Devotional Thoughts 11-17-2014

Ecclesiastes 12:13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.

Not long ago, although some would argue it is starting to be come long ago, during the attitude era of wrestling Stone Cold Steve Austin had this phrase And that’s the bottom line…..

Our verse and thought for today is quite simple.  It is a BOTTOM LINE statement.  Fear God AND keep His commandments because it applies to all.  Notice how the text says fear God AND keep His commandments.  Fear Him. Love Him. Do as He says do.  And that’s the bottom line because God said so.

Devotional Thoughts 11-15-2014

One of the passages of scripture that I makes me laugh and think deeply is found in Luke 9:53-55.  Here in this passage Christ, having sent disciples before Him, is not received at a Samaritan village.  Now one of the greatest insults in middle eastern culture is to not be hospitable and receive a guest especially if they have sent word to inquire of arrangements.  But the part that follows next is the part that makes me laugh and cringe and think.  James and John ASK Christ do YOU want US to call down fire from heaven and consume them?

Now i’ve been insulted before in my life, but never once have I said that I need to call down fire from heaven to consume the offending party.  I mean think about that.  Your boss is getting on your nerves and you take it to that level to wanting God to send down fire from heaven.  I think that may be a bit extreme.  And this makes me think though that we need to be careful not just of our words but also our thoughts.  I may not have said I want fire to come down from heaven but I have definitely thought it a time or two.

This is the danger, the first time you see the word fire in scripture comes in Genesis 19:24. And how it is being used is in the context of judgment (specifically of Sodom and Gomorrah). So when you think of fire coming down from heaven you get this idea of judgment and it is NOT ok for us to respond to insults and slights and disrespect in this life by calling down eternal fire from God.  Judgment is reserved for God and God alone.  He sees what happens to His children and when it comes time for accounts to be settled HE will settle them but not until that time.

So today let us pray that Christ and the Holy Spirit will work on us to safeguard our thoughts and our words and that we will not judge others.

Devotional Thoughts 11-14-2014

God always has a plan. I was looking at the verse of the day in my bible app and today’s verse got me hyped.  It reminded me of that fact that God has a plan.  And I like His plan because it is a plan for “welfare” (Jer. 29:11)

Normally when we think of welfare we think of handouts and government shutdowns and bad things.  However the word in hebrew means so much more.  It means health, prosperity, peace, safe from all evil.  Now that is a plan I can get down with.  But He needs me to actually follow His plan. And that plan starts by me giving my heart to Him.  All of God’s plans start that way.  So lets get down with the plan.

Devotional Thought 11-13-2014

Non-discrimination

Luke 15:2 Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

I just read something about a lawmaker trying to get something passed that makes it legal to discriminate based on your religious convictions. Now based on the person that I saw that they are saying is promoting this bill I’m going to say they are Christian.  The problem with this is that this persons actions are very un-Christ like.  Look at the text for today.

Discrimination is so far from the character of Christ that one can only be left with the thought that discrimination comes from the adversary.  I mean think about it for a second, Christ interacted with all sorts of people.  Christ did not discriminate, so why are people running around claiming His name, but not doing what He did?

If you are going to choose to discriminate (and lets be real, it is a choice that you are making) please don’t call yourself a Christian.  You are taking the name in vain…..

Devotional Thoughts 11-11-2014

1 Peter 1:8,9 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

Every Christian on earth should have one thing in common and that is the longing to see the Lord. 1 Peter makes something clear to us about that desire, that although we have not seen Him, we love Him and because of our belief we should greatly rejoice because the salvation of our souls has been obtained through faith.

Think about that for a second, because the outcome for you has already been determined we should greatly rejoice.  Because we know how the story ends we should rejoice with inexpressible joy AND be full of glory.

So today make sure that you are rejoicing. You should be because you know how the story ends.

Devotional Thought 11-10-2014

Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad.

I know i’m late on this note from yesterday, but this Proverb written by King Solomon is a reminder that we need to be speakers of that GOOD WORD. A good word will do wonders for people.

Today’s good word is that Christ died for your sins and rose from death’s icy grip so that you too may have that eternal life.  That IS a good word to make your heart glad.

Devotional Thoughts 11-9-2014

1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

Godliness is a means of great gain when you are content with what you got. I love being an American. Yes we have our issues but overall being an American is pretty awesome.  But the focus on acquiring things has often been our achilles heel as a nation. You have to have more things. More land, more houses, more cars, more money, more more more.  It is because we have not learned contentment.

Where does it end for us? How much is actually enough? These are the issues we face when we don’t approach things with God in our lives. But I have learned that when you are content with what God has blessed you with, you open yourself up to seeing how He uses you to bless others.  You are able to witness to others that there is PEACE in contentment.  There is JOY in contentment.  There is a good night’s rest in contentment.    And those are things that I think everyone wants to gain in these days.

Peace, joy, good night’s rest can be yours by accepting Christ who will give you that which you seek, if you are seeking Him and His kingdom first.