Wheel of My Life

“Therefore, submit to God.”

    James 4:7 (NKJV)

“If you confess with your mouth

the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart

that God has raised Him from the dead,

you will be saved.”

     Romans 10:9 (NKJV)

As I write this, we’re in the midst of another very heavy snow storm.  It seems appropriate to hear the song “Jesus take the wheel” on the radio, although I’m grateful to be working from home today rather than out driving in the blizzard.  Even in good conditions, I don’t like driving and regularly pray for God’s help to drive safely.  But I need Jesus to take the wheel of my life, not just the steering wheel of my car. 

Because if Jesus is our personal Savior, then we also must confess Him as Lord and submit to His will.  In church last Sunday, the pastor talked about the difference between surrender and submission.  He analogized to a military situation where soldiers who surrender usually do so involuntarily and with an eye towards finding a way of escape to re-gain their freedom. They may surrender on the outside because they have to, but not in their hearts. Submission, on the other hand, is voluntary and involves our heart, soul and mind.

Too often, Christians may refer to Jesus as Lord, but they fight His rule in their lives and rebel by going their own way, pursuing their own will. Have you ever sought the Lord’s help on a big issue but then came up with “Plan B” just in case?  Or committed a decision to God but then took action when you couldn’t wait for (or didn't like) His answer?  Or has Jesus been Lord on Sunday but not the rest of the week?  It's easy to say the right words yet act according to our own agenda.  When we do so, however, we miss out on the great blessing that comes from being fully submitted to Him.

God does not want our halfhearted acquiescence; He desires to be Lord of our lives.  He wants devoted followers who will relinquish our wills, our desires and our plans, who will voluntarily submit to His rule because He knows best.  When you know that God’s promises are true, when you’ve experienced His faithfulness time and again, when you’re sure that He’s worthy of being trusted with everything, then you will come to know His peace.  Then you can let go and experience joy and true rest because He is in control.

Jesus has the wheel of my life.  My prayer is that you too know the blessings of submission to Jesus as Lord.

Thursday Devotional - Relying on Our Understanding

Have you ever made a simple decision based on the information you knew, but later found out it wasn’t the right decision? Maybe you made assumptions that weren’t correct because you didn’t have ALL the information. I did that recently…

Earlier this year I had talks with James about getting his schoolwork done at school instead of goofing off and talking. He’s bright and quick and I knew he had plenty of time allotted to complete it. He eventually stopped bringing home 4 full pages of kindergarten homework! However, he continued to bring home 1 full page of math homework, which frustrated me (especially since he complained about having to do it after he got home). Instead of checking with the teacher, I kept blaming him, knowing it had to be his fault. Later, I found out the teacher intentionally sent home 1 full page of homework each day!!!  

Well, Joshua, too, made a decision relying on his own understanding…

Joshua 9:3-8, 14-15            ³ However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, ⁴ they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended. ⁵ They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. ⁶ Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.”

⁷ The Israelites said to the Hivites, “But perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty with you?”

⁸ “We are your servants,” they said to Joshua.

But Joshua asked, “Who are you and where do you come from?”

⁹ They answered: “Your servants have come from a very distant country because of the fame of the Lord your God. For we have heard reports of him: all that he did in Egypt… ¹⁴ The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord.¹⁵ Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.

Joshua wasn’t to make a treaty with people who lived nearby. He knew that, but didn’t realize the Gibeonites were deceiving him. He relied on his own understanding. Like Joshua, we can read and know God’s commands but fail to act on them. We can still fall back on relying on our own understanding instead of praying and asking God for wisdom and direction. It may seem like a no brainer and easy decision, but we’re to go to Him for everything both big and small.

How can you and I remember that each and everyday with all of our decisions?

Alice

Gospel Feet

“How beautiful are the feet of those

who preach the gospel of peace,

who bring glad tidings of good things!”

    Romans 10:15 (quoting Isaiah 52:7) (NKJV)

“Stand therefore, having girded your waist

with truth, having put on the breastplate of

righteousness, and having shod your feet

with the preparation of the gospel of peace;”

    Ephesians 6:14-15 (NKJV)

My feet are sturdy and practical, but I do not consider them physically attractive.  Yet God calls our feet “beautiful” when we bring His gospel to others, when we walk to share His good tidings with the lost world. And part of the full armor of God includes our equipping our feet with His truth so we can walk in the world without compromise, armed against the wiles of the enemy. Moreover, when we’re busy with the Lord’s work, we will avoid one thing the Lord hates:  “feet that are swift in running to evil” (Proverbs 6:18, NKJV).

I thought of this the other day when I was walking door-to-door in the community distributing flyers for an event at our church along with gospel tracts.  My heart soared to think that I can have a small part in spreading the wonderful message of His glad tidings. Even if you don’t feel called to traditional evangelism, we can (and should) be a walking sermon—living out God’s redemptive grace before our family, friends, neighbors, colleagues and being ready to share the truth we’ve experienced. 

It’s amazing to me that God can use an ordinary vessel like me to bring the good news to others and I love to start the day asking Him to help my feet be beautiful in sharing the great gospel story. 

Where are your feet taking you today? How are you walking out the good news?

Thursday Devotional - Love Letter

At the beginning of the month, the kids and I pulled out our Valentine decorations. James was curious why we celebrate Valentine’s Day. Sarah suggested I ask “Period” (which is what James use to call Seri, for some unknown reason! 😊) I looked up the origin, but there isn’t anything concrete and no one knows for sure. It could possibly stem from the martyr of a St. Valentine. One was killed for secretly marrying people and the other wrote a letter to his sweetheart on the day of his death, supposedly February 14^th.  

After not being able to answer James’ questions, he continued decorating. With some heart sticks we pulled out (picture attached), James decided we should each hold one and then go around and say what we love about the other family members. Then, he suggested we wave the heart sticks up and down 3X chanting “God loves you, God loves you, God loves you!” It was a great way to start the “love” month. God is the perfect Valentine. He’s the One who first loved us!

I John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

I John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

God gave us the best Valentine gift – Salvation through Jesus Christ.

God gave us the longest, most helpful and encouraging love letter – the entire Bible!

Last week we talked about the need to read and know the entire Bible. The Psalmist knew the importance of this, as well.  

Psalm 119:73-77      Your hands made me and formed me;
    give me understanding to learn your commands.
⁷⁴ May those who fear you rejoice when they see me,
    for I have put my hope in your word.
⁷⁵ I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous,
    and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
⁷⁶ May your unfailing love be my comfort,
    according to your promise to your servant.
⁷⁷ Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
    for your law is my delight.

Which part of God’s Love Letter will you read and delight in today? 

Alice

The Guiding Light

“The crowd responded, “We understood from Scripture that the Messiah would live forever. How can you say the Son of Man will die? Just who is this Son of Man, anyway?”

Jesus replied, “My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going. Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.”

After saying these things, Jesus went away and was hidden from them.”  John 12:34-36 NLT

Last week, I talked a bit about my own fear. There was a great deal of apprehension that went with it, and the days after writing it were a bit nerve racking to say the least.  However, the thing I gained greatest comfort in was God would take me one of two places.  One, He would show how wrong I was, and I would see that I needed to be more aligned with Him.  Or two, He would give me greater courage and strength assured He is as I knew He always was; with me.  Today, the light is on, and my walk is illuminated.  Occasionally, I must confirm the light is not a freight train, but so far, so good.  The thing that drove me toward that belief is quite simply trust.  I keep reading His word and trusting in it, and it reassures me.  I hear Him in a sermon, and feel His presence when I question something that I have prayed on.  When there is no light, I seek it, and it’s always there.  Guiding me.

God always provides us with light to guide us through darkness.  Reading today’s verses, there are three things I am struck by.  First, the perspective of the crowd is an example how people often see their problems through a worldly and not Godly lens.  The crowd was well read and understanding of scripture, but they could see no further than what they read and heard.  They were looking behind at what they knew, but not ahead at what was possible.  How often are we stunting our own growth by limiting ourselves by what we once did rather than asking what through Jesus Christ we can now do?

Second, Jesus talked about trusting “in the light while there is still time.”  At first, one might think the verse is referring to Jesus’s time on earth is coming to an end.  While this is true, one must also note that if we have life on earth, we can become that very child of the light as well.  Think of the man on the cross when Jesus said to him, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43b)  There the man acknowledged he deserved punishment (judgment), and simply asked Jesus to remember him (repentance).  He had only three simple verses in the Bible, and yet, they gave us hope knowing the compassion Christ has for those who have sinned and repented.  How cool is that?

