We are weaklings in need of a great God.

Jeremiah 17:5 (ESV)

Thus says the Lord:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man

    and makes flesh his strength,

    whose heart turns away from the Lord.

A young woman at a textile mill in rural Texas was new on the job. A flaming red warning sign on her sewing machine read “If Your Thread Becomes Tangled, Call the Foreman Immediately."

After working diligently for an hour or two, suddenly the young worker’s thread became tangled. Fearing the foreman’s reaction at such an early mistake, she thought, “I’ll just quickly straighten this out myself.” Though she tried desperately to untangle the thread, the situation only worsened. Finally, she had no choice but to call the foreman. As soon as he arrived, the foreman could tell that the young worker had tried to do some of her own maneuverings before calling him. “I did the best I could,” she said. “No you didn’t,” the foreman replied. “To do the best, you should have called me. Now this sewing machine will need to be repaired. If this happens again, you will be fired.”

I have many times tried to do somethings on my own strength. I exhaust myself trying before becomes clear that I just can’t do it without my Great Foreman. Thankfully, He hasn’t fired me yet!

If we rely on our own strength, really, it is a form of idol worship. We exalt our own strength above the Lord’s. This is unacceptable to a Holy and All-Powerful God. Even our greatest efforts cannot compare with how much more effectively a job can get done if we would only call upon His Name!

We are weaklings in need of a great God. We cannot do anything without Him.

Dear Lord, help us not try to do things on our own. Help us to first call upon Your name knowing that You are the master of all things. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Ask, seek, knock, read, worship, meditate on His promises, get FILLED

Acts 4:31 (ESV)

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Bloomberg reported that according to a recent study, Americans can add as many as two years to the nation's life expectancy if they stand up more often and watch fewer hours of television. What a concept -- move around and you'll live longer!

A story I read helps illustrate this. A family threw a party for their daughter. Her little one-year-old brother was playing with a left over balloon which suddenly popped in his face. He was startled, and about to burst into tears. Thinking fast, his dad grabbed an uninflated balloon from the table, blew it up real big and then let it go. Boy did he love that! He laughed hysterically as he watched this balloon zipping around the room until it ran out of air and plopped down on the floor. He was fine, and as they played the new balloon game.   .

We need to be like these balloons, filled to the max with God's breath, and then..... let go, to experience the ride of our lives! And...equally important, we need to recognize when we're running out of air -- when we're deflated and depleted of His power and anointing. Then we need to run back to Him for more, because receiving the infilling of the Spirit is not a single event, but a lifetime of repeated refilling, so that we aren't living or serving in our own strength.

The Lord hasn't entrusted us with His power to sit around and watch TV -- but to activate us for the work of the Gospel, and the blessing of the saints; to do great things for Him in the power of His Spirit wherever He may take us. Let's be filled again today!

Dear Lord, we want to be filled with Your Spirit so that we may do the work of the Gospel. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Stand firm in what you do not see

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

A.W. Tozer had an interesting commentary on this verse. He said: "Faith is seeing the invisible, but not the nonexistent."

We live in a world today that seems out of control -- yet the Word clearly tells us that God remains in control.

When the Israelites were driven to the Red Sea their situation appeared impossible and desperate through human eyes. They failed their first test of faith when they told Moses it would have been better to serve as slaves then to die in the wilderness. Though they had seen His miracles of deliverance from slavery in Egypt, they failed to remember to encourage themselves with this recent history of Divine intervention.

God allowed the "impossible situation" to test their faith and to reveal His glory and power!

Biblical faith believes and stands upon the invisible reality of God's presence, power, and protection, in difficult, even impossible circumstances. People of faith keep our eyes on Heaven where the Lord's sovereignty over all earthly events inspires trust which is not based on what we see, but remembers how our invisible God has delivered, preserved, and protected us in the past.

Let's not fail the test as the Israelities did, wishing they were back in Egypt! There are times when life places us in "impossible situations" which our Lord allows to test our faith and to reveal Himself and His glory. Whatever impossible situation you may be facing, encourage yourself with memories of God's past faithfulness and blessed providence. You will not know from where or how the deliverance will come. But do not allow the "invisibility" of the solution to throw you into doubt or panic. Stand firm in what you do not see, and then, see the salvation of the Lord!

Dear Lord, we pray that we would not be like the Israelites and wish we were back in Egypt.  Help look forward knowing that You are in control of everything. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

We all need a little renewing today.

Psalm 51:10 (ESV)

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

    and renew a right spirit within me.

Junk mail -- those annoying letters that fill your mail box. Along with the junk comes the delightful bills, and renewal notices. Of course the junk, we can just throw away, the bills, unfortunately can't be ignored, but the renewal notices, those we're thankful to see. Without them, we'd likely forget that we need to renew our licenses, our credit cards, membership cards, and whatever else. Without those renewal notices, we might go to the ATM one day and not be able to get the cash we need because our card is expired -- oops! We might be asked to show our identification and the authorities might say, "Sorry Charlie, this license is not valid - you didn't renew it!"

