are we to do while we wait on God’s answers and/or His timing?

As we saw last week, Jesus (just before His ascension) told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they had received the Holy Spirit. However, he didn’t tell them where to wait, what to do in the meantime or how long the wait would be.  

Acts 1:12-14  ¹² Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. ¹³ When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴ They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

In obedience to Jesus, the disciples waited in Jerusalem. They did the best thing they could do while waiting – they prayed! Maybe they prayed for patience, guidance and next steps. God did give them patience to wait and not run ahead! It appears He also guided their immediate next step - to get organized (as they prayerfully replaced Judas (Acts 1:15-26)).

God provides guidance while waiting.

As Joe and I prayed and waited for God’s answers about children, He helped us continue what He had already called us to do - responsibilities at church and in our community, BSF leadership, etc.

Where else do you and I need to trust God’s intentions and purposes, while waiting on His answers and timing? What instruction do you and I need to follow, even though we don’t know or understand what’s next?

Let’s be prayerful as we wait and listen carefully for His guidance on the next small step.  

Alice

A Fool Already Knows

Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say,

“He traps the wise
    in the snare of their own cleverness.”

And again,

“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise;
    he knows they are worthless.”  1 Corinthians 3:18-20

We all work hard to be successful not only at work but also in our relationships and faith.  Most times, we are, but every so often, we are not.  Some of us have minor slip ups, but other times, we fail.  Miserably.  I thought about the times that I failed.  I failed to study well enough for a test and suffered mightily getting a poor grade.  There were times that I was not a good husband to my adoring wife, and I hurt her and in essence myself.  My performance at work had been substandard before, and yes, I had lost a job for it.  In most of these instances, I can now see how foolish I was.  It would have been so easy to turn right, and yet, I managed to turn left.  Yet as I reflect on those failures, I am incredibly thankful to God for them.  The one poor grade drove me to perform better and get better final grades.  My pleas for forgiveness and the tears my wife and me shared made me so much better as a husband.  And my failures at work not only helped me become better but also allowed me to be a relied upon resource to others who also suffered failure.  It reminded me of a song when I was a kid.  The chorus went:

Whoa-whoa, fools rush in
Anywhere, anywhere
Wise men will never go
But a wise man will never fall in love
He will never learn
What a fool already knows - Peabo Bryson, ‘A Fool Already Knows’

God uses our mistakes to make us even better disciples of Christ.  We think of the most intelligent people we know, and state, “Wow!  She is so smart,” or, “He always seems to know the answer.”  While there is a great deal of wisdom within them, ask them about a failure they have had and what they learned from it.  If they do not have a story like this, they are the people Paul is warning us about in today’s verses.  I remember doing lent for years only to fail each year.  However, one year I managed to put the failures behind me, and successfully completed it.  The closeness it brought me to God was incredible because I had put Him before myself for an extended period.  It was not anything special that I did different.  What I remembered was the failures when I turned left, and then I fought hard to turn right.  The purpose of Paul’s words was not to say understanding the world is wrong.  It meant to apply worldly logic to understand God is indeed foolish.  Along those lines, Godly wisdom means to rely on His word and to apply it to the world.  To the world, it will sound foolish, but being a fool for serving God is far better than being wise and serving the wrong Master, which in many cases is ourselves.  Why?  God guides us through our mistakes, and we can better see the end result of the wrong path.  After all, Jesus Christ is the only person that was ever perfect. 

True wisdom is knowing who God is and trusting what He says.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”  That would not make sense to a person who relies on his or her own judgment, but if they knew like we knew, it makes perfect sense.  He knows what is right, and has never led us astray.  Let us apply the wisdom of God trusting Him in all we do.  What has God taught you through your mistakes?  How can you trust Him more in your decisions?  My prayer is that we can see the wisdom in our failures to know what a fool already knows.  Amen.

Salt

Yesterday I shared a devotion with my small group.  I wanted to share it here also even though I really don’t have the option to show the props.

I had with me a tomato and a can of tomatoes.  I started by asking the group how long they thought the can of tomatoes was good for.  Upon checking the expiration date, we saw it was good until 2021.  I then showed them my tomato from my garden and asked why I couldn’t leave that sit on my counter until 2021.  Of course, even the kids were able to tell me that it would rot.  So, what allows the can of tomatoes to last so long?  The answer is simple, salt. 

Salt is used to delay the decay of things. Back before we had refrigerators, people would pack their meats in salt to preserve it. 

Matthew 5:13

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

As Christians, we are the salt of the earth.  That means we are designed to preserve the earth, to prevent the decay of those around us. 

Salt is a good thing, however if we as Christians, loose our saltiness, we are good for nothing.  We are no longer able to help save the people from decay. 

Are you salty?  Do you help preserve those that you encounter?  I encourage you today to make sure that you are not loosing your saltiness.

Every Day

“I will extol You, my God, O King;

and I will bless Your name

forever and ever. Every day I will

bless You, and I will praise Your name

forever and ever.  Great is the Lord,

and greatly to be praised; and His

greatness is unsearchable.”

     Psalm 145:1-3 (NKJV)

It is easy to praise God when time are good, when our lives are working well.  But when we’re going through a situation we don’t understand, when we’re hit with disappointments, when we experience heartache, we can sometimes find it hard to bless God as we should.  Yet He is always worthy of glory and praise.  Our joy is in the Lord at all times, even in the darkest days. 

My heart is still broken over a relationship with someone I dearly love that became estranged years ago. There is no sign of any healing on the horizon, yet I praise God in this trial.  Through it, He is teaching me to trust Him and strengthening my faith. God has been so faithful, so steadfast.  He wipes away my tears and comforts me. He is always there for me to lean on. He guides me and loves me and provides for me so well.

If we can praise God on the mountain top, we can praise Him in the valleys.  He never changes.  He is always faithful, always worthy.  Every day.

Thursday Devotional - Pressing Questions

What is the one thing you want to know right now? Do you have a pressing question or dilemma?

Right before Jesus ascended back to Heaven, the disciples had a pressing question.

Acts 1:4-9            ⁴ On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” ⁶ Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷ He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

The disciples wanted to know if Jesus was right then going to restore the kingdom to Israel! He didn’t directly answer their question. He didn’t answer it the way they wanted, but gave them far more than they asked! He gave them what He knew was best for them to know right then. He does that for us today.

I’ve had several pressing questions over the years. After our miscarriage and years of infertility, Joe and I wanted to know if we were to have children, when, how, etc. God didn’t answer all those questions at once, but through the guidance of the Holy Spirit gave us what we needed to know for the next step.

           

God provides what He knows we need to know (and not always what we want to know).

What part of your and my life is confusing right now? If we are seeking His direction and desiring to follow Him, He will give us what we need, when we need it. We can trust His purposes and plans. He will prepare us for the next step, just as He did the disciples!

Alice