Daily Devotions - Entries from December 2010

2 Kings 7:2 (NIV)
² The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" "You will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any of it!"

God loves to show up at the time when everything looks completely hopeless. He loves it when his children are confident in His Word regardless of what the circumstances look like. Consider these following examples of hopeless situations;. Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22, Feeding 20,000 with five loaves and two fish, . Feeding 7,000 with seven loaves and three fish, Being stoned and left for dead in Acts 14, Being dead and buried for four days in John 11.

God is always for the underdog. He does not work much with those who are self sufficient, he works among those who have no other place to go. As for this soldier in our text he was the support for the King of Aram. How much better could it get than to be known as the one who supports the King. He must have thought of himself as some sort of protector and deliverer and it went to his head.

Listen carefully to his boasting. "Even if God opened the windows of heaven, could this happen?" Basically he was calling Elisha, the representative of God a liar, or at least a dreamer with no substance.

I wonder if you are in the place of those who were living in Samaria. Do you feel like your life is under siege of the enemy? DO you find your resources completely dried up? Are you beginning to think about taking things into your own hands and giving up on trusting in God's promises? All of these things were happening in Samaria. There was no food, they were under siege by a pagan king and things had been this way for quite some time. There was no visible evidence that God or anyone else for that matter was going to come to their rescue.

Let's face it, those living in Samaria had no reason to even think that God would provide for them again, look at their lives? There was open cannibalism being practiced. Pagan idols were plenteous in the land and a powerful pagan King was laying siege to them and he was winning.

Into this situation Elisha enters and proclaims that tomorrow everything will be better than anyone could possibly dream. It would all happen in less than twenty four hours. By every possible indication what Elisha proclaimed was impossible. This is just the situation that God loves to work in.

Awakenings and revivals are born out of such situations. When God's people are desperate God finds a way to show up. I wonder how he might show himself to you today. BE of good cheer God is at work even right this very moment even though you cannot see him. We will see tomorrow just how he is at work in our midst.

Finding Hope under Siege,

Philippians 4:4 (NIV)
⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

It was a long and boring basketball game. The stands were half empty; the crowd was not even in the game for the most part. I had planned to spend the evening with my daughter Hannah and thought that going to a basketball game would be fun, was I ever wrong.

Hannah and I had great seats due to some free tickets that had been given to us so we settled down to enjoy a very boring game. The Salukis were ahead of their opponent by almost thirty points at one time so no one was even interested in the game.

At half time we stood in the Dippin Dots line for the entire half time only to get to the counter to discover that they had run out of all of the favorite kinds, so we made our way back to our seats for another uneventful half of slow moving basketball.

After the game we went to our favorite restaurant and enjoyed some good food and played some rather silly games on the table. I am sure we looked rather childish as we played different games and cheered for our successes as we sought to trash each other in a contest of quarter foo0tball. (Don't ask me to explain it, it is just something that Hannah I d when we are at restaurants.)

As we were on our way home, Hannah turned to me and said, "Dad, this was a great night!"

Rather confused, I replied, "How can you say that. We went to a boring game and stood in a long line only to be disappointed and found our joy in playing quarter football on a table at Steak and Shake?"

Her quick and honest response was, "Dad, we were together and that is what made it great."

Often life is just routine, nothing spectacular happening, just going through the motions of life. Some will say they need some chemical to excite them, to raise their pleasure level. Others may turn to all sorts of other things for pleasure, but for those who know the Risen Christ we can rejoice because God is with us even in the boring times and that changes everything.

So how about a little more rejoicing Church. Go ahead and throw your head back and laugh a little, it is ok. In fact we are commanded to rejoice. Paul has to remind us twice in one verse. I guess it is hard for us to hear that coming from God. Perhaps our concept of God needs a little reworking as well. Rejoice, what a nice concept, all because of God's presence.

Taking time out to Rejoice a little,

Acts 20:22-24 (NIV)
²² "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³ I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ²⁴ However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

Several years ago a movie entitled, Mission Impossible, hit the screens. The opening scene usually had Tom Cruse obtaining some recording of the IMF agency giving him his next mission. In the recording he would be told exactly what the mission was and the dangers that it would entail. The beginning part of the recording was, "Your mission should you decide to accept it . . .the concluding part of the recording said, "As usual if any of your IM force are caught, or killed the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions."

There was never a mission the IM Force did not accept. It was assumed that being part of the IM Force automatically meant you would accept any mission assigned regardless of the danger.

This IM force would be made up of the best intelligence experts in the world. They would be chosen for their high tech skills, ability to speak multiple languages, their ability to think on the fly, outside the box, etc. They would give themselves to the success of the mission knowing that their names would never be recognized for anything they would ever accomplish, it was the thrill of the mission that held them.

