Wednesday Morning Devotional

Job 1:18 a messenger came to Job and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house.  It collapsed on them, and they are dead.  

Matthew 2:16 When King Herod realized he had been outwitted by the wise men, “he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys two years old and younger in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”  

John 11:21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

John 5:5 One who was there had been an invalid there for 38 years.

Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as if were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Everywhere I turn lately, there seems to so much pain, suffering, and death.  Really great people, men, and women of God are leaving this world and, from what I can see, are not being replaced.  I think I’m trying to say that there seems to be a lot of great leaders like Moses dying, and there aren’t a whole lot of successors like Joshua replacing them.

In addition, there is so much sickness and death.  I’m finding myself praying out loud with people more and more.  Whether I am sitting with someone at church, praying over the phone, or even on the cereal aisle at Ingles, there is no shortage of people who need prayer.

I used the verses today to show us that we are not and have never been alone in the things that we go through.  The people in the Bible knew the same pain that we feel now.  I don’t know how he is so good at it, but the devil seems to convince us that we are all alone in our suffering and that it is unique.  Sometimes I can even doubt my own salvation and be convinced that John 3:16 is for everyone but me . . . as if I wasn’t included in “the world” that God so loved.  It is crazy.

I don’t know about you, but evil seems to be working overtime right now.  I know just about every generation has believed that they were in “the last days,” and I will say that I’m no different . . . I believe we are in the last days.

Dear reader, please pray.  Let’s find out if 2 Chronicles is 7:14 is true or not.  Today, agree to get alone with God, meditate on Him, and pray.  If possible, pray out loud.  If possible, set a timer so that you remain in His presence for at least 20 minutes.  Christians today talk a lot about prayer, but I’m not so sure that they actually pray.  I’m also not saying that I’m the best example of a prayer warrior.  I wish that I did it more “just because” and not because I simply need or want something.  Every time I get into His presence, I wonder why I do anything else.

Today, Let’s pray.

Lord, I praise Your Name.  I know Your Word is truth, and I know that it works.  There is nothing difficult that You’ve asked me to do that I haven’t reaped incredible benefits from doing.  Every time I am a doer of the Word, my faith increases, my ability to persevere increases, and best of all, my love for You increases.  Following You and Your ways breeds more following You and Your ways.  Lord, help us . . . save us.  I know where it will all begin.  It will begin with people who say they are Christians actually living out Christianity.  It will begin with Christians praying.  Let it start with us.  Let it start with me.  Amen!

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.  – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Myles Standish was a participant in the first Thanksgiving.  He, and several of his friends had just lost their wives due to illness while trying to literally build a new life in the New World.  The thing we can learn from them is this:  Their thankfulness was not deterred by their circumstances.

Right now, if you are trying at all to talk to people about the Lord, you will find that people are hurting.  Tomorrow, I know of several whose tables are going to be missing some important people.  Things have not gone like many have hoped.  In these types of circumstances, we the ultimate test of thanks:  Regardless of what life has thrown at you, can you still give God glory, honor, and praise?

This hurting world is in desperate need of Christians whose circumstances don’t define them.  Bitterness, despair, and hopelessness are not currently in short supply.  The only solution I know that truly works is to get alone with God!  You will find that His promise to never leave you nor forsake you is true.  Only in Him is true hope and true fulfilment found.  Then, and only then, will you and I be the light that so shines before men.  Then people will begin to want what you have . . . peace that passes all understanding.  That is the first thing I thought when I read about Myles . . . he had this peace the Bible speaks of.  

Lord, I more than likely have more Thanksgivings behind me than before me.  Help me appreciate them more and more.  Help me be closer to you each time another one comes.  Give me a heart that wants to rejoice in all things.  I look so forward to the day when my faith becomes sight.  May Your presence be mightily felt to those whose tables are missing some regulars.  May You give us the wisdom to know that one day we will be the ones missing.  But what a glorious day when we have our first Thanksgiving with You, Lord!  Thank You for the love and presence You are giving me as I sit here and type!  I love You, Lord!  Amen!

For we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  – Ephesians 6:12.

I don’t know about you, but I’m being pounded spiritually lately.  The closer I try to draw nearer to God, the more I am bombarded with wicked thoughts.  I’m being tempted more than ever.  Vile images run through my head at crazy weird and random times.  I rebuke them in the name of Jesus, I put on the helmet of Salvation, and I quote the Word of God.  As soon as I do these things, I hear this voice that sounds like me.  It tells me that I can’t use His Name.  It tells me that quoting the Word will do me no good.  The voice tells me that because the thoughts have entered my mind, God will have nothing to do with me.  I refuse to believe it and I go near to God boldly, not because I’m presumptuous, but because Hebrews 4:16 tells me I can.  This has been a consistent theme lately.

When I admit things like this from a pulpit, people who claim to be Christians either hate it, or they know exactly what I’m talking about.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Christianity does not thrive very well in free countries.  81% of Americans say they believe in God, yet you’d have to have quite a long conversation with each to get their definition of “believe,” as well as their definition of who they mean when they say “God.”  If I go into a church and preach against sin, and I mean not only the sin of the people sitting in the congregation, but my own as well.  If I show American Christians that there is no way that we have laid down our lives for the Lord when we can’t even be inconvenienced in a store or restaurant, the response from some is to pray for our hearts, but the decision makers who give the money and have control the church seem to ask that I not return.  Even at my own church, it has gotten me called “too fundamental.”  

I do want to mention here that I’m halfway through a season of filling it at Mt. Freedom in Mountain Rest.  There has been a good response so far and the Spirit and power of God has been amazing.  

Please answer this question honestly in your heart:  Why do you follow Jesus?  I will tell you straight up that I have served God because he was a get out of hell free card, because I thought He would bless me financially, because I thought He would keep me safe, and because I thought He would protect me and my loved ones while never allowing any trials or hardships in my life.  When I have served Him for those reasons . . . I’ve always been disappointed in Him.  Sometime around 30 years of age, my wife and I said a prayer that changed my entire relationship with the Lord.  The prayer simply said this, “We will continue to serve You, Lord!  Not because of what You can do for us, but because we love You.”  

When did you begin truly serving the Lord for the right reasons?

Lord, we live in a world where people constantly use each other.  There is so much deception.  We live in a world where everyone wants maximum reward for minimum effort.  I’m not even going to pretend that I’m any different.  With all my heart I ask You to change me.  Make me more and more like You each and every day.  Help me to endure life’s trials with patience, knowing that patience teaches me to persevere.  I’m trying, Lord.  You know my heart . . . if there is any deceitfulness in my heart, please show me the way everlasting.  I’m trying to go out in public and win those who are far from You.  I’m trying to draw the religious brothers nearer to You.  I’m trying to encourage the faithful to keep on keeping on.  I must admit, Lord . . . this is making me weary and vulnerable.  Yet I realize that I don’t have to fight in my own strength . . . I can fight in Yours.  Strengthen me and every true follower reading this.  Amen.

Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me. – Psalm 116:7

Lately, I have been operating at extremes.  My highs are amazingly high, and my lows are pretty low.  As soon as I realize I’m in a low place, I have as immediately as possible forced my thoughts to the goodness of God.  I bypass all the evil speaking to me that gives me reason after reason that I can’t go into God’s presence.  I cannot even begin to tell you how valuable this has been.  I don’t know if the spiritual forces of evil are really ramping up, but it sure feels like it.

One of my favorite things to pray lately is the armor of God. The piece that means the most to me right now is the breastplate of righteousness.  When I’m putting it on in my mind, all I can do is thank God over and over.  One of the evilest ploys of the devil is to make you and I believe that we must earn our salvation.  I don’t know about you, but when I give an honest grade to my Christianity, it is never that high of a mark.  Even when God shows up the most, there is usually some bad attitude that I had beforehand or some horrid thought that, if I had followed, would have derailed it all.  In His presence, there is nothing but awe and wonder that He even allows me to participate.  It is an amazing feeling knowing that I can simply put on righteousness.  He gives it to us!  All other religions make you earn it.  Jesus just straight up gives it to us if we will simply put it on.

Even this morning, it is like my mind is gravitating towards anxiety, busyness, and worry.  But the truth is, I have over an hour before I even leave my house.  I have spent those single hours before just playing on the internet, meandering around the house, or just thinking about all that must get done and how expensive it is going to be.  Not once has doing any of that made my day better.  What has made my day better is getting lost in the Word of God, worshipping to a great song, praying and/or soaking in His presence.  It does not change what has to get done, but it sure changes me.  I find that so often I wind up enjoying what normally would have been an exhausting, drama-filled, and stressful day. 

Our God knows how to work all things for our long-term good.  You and I have an enemy whose sole purpose is make you think otherwise.  Do not trade short-term pleasures for long-term peace.  It is never worth it!  

Ask Eve in Genesis 3 

Ask Achan in Joshua 7

Ask Samson in Judges 16

Ask David in 2 Samuel 11-12

Ask Gehazi in 2 Kings 5

Feel free to comment any more of these that you can think of.

Lord, with all my heart I love You, I thank You, I appreciate You, and I simply worship You.  You are the God over all gods. You are the ultimate truth.  I’m still amazed with all my flaws, with all my disobedience, and with all my apathy that you still find ways to work in me and through me.  Help me to slow everything down, Lord.  I want to walk with You.  I want to walk with You through the hard parts of my day as well as the easy parts.  Lead me, O Lord!  Guide me, O Lord! Keep Thou my feet on the narrow path.  May the joy of my walk lead others to join me.  Amen.

And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. – 2 Corinthians 12:15

This past weekend I was spent.  I wasn’t spent because I had a million things to do and tried to accomplish them all . . . I was spent spiritually.  You know the best part?  It was wonderful.  It all started when I was playing music at the Tavern at Windsor.  There was one lady there who a while back actually requested for me to play something by All Sons and Daughters.  At the places I play, I get a lot of requests . . . but never a request for All Sons and Daughters.  I played “All the Poor and Powerless,” and “Brokenness Aside.”  There weren’t many people on that patio, but I sure felt the Lord right there with me as I sang those song for Him.

Saturday, I helped with Mt. Freedom’s Fall Festival.  I set up my music stuff and just sat and played songs for the Lord.  I treated it like it was just me and Him for a couple of hours and I was playing with Him and for Him.  No fireworks or anything like that, just a sweet feeling of hanging out playing music for my Lord.  In between my sets, I was playing my praise and worship list.  There was a lady there who asked me about the artists on my playlist.  I told her names like William McDowell and Eddie James.  I could tell she was excited to check them out.  It was all so simple . . . I just felt like God was moving.

Sunday, I preached at 10:30 and 4:00.  The 10:30 service was so powerful.  By the time I prayed at the end of the service, I just did not want to leave the presence that I was feeling.  We had communion, and after the service a man from Alabama, and a man from Georgia came up and told me what the Lord spoke to them through the message.  My mind was blown.  I couldn’t believe how the Lord had used me all weekend.  I went home and crashed.  I got up and prepared for the 4:00 service.  There were only 6 of us, but we had a conversation about what it looked like when each of us began to follow Jesus.  We prayed for each other.  I prayed with each of them . . . I was spent.  I was spent, yet I left so full.  Even sitting here right now, I have a million things going on and I could easily let them overwhelm me.  

I’m spent . . . yet I am full.

Lord, the more I learn about Your kingdom, the more I realize I’m clueless about Your kingdom.  The way up is truly down.  The way to be great is truly to serve.  I’m not even going to act like I know what I’m doing, but I’m sure thankful for this past weekend.  I’m thankful for this moment right here, right now . . . a moment where I appreciate You and love You as much as ever.  The fact that You would reach down from Heaven, clean me up, and use me for Your service is nothing short of miraculous and wonderful.  I know I will end this prayer; I will take off to work, and at some point, I’ll get all wrapped up in my job and other worldly junk.  I will not think much about You.  But right now . . . right here in this moment . . . I’m so thankful.  Amen.

Show Me, O Lord

You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.  – Psalm 16:11

Lord, I don’t know what David was going through when he wrote this psalm, but I imagine he was struggling.  Maybe this was between the promise of him being king of Israel and him actually being the king of Israel.  Maybe he was doubtful.  Maybe he was simply overwhelmed. 

I can certainly relate in this moment, Lord.  I despise how I go through this life slowly taking on more and more until I find myself overwhelmed.  I even find myself doing all kinds of things for You, but not really getting alone with You.  I’m talking to You a lot, but not simply soaking in Your presence.  Every time I simply get into Your presence, I never want to leave.  It is the place where I get so full and it is the only time I ever taste the joys of living life moment by moment.  Help me, Lord to keep this little song in my heart.  For no matter what I face today, I know that You are with me.  You are showing me the way of life, now grant me the joy of Your presence and the pleasures of living with You forever.

Moment by moment I’m kept in His love

Moment by moment I’ve life from above

Looking to Jesus til glory doth shine

Moment by moment O Lord I am Thine.

Grant me this day, Lord the awareness not just to live for You, but with You.  Amen.

“Take away the stone,” he said.  “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.  – John 11:38-39

We live in a world where the overwhelming majority of people who call themselves Christians make little to no effort to show the world Christianity.  Part of the answer may lie in Acts 11:26, “the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.”  I don’t think we were ever intended to call ourselves “Christians.”  Other people (outside of Christianity) are supposed to call us Christians because we live differently than the culture.  Our obedience to Christ does not save us, our trust in the work He did on the cross does that, but obedience should define us.

Unfortunately, we use the same excuse Martha did, “Lord, doing what You say stinks.”  Obedience is often difficult. Evil convinces us that if God doesn’t come through, it could be embarrassing for us, and let’s face it, as Americans, we want everything done for us with minimal to no effort on our part.  We don’t want to have to do anything.  Most Americans are content to show up to church on Sunday morning, have their “toes” stepped on, and then go live the rest of the week exactly like they did the previous week.  

I’m asking the Lord this morning, “What stone can I move?”  The things God asks of us are completely doable.  He told Peter to cast his net out on the other side of the boat (Luke 5:4).  Peter didn’t want to (Luke 5:5), but that act of obedience produced the presence of God like he had never known before.  What act of obedience can I do that will open the door for God to do what only He can do?

One act of obedience for me is simply to write these WMD’s.  One day when a guy from Kenya told me that he read one of these at his church, I was blown away.  Another time, a guy from Florida read one to his football team before they took the field.  I can take 30 minutes to an hour each week to write these things.  I can roll this one stone away.  I can’t change anyone’s heart, mind, and life.  I can’t forgive sins . . . only Jesus can do that.  But, just maybe, I can roll a stone away that paves the way for Him to do so.

One of the hardest and most rewarding things I’ve done was make the decision to play music in wine bars, taprooms, and taverns.  When I first thought God was asking me to do this, I felt like Peter when he was told he could eat unclean foods . . . “Surely not, Lord!” (Acts 10:14).  I didn’t listen to nor play the stuff that I used to play.  I began to think about how so many kids in school hated me simply because I was a teacher . . . especially a math teacher.  Yet, so often, if I had a guitar in my hand and played any Metallica riff, the kid suddenly thought I was the coolest guy in the world.  He would for the first time open up, talk to me, and even learn from me.  I began to think that there just might be people in the places I might play who are running from God.  I thought that playing one well-placed worship song might be enough for God to point them back towards home.  

This proved to be correct.

What are the stones that you can roll away today?

Lord, with all my heart I want to follow You.  Use me to lead as many people as possible to a saving relationship with You.  I don’t want to die having taken no one with me to Heaven.  You are and always will be the greatest thing this life offers.  Use us, Your people, to roll stones away . . . we can do that.  But only You can bring the dead to life.  Help us Father to get this right . . . especially at a time where your return is so near.  Amen.

Lord, I humble myself and bow before You, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Thank You so much for entering this world when You did and giving Your life on the cross that I and anyone else who would receive the mercy and grace that You extended there could be saved.  Anyone can be made clean and have access to You.  What a gift!  What an honor!

I’m so sorry that I don’t take more advantage of this access.  But, when I do take advantage, oh the joys that I find!  I find myself wondering why I do anything else.  Lord, I look so forward to the day when my faith becomes sight.  This world and time in general are moving so fast.  Help me to slow down and enjoy walking with You, for You are with me.

I pray for the people who will read this WMD.  I pray that Your presence just floods each and every soul.  I pray that Your goodness and mercy will follow them all the days of their lives.  Should anyone reading this not know You, convict them of their sins, and let them know that they are invited to the altar of repentance.  Turning to You has and always will be the single greatest moment of my life.  Thank You for still working on me and never letting me go.  

I pray for this country, Lord.  The United States of America . . . who could not be less United.  I pray that You will send revival, Lord.  May the hearts of men truly turn back to You, the one true God!  May those who call themselves Christians humble themselves, pray, seek Your face, and turn from their wicked ways.  For only then will You hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land.  Unite us through the power of the cross.

I pray for Christians around the world, Lord.  Many endure persecution for believing in You.  Comfort them and be ever so present with them.  Be ever so present with me as I go to work in Your Name.  May the Spirit of the living God lead, guide, and direct my path.  All I know is that my time on this Earth is ridiculously short . . . let me waste none of what I have left.

May Your Name be exalted.

Amen

Have a Little Talk with Jesus

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.  – 1 Peter 5:7

Saturday, I drove the Walhalla Cross Country teams to Greenwood.  Cross country runs super early.  They were leaving the school at 5:45 am.  These kinds of jobs are right up my alley.  After everything and everyone was loaded up, it was time for the hour and forty-minute ride.  I realized that I had gotten straight out of bed and went straight to the bus, so I had spent no time with the Lord.

