Wednesday Morning Devotional

Fasting in 2013

But when you fast… — Matthew 6:16

It’s hard to believe Christmas has come and gone…again.  I heard a 4^th grader pray over Christmas dinner and say in her prayer “this year has gone by so fast.”  I don’t know about you, but I remember time going by slowly when I was in school.  I felt like I would never get out of there.  The years seemed to take forever.  Not so today…we just celebrated our 6^th Christmas with my little girl, and my 4^th with my little boy.   Time has seemed to hit some sort of warp speed.

I believe there are two types of Christian.  The first type simply wants salvation from Hell.  They fit perfectly into our American society that screams “give me something for doing absolutely nothing.”  Let me say a prayer, get my forgiveness, live life the way I want, and I’ll see you in Heaven.  I know this type well because I was this type for several years.  These are possibly the most harmful people on the planet.  They claim to know Christ, yet people who are not Christians watch them and think “why in the world would I want to be a Christian?  They are no different than me. Christ makes NO DIFFERENCE in a person’s life.  They cuss like me, get mad and fly off the handle like me, get drunk like me, hate other people like me, ditch church like me, don’t give like me, and don’t make an attempt to read the Bible much less live it…like me.”

Then, there are Christians who make a difference.  When I met the first few “real deal” Christians, I immediately wanted the Christianity they had.  It was a whole lot different than the Christianity I had.  They had peace.  They had joy.  They could hit bad golf shots and not cuss or even get angry.  They could have someone cut them off in traffic only to go 10 miles an hour and they didn’t seem the least bit upset.  They could get in a mile long line at Target and make no complaints.  They didn’t have to go to church, they loved going to church.  They knew their Bible.  In fact, they had read it several times and planned on reading it several times more…and liked it.  How in the world could I get what they had?  I wanted it!

The answer is what I like to think of as fasting.  True fasting is going without food, period.  But, most Christians are not ready for that at all.  The words of Jesus are the bread of life, and far too many people who claim to be Christians are going without it.  The reason we behave like the world is that we are constantly feeding ourselves with the same things that the world feeds on.  Once again, we listen to the same music, read the same books, and watch the same TV shows and movies.  If anything in you wants more of God…you need to go on a fast.  I am simply going to throw out a couple of suggestions.  Decide what is right for you, set the time and go for it!

1.  Most of the people in our church do Daniel’s Fast from Daniel 10:2.  No bread, no meats, no sweets, and drink only water for 21 days.  For me, it is difficult…especially the first week.  If you’ve never done it before, don’t get bogged down in specifics, just decide what fruits, vegetables and beans you can tolerate for 3 weeks and go for it.  If 3 weeks sounds too rough, go to 2 weeks or even 1 week.  When I’m doing this I stay hungry and am never satisfied physically.  But that hunger reminds me that I’m doing this for the Lord which in turn keeps my mind constantly on Him.  I am in such good tune with Him.  If you told me “I got saved today” right now I would say “that is GREAT” and I would mean it.  But, if you told me that while I’m fasting, at some point I would probably break down and cry because the goodness of God would just overwhelm me.  It just makes your spirit super-sensitive to Him…a very nice place to be!

2.  If you don’t spend time reading the Bible and praying, you need to start.  Turn the TV off, shut down the computer, hide the iPad, turn the cell phone off, basically get away from media.  When you find yourself gravitating toward it, go to your Bible, go to your knees in prayer, but fill your mind with as much God as possible.  If you are a music junkie, you can still listen to music, but it can only be music that glorifies and honors the Lord.  You might even put some sermons on there and listen to them.  The idea is to fill your mind with as much God as possible.  Set the time period.  I suggest 21 days.

I couldn’t even begin to tell you how God has changed me through this practice of fasting at the beginning of every year.  I know it will change you as well.  Set the dates and go for it.  Get 2013 started off right!

Later

Adam

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters–one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” —  Matthew 17: 4-5

I learn so much from Peter.  When you read about him, he seems to always say the wrong thing at the wrong time.  In this chapter Peter saw Jesus transfigured.  He also saw Moses and Elijah.  Peter made a major mistake by putting Moses and Elijah on the same playing field as Jesus.  God quickly intervened and basically said “it isn’t about Moses, it isn’t about Elijah…it’s all about my son, Jesus!”

Now, Peter made his mistake and got corrected all in a moment.  I realize now that I made the same mistake when I was a beginning Christian.  Unfortunately, mine took about 10 years before I realized it.  Let me explain.