Every time I watched this movie I found myself wanting to be part of something that would be that engaging, that thrilling, that demanding. I would take a look at the church and see her passionless ministries where people just went through the motions of doing church but no real thrill, no real joy, no real passion. Then I would read the book of Acts and discover that Paul escaped one city by being let down in a basket over the wall at night. In another place he was hidden away, still another he stood before hostile audiences not knowing what would happen. This resonated with my desire for, on the edge of your seat kind of life. You cannot read Acts and see a passionless, dull worship service ever being part of the routine. It really was dangerous to be part of the New Testament church, you just never knew what was going to happen from one day to the next, but there was one thing you did know, God was going to show up and do something really powerful.

I submit we have lost many of the next generation precisely because we have tried to build a "safe" church. I submit God has made us to live lives of total abandonment to the cause of Christ. We are made for something that will captivate our every waking moment. We are made to live with a passion that the world knows little of.

I submit to you that the church ought to be the most dangerous place to belong. We are called on to engage the worst enemy of humanity, who is bent on our destruction. He is set against us on every possible level and he will never rest until he has us for good. We are called to be engaged in the battle of the ages for the souls of men and women all over the globe. We must have mission strategies designed by the Spirit of God and we must engage the Church of Christ to train and send mission agents into the entire world to rescue those behind enemy lines. We are to raise up mission agents who care not for their own reputation but care for the mission of the gospel and are willing to stake their entire lives on the fact that this gospel is the most important thing in the world.

When one of the greatest minds in history was captured by the grace of God he at once was compelled to live the rest of his life for the sake of the gospel. His every breath was about the gospel. Where ever he travelled the gospel was always his topic of conversation. Where ever he slept he talked about Christ, even if it was in a prison cell.

Paul knew he was running a race, he knew he had a limited time to make as much of an impact for the gospel as he could with the years he had on this earth. He also knew that his life was going to be filled with incredible obstacles and gut wrenching opposition. There would be times he would be in prison or floating on a piece of driftwood in the Mediterranean, but all of this would not stop him from proclaiming the gospel of Christ.

Today let me encourage you to consider Paul's purpose in life and to make it your own. "I count my life worth nothing if only I may finish the race and complete the task of testifying to the Gospel of God's grace.

Now where to start in this race? Let me suggest you begin with your family and those closest to you. Begin today to pray that God will give you an opportunity to share your faith with your family. Perhaps you just need to call them up on the phone and speak to them very honestly about your concern for their soul.

Take the next few days to pray for each member of your family and friends who do not possess a relationship with Christ. Ask God for boldness and then step through the door he opens.

Hear God met you today with these words, "Good morning ____________, your mission should you decide to accept it is to take the Gospel into the most difficult places in the world. You are to invade the enemy's territory and rescue those held in bondage to sin. The forces arrayed against you are more formidable than you can possibly imagine. This mission, should you decide to accept it will cost you your very life. It will take every ounce of strength and courage you can muster and then some.

There will be times when the pressure on you will drive you to the edge of complete and utter exhaustion. You will face periods of isolation and abandonment by those closest to you, you will be called all sorts of names and many will not even understand why you are doing what you are doing. Be assured of this that your labors will not go unnoticed by the Father. He will acknowledge your labors for Him and you will be richly rewarded as you follow Him into the hard and the difficult places for the Gospel.

Accepting His Mission,

Colossians 1:15-16 (NIV)
¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
¹⁶ For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

I did not know how much a trip to Gonky's house (Gonky is a compound name for Grandpa from Hong Kong, it is a long story) would benefit my youngest daughter Lydia. For Veteran's Day my nine year old daughter Lydia has to bring a picture of someone in her family that served in the armed forces.

Yesterday Lydia went to spend time with her Gonky and Grammy while my wife attended a conference in Springfield. Lydia was thrilled with the prospect of seeing her Gonky. ON the trip up to Springfield she was busy counting down the minutes until she would see her Gonky. About every ten minutes or so she would ask my wife how much longer. Little did we know that her Gonky in Springfield was also doing the very same thing. About every thirty minutes he would ask his wife how much longer until Lydia arrived.

The time finally came when they were together and the sheer delight that both of them had when they saw each other was noticeable both in their voices and on their faces. As bedtime drew near that evening, Lydia asked Gonky if he had a picture of him when he was in the service. Gonky quickly found one and handed it to Lydia. She took it and looked at it for the longest time. You need to know that Gonky is now fifty plus years past the time in which this picture was taken.

Lydia just stared at the picture and then up at Gonky. "Gonky, it does not look much like you, but it is you." She just stared at the picture of her Gonky in his younger days in his dress uniform..

As bed time drew nearer Lydia clutched the picture of her Gonky tightly to herself and she fell asleep on her mom's lap. It would be several minutes later when my wife would take her to bed. As she put Lydia to sleep Melanie tried to pry the picture of Gonky from her grasp only to find that Lydia would not let it go. Trying not to crumple the picture, Melanie said to Lydia, "If you sleep with the picture you will crumple it and it won't be good anymore." Lydia quickly released her grasp and put the picture on the desk near where she was sleeping and fell fast asleep.

