Thursday Devotional - Courage in Uncertainty

My family and I are studying Joshua through Solomon (People of the Promised Land, Part I) in Bible Study Fellowship this year (last year was Romans). No matter what we are studying, it always applies to our particular situation!

Over the last couple of weeks we have and continue to face several health challenges. One big one is my Dad’s heart. He is having heart surgery again today because of a possible complication from his heart surgery earlier this summer. When fear surfaces, we keep clinging to several of the following verses in Joshua 1.

Joshua 1:1-9            After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ² “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. ³ I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. ⁴ Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.⁵ No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

⁷ “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:1-9 

God prepared Joshua for the task He had given to him. None of these commands or promises were new (see Genesis 13, Deuteronomy 11 and 31). Joshua had heard them before. However, for Joshua’s benefit, God reiterated His plan, His promise, His presence and His principles.

When I start worrying about our family health challenges, these verses remind me that God will never leave us, we aren’t to be afraid or discouraged, and we are to trust in Him. He will enable us to accomplish what He has planned for us to do as we continue to study and meditate on His Word.

Where are you facing uncertainty? How do these verses challenge and encourage you?

We can have courage in God, despite uncertainty!

Alice

Enough!

Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand.” And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom.  But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me, my sister.”

 “No, my brother!” she said to him. “Don’t force me! Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing.  What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you.”  But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.

Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, “Get up and get out!”

“No!” she said to him. “Sending me away would be a greater wrong than what you have already done to me.”

But he refused to listen to her.  He called his personal servant and said, “Get this woman out of my sight and bolt the door after her.”  2 Samuel 13:10-17

“What’s wrong with you,” said my mother with clear disdain in her voice.  “What’s wrong, mom,” I replied.  She says, “Didn’t I teach you better than that?  Don’t you ever go through a door without opening it for the woman,” she said.  “Yes, mom,” I replied without hesitation.  As I grew older, there would be one day where a woman would look at me and become upset for my opening the door for them.  “Don’t you think I can open the door on my own,” she would ask.  “Yes, but I was just being polite as I would to anyone else,” I replied.  If you live in the Midwest, opening doors for each other is almost like standard operating procedure.  But, that never would have started if it were not for the first lady in my life: my mother.  You see, I open doors for men because it’s the courteous thing to do, and I open them for women because it’s the right thing to do. My mother taught me to have a higher bar of respect for the opposite sex.  

My heart is deeply troubled by the state of our nation in lieu of the treatment of women as of late, and to be honest, I have had enough of it.  In today’s world, we fight over who to believe when there is any act of misconduct.  Women who have been abused speak up, and we want to fall into the ‘he said/ she said’ line.  We somehow decided to blur the line as to who to believe strictly because it is expedient to ‘what we want to believe.’  The mistake I work hard to avoid is not to jump to a political, gender specific, or even personal view. Instead, I focus on a Godly one.  Why do we need to tear her story down so much?  Do we believe the other side is up to some ulterior motive?  Is our team’s record at stake?  Do we not realize just how wrong that thinking is?  What does it say to the women in our lives?  Here’s the thing.  To those who wish to make this a political issue, I will just say this.  It comes back to one simple thing.  All women are to be respected whether we believe them or not.  If I am ever accused of wrongdoing, my confidence has always been that my actions reflect what my mother taught me, and that and God would handle the rest.

God expects better than us.  Somewhere along the line, decency got lost.  I do not look to a side to blame because it is all of us.  We have somehow substituted doing the right thing for ‘they did it, and so I can do it’ mentality.  Well another thing my mother used to say is if everyone jumped off a cliff, you should too?  God does not want to hear your excuse.  He wants your submittal to His way of doing things.  In a discussion with a friend, we centered on the word ‘integrity.’  Our actions must be above reproach.  We have no control over what the world does to us.  We do have control of how we show love and reverence to God.  I was not comfortable writing this.  Not one bit.  But God made me uncomfortable to the point I had to because I am tired of women living in fear and us as men (and in many cases women) ignoring it like we had no stake in the game.  I love the women in my life far too much to let this lie any further.  If a woman comes forward regardless of your belief, stop tearing her down!  Period!  This must end immediately!

