He is With You WHEREVER You Go

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you WHEREEVER you go.” Joshua 1:9

Several years ago while heading to our kid’s house in New Hampshire, our car began to act funny. It was pouring rain and the car was shaking and losing power. We were right in the middle of rush hour traffic.

Amazingly we made it to the shoulder without being killed. There is not a mechanical bone in my body so I immediately called AAA to ask for roadside assistance.

We had no clue where we were other than we were in Connecticut and there wasn’t a sign or a mile marker close by. Needless to say after an 30 minutes, the tow truck found us.

Prior to the breakdown our son Zach had made a comment that all of the State troopers in Connecticut wore interesting hats. While sitting on the side of the road, a car pulled up behind us and a very nice gentleman came to the passenger side of the car and said, “You’re in a safe place and I know someone will be here soon to help you.” He turned around and walked back to his car. By the way – he was not dressed as a policeman – and in fact, had on a nice dress T-shirt. Hmmm.

The two truck asked us where we wanted to take our P.T. Cruiser. Had no clue as we had no idea what was around. He told us that there was a Chrysler Dealership close by and would tow us there.

When we pulled into dealership our eyes bugged out. This was no ordinary dealership. It had a barbershop, a car museum and a restaurant. Immediately I began to see $$$ in my head.

The mechanic asked for my diagnosis and said that he thought it was a timing belt and this would be a costly repair. He later confirmed the diagnosis and began to check out our car. He had a puzzled look on his face and said, “Your warranty on this car is amazing. I have never ever seen this before, but your timing-belt is covered under the warranty.”

The not only did the work, but our insurance paid for a rental car, so we were able to go to our kids and pick up our car on the way home.

When we got back to New Jersey I called my mechanic and he could not believe what he heard. Never heard of a warranty covering a timing belt. The cost would have been $1500!!!

It was a great reminder for us of the promise of Joshua 1:9. We didn’t have to fear or be dismayed because the Lord our God IS with us WHEREVER we go!

Have you had a similar experience? If so, I’d love to hear from you. – Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 27-29; Matthew 25:31-46

Think About This: The trust that allows us to embrace uncertainty has three aspects: belief in the provision of God, belief in the promises of God, and belief in the power of God. Peter C. Wilson

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11

Right Hand Man

“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy;At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  Psalm 16:11

When I consider the people in my life and the fellowship that comes from the relationship with God I’ve recently narrowed my focus down to the close friends I have and the fruitfulness that comes with a loyal friend or companion.

Sometimes I take for granted the access I have to people who would drop whatever they’re doing and be there for me. First and foremost I think of my wife Terri who although we’ve had our problems would be my first call and without a doubt would come to my right hand.

Any successful business or ministry will almost always have a tandem of committed individuals coming together for a common cause, (even the Lone Ranger had Tonto). I think of the Patriarchs of our faith and see that at the height of their success there was a “Right Hand Man” by their side, committed and willing to do whatever it takes. I also see the poor decisions people make when they isolate themselves and attempt to take on life alone.

I’ve come across the term “Right Hand” in the Bible recently and have come to find out the importance of the meaning behind it. It’s a term used often to describe the position Jesus has in relationship to the Father, but to stay focused on one aspect of the meaning let’s look at the grand design that was accomplished by the sacrifice of Jesus. Hebrews 8:1 tells us “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying, we have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens”, Hebrews 10:12 says “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God” and also one of my favorite verses in Hebrews 12:2 tell us we are to be “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”.

The trio of the Father with His Son at His right hand making intercession for His children and then the power of the Holy Spirit that extends the right hand of God to us in order to make it possible to visualize the relationship of God being evident in our daily lives, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” Psalm 46:1, and of course, back to end of Psalm 16, “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

So if you’re lacking that “Right Hand Man” in your life know that God has got you covered! – Rob Russomano is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves full-time at America’s Keswick. You can email him at rrussomano@americaskeswick.org

Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 20-21; Matthew 24:1-28

Think About This: One who has been touched by grace will no longer look on those who stray as “those evil people” or “those poor people who need our help.” Nor must we search for signs of “loveworthiness.” Grace teaches us that God loves because of who God is, not because of who we are. Philip Yancey

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Psalm 32:10

Already There!