The next morning Gonky went out and had two copies of this picture made. One for Lydia to take to class and one for Lydia to have in her room. She is proud of her Gonky and loves him like no other, and that is how it should be.

When she returned to our home last night she had her picture of her Gonky with her. Even though he was not physically present with her she found comfort in the picture she had of him.

So it is with us. We ache to be with our Lord once and for all but for now we have to live in this fallen world. How can we find comfort and rest while we are apart from our Lord? We have a Savior who, like Lydia's Gonky, has not left us without a picture of himself. Some of you may be wondering just where we get this picture of our Lord. The answer is right here in this text. The Bible was given to us to give us the picture of Christ so that we would find comfort and encouragement while we wait for His appearing.

I suggest you might want to go to sleep reading the Word tonight so that you will have visions of your Savior as you sleep.

Sweet dreams,

Acts 20:22-24 (NIV)
²² "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³ I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ²⁴ However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

How often have you asked the following question, "God, please show me where you want me to go and what you want me to do?" I know many who have asked this question thinking that God's will would be something that would be a perfect fit. They thought if they could only find the will of God then everything would be ok.

Consider how this thinking may have been received by the apostle Paul. A perfect fit, what are you talking about? Everything ok, not on your life. No, if you find the will of God it will most probably be in the way of hardships and difficulties and imprisonments. The church in America is far too weak to even think that they would have to endure hardships and sufferings and afflictions. We have even invented an escapist mentality called the rapture to keep us from having to endure anything that would approach suffering.

We have made the Christian faith far too palatable to our easy lifestyles. Perhaps this is why we are so weak in our own spiritual lives. We have assumed the Christian life was about us feeling good, not obeying God.

We need a little more dose of Biblical reality injected into our lives. God has designed us for far more difficult tasks, but we are not in the shape we need to be in order to endure the hardships he has ordained for us.

Why did God call Paul to endure hardships? Because he had a marathon to run for the glory of God. He was going to reach as far as Rome and Spain with the gospel before he would die and he needed to be in top spiritual shape for that task.

Church, God has the same task for you, you are commissioned by God to declare his glories to the farthest reaches of the planet through prayer and proclamation, so expect hardships and difficulties to come your way for they are the means that God will use to strengthen you for the battle that lies ahead.

Be reminded that the Will of God lies on the road that leads to many hardships and difficulties and imprisonments. As you follow God in this way you will come to know as David knew, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me."

May you come to know the presence of God as you follow him into hardships and trials.

Embracing the road of difficulty for the sake of hte4 Gospel,

Genesis 9:12-17 (NIV)
¹² And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:
¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,
¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
¹⁶ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."
¹⁷ So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

I do not know much about bow hunting, as many in my congregation already know, but what I know about bow hunting has definitely caused me to rejoice in the gospel even more. Ok, I know some of you are thinking that perhaps I have been hit with one too many arrows in the head already but follow with me on this journey.

A friend of mine shared this insight with me several months ago and I have often thought about it and found great comfort. Just what was it about the rainbow in the sky that would cause man to rejoice? Did God really want us to see the beautiful colors and just be amazed by the array of the colors of the light spectrum? Is that all that he wanted us to see in the rain bow in the sky? I think there was much more to it than just the sight of the colors.

Remember that God told Noah that whenever he, God, saw the rainbow he would not send another flood of judgment again. All because of a rainbow in the sky? There has to be more to it than just this. Enter my bow hunting friend.

"Pastor when you hear of a bow what else do you need besides the bow to complete the set?" I was asked.

In my great storehouse of hunting knowledge I thought to myself, "What else do you need to go bow hunting? After much prompting I said, "You need some arrows."

"You have answered correctly," came the reply.

"Take a look at the rainbow in the sky, where would the arrow be pointing if you were to arm the bow?"

"I thought more quickly this time and said, "The arrow would be pointing up towards the sky."

"You are correct once again pastor. Do you see it now why God placed such a bow in the sky to remind us of his promise to not destroy the world by a flood again?"

The picture began to gain clarity and I saw that the arrow of God's wrath was no longer pointed at earth, instead it was pointing at the heavens. Could it be that God was painting the picture for all who would look to the heavens so they would see that God himself would absorb the wrath due us because of our rebellion?

The arrow of God's wrath would be absorbed by the death of his son on the cross for our sins. If we would only trust in Christ, the wrath of God that is due us would be absorbed by him so that we would never face the judgment of a just God because of our sins.

In the same way God promised that he would never destroy the earth by a flood again we can know the same peace if we will only look to Christ, who took the arrows of God's wrath and had them pointed directly at his own body on the tree. It is because of Him that we are free from the wrath to come.

So next time you see a rainbow in the sky let it remind you of the Savior who bore our sins in his body on the tree. And may you be reminded as well that God has promised to all those who have trusted in Christ that there will never be any fear of any judgment all because of the arrows of God's wrath are no longer directed at you.

Hallelujah what a Savior!

Rejoicing that the arrows are no longer pointing at me,