Heart's Desire

“Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.”

     Psalm 139:23-24 (NKJV)

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell

in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He

shall give you the desires of your heart."

    Psalm 37:3-4 (NKJV)

My neighbor has an ornament on her front door that says “Listen to your heart.” That’s a popular notion in today’s culture---follow what your heart wants and you’ll be happy.  But the Bible says that our hearts are “deceitful above all things” and “desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:7).  So if we let our hearts with its fleshly desires guide us, we will not be on the right path.

That’s why we’re encouraged us to ask God to examine our hearts, thoughts and lives.  That would be scary to those who don’t know the character of God, who don’t know Him as Savior and Lord. As a believer, I don’t want to have anything wicked within me that I haven’t acknowledged to God, so I ask His help in searching me.  I want to be an open book before Him, to keep short accounts with Him, to know that I’ve confessed and been forgiven of all my sins, every day.

I also want Him to lead me rather than my own instincts and desires.  Although God promises to give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4), that doesn’t mean our fleshly desires will be granted.  Instead, that promise is premised on certain conditions—if we delight ourselves in the Lord, if commit our way to the Lord and if we trust Him, then we will desire His will and that heart desire will be granted.

I pray that your heart’s desire is to be in the center of God’s will, and that you allow Him to search you and lead you in His way.

Thursday Devotional - Truth in 30 Seconds?

I know God can use anything and anyone and can use a brief statement someone says, but it still amazes me every time I see Him do it!

A couple weeks ago my sister, Jane, was playing piano for one of her weekly church services. After a pre-service rehearsal, one of the other musicians told Jane her cousin was dying. She mentioned that he was of a different religion, but she knew he was going to heaven because he was a good person. Jane expressed sympathy to the lady and then God brought to mind John 14:6. So, in the 30 seconds Jane had before she needed to start playing, she said “Jesus said in John 14:6 that He is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.”

Well, after the service, the lady came back up to Jane and said she was stewing over that verse the entire service. They got to chat further about God’s truths. Jane mentioned several other truths from Romans. She mentioned how Christianity is the only “religion” where we don’t have to “do” anything. Being good doesn’t get us to heaven. They talked for a while and Jane reassured her she would be praying for her and the relative (and Jane told several of us so we could be praying, too).

We were saddened this lady (involved in church) was confused by the lies of the world and our culture and didn’t believe God’s truths and promises from His Word. This lady was bothered the Bible states Jesus is the only way, but God used that to prick her. In fact, this past weekend, she came back to tell Jane that last week she clearly saw first-hand that not all “gods” are the same. Jesus is truly the only way and she heard Jesus telling her all week “I am the way!”

Romans 10:9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Praise God!!! Jesus is the only way to have access to and a relationship with God the Father (and eternal life in heaven after death)! He revealed and confirmed that truth to this lady! God is amazing! He can use just one phrase from His Word to help, convict, encourage and instruct!  

Let’s pray for God’s help to recognize and take even the 30 second opportunities He gives us to speak His truths. He’s the one that can multiply it for His glory!

I Peter 3:15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

Alice

Worry

First off, I apologize to every one of you!  I failed to send a devotion last week as I was on vacation, WITHOUT my computer!!  And forgot to preschedule the devotion.  I am sorry.

Worry is something that many people are consumed by.  It can cause anxiety and depression.  Even my 6-year-old son can easily become consumed by worry.  Some worry about what they will eat or wear, others worry about getting home projects or work projects completed, and still others worry about what someone thinks of them.  If we are honest with ourselves, we have all spent time worrying and a lot of times, it’s worrying about something that will never happen.  I know that I have. 

Why though?  We are clearly told not to worry, that God will take care of us. 

Matthew 6:25-34

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Are you consumed in worry today?  I encourage you to take it to God.  Lay it at his feet.  Show him that you have faith that he will take care of whatever it is that you are worried about.  Then watch.  Watch as he provides for your needs.  Maybe you won’t get all the answers you are wanting, but you will get everything that you need.  He will provide for all of your needs.  Trust him today to care for your needs, even the ones that you think are too small to bother him with.  He cares for you!