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. ~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Ephesians 2

Oh beloved, it is true. And some things are so amazing that we have a hard time believing they are. But true it is. Did you read the passage beloved? We are already Home. At least we are in our spirit. And when we think about it, our spirits are the most real part of us.

We have been raised up, not just from the miry clay in which we were immersed. We have been launched into a place we never could have reached on our own. We have been brought into connection with the One we had been hoping to find. The problem was, we could have never found Him. So He found us.

What does all of this mean? Everything.

When we stop for a moment, we realize that the struggle we thought we had to continue is really a lie. There is no more need to struggle against the sin and flesh and dregs of our existence. We have been pulled free of them. And we now sit next to our Brother – the very One who both paid for our sins and also paid the way into His family.

Really, knowing Whose we are, who we are in Him, and now – where we are in Him – makes all the difference. We are not alone. We are in communion with G_d through His very Spirit. We are free. And all of this is not just some mental game. The positioning and exchanges made to put us into this place are more real than the strongest of treaties between nations. No, this is a deal struck by the One who does not change, and cannot lie.

In the freedom He has bought us; in the communion we now share with Christ Jesus, the works we do have nothing to do with our struggle to be accepted by Him. They are all about a celebration of what He has already done in our lives. Our work is now as His very agent (read co-regent) in this world. We have become the emissaries of The King of The Universe, because we are His beloved brothers and friends.

Can we see it yet? The Gospel is enormous! We have not just been saved from hell. We have been delivered from the power of sin. We have already been made so clean as to be in the very presence of G_d – accepted and beloved. And in being made like this by Christ Jesus, we have actually become Him on this earth, to those we meet in the work He has set before us.

Brothers, this is an astounding truth! Words fail to describe the freedom that yawns out before us in eternal fields of joy and fellowship with Him and each other. Run! Play! Share! Enjoy! Dance! Invite others into the same place He has already brought us.

Tonight is your night beloved. Time to believe where you already are! Makala Doulos is a Pastor Teacher serving in Asia. He is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a frequent Freedom Fighter blogger. You can email him at Makala@ps1611.org

Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 18-19; Matthew 23:23-39

Think About This: If all Jesus Christ came to do was to upset me, make me unfit for my work, upset my friendships and my life, produce disturbance and misery and distress, then I wish he had never come. But that is not all he came to do. He came to lift us up to “the heavenly places” where he is himself. The whole claim of the redemption of Jesus is that he can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human soul, not hereafter only, but here and now. ~Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Psalm 32:10

Join us this Thursday night for our June Men’s Fellowship Night, with Pastor Don Meckley. Pastor Don serves as Senior Pastor at Emmanuel Church in Bayville, NJ. Call today for more information and to register. Dinner starts at 6:15 PM followed by the program. Call 800-453-7942.

Seventh Inning Stretch

(Today I am sharing something from my archives of Freedom Fighters. This was written back 6-2009. It is a privilege to share my journey in front of all of you)

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”(this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”  Ephesians 6: 1-4 (ESV)

Sometimes there are just too many days that are dedicated to the honoring or acknowledging of an event or a person and at times I think it is just a scam in order to sell cards, candy and flowers. Now Mothers Day is a given and should not even be questioned but Father’s Day is a bit different. It is looked at as a great excuse for Dad to eat BBQ or receive a new tool (sorry guy’s if you are getting ties) but for me this year it will be the first one I have without my father.

Dad was an easy buy. If you went to Phillies game, get him a hat. If you went near a Home Depot, get him a tool. If you had gone fishing…well you get the idea. My Dad was real cool about Fathers Day. Even if you just called him, he was fine with it. I don’t know how I’ll feel this Father’s Day without him but I’m sure I’ll manage. I’m a Dad now and my children have done with their short lives abundantly more than I could have ever hoped for. Just in that is Father’s Day gift enough. But there is a bit more.