Finally, my focus went to how Jesus went and was hidden from them.  In the subsequent verses, it noted that most still doubted who Jesus was, but there were those who chose to believe in Him.  Those who believed had two things going for them that are important for us to remember today.  First, they fully trusted in Jesus.  This gave them a sense of surety that while He was hidden from them, He was always there.  Second, the light was now shining from within them.  Therefore, they had a sense of where they were going.  Think of their journey as an infinite game.  There was no winning or losing.  They were angling to continue forward with Christ, and thus left their former lives behind them.  They were now ‘children of the light,’ and their focus was on eternity.  Not the moment.  We too must think of our journey of faith as an infinite one.  Our time in this world is but a point along the road.  Our goal is to continue forward not looking back at our old self but instead focusing on our ever-growing relationship with God through Christ.  This not only reveals to us His light but also flips on the light within us for others to follow.

In a world that is filled with darkness, we are indeed shown the light through Jesus Christ.  Yes, there are times where it is difficult to see, and we can at times find ourselves lost in the wilderness.  But if we know Him, we are never alone, and no matter how dark it seems, we know the light is there.  We can walk with purpose knowing that as His child, we will not only find light but also be the light for those around us.  Let us always be knowledgeable of that simple truth.  Are you following His light?  Will you share your light with those closest to you?  My prayer is simple.  Focus on the guiding light of Christ, and trust it to lead us for all eternity.  Amen.

Love

1 Corinthians 13:4-5

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

With Valentine’s Day coming up this week, I thought it would be good to write about love.  Often times we think of all the beautiful things that love is.  Hugs, kisses, flowers, sweets, the list is endless.  But what does love look like in the hard times? 

My husband has dealt with anxiety and depression for many years.  Sometimes it can get rather ugly.  He missed his medication one day last week and the day after was not a beautiful love story.  It was however our love story.  He had an anxiety attack and it was rough.  Thankfully though, God gave us each other and he has blessed me with the ability to be patient (not easily) during these times.  And then in return, my husband is patient with me when I have moments that are not as enduring as others.

Do you show love even when things aren’t easy?  Are you patient with that person that frustrates you?  Have you stopped to think about the patience our Heavenly Father has extended to us in the times that we are not so easy to love?

May you feel the love of Christ this Valentine’s Day!

Shine On

“The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,

shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;

they do not know what makes them stumble.”

     Proverbs 4:18-19 (NIV)

I’m an early bird and enjoy watching the sun rise. Of course, dawn doesn’t break and immediately we have full sunlight; instead, there’s the “first gleam of dawn” and then the sky gradually lightens.  Similarly, God’s word is a light to our path (Psalm 119:105), step by step, not a floodlight showing the full road ahead.  I sometimes wish more light would shine in certain areas of my life where I’ve been praying for wisdom and discernment because I get impatient. But even when the path seems dim, believers are assured that God’s true light will guide us if we wait and trust in Him.

By contrast, those in the world are in darkness and because they are without the Light, they stumble and don’t even know why.  I see so much darkness in the people around me (my family, friends, neighbors) and they don’t seem to realize they’re lost; and what’s worse, they don’t want the light (John 3:20).  This can be the case even for those who claim to be Christians.  I’ve recently been quite shocked to hear things from several people I know that don’t line up with God’s word; their words and actions seem to indicate they aren’t truly following Christ. . .and yet, they don’t want to hear the truth, they don’t heed it.

At times like this, I can start to feel overwhelmed, even hopeless; what can I say or do?  I try and shine my little candle, but how can that bit of light make a difference?  Then I’m reminded of something a pastor I know pointed out:  Not all the street lights are clustered on one corner; instead, they are spread out in all the dark places around the city; that’s how they make an impact.  Even a small candle seems bright in a dark place; in fact, the darker the room, the brighter it seems.  So I pray for strength to continue interceding for people and for boldness to keep “shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”  On that day, we won’t need the sun because we will be in the presence of the Son forever. Amen!

Thursday Devotional - The Entire Bible

Have you ever read the entire Bible? Maybe you have, but it’s been a while since you read through the entire Bible. I’ve been part of in-depth Bible studies for years, but it’s been a while since I’ve read certain parts of the Bible. Recently, as I was studying II Samuel, I felt God challenge me to re-read the Bible start to finish in a short amount of time. God re-iterated that challenge through re-reading Joshua and reading some articles on the Biblical illiteracy of professing Christians.

As we saw the last few weeks with Joshua and the Israelites, knowing and remembering God’s commands is vital. With the defeat at Ai (after Jericho) and Achan’s disobedience, Joshua stops to re-read and re-write God’s commands to Moses.

Joshua 8:30-32, 34-35      ³⁰ Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, ³¹ as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. ³² There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses…  ³⁴ Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. ³⁵ There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.

