The race before you

Hebrews 12:1-3

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

The past few weeks I’ve talked about the plans that we have for our lives and aligning those with God’s plan for us.  I think it’s a great fit to continue this with talking about running a good race and throwing off everything that hinders this plan that God has for us or the race that has been marked out for us. 

Sunday would mark the 96^th birthday of my Grandfather.  About this time of year, I often think of his passing and it takes me back to his funeral.  My Grandfather was very special and being able to sing at his funeral was such a blessing to me.  He truly was a good man. 

This scripture and others that talk about running the race set out for us are often used at funerals.  It’s the end of that journey on earth.  Brothers and sisters in Christ, while we don’t want to have to think about our own funerals at this point, I think we need to in some ways.  We need to be focused on the Jesus, as the ending of our race here on earth, yet the beginning of eternity. 

Will it be said of you or me at our funerals that we endured such opposition and that we did not grow weary or lose heart?  Will others see that we ran our race with perseverance, focused on Jesus?  

Thurs Devo: Servant Seal

Last week we saw how all kinds of people tried to hide from God to no avail. His final wrath and judgment will fall on all those that don’t belong to Him. God’s servants will be redeemed from the final judgment, though. God has a plan in place so that none of His children are lost.

Rev 7:1-3      After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. ² Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: ³ “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 

Are you a child of God? Are you a servant of God? Do you have His seal?

Ephesians 1:13-14    ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

For those of us with God’s seal, we have a guarantee of a far better life to come!

II Corinthians 5:1 & 5 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands… ⁵ Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Praise God for our seal, deposit and guarantee!!!

Alice

The Case for Vulnerability - Pt. 2 (Vulnerable As A Child)

About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”

Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them.  Then he said,“I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.”  Matthew 18:1-3

My pastor talked about some of the ugliness in our lives that we would not want others to see.  God sees all this, and yet, we will still play naïve thinking we can somehow justify this to Him.  For me, I know that I should be honest with God and look to Him saying, “Lord, I am so weak.  I do not know why you love me, but help me in my weakness.”  That is the epitome of being vulnerable; being at the point where you are so desolate and helpless that you can only go to Him and admit your faults.  It sounds sad, but here is the most amazing thing about this point.  That is exactly where God wants us!  He wants us to acknowledge our dependency on Him, and in spite of our flaws, we are perfected through Jesus Christ.  We are wonderful, amazing, and beautiful both through Him and to Him.

If we are to realize that being vulnerable to God is a good thing, then we must also acknowledge that we are both weak to the world and cannot survive without Him.  Jesus clearly spells out where our dependency on God should be at the beginning of Matthew 18.  I often asked myself, “Why would Jesus want us to be like little children?  Doesn’t He want us to grow spiritually to become mature?”  The answer to this is of course yes, but the point Jesus is trying to make is not for us to act like little children that are naïve to the ways of the world and indulgent to it like not knowing when to stop eating cookies from the cookie jar.  It is to understand that little children are both incredibly vulnerable and dependent.  They need nurturing and love from their parents to be taught right from wrong.  Similar to this, we are susceptible to the ways of the world, and thus incredibly vulnerable.  However, we have an all knowing Heavenly Father who we can depend on, and He provides us with both love and protection should we reach out to Him.  Furthermore, His word teaches us how to live a fulfilling and righteous life.

Surrendering all to God is our goal as Christians, and we simply cannot do so without admitting to our own vulnerability and weakness.  Paul took pleasure in His vulnerability in last week’s verse, and this week, Jesus says we all must acknowledge that without Him, we are spiritually weak and vulnerable to attack from the world.  It is only through this admission that we gain access to God’s Kingdom.

Over the next few weeks, I will cover a lot of ground on how God uses our vulnerability to make us strong.  In the meantime, ask yourself these questions.  How can you like Paul find God’s strength in your vulnerabilities?  What parts of your life can you display a child-like dependency on God more?  My prayer is that we spiritually mature into vulnerable children serving an awesome loving and forgiving God.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Good reminder

Hello,

Sometimes we should just let scripture speak for itself….I felt today was that kind of a day. Enjoy Psalm 3  (NASB), and be blessed by the love and protection of our God:

O Lord, how my adversaries have increased!
Many are rising up against me.
 Many are saying of my soul,
“There is no deliverance for him in God.” 

But You, O Lord, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
I was crying to the Lord with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy mountain.
I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me round about.

Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!
For You have smitten all my enemies on the cheek;
You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.
Salvation belongs to the Lord;
Your blessing be upon Your people! 

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill 

Discipleship

8 Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”  Mathew 28

I'll admit, after Christmas, I changed my whole morning routine around and I haven't gotten back into a good regular groove with my daily devotionals, so my weekly devotions have suffered.  Anyways, back in December I stumbled across a book at a Christian bookstore that was a 12 week study guide on discipleship.  I went through the first few weeks, and it's really made me think about my own walk and what I'm doing to build disciples.  I'm going to start trying to pull some of that book into the devotionals here, so you'll get a mini-tour of the book.

If you're interested, it's Real-Life Discipleship Training: Equipping Disciples Who Make Disciples.

Are you making disciples?  How are you doing this?  What tools do you use for this?  I and the other writers have brought up how everyone is seen as a leader by others, but how many see you as a disciple?

More to come in the next 12 weeks.  

Ask, Seek, Knock

Matthew 7:7-8

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

The past couple of weeks I have been writing about our plans verses the Lord’s plan for us.  We started with having a plan and then having our steps directed by the Lord, then we talked about how the Lord’s purpose would prevail.

