Wednesday Morning Devotional

I do believe that I see God moving around me like never before. The thing is, I don’t know if He is simply more active and I’m witnessing it, or if He has simply opened my eyes more so that I can see what He is doing all along. I have seen with my own eyes a young man come to the Lord in a parking lot at a store. I’ve seen a bunch of teenagers who care nothing about the Lord absolutely captivated by the story of Joseph. I’ve seen someone contemplating a return to church years after being hurt by it. I’ve even seen my own unforgiveness melt in the presence of my enemies.

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. – Matthew 6:6

When is the last time you prayed? I mean really prayed like Jesus tells us to pray. Yes, I pray while riding down the road. I pray while sitting comfortably in front of my heater reading His Word. Throughout the day, I offer up little prayers here and there. I’m not going to stop any of that. At the same time, none of it is praying the way Jesus says to pray. Do it the way He says to do it and feel what a difference it makes.

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. – Matthew 6:4

Jesus tells us that the poor will be with us always (Mark 14:7). Every time I’m confronted with the opportunity, my mind plays this game of imagining what the person will do with the gift that I give. Sometimes, I rationalize my way out of it. However, I’ve never failed to be blessed when I simply did Matthew 6:4. There is a way to meet a need without simply throwing money at a problem. There is a way to help and both of you be blessed. Ask the Lord for an opportunity to give in secret. Find out what this reward feels like. I think this even includes sharing the Gospel. We love to air on Facebook that “so many got saved this week,” and “hell lost another one.” Yet, when Jesus shared the Gospel to the woman at the well in John 4, He didn’t even tell His disciples what had happened. He simply said, “I’ve got food that you know nothing about.”

But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. – Matthew 6:17-18

A lot of people get lost right here. Fasting is very difficult, especially the first few days when your body goes through withdrawals. I’ve learned that if you eat well, fasting is a bit more tolerable than if you eat poorly. I read that Jonathan Edwards fasted for 24 hours before he preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Afterwards, all churches in the area opened their churches during the day during the lunch break hours. People, on their own, forsook their food to simply go to the nearest church and pray. They didn’t worry about denominational lines, they just wanted to hang out with their Lord at the closest available church.

How would you like to see a reward like that?

Lord, prompt Your people called by Your Name to humble themselves. There is no better way to do this than to fast. May American Christians be brought to a place where they want spiritual food more than physical food . . . even if just for 24 hours. Bring revival, Lord. Bring Your presence to Your people like You have so many times in the past. Bless us, keep us, make Your face shine upon us, and be gracious to us. Amen.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  – Psalm 51:10

Sitting here this morning, I can remember six times when I was truly broken over my sin.  In the verse above, David had taken another man’s wife, got her pregnant, and murdered her husband to cover it up.  He wasn’t even broken over that sin, at least until the preacher came and talked to him.  You can read it in 2 Samuel 11-12.

I only bring this up because it happened to me this past Sunday.  Right in the middle of preaching Daniel chapter 1, I apologized to my wife.  I apologized for doing something that I didn’t really even think about again until that moment in the pulpit.  I looked at her and told her that I was sorry.  Somehow, the sin that lived inside me, all of it, just surfaced and I began to weep . . . I mean sob.  I was in God’s presence, so I didn’t really think to be embarrassed about it.  I simply asked the people to pray while I emptied my soul at the altar.  It felt wonderful.  I don’t know if I have ever felt cleaner than after I said “Amen.”  

I don’t know why I tell you that this morning.  If you’ve never had a moment like this, where God is so present, where you truly see how big He is for just a moment, while at the same time seeing how small you are.  I’m talking about a moment where you see what sin truly does.  I’ve started my Bible Recap Bible study for 2024.  I don’t see where Adam nor Eve was truly sorry for their sin.  All they did was eat a piece of fruit . . . it gave a death sentence to mankind.  You’d think they would have wept bitterly before the Lord.  I’m going to look for it as I read through the Bible again, but I think David is the first person we get to who is truly broken over his sin.

Would to God that each of us would have such a moment.

Lord, I pray for each person reading this.  Give each of us a moment of clarity where our sin is ever before us.  Show us how it is only Your blood, Your mercy, and Your grace that covers it up.  You are so good, Lord . . . yet that goodness is so easy for me to forget.  Help me love You!  Grant me staying power, O Lord, for I know how prone I am to wander.  Bless us and keep us in 2024.  Bless us and keep us for all eternity.  We owed a debt we could never repay, and You paid it.  Help us to never forget.  Amen!

By now you should be teachers. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the first things you need to know from God’s Word. You still need milk instead of solid food. Anyone who lives on milk cannot understand the teaching about being right with God. He is a baby. Solid food is for full-grown men. They have learned to use their minds to tell the difference between good and bad. — Hebrews 5:12-14

I love going on trips. Sometimes I don’t always enjoy driving those trips. At 60 miles per hour, you can knock out a mile a minute. However, when traffic hits, sometimes it takes quite a while to go one mile. I always seem to have an expectation in my mind of where I should be after a certain amount of time.

When it comes to following Jesus, there should be some mile markers in our lives. After we come to faith in Him, it is vital that we grow in Him. If we have a 500 mile trip to take,it would be hard to not be aggravated if three hours into the trip, we had only traveled 10 or so miles. Likewise, a year or two after receiving Christ, there should be a difference in where you were when you received Him, and where you are now.

