Category: Devotion

Memories are Better than Life

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Every so often I see a commercial on the television that will glorify the past. For instance, remember that girl that everyone ignored in high school? Now it’s time for the 20-year reunion and she is knock-out gorgeous and drives up in an expensive sports car. If only we had known how people are going to turn out!

Did you ever wonder why people even go to their high school reunion? Memories of the good old days can keep people from moving on into reality, like that football star who was so popular back then, having all the looks but is now out of shape, overweight and in a dead-end job. Perhaps they go to get a few strokes from people who idolized them decades ago. Some may want to try and rekindle relationships, recognizing the real life regret over their life direction. Or maybe there are some people who desire to show off their accomplishments to prove they made something of themselves.

Why would anyone want to relive those high school days? Have we not already kept up with those whom we desired to maintain a relationship? I’ve never been to a reunion but I can imagine that the memories of high school are much better than the reality of high school.

How about a biblical example?

“We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!” (Numbers 11:5-6)

Everything is much better in our memories. That’s the case with the Israelites as they were wandering in the desert, they were remembering the foods they used to eat. Remember, this manna is the food that is keeping these people alive! Never mind that they were slaves back in Egypt! God provided a daily miracle for them and this is the thanks they give.

What miracle is God providing for you that you’ve overlooked? Let’s learn from these ungrateful Israelites and thank our God for his provision with a grateful heart!

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Faithfulness and Integrity

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It seems to me that we never really know who we are until we find ourselves under pressure. It is easy to be poser when things are going well, but not so much when life is hard. Take a look at Daniel.

Then the other administrators and high officers began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling government affairs, but they couldn’t find anything to criticize or condemn. He was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy. (Daniel 6:4)

Daniel had a lot of responsibility that was likely very stressful. These administrators in Daniel’s life were the same guys that wanted to bring Daniel down but had no dirt on him, so they eventually go after his religious life.

Daniel conducted himself in an honorable manner where no fault could be found by his coworkers. Do your coworkers describe your work ethic as faithful, responsible, and completely trustworthy? If not, what changes do you need to make in your work life?

If you need to make a change, what better day than to start today?

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God’s Requirement of Us

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It’s the question that many ask… sometimes on a regular basis. What does God want from us?

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the LORD your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. (Deuteronomy 10:12)

So, who says the Old Testament is hard to understand or is irrelevant to our lives today? Well, there are some parts but overall the message is as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.

When it comes down to it, God is asking that we LOVE HIM. Many people think they have to get their life all straightened out or in order before they can become a Christian. But in reality, God isn’t asking all that much of us… except that we love him with all our heart.

When you align your heart towards God, you naturally change your life because you begin to love HIM, his WAYS and his WORK. Changing your life isn’t a requirement to love God, rather it is a result of your love for God.

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The Blessing of Weakness

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It has been said, never show your weaknesses, mainly because it will be used against you. The fact is, everybody has weaknesses. We have physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual weaknesses, so the question is, what do you do with your weaknesses?

While most people deny, defend, or excuse their weaknesses, Christians can embrace them and ask God to use them! When God works through weak people, His power is shown more clearly (2 Corinthians 12:5, 9, 1 Corinthians 9:22, Hebrews 4:15, 11:34).

When I use the word weakness, I’m not talking about a character flaw that can and should be changed. A weakness is any limitation in my life I inherited or can’t change. How do you lead your small group through weaknesses that you didn’t ask for and don’t have the ability to change?

1. Admit Your Weaknesses: In other words, stop pretending to have it all together, stop hoping the weaknesses will go away, stop ignoring them, and stop making excuses and blaming others (which only hurts my credibility in the end).

2. Be Grateful for Your Weaknesses: The limitations God allows in our lives are actually blessings in disguise (remember that Laura Story song on K-Love). Our limitations guarantee that God will show up to help. If I can do things in my own strength, the ultimate conclusion is, “Who needs God?”

Weaknesses also prevent me from becoming arrogant, and nothing will limit my effectiveness in leading a small group more than arrogance.

3. Openly Share Your Weaknesses: This is what is called being vulnerable. By sharing my weaknesses I am admitting that there are limits to my knowledge, my ability, and my energy.

Being open is also very risky (which is why we seek to avoid it at all cost). There will be people in your small group or the church at large who don’t want you to be human. They think a teacher is some super Christian and can’t handle knowing about any weaknesses. They’d rather put a halo on you and pretend you are never tempted and that you’re above the negative realities of life.

Refusing to be vulnerable is dishonest and hypocritical, but even worse, it sets up a scenario in which people become disillusioned with Christians when one’s humanness eventually shows – and it always will.

Why is it so important to reveal your feelings? Here are seven reasons:

  1. It liberates you from the stress of keeping up a false image.
  2. Some faults won’t be dealt with until you confess them to others.
  3. You can’t experience grace without weaknesses and you can’t minister and teach others without grace.
  4. It’s the fastest way to endear yourself to others. People will seek to support you and pray for you.
  5. Honesty supports your credibility, and people only follow leaders they trust.
  6. It’s good for the group. It encourages others to throw away their masks, deal with their own weaknesses.
  7. It helps your teaching to speak to others with transparency.