As I took off down the road, I started thinking about everything.  I have a lot going on right now, house problems which could lead to financial problems.  Relationship problems which tend to lead to anxiety.  I thought about conversations that needed to be had.  I thought about telling everything to my wife, then I thought “she might not care for a 5:50 am conversation, plus I can’t talk out loud on this bus right now.”  Then I began to sing a song in my head that I haven’t sung in quite a while:

I may have doubts and fears

My eyes be filled with tears

But Jesus is a friend who watches day and night

I go to Him in prayer

He knows my every care

Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right

So, I started at the beginning.  He showed me everything I needed to move forward and have peace in my heart.  He showed me how big of a sin it was to have Him as my father and be anxious.  By the time I was finished, I realized forty minutes had gone by and I was at perfect peace.  I was at such perfect peace that I drove by two places that always stir up hurt, anger, and depression with in me . . . and I didn’t even think about it.  He finished with, “When you give it all to me and focus on me, those kinds of things will never bother you again.”  I was blown away.  To say that I had a great day would be an understatement.  I still had all kinds of stuff to do and responsibilities to deal with, but man was I at perfect peace.

Lord, I can’t thank you enough for the privilege of prayer.  I can’t believe I don’t take more advantage of it than I do.  Talking with You for that long and just casting every care upon You was about as freeing as the day I got saved in the first place.  You are amazing!  To think that You’ve got me and are leading me safely home just might be the greatest joy of my life as I sit here and type this.  Help everyone reading this to get along with You and have a little talk.  I love You, Lord.  Amen.

In the Beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  – Genesis 1:1

I had to take a day off from teaching yesterday to stay home and work on the foundation of my house.  My dad and I (mostly my dad) had to take care of some water damage in two places caused by a water heater and a leaky drain.  I was hunched over walking around in my crawl space and I’m feeling it pretty good this morning.  

For the past two weeks, I have been studying a Biblical worldview.  As I was praying this morning in the crisp, cool air, I realized that I’ve been fixing some things that were foundationally wrong with my faith.  For weeks before that, I was studying and researching on why so many Christians were leaving the faith in this “exvangelical” movement.  People who had at one time followed Jesus, and I mean lots of people, are doing just like they did in John 6:66 and following Jesus no more.

The big question is why?  The first two paragraphs I’ve written this morning are very connected.  According to a Gallop Poll from July of last year, only 40 % of people who called themselves Christians believe the Bible is the word of God.  51% basically said “parts of the Bible are true.”  The worst part, at least to me, was that 8% said it was simply a book of fables, history, and moral precepts written by men.  

We are in trouble!  We have been in trouble and didn’t realize it.  Somehow, we have entered this time period where pastors and evangelicals have preached that “accepting Jesus” is enough.  It doesn’t matter what you believe about the Bible, just “receive Jesus” and you’ll be okay.  Often, John 3:16 is used to defend this position.  But John 3:16 begins, “For God so loved the world that He gave . . .”  We believe and place our trust in Jesus within the bigger context that it is the God of the Holy Bible who sent Him.  If you take Jesus out of the context of the Bible as God’s holy word, then you end up with a Jesus who happens to look, act, and believe exactly as you do.

I’ve always believed the Bible was the word of God.  However, I have allowed parts of the secular worldview to damage my foundation.  The slow drip began for me in college.  I remember my science professor being crazy smart and interesting.  I didn’t know it at the time, but instead of simply rejecting a lot of the teaching, I began to fit a lot of that teaching into my beliefs.  I began to say things like, “well, God could have created it all by the Big Bang.”  I began to think that maybe each day of creation was a thousand-year period of time instead of simply taking God at His word.  I have identified and corrected quite a bit these past couple of weeks.

Hopefully my physical house and my spiritual house will be foundationally solid again very soon.

Lord, I want to fully believe in You and Your word.  I don’t want to waver and allow secular humanism to creep into what I know to be true.  Help us, Your people who are called by Your name to humble ourselves, pray, seek Your face, and turn from our wicked ways.  Oh how we need You to hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land.  Evil has damaged so many Christian foundations by doing the same thing to us it did to Eve in the garden, “Did God really say . . .?”  Help us, Lord, we have so many Christians who have no handle on Your word and therefore don’t believe 2 Timothy 3:16.  Send a true revival, Lord.  Send it soon!  Amen!