Moses represents the Law…the 10 commandments.  When I first got saved, I thought that the most important thing I needed to do was start keeping them.  No more lying, no more cussing, no more…whatever.  The only problem was, I was a terrible rule keeper.  I found myself right in the middle of sin time and time again.  I always felt like God was dangling me over the fires of Hell.  I always felt like He was mad at me and I always felt like I was letting Him down.  This continued for quite a few years.

Elijah represents the prophets…the preachers of the day.  I remember flipping through the channels and finding a pastor named Jentezen Franklin that immediately hooked me.  He was dynamic, he was incredibly knowledgeable, and I just drank in every word he had to say.  I have two shoe boxes upstairs with over 200 cassette tapes that have his sermons on them.  He was the man…if Jentezen said it, I believed it, and that settled it.  I didn’t realize it, but I had a new problem.  Even though I was growing in knowledge like crazy, I didn’t have a real connection with God myself.  I knew He connected with Jentezen…He just wasn’t connecting with me.  Once again, it took a few years, but I realized that I was living off of another person’s anointing.  I didn’t want that…I wanted the anointing myself.

I sure wish I had read Matthew 17:4-5 years ago and put it all together.  Right there God Himself tells me in plain Salem-ese “Adam, it aint about doing good, it aint about goin’ to church and listenin’ to all the preachers…it’s about my Son, Jesus Christ, who laid His life down for you  All you have to do is listen to Him.”

How freeing is that?  My task is a simple one, though I dare not call it “easy.”  I must search the Holy Scriptures and simply look for Jesus.  He is there…all over the place.  The whole book tells of His great love for us.  Every single time I find Him, I must listen to Him.  I must just hang on His every word and let it sink as deep into my heart as it can possibly go.  I have found that the more I do this, the more I don’t HAVE to do what is right, but the more I WANT to do what is right.

If you think you are a “good person,”  you are not.  Certainly not good enough to go to Heaven.  If you don’t believe me read Psalm 14:3 or Romans 3:23.  Isaiah 64:6 tells us what He thinks of our righteous deeds.  Doing good things to impress God does not and will not save you…ever.

If you are placing your trust in a church or a preacher, their anointing won’t get you to Heaven.  Sure, they can point you in the right direction, can make you feel better and even help you grow in knowledge about God and the Bible…but they don’t save you.  Matthew 7:22-23 gives us a good example of this.  The people were saying “Lord, Lord did WE not…”  I think they were talking about some great things that were going on in their church.  Unfortunately, it is not about WE…it’s about Him and whether or not you have that relationship with Him. In verse 23 he plainly says “I never knew YOU.”

Only the blood of Christ which washes away your sin can save you.  Make absolutely 100% certain that you have asked Him into your heart and to forgive you for your sin.  Then, pursue Him with everything that you have.  Develop a relationship with the Savior of the World.

Who would have even thought that was possible?

“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

Later

Adam

The Eyes of The Lord

God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.  — Psalm 53:2

If God were to look down on The United States of America at any point today, would He be pleased?  I have asked a lot of people this question over the past couple of days and haven’t heard a “yes” yet.  It is almost unbelievable how there is an accelerated effort to remove God from everything in our nation.  I read the story of a six-year old who was told she couldn’t read the words “he prayed to God for help” on her Veterans Day paper at a school in N.C. that was about her grandfather.  I read where a school in Arizona was going to take a group of children to see a performance of “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown” at a church.  Even though there were permission forms that had to be signed and all that, there was a group of people that cried “separation of church and state” and the trip was over.  All of this happening in the same country where we say “One Nation, Under God” every morning before we start school.  At least…we say it for right now.

So, this brings a good question to light: If God does look down from heaven, what is he looking for?  The answer is given to us in Psalm 53:2.

First, He is looking for people who understand.  Understand what?  Well, in the previous verse he says that fools say in their heart “there is no god,” He says they are corrupt, vile, and that there is no one who does good.  If that is true, then it seems that there is no way that God could ever be pleased by the “sons of men.”  Unless…God is simply looking for people who understand this.  Maybe there is a group of people that understand that sin lives inside of them and that there is no way that they can make it without Him.  Maybe God is simply looking for people who understand and recognize that we need Him.  So often, I have tried to “do better” or “be better” with horrendous results.  Who knew that I had it all wrong?  God did!  He isn’t looking for my masterful performance in life.  He simply wants me to understand that without Him there is no Heaven, there is no forgiveness for sin, there is no presence of the Lord in and on my life.

Second, He is looking for people who seek Him.  It seems natural that if we understand that we need Him, we would spend some time seeking Him.  He was so cool to us that He had 66 different books survive for thousands of years.  Those books were combined into a collection we know as the Holy Bible.  Within those pages are the words to life…and life more abundantly.  If we would only  spend our lives reading it and applying it.  If we would only spend time in prayer waiting to hear His voice.

I think this is wonderful.  This totally takes the pressure off to perform for God.  I don’t have to “try harder” to “be a better person” or anything like that.  I simply have to understand that I need Him.  Then, because of that understanding, I have to seek after Him.

I can do that!

Can you?

Later

Adam

The People Rule

Matthew 7:12

I read this fascinating book called
“Beyond the Dead Forest.” It is about these two teenagers, Kat and Carter. They
go on this adventure in a land that only they can see. There, they help the
Guardian fight the Adversary. Kat and Carter’s ultimate weapon is a rule that
they come to know as “The People Rule.” It simply states that you are to treat
others as you would want to be treated. However, here’s the hard part, you are
to treat others like you would want to be treated regardless of how they treat
you. I highly recommend reading the book. The author is Steve Groll and I can give you an order form to order directly from him if you want a copy of the book.  It is like reading tons and tons of actual Bible applications…I loved it.

Why don’t we treat others the way we’d want to be treated? One day, over Christmas vacation, my little man got up early. I knew that he’d get loud and wake everybody up so I took him to McDonald’s to get a biscuit (Jameson calls them “bithkits”). They were swamped! We ordered and just sat down. I wasn’t in any hurry. However, this one dude had obviously been waiting a while for his gravy biscuit, and he was ticked. We got our whole breakfast before he got his gravy biscuit. By the time he got it, he made sure everybody in the store knew that he was inconvenienced.

In the meantime, there was this teenage girl. She had
gotten pancakes. The registers were just lined up with people. I watch her barge
through the line and say “excuse me” in a manner that wasn’t sincere at all. It
might as well have been “get out of MY way.” Then she said “I need some syrup!”
The cashier got her some syrup. Well, like 5 seconds later, she repeated the
process and said “I need some butter!” The cashier got her some butter. I just
sat there and prayed for both of those people and said “Lord, help me never
portray that kind of attitude towards other people.”

Well, a few days later my wife and I went to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We went to our favorite breakfast place, “The Red Rooster.” It was packed. To make a long story short,
we were there for an hour and a half. As soon as I started getting impatient, I
thought of those two at McDonald’s. I told my wife the whole story. I really
thought this was the Lord testing me to see how I’d react. I decided I was going
to pass. I was going to be respectful and encouraging to the waitress, I was
still going to leave a really good tip, I was going to treat them like I’d want
to be treated.

When it came time to pay, I was even going to let the guy behind me in front of me. I’m glad I did because through our conversation I found that Skillet was going to be playing right next door to the Red Rooster. As we left, I prayed out loud “Lord, will you make a way for us to get into that concert tonight?” To make another long story short, about 9:00 that night, we were rocking to some Skillet…for FREE!

Looking back now, I see more of how God works. I asked Him to help me never portray that kind of attitude towards other people. He then proceeded to set me up and give me a chance to not portray that kind of attitude. I recognized pretty quickly that He was testing
me. I decided to pass the test. He didn’t force me to pass, but He did force me
to take the test. The whole time, He had a reward in mind. If I had not been
patient, there is no way I would have met that last person in line. If I hadn’t
met that last person in line, there is no way that I would have known that
Skillet was performing next door that evening.

Make a habit of applying the people rule. God will make sure that you never regret
it!

Later

Adam

Testimony

A Christian should be the most thankful for his or her testimony.  God gave His Son that we might be free from the power and consequences of sin.  I know in 21 years of following Him He has changed my heart and mind so much.  Here is how it all got started.

I was 16 years old at Calvary Baptist church in Salem.  Steve James, my Sunday school teacher, taught a lesson on how hell is a real place and Jesus Christ did EVERYTHING he could to keep us from going there.  He asked at the end of the lesson for us to close our eyes and not look around.  He told us to raise our hand if we want to be saved.  I wanted so bad to raise my hand, but I didn’t.  I guess I cared too much about what my “friends” would think if I did, not once even considering they might be happy for me.  While looking at me, he told us if we needed him to talk to him, call him anytime.  Well, late that night, I knew there was no way I was going to sleep until I made things right.  Somehow, I just knew I was going to die in my sleep and wake up in Hell.  So, I called Steve.  He came and picked me up, took me to Stamp Creek Landing and led me in the Sinner’s Prayer.  I loved that feeling of the weight of sin just lifting off.  I felt light.  I felt free.