When you share your strengths, you create competition.
When you share your weaknesses, you create community.

So what do you share? As you think about how you will relate and communicate to others this week, think about how you will share these five things:

  • Failures.
  • Feelings.
  • Faults.
  • Frustrations.
  • Fears.

Your humanity is actually one of your greatest assets in your teaching ministry. To deny your humanity is not only dumb, it decreases your effectiveness. Do you want to be used by God? Do you want his blessing on your ministry? Do you want people to give the glory to God? Walk in total dependence on God and embrace your weaknesses!

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What’s Your Special Skill?

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The community of faith relies upon the giftedness and servanthood of its members and regular attendees of the church. I think everybody ought to officially join the church because we all know that “membership has its privileges” and it is a privilege to serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I like what Moses writes in Exodus… God says:

“And I have personally appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to be his assistant. Moreover, I have given special skill to all the gifted craftsmen so they can make all the things I have commanded you to make:” (Exodus 31:6)

Did you catch that? First notice who gave the skill. God tells Moses, “I have given…”The skills and abilities that we possess are God-given and they need to be used for his glory. We also need to stay humble because GOD is the one who gave us any skills at all.

In this same phrase, notice the past tense, (or in Hebrew) the completed action of when God gave the skill. The phrase, HAVE GIVEN tells me that the skill is already there, we must simply exercise it and turn it loose. How will we know if we are good at something unless we attempt new things and develop the skills within us?

Next, notice that God had given a special skill to ALL the gifted craftsmen. How many times do we feel like God gives skills and abilities to only a few people. Search for the skill that he has given you, develop it and use it for his glory.

Then notice that God PERSONALLY appointed Oholiab, which tells me that God CALLS people to come out of their normal routine in order to join him in his work in the this world. You possess a skill that only you can use to further the Kingdom of God. God has a plan and he wants you to walk in obedience, and he personally calls all of us to join him. God help us to listen.

Additionally, notice that God is talking to MOSES about the skills of Oholiab. I have to wonder it God already spoke to Oholiab or is Moses the first to hear about this and will go to Oholiab to enlist him in God’s service. Perhaps God will open the eyes of some skilled people by using OTHERS to enlist them into service. Who is around you in whom YOU notice their skills and how those skills can be used for the Lord?

Also notice that God commanded MOSES to make the sacred things for worship, so the leader NEEDED skilled people to make it happen. Who around us has the skills we need to accomplish great things for God?

Finally, notice that he gives skills to people for a PURPOSE, “so they can make…” The skills he has given are to be used for the building up of HIS kingdom, because all else will fade away (Isaiah 40:8).

Do you ever get down on yourself and think you don’t have any skills to offer? It’s not true, God has given you many skills. Thinking you don’t have any skills is not humility, instead, you fail to correctly see the blessings given to you by God. We even devalue our skills when we compare ourselves to others and wish we had THEIR skills. Those thoughts are not complimentary towards God either. God has given skills to everyone and by embracing them we can truly use our skills to worship God. Take a moment to correctly identify your skills and embrace them to honor God.

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Are We True Ministers?

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This is a devotion that comes from 2 Corinthians 6:3-13

The Priority – 3 We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry.

Evaluate your life and behavior and see if this is true for you. Do you live in such a way that people will not stumble because of what they see? While no one is perfect, we are expected to strive toward a lifestyle that is honoring to God.

The Pain –  4 In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. 5 We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food.

The point here is that Paul demonstrated that he was an authentic follower of Jesus, he was a true minister of God. He then gives a few examples of his behavior: enduring troubles, hardship and calamity (beatings, prison, angry mobs) and faithfully worked through all of the stresses of his radical obedience to Christ (exhaustion, insomnia, starvation).

The Patience –  6 We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. 7 We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense.

Paul again was simply a man of words, but he proved the kind of person and minister he was (purity, understanding, patience, kindness). He was not able to do it in his own strength, but by the presence of the Holy Spirit and the power of sincere love. He preached the truth in season and out of season, in good times and hard times. He was a faith soldier in God’s service: he could attack the forces of darkness on one side and defend against our common enemy on the other.

The Paradox –  8 We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. 9 We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. 10 Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.

Much of the Christian life is a paradox: to save your life, you must lose it; to be first, you must be last; to be great, you must serve others. Paul is listing several lesser known seemingly contradictory statements.

The Parent – 11 Oh, dear Corinthian friends! We have spoken honestly with you, and our hearts are open to you. 12 There is no lack of love on our part, but you have withheld your love from us. 13 I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us!

Paul speaks to the people as a loving parent: kindness, openness, in love even when love has been denied. This passage screams the desire of a parent over a wayward child.

Here’s My Take-Away: We know that hard times will come. The light that we shine to others reveals our faith in God. Our faith can persist even in the face of hardship. It is a demonstration of faith to trust that the Lord is good. When bad things happen, the last thing we want is to be patient. We want to hurry up and move past our troubles. This is the time that God has been preparing us for, and we have the opportunity to grow closer to God. If you are in trouble or in the middle of calamity, muster your patience one day at a time. Live a life of integrity no matter what comes your way!