This week I want to focus on Matthew 7:7-8.  We are told to ask, seek and knock.  In our lives, we will make plans, there is nothing wrong with that.  As long as we are allowing the Lord to direct our steps and prevail in our lives, we should confidently go to him, asking for whatever it may be, seeking his guidance and then knocking and waiting for a door to be open. 

Does that mean you will always get what you want?  Of course not.  In prior weeks we learned that sometimes our plan isn’t exactly how the Lord has it planned for us and he will redirect our steps.  What we ask for may end up changing before the door is opened. 

This week I encourage you to take your requests before him.  Ask him to guide your steps and the plan that you are seeking.  Then look for the door that he opens for you!

Thurs Devo: Where to Hide?

Have you ever played Hide and Seek with small children? Often they hide in very visible and easy to find places! Just the other weekend, two small foster kids (ones we’ve been keeping some weekends) sat next to each other and “hid” on the other side of our large living room chair. Since they couldn’t see me, they assumed I couldn’t see them!

Similarly, we can’t hide from God. Just because we can’t “see” Him doesn’t mean He can’t see us. He sees everything. At the end of time, when He releases His wrath, all kinds of people will try to hide from His wrath.

Revelation 6:12-17    ¹² I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red,¹³ and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴ The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶ They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! ¹⁷ For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”

No one can hide or escape from God. Death will not give relief to those experiencing God’s wrath. In fact, eternal death will be far worse. If those running and hiding from God would instead turn and run towards God, He will forgive them, even in the last moments of time.

When God’s final judgment day comes, will you be hiding in dread or resting secure in your relationship with God Almighty? Who do you and I know that even now seems to be trying to hide from God instead of running towards Him? What truths will you and I share with them?    

Alice

The Case for Vulnerability - Pt. 1

That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:10

A group I was in had a conversation about the topic of ‘vulnerability.’  This is a topic that I am very passionate about.  I am so passionate about it that I wrote about it once in a devotion a couple of years ago.  That did not get a lot of traction not only as a devotion but also in the conversation.  A lot of it has to do with how it has been defined as many people define vulnerability as weakness.  I once thought that way.  Then I found out something.  The less vulnerable I made myself to others, the less authentic I was.  I became less caring and dare I say dishonest.  Not just with others but more importantly myself. I believed I could handle everything.  “You can’t break me,” I thought.  What’s worse, I placed that framework on others.  Thus I became less forgiving and more judgmental.

Shortly after being born again, the script began to change.  Rather than try to hide my vulnerability (very trusting and emotionally caring such that it could be taken advantage), I opened my heart up to those who I knew.  Did this mean I was disappointed at times?  Yes. In fact, one of my greatest disappointments happened very recently where I ended up losing a friend.  However, it has not changed my willingness to be emotionally vulnerable.  Why? Because all of a sudden, I have a group of people who have become my closest friends, most passionate defenders, and most authentic relationships that one could ever have.  They are people who bring joy in my life, and while this sounds all warm and fuzzy, we actually have fights and disagreements!  But there is so much love and respect we have for each other that the bitterness never lasts.

I have thus come to realize that loving God requires utter and complete vulnerability.  Vulnerability does not make you weak.  Contrary to that thought, you gain strength when shown at the right time.  You will find that you become resilient in the face of uncertainty.  You find love in the midst of a great deal of pain, and trust me, you will have pain.  If you end up being vulnerable to those who matter the most, you all of a sudden realize you are courageous willing to put yourself out there where others are unwilling to and being more authentic than ever.  You find comfort knowing no matter how bad it is, God is with you, and from that, there is nothing you cannot overcome.

God loves us no matter what the world sees in us.  Someone once said, “Vulnerability is about showing up and being seen. It's tough to do that when we're terrified about what people might see or think.”  We must overcome this because it does not matter.  What's important is that showing vulnerability and owning that we are indeed weak alone but strong through Christ can indeed strengthen not only our faith but also how others view us.  What vulnerabilities do you have that you can tell to God?  How can you show strength through to others through your vulnerabilities?  My prayer is that we begin to make the case of being utterly and completely vulnerable to God.  Amen.  More on this next week!

Tues Devo: What is your focus?

Acts 1:6-8 “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.’” (NASB)

Hello,

Ever had a seemingly endless task placed in front of you? It is so frustrating for us – we just want a deadline or an end date of some kind. But, some things are not accompanied by an end date. Sometimes there is an end date – but that knowledge would bias us against action, so we are not told that end date.

After Jesus rose from the dead and began appearing to people, His followers wanted Him to setup the kingdom right then – but it wasn’t time. In fact, Jesus gave no date at all….just a directive of what to do until the end came. They, and we, were to just be His witnesses everywhere they  went. But God was not unaware of the duration of His expectation – and knew we needed strength to endure in this task, which He gave us in the form of the Holy Spirit.

Do we know when the end will be? Nope. Do we know what to focus on until that time? Yup.

Have a blessed day, and keep going in the strength He has given us.

Will Hill

The Lord's Purpose vs Our Plan

Proverbs 19:21

Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
    but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

Last week I wrote about having a plan but the Lord establishing the steps.  This is something that is still very close to me right now as I’m trying to figure out some changes that I see coming in my life.  Sometimes we can have a plan, pray on it and seek the Lord’s will, thinking it is his will.  Yet in the end, his purpose will prevail and the plan that we had may not work out. 

As we go through life, we have to remember that the Lord has a plan for us.  We have to be willing to accept changes that were not in our own personal plan and embrace them. 

Today, it is my prayer that we each seek the Lord’s purpose in our lives, rather than just the plans of our own heart.