Women must always be respected and heard regardless of their motive.  I look at my wife, and I think of Ephesians where it says:

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. (Ephesians 5:25-28)

While this only applies to my wife, it is the standard that I pray we uphold of all women.  I want to be clear.  There are zero acceptable excuses for disrespecting a woman making an accusation of abuse.  If you sense yourself looking for one, focus on Jesus saying, “But I say, do not resist an evil person!  If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer the other cheek also.” (Matthew 5:39)  How will you respond the next time a woman claims abuse?  How can you be more respectful of women as a whole?  My prayer is that God has prompted your heart to simply and unequivocally say, “Enough!”  Amen.

Tues Devo: Lessons from a slinky

Hello,

So I am excited that all 3 of my kids are talented…too bad it is at ruining slinky toys in a matter of seconds….

So this weekend as I was unraveling and repairing one of their slinky toys, I got thinking about restoration from sin. Like the toy, we are unable to fix ourselves from the sin we are in. We need outside involvement – but more than involvement, we need the involvement to be from someone with both knowledge and ability. Knowledge of what restoration looks like, and power to make it happen.

Without knowing what the slinky looked like at the outset, I couldn’t restore it. Without the ability to reshape and think about the end game, I would not succeed in my execution.

God knows what we are intended to be – He as the creator has that intimate knowledge. He also has the ability to reshape our lives. He showed this through Scripture time and time again, culminating in Jesus taking the weight of our sin to die on the cross, only to raise from the dead 3 days later.

Are there scars? Sure. When I finished fixing the slinky you could see where the worst impact was….slightly out of round, the color a tad off. It functioned despite the illustration of having a past.

Jesus maintained His scars. The account of John 20:26-28 relates this “After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into my side; and do no be unbelieving, but believing.’ Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘ My Lord and my God.’” (NASB)

Why do I bring all of this up?

• If you are needing restoration, Jesus can restore
• We may keep scars  - but that doesn’t change our status as restored
• Scars are part of our story, part of the identity to who we are and further illustration of the restoration power of God

I hope this challenges and encourages you today in whatever you are walking through.

Will Hill

Being united to your wife

Genesis 2:23-25

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
    for she was taken out of man.”

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Matthew 19:4-6

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?  So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Mark 10:6-8

“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

Ephesians 5:30-32

for we are members of his body.  “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.

As a mother, I pray for the woman that my son will someday marry.  I pray that when that time comes, that I will encourage him to put his wife first and not expect that he will take my side over hers for anything.  Four times in the Bible, we are told that when a man and a woman get married, that the man is to leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

The verse from Matthew is one that my father read at my wedding reception eight years ago.  My husband was very close to his parents when we got married and they struggled to let him go as he got married.  We are still close to them however he has really taken these verses to heart and we really try to focus on always being one.

Christ is the bride of the church.  Therefore, as the groom (the church), we are to leave our father and mother and become one with our wife.  We should be putting “our wife” first in all things.  So what are you doing to put your “wife” first?  Have you spent time today in conversation with Christ?  Do you make an effort to make Christ the most important part of your life?

I encourage you today to find ways to put Christ first.

Just Walk

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”  Matthew 14:28-31

When I am tired, where will I find strength?  When I am afraid, where will I find courage?  When I am lost, where will I go?  These are the questions of a person in crisis.  You know this because the questions are not complicated but very important.  They are questions of desperation.  They are the sounds of a person who has looked every which way possible without finding an answer.  All of us have been there before.

It was Freshman year of high school.  My mother and me were living in an apartment, and she had fallen sick during the semester.  Yes, we had other family nearby, but my mom never wanted to be a burden to anyone.  She endured whatever pain she needed to accomplish her goal.  In this case, it was to finish her MBA and ensure her and her son would make it through the year together.  I ended up going to school a good portion of the year on my own.  I would wake up, get my clothes ready, and walk to the subway stop a half mile away to ride to school.  My mother and father were not big on excuses.   So, I just did it.  No fanfare.  No drama.  No poor me.  Just walk.  There is a word for that.  Some might call it ‘grit.’  I call it ‘faith.’  It means that when you end up in the situation where all you have are those three questions, you answer simply, “Start walking.”  When you are tired, you get up, and start swinging.  When you are afraid, you realize you have nothing to lose, and you fight.  When you have no where to go, you make steps in a direction, and you keep walking.  My mother and father always had faith in God.  They instilled it in me.  That’s why I got up, got dressed, walked to the subway, went to school, and then rode back to the hospital where my mom laid in bed writing her thesis paper.