I wish I could say I lived it out after that.  For 5 years I was pummeled by Satan telling me I really didn’t get saved because I didn’t do it in front of my friends.  I thought that because I was ashamed of Him, now He was going to be ashamed of me.  I thought every time I said a cuss word or lied, I must not have really gotten saved.  I tried to do good, but the more I tried, the more I failed.  It wasn’t until I was 21 years old that I knelt by my bed and told God He could have my life.  I told Him I’d no longer try to “fit in” with the crowd.  I told Him I’d no longer try to keep one foot in the world, and one foot in church.  I decided I would do what He told me to do…no matter what.  This was the second time that weight lifted off of me (How much weight was I carrying anyway?)  I no longer felt I had to perform for God, I just had to live for God.  I began to hunger and thirst for righteousness.  I couldn’t get enough of the Bible, praise and worship music, church.  I just filled my mind and heart with Him for about 2 years.  If there was a revival somewhere, I was there!  If there was preaching on TV, I was watching.  If there was a tape to be heard of someone preaching the Word, I was listening.  Somewhere in the middle of all of this, I was transformed.  That put me on a series of steps that led me to right here, right now, and there is NO PLACE I’d rather be!  God is faithful, God is good, God is REAL…and if you want Him…Go get Him!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Adam

If you are willing and have time, consider writing out your testimony this week.  If you don’t mind, post it on WMD or e-mail it to me so I can post it.  You absolutely never know who might read it and begin their own journey with Him.

Today’s WMD was written by my wife.

The Altar Call

Many will say to me on that day ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and perform many miracles?‘  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you, away from me you evildoers!’ — Matthew 7:22-23

It appears that there is a certain theme that I keep running into and it has bothered me when I think of people that fit into this category. The theme is that there are people dying who think that they are Christians and are not. For some years, I think I probably fell into this category. I recently heard Gresham Barrett give his testimony, and it is one of the most powerful ones that I have heard. He talked about how he grew up in church and has been an active member of different churches throughout his life. He is now in his mid-fifties and a few years ago, he truly accepted the Lord into his life and was baptized as a public acknowledgement of burying his old ways and now living his life for the Lord. The courage that it takes for a person who has gone to church their whole life to be able to admit that and go around testifying about it amazed me. The one thing that resounded with me during his testimony was this thought. He said that through the years during the altar call and when the opportunity to pray the sinner’s prayer was given, he would always say the prayer just to make sure that he was okay. Now during an altar call, he is praying for other people to accept Christ as their Savior.

I have heard people comment that they are just not sure if they were truly saved. I have been asked “how can I truly know?” Well, I used to give my ideas of how I know, but I now think you should ask yourself this question during the altar call:  “What I am doing?” For many years, I was praying for myself, asking for forgiveness once again. Then one day, I do not know when, that changed and now I am praying for others to accept Jesus into their lives. But here is the very scary part for me when I think back, there was a certain amount of time during an altar call when I was looking at my watch, counting the verses in the song to see how soon it would be over, thinking about what I was going to do in 15 minutes, instead of praying for myself or for anyone else. Those were the years when I was “playing church”. Those are the people that I worry about the most. That is a very dangerous place to be. You are dependent on your ability to do the right thing, act like you’ve got it all together in front of everyone else, living to please yourself, and not having a heart to see lost people find the Savior. Unfortunately, I know some people reading this are in this situation. You will read this part and it will irritate you that you were called out. You will convince yourself that you are not “playing church” and that you are okay. I want you to please take a good look at yourself and check to see what you are doing the next time the altar call is given.

Matthew 7:15-20 talks about good fruit and bad fruit. Every person that has lived has produced both good and bad fruit. If your faith hasn’t changed you, then your faith hasn’t saved you. I am not talking about struggling with certain sins that seem to keep coming up. We all have areas that we must constantly work on; that is where grace and mercy come into the plan. I am talking about struggling less over the years with that particular sin and then moving on to tackle others. Are you able to display good fruit such as love, joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control?  Or, are you displaying more of impurity, jealousy, fits of rage, self-indulgence, and envy?