My son just graduated from 8th grade with honors. My daughter played in the band during the ceremony. What a blessing!! And because of an unforeseen health problem, the dugout coach with my son’s baseball has had to take some time to recover and I have been asked to join the team. Now I have been sitting on the other side of the chain link for a part of the season but since that moment the team was won themselves a place in the playoffs. The head coach say’s I must be good luck but I know better. I think it is because Jesus is in the dugout and prayer is happening when these young men step up to the plate.

You see, to me Mother’s and Father’s Day is something to be viewed Biblically. We are told to honor our parent’s straight from the tablets God forged for Moses to take the nation of Israel. I tell my children that all they have to do is do it for God first and I’ll be honored for it, that I am taking care of God’s provision in my life. Then it is up to me to keep the encouragement up. I have to do that by living out the words of encouragement that I say to them. If I tell them to PRAY FIRST before you do first…they better see me do it. If I tell them not to be ashamed of the Gospel I better pray for the meal when we go out to eat, even if it is McDonalds. And if necessary wear my Americas Keswick T-shirt’s in public and not just on the grounds when I am spending time there.

Our children need to see us, as men, honoring our Heavenly Father. They need to hear us cry out “ABBA” when we are at our weakest so they know what to do when they are at their weakest. And if you can say it like you mean it, raise your voice and shout “SANTO” when you have been blessed. In all things show your children that “Our Father who art in Heaven” matters in your everyday coming and going.

Just as a side note….my daughter helped select the verse I have used for this Freedom Fighter as well as edited me for grammar and punctuation. She is not only Daddy’s only little girl she’s a chip off the ole’ block. We both send our regards to all the Freedom Fighter Brethren. – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is a weekly Freedom Fighter blogger

Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 15-17; Matthew 23:1-22

Think About This: “Communication not only disciplines, it also disciples. It shepherds your children your children in the ways of God. Like the teaching of Deuteronomy 6, this full-orbed communications occurs while lying down, walking, rising, walking, sitting. Parents are often too busy to talk unless something is wrong. A regular habit of talking together prepares the way for talking in strained situations. You will never have the hearts of your children if you talk with them only when something has gone wrong.”—Tedd Tripp

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Psalm 32:10

Join us this Thursday night for our June Men’s Fellowship Night, with Pastor Don Meckley. Pastor Don serves as Senior Pastor at Emmanuel Church in Bayville, NJ. Call today for more information and to register. Dinner starts at 6:15 PM followed by the program. Call 800-453-7942.

Pain is For a Reason

 “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”  (2 Corinthians 4:17, 18)

Since being gracefully redeemed, and since God has chosen to use me in many aspects in people’s lives, I realized that when dealing with a broken world, it’s natural for me to be available for broken people, myself included. However, I’ve noticed that usually people’s biggest concerns are typically ‘How the big bad world is treating me’ or ‘Woe is me.’

C. S. Lewis mentions, “Nothing will shake a man-or at any rate a man like me-out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself.”

I hear words like “it’s not fair,” “why would God allow such a thing,” “it’s the wife you gave me…” Sound familiar?! I get it, life is tough, and the world has a way of blaming God. I see all the controversy dealing with Bruce Jenner. Everyone should be happy, and they will stop at nothing to accomplish it. The problem is that many have already done this. The world and the trials of life are just ‘momentary afflictions’ and trust me, the groans and pains of this world are for a reason.

I was reading an article about a girl in Georgia that acquired a rare disease that didn’t allow her to feel pain. Many would probably think this to be a good thing. Contrary, her mother prays that she can have the ability to feel pain. She has no indicator to reveal when something is wrong with her, therefore she needs consistent supervision. Her mother says pain is for a reason.