One might ask where was God in all of this?  He was teaching.  Planning.  Preparing.  He is all-knowing that my mother and me would face other storms.  But He was always there.  Carrying.  Protecting.  Guiding.  My mother and me did not make it because we were something special.  We made it because we served an awesome God who watched over us.  He kept us out of Harm’s way, and kept my mother fighting when the pain was too great for her to even sleep.

The storms in our lives (or winds as Peter saw) are the tests of faith where God either found or watched over us.  Think of the storms from your past.  Sometimes, you may not have come out of it like you wanted, and you may not have known what to make of it all.  However, when it was all said and done we looked to God, and said, “I don’t know how I made it through, but thank you!”  Thank you, Jesus, for watching over me.  Thank you, Jesus, for making a way when I could not see one.  Thank you for giving me the courage and strength.  I do not know what you might be facing today, and I am unsure what storm may come tomorrow.  But I want you to remember that God is always there.  Always encouraging you to keep walking.

So as Christ said to Peter, come.  Sure, Peter eventually started to sink, but how many of you have taken that first step only to sink?  Remember the first steps Peter took, he did not sink!  He literally walked on water!  It is interesting that it noted he began to sink only when he saw the wind.  Perhaps that was why Paul said, “For we live by believing and not by seeing.” (2 Corinthians 5:7).  Let us live by these words of faith by belief in what God can do.  Not seeing what seems impossible.  My prayer today is we take courage from the words of Jesus Christ and have the faith to just walk.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Prayer and faith

Luke 18:1-8 “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’’ And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (NASB)

Hello,

I think this is a very interesting passage in scripture. Many times we read the reason for a parable after Jesus tells it, but this time we see the intent right up front. I love that Jesus knows us enough to understand that we struggle with waiting. We want more immediate answers to prayer. But His timing is not ours, so we have to not lose heart.

The He gets into the story of this judge who helped a woman simply out of annoyance and personal reasons. Nothing to do with her, just selfish focus by him. (I can see a lot of us in that judge and the way we operate) Jesus contrasts that man doing the right thing for wrong reasons against the holy God who does the right things for the right reasons, in the right times. But notice carefully the end of this story. Jesus asks “…and will He delay long over them?”. This is a rhetorical style question, with the answer immediately given that God will bring justice quickly. Certainly challenges our view of quick vs long? We scope to a percentage of time out of a handful of years, but His scope is eternity.

Then He challenges even further – will He find faith on the earth upon His return? How long will we endure? One of the challenges I take from this is that we cannot translate God’s speed of answers to prayer into our level of faith. Rather, we need to translate our faith into our endurance for praying.

I hope this challenges you as well.

Will Hill

Wake up!

Friends, we need to wake up!  The bible warned us of how the end times would be and if you read through Revelation, we surely see what the world is looking like today.  I was at a meeting at church yesterday where someone asked about a very touchy topic in the world today.  It was talked about how we are to love everyone, showing them God’s grace and how we are not the ultimate judge.  While these things are true, I was really bugged by the reply. 

Revelation 3:15-16

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

While we are certainly called to show others God’s grace, we are also called to take a stance as we have been taught according to God’s word.  We are not to be lukewarm or wishy-washy.  The church should be taking a stance to help lead others to Christ, not merely accepting that the world has changed and it’s all okay for everyone to live as they wish.  If someone wants to be part of the world rather than part of the Kingdom, then that is their choice however as Christians, we are called to be set apart.   

Thursday Devotional - Control and Outcomes

After James’ first and second day at school, his teacher sent me a couple great email reports! I was thrilled! I know it won’t always be smooth sailing, but this helped me relax some. I will continue to encourage him in the right direction, give him regular (if not daily 😊) reminders, and appropriately discipline, but I’m not the one in control. God is ultimately in control of everything and everyone.