If you haven’t ever read the entire Bible, I challenge you to consider listening to it to and from work. It will only take about half a year if you average a 20-minute commute. Or, there are great One Year Bibles (mine has an O.T./N.T./Psalm/Proverb each day).

We can’t truly love, honor and obey God without knowing Him and His Word!

Alice

Removing The Veil

Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.  Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.

But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  2 Corinthians 3:12-16

What is it you are afraid of?  You might be worried about offending someone or hurting their feelings.  You might lose a relationship or show that you are flawed like everyone else.  But there was one fear of mine that I am going to share with you today.  It’s the one that superseded all other ones.  It was the one that haunted me because no matter what I did or how I tried to avoid it, it always found me in some fashion or another.  My greatest fear was what did everyone think about me.  You see, the only time I truly saw ‘me’ was when I looked in the mirror.  Other than that, I was just a man who fought every single negative stereotype that’s ever been said about people that look like me.  My view was if I ever wanted to get ahead in life, I had to do everything I could to be the very opposite of the worse things people could see when they saw me.  I talked better.  I worked harder.  I took inappropriate jokes easier.  I ignored things because any hint that might seem different would force me into that stereotypical box people had.  And the fact is I did such a great job of it that I lost the real me.

Over the last couple of years, something changed.  God forced me to be different.  He challenged me to be something I had never been comfortable with; me.  It forced me to acknowledge some very tough truths.  One was to love the person I had become.  This was easy because I had a beautiful God-fearing wife who told me as much.  Even when I could not believe who I was, she believed in me.  Next, was to embrace who I am.  I’m not perfect.  I am a sinner.  But I am God’s child, and I am so blessed to have a savior like Christ.  The toughest one of all was simply tell the world who I am.  That is the hard one.  Why?   Because that’s the one that says I’m not like everyone else, and there are things I now say that will ruffle others feathers.  I’m black, and I’m proud.  I am not some militant angry person.  I am Christian, and with all those things together, there are some things that I just simply won’t tolerate anymore.  For example, I will no longer accept someone telling me that I need to respect a leader who under any other circumstance I would not respect at all (easy to figure who that might be).  I will listen to you, and empathize.  I will always show both compassion and care for others, and I will always love as Jesus loves us.  But I am God’s child, and I no longer have to apologize for who I am.

The verses today remind us that we are free to be who God intended us.  Paul’s comparison of the old and new covenant is very telling.  In the old covenant, the Israelites were forced into this feeling that they were to serve God, and this was best done by following His rules or order.  When we think of it, the problem was easy to see.  They were slaves to the law but not God.  This of course was not God’s intent.  Thus, the new covenant through Christ liberated them to serve God in an entirely different way.  It was to love God first and foremost, and through love they would both see and understand those things which God coveted most; our heart, mind, and soul.  They thus had confidence to try to go farther than before for even as they would fail, they would simply get up and strive to be better servants.  This is what changes everything for us.

God did not make us to be meek.  Jesus Himself is humble, compassionate, and loving.  But He is not soft!  He has no problem calling out issues, and was willing to call out the Pharisees even as they would crucify Him.  He chose Saul, a persecutor of Christians, on the road to Damascus to make him a leader of the new covenant.  Do not be afraid of who you are!  God made you exactly as you are to do His will.  It does not mean we won’t have to grow and change.  What it will mean is that we will be stronger and better than we could possibly imagine if we trust Him.  What do you need to remove from your life today to better see Christ?  My prayer is that we are bold as the verses say and remove the veil.  Amen.

Lift one another up in Prayer

Don’t put your Pastor on a pedestal where he can be knocked off.

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Put your Pastor on a Prayer List where he can be lifted up.

This weekend I found out some very disturbing news about a former Pastor of mine.  It got me thinking about the above saying.  Those who teach the Bible, in any form, certainly should not be put on a pedestal, rather lifted up in Prayer.  Yet at the same time, James tells us that those who do accept the calling to teach, will be judged more strictly. 

James 3:1-2

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.  We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

Why is this?  Well, because they need to practice what they preach, and not just say words if they are not going to live them also. 

Yet each person that steps up to teach is also a sinner so brothers and sisters, we need to be lifting them up in prayer, that they would be able to maintain the purity that they have been called to.  We also need to be lifting one another up in prayer as we each having a calling to be a teacher at some sort of level. 

Today I want to encourage you, if you need some sort of prayer request, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the devotion writers.  Today I pray for each of you.  Whether I know you by name or not, I am praying that God would lift you up today.