Sadly though, the most important things in life that need renewing do not come with renewal notices. We will never open a piece of mail and see a notice to renew our love for our spouses, our children or our friends. But if we don't continually renew our love for them, it will eventually grow cold. We'll also never receive the most important renewal notice -- to remind us to renew our relationship with God. Our relationship with God is the most important relationship we can have. It must be renewed daily!

My service to you. Here is your renewal notice. Renew your love for the ones you love today. Renew your love for the Lord. Renew your love for the things of God and for his calling upon your lives.

Dear Lord, help us renew our love for those around us today as well as our love for You. Renew our spirit so that we may become more like You. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

"What is it?"

Exodus 16:15 (ESV)

When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt I'm sure several million people were wondering, "How am I going to be fed? How am I going to survive in this wilderness?" Imagine the logistical nightmare. An incalculable quantity of food and water were needed to survive in the desert. Where would it come from? Yet, in this seemingly impossible situation, God provided!

He provided Manna from heaven. When the people first saw the Manna on the ground, they wondered in amazement saying to each other, "What is this?” which is exactly what "Manna" means in Hebrew -- "What is it?" They were receiving the food of angels, which sustained them the entire time in the desert.

But we know what happened as time passed...the people got used to this miraculous provision, began to take it for granted, and even got bored with it, and, of course...the wonder of God's supernatural provision evaporated. Israel lost sight of the miracle that God was doing in their lives each and every day.

Each and every day is a miracle from God. Each day of our lives we walk through a world filled with the wonders and glory of the Lord. But we, too, can become dull and lose the wonder of all that He has done and provided for us, even our very salvation. We need to awaken to the daily miracles of life, and to the never ending opportunities the Lord is opening, to pour His love into us, and through us.

Dear Lord, we want to remember to thank You for all You do for us. Help us not grow accustom to it and forget to be thankful. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

We'll never fool the Lord

Psalm 139:1-2 (ESV)

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

    you discern my thoughts from afar.

Here is a funny story of drunkenness that brings home a truth to each of us.

He snuck up the stairs as quietly as he could. He looked in the bathroom mirror and bandaged the couple of bumps and bruises he'd received in a fight earlier that night. He was a little drunk, but nobody had to know. He proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he'd pulled one over on his wife. When morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife. "You were drunk last night weren't you!" "What? What do you mean?" He replied. "How could you think such a thing?" "Well, if you weren't drunk, my dear," his wife pointed in the direction of the bathroom, "why are there bruises on your face and a bunch of band-aids on the bathroom mirror?"

Likewise, I think sometimes when we sin, we think we're pulling one over on the Lord. Not so. The Lord sees all and knows all. He knows our every move, even before we make it. And one day, we will have to stand before Him and be held accountable. I don't know about you, but I don't want Him to play back those sins, do you?

Dear Lord, we pray today that we would be strong and stand up against the temptations that come our way so that we would not sin against You. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Memorial Day 2016

Joshua 4:8-9 (ESV)

8 And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there. 9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.

                               

Today, thousands of American flags dot Arlington National Cemetery—one for each grave marker. Red, white and blue dominate the green landscape.

Memorial Day is a day to remember those who’ve died serving in the U.S. military. Civil War veteran General John A. Logan called in 1868 for Americans to decorate the graves of those who fell during the “War Between the States;” the holiday has grown in scope since then and now commemorates the fallen from each of America’s wars.

Though Memorial Day is an American holiday, nations across the world have their own traditions for remembering the sacrifices of their soldiers. There’s something uniquely powerful about communal remembrance—gathering together as a family or nation to reflect on significant people and events of the past. It’s no surprise that memorial celebrations—military and otherwise—are common to many cultures throughout history, including the people of the Bible.

We see a famous example of a memorial celebration in our Bible verse today. God commanded the Israelite leader Joshua to set up a memorial to mark the event of the Ark of the Covenant crossing the Jordan River, to remind future generations of what had happened there:

In this case, God wanted the Israelites to remember his deliverance. The stone memorial served as a physical reminder of a shaping event in their history. Sometimes the memorial took the form not of a physical monument, but a shared activity, as in the case of the Israelite’s commemoration of their escape from Egypt.

Christians observe their own memorial celebrations; most notably in the “breaking of bread” that recalls Christ’s sacrifice.

Reminders, bitter or sweet, are important to our culture and our history. They remind us where we’ve come from, and whose work got us to where we are.

It’s important that we remember who we are and where we’ve come from. Americans make a point of remembering on Memorial Day. And as Christians, every day is a good day to remember, reflect on, and give thanks for what the Lord has done for us.

Dear Lord, we are thankful for those that have given their life so that we can enjoy our freedom.  Thank You also for laying down Your life so that we may live with You eternally. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.