The light momentary affliction is there for a reason. Yes we can learn many lessons in our pain, and yes it’s a consequence of a fallen world. But most of all in our affliction we grasp a great need for God. Juan Mendez is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and now serves full-time at the Colony as a Chaplain

Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 12-14; Matthew 22:23-46

Think About This: Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard a thing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself; it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others. Oswald Chambers

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Psalm 32:10

Join us this Thursday night for our June Men’s Fellowship Night, with Pastor Don Meckley. Pastor Don serves as Senior Pastor at Emmanuel Church in Bayville, NJ. Call today for more information and to register. Dinner starts at 6:15 PM followed by the program. Call 800-453-7942.

The 10 Greatest Powers in the Universe

On Friday Jan and I took our grands to see the new Avenger’s Movie. Wow. The grands are fascinated with the super powers. But they are mere fictional characters as we all know.

Here are the 10 Greatest Powers in the Universe:

1. The power of the Gospel: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Romans 1: 16 Nothing else can save your soul!
2. The Power of the Blood of Jesus: But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 Nothing else can cleanse you from sin.
3. The Power of the Cross: Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Romans 6:6 Nothing else can deliver you from yourself.
4. The Power of the Word: Sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth. John 17:17 Nothing else can bring you transforming truth.
5. The Power of God: And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Matthew 6:13 Nothing else can keep you from evil.
6. The Power of the Holy Spirit: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18 Nothing else can make you like Jesus.
7. The Power of the Resurrection: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3 Nothing else can give you eternal hope.
8. The Power of Prayer: And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. Matthew 21:22 Nothing else can move the hand of God.
9. The Power of Grace: God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have abundance for every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8 Nothing else can make you completely sufficient.
10. The Power of Faith: Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:5 Nothing else can keep you to the end. –Adapted from Meet Me in the Meadow – Dayspring

Now there is the real power! I trust you are blessed to know that YOU have access to the greatest powers in the Universe because of Jesus!  Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 9-11; Matthew 22:1-22

Think About This: The great paradox of faith is that we find our perfect freedom only when become slaves – slaves to God…In the ancient world, slaves judged their self-worth in relation to the importance of their masters. The greater the social status of a master, the greater the esteem of the slave. Christians are slaves of the greatest and kindest master of all. Alister McGrath

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Psalm 32:10

Broken To Be Given

Then He commanded the multitudes to sit on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples to the multitudes. (Matthew 14: 19)

On Sunday morning, July 26, 2009, I stood in the pulpit at the Colony of Mercy Chapel at America’s Keswick with my Bible opened to Matthew 14: 13-21 and a bottle of Pepto Bismol ® in my hand. I can remember the morning as though it were yesterday, because I knew most of the people in the audience that day could identify with what I was about to say. I read the passage of Scripture and then I held up the well-known bottle of pink medicine and read from the label, Shake well before using.

The stage is set! Herod had just murdered John the Baptist. Jesus was grieving the death of His cousin, friend and forerunner. In His grief, Jesus withdrew to a place of solitude and rest. However, He found Himself surrounded by 5000 (when women and children were added to the number, since only the men were counted, the number could have been around 20,000 people).

The disciples wanted to send the people home. Jesus instructed the disciples to give the people something to eat. The disciples informed Jesus that they did not have the resources to feed so many people.

Do you ever feel that the demands upon your life surpass your ability to meet those demands? Two facts faced the disciples: 1) They were overwhelmed by the enormity of the need. Almost 20,000 hungry people stood before them waiting to be fed. 2) They were overwhelmed by the inadequacy on their part to meet the need.

In John 6: 9, we learn that Andrew found a lad in the crowd who had five loaves and two fish. However, what good was this small portion when so many needed to be fed?

The miracle occurred in verse 19, when Jesus broke and gave. A great lesson is taught here. It is not our strength that the Lord needs, it is our brokenness.

A.W. Tozer once said, “It is doubtful that God will use a man greatly, until He has hurt him deeply.”

Shake well before using. Are you ready to be broken in order to be used by the Master? Dr. Roger D. Willmore is a popular speaker at America’s Keswick and will be here this summer, August 9-14. Call 800-453-7942 to make your reservations.

Keswick, America’s  (2012-12-13). Real Victory for Real Life Volume 2 (Kindle Locations 5591-5617).  . Kindle Edition.

Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 1-2; Matthew 20:17-34

Think About This: We must never forget that Christ did not suffer just during His three years of public ministry or the last few days of His life when He was crucified. No, He suffered throughout His life on earth. He who was without sin lived daily with the corruption and sinfulness of lost humanity. A.B. Simpson

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10

We Can Do/Have/Be…Wha? PART 4

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Matthew 26:41 (ESV) 

One of the last things Jesus taught on was being careful with falling into temptation. And we all need to be as careful with the last part of three things that were introduced in The Garden as today we cover the boastful pride of life. The pride of life is a desire to be what we want to be even if it means (well you will) stretching the truth at times. Now to put it into a perspective in my own life I am privileged to write for Bill Welte’s Freedom Fighter daily e-devotional, I have been doing this since 2008, a few of my devotionals have made the “Real Victory for Real Life” Keswick devotional book volume 2 so technically that makes me a published writer. HOWEVER, I have made no money at it and by the world standards I couldn’t call myself a real writer. BUT if I wanted to toot my horn about it anytime I could stretch it a bit and say that “I AM” Mr. Freedom Fighter himself, but “I AIN’T”. Moving on…

In Secularland it flies a different way and we’ve got pop singers who boldly come right out and say they live for the applause. They may not have a specific talent that sticks but somehow, someway they’ll do what they gotta to get us to applaud them. We can see our political leader’s campaign one way and after they are elected govern contrary to what their platform stood for. We have newscasters who embellish stories just to get you to tune in. We have show’s on television that are called “Reality Shows” and if that’s their reality hell is gonna fill up real fast. We even have other TV shows with the beautiful people dishing the dirt on the beautiful people and all of it is done in the style of self-promotion. “Any press is good press” Sad but true….

The world as a whole, Christian or not, with their desire to receive praise and applause from others, is putting God to the test. Eve plucked that piece of fruit because of the desire to make one wise. After all, God was holding out on that blessing wasn’t He? And what about what we read about the Israelites in Exodus 17:1-7 with their unrighteous anger at God and Moses because they wanted water and were absolutely certain that the only reason their Creator brought them out into the desert was to watch them die. This is what happens when we can’t accept that Gods plan doesn’t need our approval and we test His tolerance. The only thing we need to understand is that no plan of God will ever be thwarted. (My elder brother-in-Christ, Bill Darpino says that all the time)

The boastful pride of life leads us straight into deception and we think we can question God’s motives once we get there but in Luke 4:9-12 Jesus unraveled its inner workings to us. Satan test’s Jesus about being the Son of God and even uses God’s Word to back up his questioning but Satan didn’t use the WHOLE context of Scripture and left out part’s that say you need to dwell in the LORD and the serpent would get trampled underfoot. Jesus knows His identity and who He is so He doesn’t have to please the hound of hell nor is it His aim to please man. Jesus only seeks the approval of The Father and those of us who look to have our identity line up with Jesus Christ need to rest in the same. That has been the plan of God since Genesis 3:15 and it ain’t gonna be thwarted no how, no way…unless you choose unwisely.

So to wrap up this series let’s remember this…You can’t do whatever you want because there’s consequences to consider. You can’t have whatever you want because there’s payment to consider AND you can’t be whatever you want unless God equips you for it. Anything less takes you down the wide path of destruction and will have you trying to fill the emptiness with temporal stuff that serves no purpose in eternity, making having anything an eternally useless purpose instead. Let’s just keep this one thing in mind and that is God is really only concerned with one priority and if you claim to be a child of God it should be your priority as well: His Glory. Amen? – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and blogs weekly for Freedom Fighter. You can email him at cphughes515@verizon.net

Daily Bible Reading: Hosea 12-14; Matthew 20:1-16

Think About This: “God made us for Himself: that is the only explanation that satisfies the heart of a thinking man, whatever his wild reason may say. Should faulty education and perverse reasoning lead a man to conclude otherwise, there is little that any Christian can do for him.” ― A.W. Tozer

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10

Divine Moments!