Thrice Holy

“I saw the Lord sitting on a throne,

high and lifted up, and the train of

His robe filled the temple. Above it

stood seraphim; each one had six

wings: with two he covered his face,

with two he covered his feet, and

with two he flew. And one cried to

another and said:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of His glory.’”

     Isaiah 6:1-3 (NKJV)

“But as He who called you is holy,

you also be holy in all your conduct,

because it is written, ‘Be holy, for

I am holy.’”

     1 Peter 1:16 (NKJV)

Our God is holy---righteous, perfect in every way.  He is totally pure and exalted. He is “Holy, holy, holy” as Isaiah declares in the above passage and John records in Revelation 4:8.  Yet, as believers, we are called to be holy as God is holy.  Of course, we can’t and aren’t expected to achieve holiness on our own; it only comes about through the power of the Holy Spirit and our Lord’s sanctifying work in us. Still, we must desire it and have a responsibility to pursue holiness in our lives.

Peter exhorts us to be holy in our conduct and there are a number of conduct areas where we can begin to put this in practice:  honesty (refraining from even “white” lies, stealing, deceit), purity (no immorality in thought, word or deed) and peacefulness (lack of bitterness, anger or strife).  These virtues are no longer valued much in our culture today, but as Christians, we are not to be conformed to the world around us. We are called to be consecrated, set apart for God's use. We may need to make a covenant with our eyes (and our mouths), as Job did; or flee from temptation, as Joseph did; or resolve to put away the things that might defile and distract us, as Daniel did.  Being sensitive and responsive to the Holy Spirit’s conviction will help in our quest for self-control and discipline in these areas.  Reminding ourselves of this vision of a thrice Holy God will also help us refrain from un-holy conduct.

Paul also extols believers to be holy:  “Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Corinth. 7:1, NKJV)  The holiness of God should inspire reverence of Him in our hearts and our conduct.  I’m afraid that we are often too familiar in our attitude towards God.  We are able to come into His presence only because our sins have been covered by the blood of Jesus and we are clothed in His righteousness.  Because of that truth, we  should come before Him with humility and gratitude, as well as a healthy fear of God.  And that respect and reverential awe will help us cultivate holiness in our lives.

I encourage you to take a moment to contemplate our great God, high and lifted up on His throne. . .He who is holy, holy, holy!  Seeing Him that way will help keep us from low living, from compromise that hinders us from being the holy vessels He wants to use.

That they may be saved

"Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer

to God for Israel is that they may be saved."

     Romans 10:1 (NKJV)

"Therefore I exhort first of all that

supplications, prayers, intercessions, and

giving of thanks be made for all men,

for kings and all who are in authority . . .

For this is good and acceptable in the

sight of God our Savior, who desires

all men to be saved and to come to the

knowledge of the truth."

    1 Timothy 2:1, 3 (NKJV)

Paul had a deep longing for people to be saved, as does our Lord, and he exhorted others to share this prayer burden.  The reality of the righteous judgment of God to come is sobering and scary; it should motivate us to pray for people we know who are not saved.

Most of my intercessory prayers are for salvation and there are people who’ve been on my list for years, but I’ve not seen evidence that any of them have turned to Christ---yet.  It's easy to become discouraged when we don’t see answers to our prayers.  That’s the wrong attitude because it assumes we have the right timing, that we know the big picture, when we don’t. God’s ways and timing are perfect; ours are not. We have to trust Him to answer how and when it’s right according to His plan. And remember--delays don’t necessarily mean denials. 

When we pray for someone’s salvation, it is a spiritual battle because the devil works hard to oppose those prayers.  But we can’t give up.  Salvation is too important—it’s all-important!  When we pray for someone to be saved, we know that is a prayer that God loves to hear and answer. So we should not lose heart when we don’t see any breakthrough, even when it takes a long time. Trust that God is working behind the scenes in ways that we can’t see or know. Trust that the victory will come, in His time and in His way.  And keep on praying!

I didn't come up with this list but thought I'd share some ways to pray for people who are unsaved:

--They would have a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19);

--They would come to Christ (John 14:6);

--Their hearts would be opened to believe the Gospel (Acts 16:14);

--They would be granted repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth (2 Tim. 2:25-26);

--Their eyes would be unblinded to see the glory of Christ (2 Corinth. 4:4);

--They would respond to the Holy Spirit's conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8).

I'm sure there are many more that could be added here, but I hope this is helpful.  Intercessory prayer is a privilege and a glorious burden, to plead for the souls of those we know and love. . .that they may be saved. 

Thursday Devotional - Battles a Blessing?

Do you think of battles as blessings? I don’t, certainly not while I’m going through the battle.

Joshua faced one battle after another. God could have rained down hail on all the Canaanites or had an earthquake swallow them up, but He didn’t. He chose to work through Joshua and the Israelites one battle at a time in order to give them the wonderful land He had promised.

Joshua 11:18-20 and 23     ¹⁸ Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time. ¹⁹ Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle. ²⁰ For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses…

²³ So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war.

Not only did Joshua face one battle after another, by God’s design, but God had the enemies start the conflict! I’m not rejoicing when conflict arises, but God can use it to help us grow, mature, learn and experience the blessings He has for us on the other side!

What battle is going on in your and my life right now that God might be using to eventually bring blessings?

God had Joe and me battle infertility for about 9 years because He was paving the way for us to adopt James and Sarah! Plus, He had lots of ways for us to grow closer to Him and to each other through the struggles.

What battle has God blessed you through in the past?

Let’s remember these blessings as we face new battles.

Alice

Relationship Over Ritual

Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting— they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings.  Isaiah 1:13

My daughter came to me the other day, and said, “Dad, you know I love you.”  You would think that after 13 years, she would know that I’m keenly aware something else comes after that.  However, with each passing year she gets a little more adept at saying it.  It’s gotten to the point that to the outsider, they would say, “Awe!  That is so adorable!  You have an amazing daughter!”  To be honest, she is just that; an amazing and growing young lady.  I’m still trying to figure out how I ended up with all the strong-willed black women in my life (mom, wife, both daughters).  But of course, as the verse that prefaces this devotion would suggest it is not the point of this story.  She really loves me, and I know this.  However, the pressing need for this one is to try to get her friend to spend the night.  “I don’t know, Mya,” I reply.  Immediately, she subtly says, “Ok,” as she senses weakness for a flat out ‘No’ means she has to plea much harder.  This time, I let her have her way because despite the fighting and various tete-a-tete’s we have had, she has learned to reign in her emotions a bit more.  It’s the obedience to authority as much as her love that I want her to have, and while ever slowly, she is surely starting to get the hang of it.

God places a high value on obedience to Him.  In the book of Isaiah, there was lots of prophesying of Christ to come and save us.  However outside of that, it was a pretty bleak and dark time as God was using Isaiah to speak of His utter disappointment with the people of Israel.  He was so disappointed that He compared them to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (see Isaiah 1:10).  In case you are not as familiar with those places, they were the places God burned to ashes because of their disobedience.  Not the two places you want to be parallel to, right?  In the verse today, God was seemingly throwing His hands in the air saying the Israelites’ offerings were not good enough.  But again, the replay referee comes, and says, “After further review,” it’s not the gifts, celebrations, or days of fasting that bothered Him.  It is the actions done without true love and devotion toward Him!  It is exactly like my daughter saying, ‘I love you’ only when she wants something.  God shouldn’t be ‘God’ when we are desperate for His help or desire something.  It is not that we should not pray for those things.  What the verse today says is that we are to love and be obedient to Him regardless of His provisions.  It is then that He is responsive.  He is then not only gracious but also abundant in His blessings.