If you have been going through the motions of going to church and trying to be a good person but you cannot say that you actually remember ever asking Jesus to come into your life and live through you, please make that right. Your righteous acts cannot save you, only the forgiveness of sins by your Heavenly Father can. If you are not sure what kind of fruit you are producing, this is tough, but ask someone you trust to give it to you straight.

If you need to make things right with God, take this opportunity to commit your life to His plan. Tell him that you have sin in your life that needs to be forgiven. Believe and trust that He alone can save you and not the good things that you do trying to earn that salvation. And finally, you need to have the courage to tell someone that from this day forward, you know that you are a Christian. Be willing to have the courage of one that sat in church for most of his life letting others believe that he was a true Christian. Please let someone that you love know that if something were to happen to you today, that you are forgiven, saved, and that you will certainly see them for all of eternity in Heaven.

Looking forward,

Tonya

Four Years From Right Now

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. — 2 Chronicles 7:14

So, here it is…4 in the morning.  I couldn’t help but reach for the iPad.  I knew that America had already chosen their president for the next 4 years.  I found out…my heart sank.  For the first time I think ever, I am afraid to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.  I don’t know if I’m afraid for me, my kids, or their kids.  I’m not even sure I’m afraid simply because of the leader that we chose for the next four years.  Who is to say that WHOEVER got into the White House that the 16 TRILLION now would not become 32 TRILLION by 2016? Maybe I’m afraid because Americans are so perfectly divided…just look at the popular vote. I wonder how perfectly divided we were 151 years ago when the first shots of the Civil War were fired?  I don’t know.  All I know is that CHANGE is definitely here!  Half of America seems to like it…the other half does not.  Where will we be four years from right now?    I don’t know that either…but I do know the solution.

Check out the main verse for today.  Who has to humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from their wicked ways?  God’s people!  The only people who have to do these things are the people who call themselves Christians.  The atheists, agnostics, other religions and flat out God-haters can keep on doing and believing exactly as they want.  However, if you take the name of Christ and call yourself a CHRISTian, there are some things we must do and do immediately.  Let’s look at them.

Humble yourself:  When is the last time you knelt before God and thanked Him for the cross?  Forgiveness of sin is impossible without the cross.  Heaven is a place that nobody can enter without the cross.  Sin is impossible to overcome without the cross.  This morning, I just want to humble myself and increase the size of God, and decrease the size of myself.  Probably the worst thing sin does is make us look big, and Him small.  Humble yourself and see Him as the holy, majestic, mighty God that He is, but make sure you see yourself as the “vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes away.” (James 4:14)

Pray and seek His face:  When is the last time that you went before God?  Just you and Him.  Nobody around.  When is the last time you poured your heart out to Him?  When is the last time you felt His mighty presence and just sat there and cried because you feel that gap  being bridged between your sinfulness and His Holiness?  When is the last time that you just listened for His still soft whisper in silence on your knees?  When is the last time that you examined your heart and mind to see if there is anything in there that displeases Him?  I don’t know.  But, if you call yourself a Christian, today would be a perfect day.

Turn from their wicked ways:  What do you do that displeases God?  What do you listen to?  What do you watch?  What are you constantly pumping your mind with?  Please understand…if you don’t say you are a Christian, watch what you want and by all means, DO what you want!  But we as Christians are to worship the Lord our God with ALL our hearts, ALL our soul, ALL our MINDS, and all our strength.  If you honestly don’t know where to start…start here:

Search me O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  — Psalm 139:24

Why do all this?

Do this because of the PROMISE!

Then, I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land.  — 2 Chronicles 7:14

I have seen this happen on a much smaller scale.  Four years ago, 3 other teachers and myself went into a classroom early in the morning on a Wednesday.  Our school was in about as bad of shape as possible.  Test scores were horrendous, attitudes were horrible, teachers were leaving after 1 year, and people from the state were evaluating us to see what our problems were.  The four of us in that room decided that since we called ourselves Christians, that we would work like we are working for the Lord.  We decided that it didn’t matter what other teachers did.  It only mattered what we as people who called ourselves Christians did.  I can honestly say that whereas I used to HATE going into work, there is no place I’d rather go to work this morning than my little tiny school in Salem, SC.  God did hear from heaven, He did forgive our sin, and He did start this beautiful process of healing our school.

If you say you are a Christian, will you do your part to make sure the same thing happens in The United States of America?

Later

Adam