“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road–the desert road–that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (Acts 8:26)

In Acts 8:26-40 is a great passage of scripture that reveals the benefits of being obedient to the Lord’s call. It might come in the form of a whisper, a passage of scripture, a message etc.. But whatever the channel; when He speaks, listen.

Philip was lead by the Lord to a divine appointment with the Ethiopian, whom was already searching for truth. Phillip’s availability presented him with the opportunity to share Christ. We read this, and believe the Word of God of these divine appointments, but are we positioning ourselves for these same works?

I was scheduled for weeks to take a brother for a road trip to handle some legal issues. The times consistently changed and I began to change my availability. But God said go, so I went. The great thing is that when we finally arrived on a set time, an old friend was able to drive and that relieved from that responsibility. It was a refreshing afternoon with great fellowship amongst men of God. I thought that I was being the blessing, but I was the one who received the blessing.

Just when I realized that God fashioned the timing perfectly, a young women enters the police station crying and broken. I usually don’t get involved with matters outside my jurisdiction, and trust me; police activity is not my jurisdiction. But the Lord said Go!

I kind of left it up to God to present an opportunity and sure enough He did. While outside I turn around and there she was, still broken-hearted. She allowed me to provide direction, share, pray, and when I asked her if there is anything else I could do, she asked me for more prayer.

More Prayer! Now that is divine moment from God. The girl was trying to manage a mother who was mentally ill and her 2-year old daughter under the same roof. We got her some help and provided her with financial support. It was no question that God orchestrated this divine moment. I’m learning to listen, to that still small voice.

Like Phillip, we need to be flexible and available for God to speak to us for the further of the Gospel. We don’t need to be theologians, pastors, evangelist and the like. We need to listen for those divine moments. Juan Mendez graduated from the Colony of Mercy and serves there full-time as a Chaplain. You can email him at jmendez@americaskeswick.org

Daily Bible Reading: Hosea 9-11; Matthew 19

Think About This: God will never plant the seed of his life upon the soil of a hard, unbroken spirit. He will only plant that seed where the conviction of His Spirit has brought brokenness, where the soil has been watered with the tears of repentance as well as the tears of joy. Alan Redpath

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10

And…?

And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan? Jeremiah 12:5b

I find myself in conversations with certain people who some would say are “long in the tooth”, or in other words, they like to talk. Just when I think the conversation is over I am detained with an “and”, which always denotes a continuation.

In Jeremiah chapter 12 the prophet starts off with a complaint, “why Lord”? “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?.”

I find that when someone comes to me with a complaint the best way to work through it is to reiterate the word “and”. It’s as if they answer their own complaint by coming to the end of themselves and either hitting a dead end or if they are putting their faith in God seeing that the end of all things is God. If we are trusting Jesus Christ for our eternity then tell me what is there that at the end of our dismay that He isn’t the answer for. If we are backed into a corner there is always a way out if we are committed to trusting God at His word.

Whatever our complaint is today if we line it up to the Word of God there is always an answer, even if it’s “trust Me” relying on a verse found in 1^st John 4:4 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world”. If we can be brought to the end of ourselves and there’s nothing left but our faith then verses like this should comfort us.

I’m going through the book of Joshua since our theme verse this year is Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua has the daunting task of leading the people into the promise land, complaints and all. God commands Joshua to have 12 men carry 12 stones into their camp and stack them for a certain reason, “That this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Joshua 4:6.

I wonder if in days to come when the people would forget the way God delivered them and began to complain if Joshua pointed to the stones and said “And”?

So if you’re questioning the way things “seem” in your life, be “long in the tooth”, think about our theme verse at the Colony, “And the LORD, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed” Deuteronomy 31:8. Rob Russomano is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves full-time at America’s Keswick. You can email him at rrussomano@americaskeswick.org

Daily Bible Reading: Hosea 5-8; Matthew 18:21-35

Think About This: Preaching is of much avail, but practice is far more effective. A godly life is the strongest argument that you can offer to the skeptic. Hosea Ballou

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10