Please join me today as I contemplate God's ability to do those things we ask of Him, and the faith it requires for us to trust that He not only can but will do them.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV
As I read my morning devotional reading by Pastor E. M. Bounds today, his scripture reference was the short three word verse, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, which directs us regarding the importance and the frequency with which we should pray. Some believe this scripture is telling them to literally pray without ceasing, while others believe it tells them to have a regular prayer regiment and to stay true to it. In either case the importance of praying is at the heart of this verse, and this is quite evident, and stressed.
Do we desire something from God, but alter our prayers because we think we are asking too much of Him? We might initially say that we don’t do this, but if we are honest with ourselves we just might find that we are guilty of doing so subconsciously as we prepare to enter into our prayers. Do we trust in the true ability, and desire of God when it comes to our provision, healing, love, or defense? Let’s look at these things today…and the omnipotence, and the omnipresence of God… it might just change our lives, and our prayers.
Are we waiting to fully understand God before we will allow ourselves to believe? Do we hope he is who scripture says He is, but need more proof? Some of us don’t want to admit that God exists because our own limited intelligence, ability to conceive, or because our lack of understanding who He is, keeps getting in our way. Well, hope is fine, but it isn’t the same thing as faith. Hope is seeing a box, and wanting to believe that God might be in it. Faith is our ability to take the vapor of that hope, and treat it as if it were real. Faith is the first step towards believing… it opens the box in which we have placed our hope that God exists, and allows us to peer inside expectantly. Belief, on the other hand, is seeing the evidence of Him in the box, and realizing that He is not only there in its confines, but is in everything that surrounds it… and abides in us too. So today let’s think about where we are on this path from hope to faith, to belief, and into the eternal presence of God beyond.
I read two different devotionals each day and I write my thoughts surrounding them in these early morning devotional messages and prayers. But, today is different; I am taking the time to pass on my thoughts regarding a book I have been reading as well. Have you ever heard the expression "time is money"? It is a common saying that I have heard and repeated most of my life. Today I thought of it again as I read Galatians 6:10 and wondered if time isn’t also good… is time the thing that measures how much good we can do in life?
Hungering after righteousness and longing for God. Today I am contemplating the intense desire for the Lord's presence in our lives, and what better place to go for an understanding of such a longing than to the Psalms, and the words of a more recent pastor… Charles Spurgeon.
As a long time Christian, I have heard many sermons and lessons based on others seeing Christ in us. Each of these encouraged us to live more faithfully so that people who were around us would see Jesus in our behavior, and the things we did. One day it dawned on me that in order for that to happen, we needed to see Him in ourselves. Do we look in the mirror and see the transformation that our faith is having?
The calling, what is it? Why does the Lord ask some to deliver His word and the Gospel to the world in a greater, or higher, way than is usual among believers? Pastors, prophets, and missionaries have felt this urging since Jesus first called His apostles. The calling in them is unquenchable and the need to preach the gospel, prophesy, or reach out to those who have not heard the good news can't be resisted.
God never forsakes us. This is our contemplation this morning. Men will turn their backs on kings, and one another, but God never forsakes us, His People. We are asked to love Him with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength, because this is how He loves us, but do we understand and believe this to be absolutely true? Do we love our neighbors as we love ourselves? We are His people, and His inheritance, and as such we are priceless in His eyes.
Our devotional reading today regarding quantity vs quality membership in churches is one that really strikes home. I have had this conversation with pastors, and others In the church many times before, and have even had a prophetic dream regarding it. Isaiah is quite right when he says that those who should see... often do not.
Have you ever wondered what happens when we break bread together? Is sharing a meal and the breaking of bread a spiritual occurrence or just the fulfillment of a biological need? This is our thought for this morning, and we should think on this every time we sit down to eat. Is communion the only time the Jesus joins you at the dinner table?
When I was young in the faith I sang the song "Onward Christian Soldiers" as if I were at war with the world. What I missed in those opening lyrics was the word "as". I missed the fact that this was a song of unity and support for one another and the church; not a call to a spiritually founded world war. I missed the message of 1 Timothy 6... The real war isn’t in the world, it is within ourselves.
One morning in 2016 I awoke to a single thought... to who do we owe our allegiance? Perhaps this message was in response to a recent election and its unsettling aftermath, but in any case I find that we owe our first allegiance to God and His son Jesus Christ. Paul conveyed this concern to the early Christians of Corinthians when he wrote these words:
Yesterday we spoke of the unpleasant task of discipline within the church, so today I am contemplating a more upbeat and pleasing topic... joy and rejoicing. We tend to think of God in a more serious light, but did you realize that he sings for you?
Today's topic regarding discipline within the Church is one of those very difficult and touchy subjects. The end result could be the separation of someone from a church (or as the Church knows it... Excommunication), or the removal of a local church from the greater Church. As I read my morning devotional, Pastor E. M. Bounds spoke of discipline within our churches like this: