Meditation

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:8)

Meditating day and night on the Word is the man whom prospers in Psalms 1. The Word is powerful, living, and active. Personally, I drive an hour to work, and most of the time I am memorizing and mediating on scriptures, in that, I have been blessed to receive various understanding from that set apart time. Then taking those truths to build a bridge to learn how to practical apply them. As I embrace the art meditating on scriptures, I realize there is something that God is trying to say.

Life in general brings a host of different issues and scenarios. Meditation has become a vessel of freedom from many pressures and conflicts, especially in the battle of my thought life. Paul mentions, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8). Meditation has been one those outlets for clarity in an uncontrollable world, without becoming frustrated. Moreover, meditation is a chance to reflect on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

What is paradoxical, we are in a society has more leisure option than ever, but in a whole, we are generally exhausted. With all the technology, this generation has limited discernment or value in genuine rest, and the pursuit of quality meditation time. Even God paused and created the Sabbath, which He meditated over His excellent creation.

It is essential to acquire some alone time, and process through the main concern in life. For me, it will require examination of all areas spiritually, physically, and emotionally. I believe that all these areas are important parts in the make-up of people, and need attention. Mediating is also helpful to monitor life and assist in better time management.

Be sure of this; the lack of reflections and pause will drain our private world of vitality and joy. We need a healthy balance, while staying busy is important; let’s also grasp the value of personal meditation time. Keeping the main thing, the main thing!  Juan Mendez is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves now as full-time Chaplain. You can email Juan at jmendez@americaskeswick.org

Daily Bible Reading: Proverbs 3-5; 1 Corinthians 15:1-28

Think About This: An argument may remove doubt, but only the Holy Spirit can convict of truth. —Ravi Zacharias

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. Psalm 78:72

Some More Thoughts on Prayer

Last week I shared with you some of the things that the Lord has been impressing on my heart about prayer.

Dr. Paul David Tripp, in his devotional New Morning Mercies, shared some interesting insights on prayer:

Prayer abandons independence. Prayer forsakes any thought that you can make it on your own. Prayer affirms dependency. Prayer acknowledges weakness. Prayer renounces assessments of capability. Prayer embraces the reality of failure. Prayer tells you that you are not at the center. Prayer calls you to abandon your plans for the wiser plans of another. Prayer flows from a deep personal sense of need and runs toward God’s abundant grace.

Because of what prayer really is, prayer is not natural for us. It’s not natural for us to embrace our sin, weakness, and failure. It’s not natural for us to be comfortable depending on the mercy of another. It’s not natural for us to surrender our hopes and dreams to the better vision of another. It’s not natural for us to surrender our wisdom and control to someone greater than us. It’s not natural for us to think that we need grace. On the other hand, it’s natural for us to think that our righteousness, wisdom, strength, and work are enough. As a result, many of our prayers are the religious pronouncements of self-righteous people, the long wish lists of entitled people, or the impatient demands of people who are wondering what in the world God is doing. So many of our prayers aren’t prayers at all (see Luke 18: 9– 14).

Here is the bottom line. We need to be met by God’s grace if, in true humility, we are ever going to be able to abandon our self-reliance and pray for grace. It is only by grace that we will ever acknowledge our need for grace and worship God for the grace he has so willingly lavished on us. Since prayer is fundamentally counterintuitive, we need grace to rescue us from our self-oriented religious meanderings so that, with humble hearts, we may acknowledge God as the Redeemer -King and cast ourselves on his gracious care. Prayer always forsakes the kingdom of self for the kingdom of God, and for that we all need forgiving, rescuing, and transforming grace. This is just the kind of grace for which true prayer leads us to cry out.

Tripp, Paul David (2014-10-31). New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional (Kindle Locations 1647-1661). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

Quite frankly, I couldn’t have said it any better. It’s a fresh perspective on prayer. Lord, teach me to pray! – Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Proverbs 1-2; 1 Corinthians 14:21-40

Think About This: Prayer is abandoning my reliance on me and running toward the rest that can be found only when I rely on the power of God. Paul David Tripp

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. Psalm 78:72

Don’t Take It Easy

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Timothy 6: 6)

We live in a day when training and discipline are unpopular. But the apostle Paul said to Timothy, …and exercise (train) yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little; but godliness is profitable for all things , having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come (1 Timothy 4: 7b-8). Why do we need to train to be godly?

In thinking about that question, I would suggest three reasons . The first is to be prepared for life. Why do you think football players put in hours of practice for 60 minutes of play in a given game? They practice in order to be prepared to do their best and win! There must be preparation.

“Bear” Bryant , former coach of the University of Alabama football team, said, “You can’t live soft all week and play tough on Saturday!” This is what Paul means when he says, “training yourself in godliness.” Do it every day to be prepared for what’s ahead. Jeremiah 12: 5a (NIV) states, If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses…?

The second reason is to endure. Some things are hard to take. If there is a failure or a loss, we must learn not to let up, but rather to endure. We need believers, those who have come to know Jesus Christ by accepting Him into their lives, who endure… believers who keep on with their exercise of godliness and don’t slack off day after day.

The third reason is to be whole or complete. God wants each one who knows Him to be that way. Paul says we are to keep our bodies in shape, but we need the mind and spirit to be exercised as well.

Bodily exercise or training is limited to the body and this life, while godliness is of value in every way because it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

How do you exercise yourself to godliness? By association with God on a daily basis, not just your day of worship or holidays. It is taking time to read His Word, the Bible, and talking to Him in prayer. And then we are to live by what we have learned. It is up to us! We are to train ourselves. It is up to us to be obedient. Begin now; don’t take it easy. We must exercise ourselves to be prepared, to endure, to be complete. Rev. John Hibbard serves on the Board of Trustees at America’s Keswick and is the Sunday morning Bible Teacher at the Colony of Mercy

Keswick, America’s  (2012-12-13). Real Victory for Real Life Volume 2 (Kindle Locations 3577-3604).  . Kindle Edition.

Daily Bible Reading: Job 36-37; 1 Corinthians 12

Think About This: What keeps most of us from God is not the sin we know we have, but the righteousness we think we have. —Nate Larkin
This Week’s Verse to Memorize: As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And set me before Your face forever. Psalm 41:12

                         Scenes From Levi’s Deli: LIKE WE DO?

“One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do? Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”  Matthew 9:14-15 (NLT)

You more than likely already see this the way I see it but I’m gonna throw it out there anyway, doesn’t it seem like comparing and judging go in hand in hand?  In the case of apples and oranges one could take the position that, after looking at the two, red is a more appealing color than orange could ever be. Maybe after tasting the two, one could say that oranges are sweeter than apples could ever be. Or perhaps it is a matter of what’s inside meaning that apples are more solid than oranges which are more liquid. If you’re getting my drift here we can see that I am making a comparison, but now comes the moment of truth, which fruit is better? This requires judgment doesn’t it?

Now, some of you may try to flat line this by saying you like both equally just to avoid the judgment call. However, I don’t see Jesus doing that when the disciples of John the Baptist and those wacky Pharisees approached Him about fasting or what really was the underlining thing…how come You don’t worship YHVH like we do? How come You don’t observe The Law like we do? How come You don’t keep The Traditions like we do. How come You hang out with those, those, those…SINNERS?!! It seems like the apples have just raised a concern about the oranges here doesn’t it? Okay to be fair maybe the concern goes the other way around and it’s the oranges concerned about the apples. None the matter folks…a comparison was made and a judgment was called.

But it can’t just end there we need to go further into the dialogue that Jesus is having with John’s disciples and the Pharisees. In Luke’s Gospel account the whole scene starts with a party at Levi’s (Matthew) house with a statement like this, “But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?” (Luke 5:30) Now if I was in attendance that “such scum” comment, well, dem’s fightin’ words but Jesus sets them straight and since they have given the illusion that they are right as rain Jesus tells them He is here for us folks who are “such scum”…those, those, those SINNERS!! Like you and me!!

Then He added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” (Matthew 9:13) Go and Learn!! Better yet guys didn’t you read it in the scroll of Hosea? “I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know Me more than I want burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6) Nothing like saying you’re a religious leader and yet not know what that means in its entirety. Maybe Samuel says it better, “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to His voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)

I’m just getting started here, this moment with Jesus (and I mean what is happening at Matthews dinner party) is a fine display on how Jesus is going to flip the script on what people thought was the way to a dedicated life to God. This story has more depth than just a lesson on fasting as we see it on the surface. I need to end here today, we need to take a breather before we ask why new patches on old clothes or new wine in old wineskins aren’t wise decisions to make but until then ponder this…Is fasting something that we do to show our devotion to God or should we fast to make ourselves available to hear from God and devote ourselves to the direction He has imparted to us? Maybe it is just as simple an answer as both. Amen? Chris Hughes is a weekly Freedom Fighter blogger and is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy. You can email him at cphughes515@verizon.net

Daily Bible Reading: Job 34-35; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Think About This: “The measure of spiritual value is determined by the measure in which God promotes it, not the measure of human activities according to human judgments and energies in the name of God.”—T. Austin Sparks

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And set me before Your face forever. Psalm 41:12

I can’t pray

As far back as I can remember my parents were teaching me the concept of prayer. To be thankful for what God had provided in my life and to rely on God for all my needs and bring those to Him. The exciting thing was, at a very early age, I saw God answer prayer and I knew it worked.

As I grew older into my teen years I was beginning to understand the reality of my sin. That these darker areas in my life were putting a wedge between me and my God and what did this bring? Shame. I knew God had forgiven my sin at the cross but I didn’t feel I deserved that love or forgiveness that he promised.

If after reading that second paragraph your seeing red flags, good, you should. Let’s continue.

What this mind set of “undeserving forgiveness” brought was a huge weight of shame and in turn, brought on a fear of praying to God. I felt that praying to God was selfish of me, “why would God want to hear from me?” I can’t keep from sinning. He hates me. I can’t pray.

Wait, wait, wait… press the breaks!

This mind set is nothing more then Satan using one of his most effective tricks, to convince us that our sins aren’t really forgiven. It’s says in Psalms “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” if we have entered into true fellowship with Him, God has not only forgiven our sin BUT has removed them completely. That is a promise from our Father we can never lose sight of.

Another promise is from John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” God has promised us that if we take our sin to Him in prayer, He is faithful to forgive them.

I’m not sure if I’m the only one out there that’s struggled with this but if you are going through this feeling of “undeserving forgiveness,” don’t lose heart. Those thoughts aren’t from God, but from the father of lies, Satan. We need to hold onto and continually remind ourselves of the promises God has laid out for us in His word.

He tells us that if we have entered into a personal relationship with Him, we are HIS children. That our Father has given us grace and mercy in infinite supply and that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Our Abba Father wants to hear from us. He wants to be in fellowship with us through prayer and worship and we should always be mindful of His promises and to not let Satan spread his doubt and lies in our lives. Graeme Mark Wilson is Director of Marketing at America’s Keswick. You can email him at graemew@americaskeswick.org

Daily Bible Reading: Job 32-33;1 Corinthians 11:1-16

Think About This: Do not work so hard for Christ that you have no strength to pray, for prayer requires strength. J. Hudson Taylor

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And set me before Your face forever. Psalm 41:12

Praise the LORD!

While reading Luke 8, I came to the passage of scriptures where Jesus seems to be at the in the height of His earthly ministry healing, teaching, sharing parables etc… In fact, He was on his way to raise Jairus’s daughter from the dead when he encountered the women with the issue of blood.

“And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.” (Luke 8:43-44) She was healed instantaneously from her issues. Many others were delivered and believed in Him because of all what they saw, heard, and experienced.

I have confidence that God is sovereign in the everyday situation of life. He has shown me great wonders and has always proven faithful. God is greater than my circumstances. He healed me from my addictions, changed my heart, and gave me a new life. And I am, and always will be truly grateful for all he had done.

However, I began to mediate on the concept of ‘blessed are the ones who believe without seeing.’ My love for God cannot be limited to only appreciating Jesus for what He has done and what He will do, but to give Him glory for simple who He is. This entails praises Him for being Holy, righteous, loving, graceful, just, compassionate, even when our circumstances are not pleasing to the flesh. And I believe we say it, but do we really mean it?

Praise the LORD!

Praise God in His sanctuary!

Praise Him in His mighty heavens!

Praise Him for His mighty deeds!

Praise Him according to his excellent greatness!

Praise Him with trumpet sound!

Praise Him with lute and harp!

Praise Him with tambourine and dance!

Praise Him with strings and pipe!

Praise Him with sounding cymbals!

Praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD!

This psalmist new how to praise his God. My faith needs to be more genuine than earthy deliverance, that’s not embracing true faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is who the Word and who He says He is. Indeed, there are some obviously lessons to be learned through issues of life, but saints, when are we going to simple rejoice in the great I Am, simply because He is the great I Am. Be blessed! – Juan Mendez is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is serving there as a full-time Chaplain. You can email Chaplain Juan at jmendez@americaskeswick.org

Daily Bible Reading: Job 30-31; 1 Corinthians 10:19-33

Think About This: When life gets hectic and you feel overwhelmed, take a moment to focus on the people and things you are most grateful for. When you have an attitude of gratitude, frustrating troubles will fall by the wayside. Dana Arcuri

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And set me before Your face forever. Psalm 41:12

Do I Really Believe Prayer Works?

“The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.” Psalm 15:2

We have been on an interesting journey as a ministry (www.americaskeswick.org) for the past several months. Since the inception of the ministry, prayer has been a vital part of this ministry. In fact, in 1999, our Board of Trustees spent significant time and prayer crafting our core value statements and prayer was the #4 core value.

On Friday, March 13^th (How cool to do this on Friday 13^th), the Board updated our core values by putting prayer as the number two core value. Pray is a very high priority in the life of our ministry.

This journey has caused me to ask myself a lot of questions of not only of our ministry, but also in my own personal life. For the next couple of weeks, the focus of my Monday morning Freedom Fighter blog, will be to share what God has been teaching me about prayer.

The first question I have been asking myself is: Do I really believe that prayer is a vital part of our lives? Make it personal now – If so, is it really a vital part of my life?

We read about prayer in the Bible. There are 508 references to prayer in the Bible and 650 different prayers in the Bible. We quote the big guns on prayer: Oswald Chambers, E.M. Bounds, F.B. Meyer, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, and George Mueller. But do I experienced the same power of prayer in my own life?

Do I really believe God answers prayer? Better yet, does He really answer my prayers? Is so, why do I wait until the crisis to pray when the Bible seems to indicate that my communication with the Father (or as my friend Dr. Richard Allen Farmer says, “Poppa!”) should be as natural and as spontaneous as breathing itself?

If we really believe that prayer is so powerful and vital, why is the prayer meeting in most of our evangelical churches the smallest attend service of the week, or quite sadly, almost non-existent today?

Our ethnic brothers and sisters put us to shame. God is at work in mighty ways around the globe and it would seem that behind every great movement of God there are people praying. Many of our Asian friends are up very early in the morning joining hundreds of their brothers and sisters at prayer meetings.

We have a Morning Prayer meeting during our Keswick conferences. We are having a good day when we have a dozen or two women gathering to pray and a handful of men. For the past two weekends we have had our annual Hispanic conferences. What touched my heart was that both weekends, the prayer services were packed – with men and women crying out to God.

We find ourselves saying to each other in the body of Christ – “I’ll be praying for you.” Or “I prayed for you.” Question. If we are really honest, did we really do it or is it just a part of our “Christianese” – this is the right thing to say?

Is part of the lack of prayer in my life just because of the lack of discipline? Or could it be that deep down I am afraid to pray because “What if God DOESN’T answer this or that prayer?

Dr. David Tripp in his powerful devotional, NEW MORNING MERCIES says: Prayer is abandoning my reliance on me and running toward the rest that can be found only when I rely on the power of God. Prayer abandons independence. Prayer forsakes any thought that you can make it on your own. Prayer affirms dependency. Prayer acknowledges weakness. Prayer renounces assessments of capability. Prayer embraces the reality of failure. Prayer tells you that you are not at the center. Prayer calls you to abandon your plans for the wiser plans of another. Prayer flows from a deep personal sense of need and runs toward God’s abundant grace.

I am pressing in on this subject of prayer. I am excited about what I am learning. But learning can’t be just learning about it. As the infamous NIKE ad says – JUST DO IT! Pray! – Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Job 28-29; 1 Corinthians 10:1-18

Think About This: I would have no desire other than to accomplish Thy will. Teach me to pray; pray thyself in me. Francois Fenelon

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, And set me before Your face forever. Psalm 41:12

New Creation

In dealing with recovery, we need to put various disciplines in place. For me I value the principle that the writer of Hebrews expressed, “Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)

So, for me, I attend a group called New Creations, and the lessons involved more than just staying clean. The focus is more on learning how to live through the issues of life. We inherit Paul’s model when he mentions, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

A fresh realty; no one is naive about the struggles involving substance abuse or that we need to create accountability in many areas to guide us on our path. We are honest about the temptations and the damage that follows poor choices in addictions. However, the difference from the secular approach we all are in an agreement that we can only do this by totally relying on Jesus Christ.

Each week there is a discussion topic, and last week’s lesson focused on managing through the traumas of a broken relationships. The group was very open about the past hurts, which can be difficult for a group of men. But these guys were looking for healing that corresponds to the depth of their wounds. The session was structured to allow us to process through unhealthy grieving from losses of close relationships.

Whether that relationship was with a friend, spouse, family, girlfriend, or coworker. The group, in whole, agreed that we needed to deal with this type brokenness in order to love others probably. In addition, do this without running to the bottle or some type substance. The pain is real and very consuming.

It is obvious that it requires prayer to heal the broken heart and courage to reach stability. The Words of David were quoted, “But I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning, and noon. I cry out in distress and he hears my voice” (Psalm 55:16, 17) So I Praise God for granting me new life, and the substance is not part of it. Juan Mendez is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves at full-time at America’s Keswick as a Chaplain at the Colony of Mercy. You can write him at jmendez@americaskeswick.org

Daily Bible Reading: Job 20-21; 1 Corinthians 7:20-40

Think About This: You must be asking which door is the true one; not which pleases you best. C. S. Lewis

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;
Redeem me and be merciful to me. Psalm 26:11

Tonight is our Men’s Fellowship Night with Colony grad, Pastor Stephen Keith sharing God’s Word. Check out the link for details. Come bring a friend and enjoy a great night of great food, fellowship, worship, Bible teaching and fun.Caring Without Quitting on the Path to Victory

And they come unto Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. (Mark 2: 3-12 KJV)

The path to victory is not always easy and often it is not well-marked. Neither are the obstacles in that path clearly identified. Consider the story of these four who were determined to get the one with palsy to Jesus. They had a noble and unselfish objective. They soon learned that the path to that victory would not be easy. In fact, they soon learned that the obstacles would come from different sources, different attitudes and different situations. That is why I often refer to this story as the story of those who care and will not quit. It is the story of experiencing victory in our pursuit of it. It is the story of simply not quitting on the Path To Victory. Here are some significant lessons for us all as we take that journey.

The four cared and they did not quit because the job was too small. They came to Christ bringing one. They were dealing with only one. Yet they did not turn from the small opportunity in order to demand a more prestigious responsibility.

Neither did they quit because the need was so great. This one had palsy. That is no easy problem with which to deal. They did not quit when they encountered the obstacle of the uncaring. The crowd of the curious had no understanding of the compassion of the caring . They cluttered the path to victory.

They did not quit when they encountered the obstacle of physical barriers. The door may have been blocked but they saw that the roof was available. You know the story. When the four could not get the one to Jesus because the crowd blocked the door, they uncovered the roof. That is just one explanation of why victory belongs to those who see beyond the obstacles and focus on the opportunities.

Neither did the four quit when they encountered the criticism of the uncaring. They were sitting there (v. 6 ). Criticism generally comes from those who sit. Victory comes for those who know how to handle the path to it. And Jesus clearly identified the path to such victory when He saw their faith (v. 5). … And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith (1 John 5: 4b). Dr. Robert L. Alderman is minister-at-large at Shenandoah Baptist Church in Roanoke, VA and a popular speaker at America’s Keswick

Keswick, America’s  (2012-12-13). Real Victory for Real Life Volume 2 (Kindle Locations 3261-3295).  . Kindle Edition.

Daily Bible Reading: Job 17-19; 1 Corinthians 7:1-19

Think About This: We must never lose the awe of God. To see Him is to carry a sense of wonder and dread, amazement and respect, worship and fear. The thought of coming into the presence of God should leave us speechless. Roy Lesin

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;
Redeem me and be merciful to me. Psalm 26:11

This Thursday night is our Men’s Fellowship Night with Colony grad, Pastor Stephen Keith sharing God’s Word. Check out the link for details. Come bring a friend and enjoy a great night of great food, fellowship, worship, Bible teaching and fun.

Grace Bursts Through

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come… But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. ~ Paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Romans 5

Oh beloved, it is true. There are days that want to knock us right between the eyes and push us off the side of the path He has set us on.

The check that has to go through, bounces
Some hope for a future opportunity, reminds us of our terrible past
A friend we needed to support us, pulls the rug out from under us
The liar puts the toughest temptations right in front of our face
The timer is ticking on finding work
The wheels on the truck are falling off

And then we hear it. “Give in. Forget this. It’s not worth it.”

Stop. Just stop beloved. And listen to this fool of a preacher preach for a moment.

All the stuff that happens on days like this are not out of the ordinary. They are the standard operating mode of the world in which we live. And the evil one simply wants to use the chaos of this fallen cosmos to get us to come back into it.

Yeah, it seems weird that we would do this. But, sin will do that. Sin, this twisting of our attention back onto “me” and what “I” want and think I should do to get my own comfort back, is always available. And in seeing the destruction wrought by one decision from Adam, it is easy to see how powerful the problem is.

So, what do we do?  Look back at the one Man Jesus.

Yes, it is as simple as this.

And the reason for the simplicity of the solution, is that the work for accomplishing victory over our problems has already been accomplished. And the cleanup work that was done by Jesus was exceedingly more powerful than the mess created by our forefather, Adam.

Can we see it? The problem of Adam (and you and I when we go into failure mode), is that Adam (and you and I) simply take our eyes off of Jesus.  But thankfully, even on the worst of days, The Light of The World has already, and can, and does, and will burst through.

If we let Him.

So, are you getting busted up by life right now? Sounds like the liar is just flinging some stuff at you to distract you from something (and SomeOne) beautiful coming your way.  Tonight is your night beloved. Time to let the Light shine on your situation. Makala Doulos is a graduate and serves as a Pastor/Teacher in Jakarta, Indonesia. You can email him at makala@ps1611.org

Daily Bible Reading: Job 14-16; 1 Corinthians 6

Think About This: The expression of Christian character is not good doing, but God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit divine characteristics in your life, not good human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian is that the supernatural is made natural in him by the grace of God, and the experience of this works out in the practical details of life, not in times of communion with God.
~Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;
Redeem me and be merciful to me. Psalm 26:11