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Our Great Commission

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I’ve been thinking about what Christ has commanded us to do…

Matthew 28:18-20, And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

The Process: in order to reach the world, we must make disciples, “as you are going, make disciples of all nations.” It is a part of everyday life, not some activity that we can check off a list, like, “I went out today and made disciples.”

The Progression: as we are making disciples, we will get involved in the activities of baptizing and teaching. We win people to Christ and then encourage them to take that first step of obedience (baptism). But even here, our job is not complete.

Jesus did NOT say that we are to teach them: he said to teach them to OBEY. Teaching has the idea of transferring information and knowledge. When we teach them to obey, we are investing our lives into people and the process of their transformation. Teaching them to obey is relational, and as a part of the Christian community, it is our obligation to not only teach the doctrines of the faith, but to help people live them out in obedience.

Jesus did NOT say that we are to teach them all I have commanded: but to teach them all I have commanded YOU. It is true that we cannot pass on to others that which we do not possess ourselves. We can study what God has done in the lives of other believers, but the Great Commission is to teach others that which God is commanding US, and teaching US. This again points to the relational nature of discipleship. As God speaks to us, and teaches us, we are then able to take those experiences and help others along this spiritual journey. We read the Bible and pray, and then we are able to talk about God’s dealings with US. It takes the teaching away from the theoretical and doctrinal to the personal and practical. When we share what God is doing in our OWN lives, we are able to better teach others the purposes and ways of God. Let’s not just teach what God has commanded, but teach what he has commanded US.

The Priority: what happens when we don’t see people following through with their commitment to God? I read this passage today and thought it might fit in this scenario. Let’s look at this unclean spirit going out of a man to represent when a lost person gets saved.

Matthew 12:43-45, “Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44 “Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45 “Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

This is not an illustration or discussion on whether a saved person can be possessed by a demon, so simply follow the illustration…

The old life has passed away, new life has come, but this person who said YES to Jesus does not fill his HOUSE with the knowledge of God, or the love of God, or the Word of God, or get involved with basic spiritual disciplines or the body of Christ, which is the church. We see them drift away and wonder what happened. Where is the excitement of those first days (Luke 15:24), why have they left their first love (Revelation 2:4) or allowed the thorns to choke the life out of them (Matthew 13:7, 22)?

I wonder if they only put their house in order, but never filled it with the things of God, which bring life and will sustain us through this earthly life.

How will we help teach all that God has commanded us, to others, so that we are making disciples who follow Jesus in obedience? When God speaks and shows us how, may we be listening and ready to respond in faith and action.

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We All Need Encouragement

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High achievers like Pat Summitt, the Lady Volunteer’s Basketball Coach, demand the best from themselves and others. You might think that her high standards and demanding ways are the reason her teams have won three national titles over the past four years, but you’d only be partially right.

After a dry spell in the mid 90’s, Summitt popped a cork on the long ride home from a game the team should have won. Summitt chewed on one of her seniors so hard that it devastated the athlete. After a sleepless night, Michelle Marciniak, the player, called her coach at six in the morning saying she needed more than to be told when she makes mistakes, she needs some encouragement too.

That early morning phone call served as a “wake-up call” for Summitt in more ways than one. Slowly, she’s changed her ways to avoid breaking a player’s spirit. Her new combination of high standards and an encouraging spirit is taking the Lady Volunteers to a new level.

Criticism has its place, but it always takes second place to encouragement.

” …not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)

—Reader’s Digest, Feb. 2000 p. 56

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Devotional Study Form

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In order to get the most out of personal Bible study, try using a form like this one:Devotional Study Form

This form comes from Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods, chapter 1, pp.33-47.

Reading the above is like a flashback from the old Masterlife days; very similar…

  1. Perimeter the Verse – what is before or after the verse.
  2. Paraphrase the Verse – into your own words.
  3. Pulverize the Verse – emphasize each word by exclamation.
  4. Personalize the Verse – what is the significance to you?
  5. Pray the Verse Back to God – lift his own Word to him.
  6. Parallel Verses – other passages on a similar theme.
  7. Problems in the Verse – what needs resolution in your mind and heart?
  8. Possibilities of Helping Others in the Verse – actions to consider.
  9. Protracted Study – other notes, ideas, outlines, etc.

[ Masterlife I, Guide to Meditation, pp.195-196, Waylon Moore]

Teach Me Your Will

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There is a lot of talk about seeking God’s will in our lives. Here is an interesting verse that challenges us to go deeper in that search, actually to ask God to teach us to do his will.

Teach me to do your will for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. (Psalm 143:10)

Have you ever wondered what is God’s will in your life? Don’t you wish He would just send it in the mail to eliminate any confusion?

It’s worth pointing out that David didn’t ask the same thing. Instead, he asks for God to teach him to do His will. Imagine if you learned to do God’s will how the uncertainty would be eliminated.

Let’s allow the Spirit to lead us on solid ground by asking God to teach us.

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