I remember having supposedly been a Christian for 5 years. I didn’t read my Bible, didn’t make any effort to live my life for Jesus, and therefore looked no different than a non-believer. Well, I decided after a super powerful church service that I’d tell my friend about the Lord. He laughed and told me I didn’t get to tell him about Jesus. He pointed out that I cussed the same as him, partied the same as him, and slept around the same as him. He told me not to act like Christ made a real difference in my life.

I use this mile marker in my life a lot when evangelizing. You see, after five years of having a supposed faith in Jesus, I was still at the starting line. Keeping my analogy going, several hours into my trip, I hadn’t traveled the first mile. I knew in that moment that I had to finally move forward in my walk with the Lord.

I say all that to say this, if there has been no change since you’ve come to Christ, you should be frustrated. If you have no hatred for sin and no desire to put simple things behind you like a foul mouth, lying, and sexual immorality, you need to wonder why. If you have no desire for the things of God, like joining a fellowship of believers and reading the Bible for personal growth and change, why even claim to be a Christian? Don’t you want to be different than the world? Many believers have a long trip ahead of them, and are still in the driveway.

I’m just seeing a lot of “believers” expect an awful lot from God, but not giving Him anything. Many are questioning His goodness. One guy I know was railing against how God hadn’t done anything for him. I asked him about his relationship with the Bible. This guy said he “knew it like the back of his hand.” I asked him if he knew how many books were in the Bible . . . he didn’t know.

I don’t know what is going on right now in the world. But it sure seems to either be going downhill fast, or it is falling off of a cliff. The Bible says there are two roads, one is wide and leads to destruction. The overwhelming majority of people are traveling that road. Then there is a narrow road that leads to life. Very few people choose to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Christ. Lots of people say they are traveling that path. If they are, they don’t seem to have traveled very far on it.

Lord, I sure hope this doesn’t come across as judgmental. I have been the epitome of what I’m talking about. I’m so thankful for my college friend who let me know that I hadn’t left the garage. To this day, I feel like my walk with You began after that conversation. Help people who say they are Christians walk this stuff out. There is a lost and dying world that really needs to see what this looks like. Amen.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.  – Acts 2:44

As I put all the finishing touches on this Bible I plan to give away this Friday, I realize what a beautiful thing it is for the community of believers to really come together.  I received a half-dozen letters (with hopefully a few more on the way) from my request last week.  They are full of simple support and encouragement to hang on to the Lord and never let Him go.  

I look at it and think, “How many hurting believers would benefit from something like this?”  I know I’d be blown away.  Yet, it sounds like similar things happened a lot in the early church.  Numbers were added daily to the church because everyone saw how they treated each other, or maybe just simply saw how they were, and wanted to be a part of it.

How is it that nobody wants to be a part of the church now?  How is it not a main topic of all conversations?  Right now, at best, you can find maybe a few good churches in an area, but this is out of an awful lot of churches in an area.  People, even the ones who call themselves Christians, mostly look out for themselves.  So, when these same Christians form a body of believers, it makes sense that they form a “church” that mostly looks out for themselves.  Believe me, I’m not even saying I’m any different.  I just get it right sometimes and wonder why in the world I don’t get it right more often . . . it’s not like it is terribly difficult.  In truth, the reason I don’t get it right most of the time is I’m inward focused.

These last few days, I’ve poured into someone other than myself, and the peace of God is so ever present with me.  I’ve done less Bible study but had so many more conversations about God with people.  It’s like the years of Bible study just pours out of me onto others in our conversations.  Crazy enough, the more I pour out, the more God fills my cup. Something tells me this is how it is all supposed to work.

Lord, help us, Your church to get this right.  You can certainly start with me.  With all my heart and with all my life, I want to be used to lead, guide, and point others towards You!  It is amazing how close we get to feel to You when we are pouring into others.  I know a lot of people claim to love You.  If we claim to love You, we are supposed to intentionally love people as well.  What better time to start than the Christmas season?  By the power of Your Holy Spirit, lead us to truly help others and point them to You.  Amen.

A gift ushers the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great. – Proverbs 18:16

I want to give a Christmas gift, and I need you guys to help me.  Would you be willing to write a letter?  I have a person in my life that is going through the roughest set of holidays she has ever gone through.  She has lost her husband recently and it has caused her to really doubt her faith in the Lord. On top of all this, she still has the day-to-day responsibilities of parenting, paying bills, and everything else life throws at her.

I’m going to buy her a really nice Bible.  In that Bible, I want to put your letter if you will write her one.  Pray, and then write as the Lord leads.  Maybe you could write about a tough time you went through and give a Bible verse that you held on to that helped you get through.  I will put the letter in the Bible where the verse can be found and maybe highlight it.  

I would like to have these by next week.  I have one church working on this now and hopefully they will bring me their letters this Sunday morning at Mt. Freedom.  You could drop it off at Salem Methodist Church at 4:00 this Sunday if you don’t mind coming to one of our services.  If you message me directly, I’ll give you the girl’s name and an address to mail these letters to if you live far away.  I could also give you more details if you need them.  Encourage anyone you might know to join this as well.  I’m hoping that I can put 50 letters in this Bible.  I’ll write 2, so 48 more would be great! 

Lord, please make this effort successful.  Help my little group come together to make one person’s Christmas crazy special.  I pray for her, Lord.  Lift her up!  The valley is a tough place to be . . . help her walk through.  Use the words that we write in our letters to help her draw nearer to You.  May she come to know this peace that passes all understanding.  Amen!

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.