Paul lovingly and carefully instructed the Romans, and then ended his letter acknowledging they were in God’s hands.

Romans 16:25-27        ²⁵ Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, ²⁶ but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith— ²⁷ to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

God has given Joe and me the responsibility to lead James and Sarah well, as their parents. As we seek to be godly parents in our interactions, instructions, example, and choices, we can trust the outcome to God. He’s the One in control, with all power, all wisdom and all authority for all eternity!

What relationship, situation, person, or potential problem do you and I need to leave in God’s care? We’re called to follow God, do our part, and lead well, but the outcome is in God’s hands. Let’s trust Him with it!

Alice

Filling The Gap

Be good to your servant,
    that I may live and obey your word.
Open my eyes to see
    the wonderful truths in your instructions.
I am only a foreigner in the land.
    Don’t hide your commands from me!
I am always overwhelmed
    with a desire for your regulations. Psalms 119: 17-20

One of the first things I tried to do when I became born again was give up something for lent. The funny thing was I was never successful.  I would slip up somewhere along the line, and eat the chocolate cake, or I would have that night out where the cheesecake looked too good.  Eventually, I would give in.  Then one year, I put it all together and found success!  There was so much joy in my heart that I enjoyed cheesecake that year much more!  In retrospect, each passing year where I failed, I also learned something from my failures.  I realized to avoid certain places, or had greater will power to never ‘give up.’  I was overwhelmed with a desire to make it.  The whole thing reminded me about reading a section of a book that talked about ‘failure.’  It noted that we look at failure as something to avoid.  However, many people view failure as an opportunity.  Their failure was not because they did not plan well or perform at their best.  It was because they were missing something, and thus, their quest was to look at the gap between what they wished to accomplish and where they ended up.  They had lofty expectations where they learned a great deal about themselves striving to become something they would not ordinarily grow to become.  It was the gap that became the key to their finding greater energy and ambition to make the final changes and adjustments to achieve their goal.

This is what spiritual growth with God sounds like.  We see the perfection of His son Jesus Christ, and we try so hard to meet that lofty expectation, but we often fall short.  We should see our failures as opportunities to learn about God’s plan and grow from it. In reading David’s 119^th Psalm, I was struck by his passion to truly learn about God’s purpose for his life.  I noted that he prayed to live and obey His word.  The key word here was ‘may.’  This was an acknowledgement that he studied and focus on God, but he was not always perfect.  He hoped that he was following God’s word.  Additionally, he was overwhelmed with desire to learn more.  Thus, he further understood the ‘gap’ between where he was and where God wanted him.

This is incredibly powerful for us when we are focusing on our own spiritual growth. We will fail.  We will not always hit the mark.  However, we must not be deterred by the loftiness of our goals to become followers that Jesus Himself would be proud of.  Thus, we must look at Christ’s example and see where the ‘gaps’ are.  Then continue to adjust and make changes that will make us more in His likeness.  This can be both scary and challenging.  However, as Hebrews 12:2 says, “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”

God is very intentional in His pursuit of us. He sets the stage and moves things so that we know of His presence, and He provides protection, comfort, inspiration, and of course love to solidify that relationship.  Is it no wonder that we should be “overwhelmed with a desire” to know more of Him.  That is what a true growing and loving relationship is like.  Famous football coach Vince Lombardi said to his team once, “Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence.”  This is exactly what being a Christ follower is all about.  Let us ‘chase’ Christ in such a way that truly honors Him.  Where is your obsession to learn more of God’s word?  How will to continually raise the bar to be more like Jesus?  My prayer is that we are honest with ourselves and are overwhelmed with desire to fill the gap between our ways and God’s.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Don't fear hair loss

Luke 12:4-9 “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows. “And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” (NASB)

Hello,

So perhaps the meaning of this section is not “don’t be afraid of hair loss”…..but maybe an application J.

Naturally, I have been thinking about change lately. It is everywhere, and here at work certainly has not been an exception. But what is our approach to change – or other things that can induce fear? I think we need to repeatedly go back to the personal knowledge that God has of us, and personal attention He pays. We are valued in His eyes – the circumstances that we live in and operate under are shifting and moving, but His presence and control are steady and constant.

I pray this encourages you today.

Will Hill