Loving God and His authority must come first and foremost for that is key to the kingdom.  With love of Him comes following His word, allowing Him to use us for His purpose, and a higher love for others than we could find on our own.  These are easy things to know, but without guidance and consistent practices to stay faithfully obedient, we could easily end up as the Israelites when Isaiah spoke to them.  Let us make a commitment to focus on having an authentic, loving, and selfless relationship with the one true living God.  Where are you falling lax in your spiritual growth?  What disciplines can you put in place to avoid going through the motions in your walk of faith?  My prayer is that we focus on the relationship over rituals.  Amen.

Parents know all

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

As kids, we would do something wrong then try to hide it from our parents.  It never worked though. They always seemed to find out.  Of course, how much trouble I would get in would depend upon what I had done.  Now, as a parent, I find myself often telling my son that if something happens, he will get in less trouble if he tells me right away, rather than me having to find out on my own. 

While God is all knowing and we can’t hide anything from him, I believe he feels the same as any parent in the sense that he wants us to come to him and tell him what we have done wrong.  When we confess our sins to him, he will forgive us.

Today I encourage you to be open with God and confess your sins.

Spring Clothes

“Do not lie to one another, since you

have put off the old man with his deeds,

and have put on the new man who is

renewed in knowledge according to the image

of Him who created him. . .Therefore, as

the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on

tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness,

longsuffering; . . .But above all these things,

put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

     Colossians 3:9-14 (NKJV)

Spring is finally here and I’m looking forward to putting away my thick sweaters, heavy coat and other winter gear, and putting on my spring clothing.  In the above passage, Paul talks about putting off the old man and putting on the new man, as if they are garments.  And he makes it seem easy, like we just go to the closet and get rid of our old clothes, take our new outfit and don it. 

I don’t know about you, but I often struggle with living according to my new nature and not letting my old flesh have its way.  Thankfully, Paul admits he struggles with this too:  “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” (Romans 7:18-19, NKJV)  This gives me encouragement.

True believers have the Holy Spirit living within us and that gives us power in this putting off and putting on.  And when we stumble and make a mistake, go to the Lord and tell Him about it.  But don’t stay in defeat—that’s a tactic the enemy likes to use to keep us down and ineffective.  Trust that Christ, who is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2, NKJV), has begun a good work in us and He will complete it (Phil. 1:6). 

Our sanctification in His hands.  So let’s rejoice in our gracious Lord as we put on our new clothes daily—tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, love.  Spring is a season of hope and our spiritual garments should reflect the blessed hope we have in Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).

Thursday Devotional - Easy Victories?

After the sun stood still, I think God used that to also give Joshua added confidence for all the next battles he would face. If God could stop the sun to help Joshua defeat enemies, then nothing was too difficult and no army too strong. 

Joshua 10:40-43 ⁴⁰ So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded. ⁴¹ Joshua subdued them from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza and from the whole region of Goshen to Gibeon. ⁴² All these kings and their lands Joshua conquered in one campaign, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.

⁴³ Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.

God was the one who gave the victory to Joshua. Joshua did have to work and work hard, but God gave him the strength and help needed. God could have defeated all the Canaanites on His own, but He had Joshua and the Israelites participate for their own benefit and blessing.     

I’ve learned over the years to change the way I pray about some things. Instead of always asking God to fix this or do that, I often stop and ask for wisdom and direction to know how to be part of the solution. God wants to include us in His work. We grow and mature as we experience God’s help through challenges. As Joshua learned, we can learn to trust God, go to Him for help, rely on His strength, persevere to accomplish His purposes, and then experience the joy of God’s victories!!!

Where are you and I asking God for the easy way out? Let’s be like Joshua, willing to persevere and work hard, relying on God’s strength. God then let’s us share in His victories!!!

Alice