And His Name Is …

“ … And you shall call His name … JESUS!” Matthew 1:21

I watched the clips of the announcement of the new Pope and had several thoughts run through my mind as watched with anticipation as to who would be named the new pastor of the Catholic Church.

I watched thousands of people gathered together – watching the excitement on their faces as they stood on tippy-toe hoping to catch a glimpse of their Pope.

When the lights of the Vatican came there was thrill in the air. You could cut it with a knife. The people were anticipating the curtain opening at any moment. The crowd were excited even about seeing a shadow of the one would be leading them.

The moment came when the curtain parted and the crowed went crazy. And then the moment came when one of the cardinals announced “We have a Pope!” And then he uttered the new Pontiff’s name.

The crowd went crazy. People were jumping up and down. Some clasped their hands to pray. Others reached up to the heavens with tears streaming down their faces as Francis stepped to greet his people.

So many thoughts ran through my mind. Then the words of the Apostle Paul came to my mind: “Therefore God has highly exalted HIM (JESUS) and bestowed on Him the name that is ABOVE EVERY NAME, so that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!” – Philippians 2:9-10

One day the GREAT SHEPHERD will appear and what a glorious day that will be. And every eye shall see Him and truly every knee will bow!

But until then – do I get that excited about worshipping Him now? When I gather together with the body of Christ am I that excited to even see a shadow of His glory? Or have I become so accustomed or familiar with Him that it seems like I go on auto-pilot?

If that is where you are – it’s time to fall in love with Jesus again. Cry out to Him – get on your knees and ask Him to show You a fresh glimpse of Him today. He’s ready! Are you?

Running the race with joy,

Bill Welte
President/CEO

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

Quote of the day: May the strength of God guide us. May the wisdom of God instruct us, May the hand of God protect us, May the word of God direct us. Patrick of Ireland

Bible Memory: When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies; I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments. Psalm 119:59-60

A Prayer about Friends Finishing

Well See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. (Heb. 3:12–14 NIV)

As we bring this week to a close, I want to share another Gospel prayer from the pen of Pastor Scotty Smith. The focus of today’s prayer is finishing well:

Dear Jesus, I’m so grateful for the dear friends you’ve woven into my life. Since I’m an introvert, the journey of investing my heart in long-term relationships has required, and still requires, a lot of your grace—grace that you’ve been faithful to supply.

I’ve already gripped the handle of a couple of friends’ caskets, and other friends will do the same for me one day. More than ever, I want us to finish well together in the gospel. What will this look like and what will it take, Jesus?

My temptation is to treat my easiest friendships like a broken-in pair of Birkenstock sandals—I just enjoy them without much thought or effort. It’s a great gift to have a few friends who can finish each other’s sentences, endure one another’s jokes, appreciate each other’s quirks, and accept one another’s weaknesses. Surely this is a gospel gift.

Yet, Jesus, we’re still foolish people, capable of acting out in very destructive ways, prone to wander, easy targets for temptation. With all of my being, I trust in the grip of your grace and the security of your bride. But your Word is so very clear that continuance in gospel faith is a sign of a real faith. That doesn’t scare me, but it does sober me.

Help us know how to hold each other accountable for believing the gospel. Help us take each other’s heart struggles seriously. Help us never to minimize or marginalize the deceitfulness and hardening power of sin. Help us know how to preach the gospel to our own hearts daily, and to each other, until today gives way to the day of your longed-for return. I pray in your all-glorious name. Amen.

Smith, Scotty (2011-09-01). Everyday Prayers for a Transformed Life: 365 Days to Gospel-Centered Faith (Kindle Locations 2067-2086). Baker Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Daily Bible Reading: Job 25-27; 1 Corinthians 9

Quote of the day:  The religion of Christ is the religion of JOY. Christ came to take away our sins, to roll off our curse, to unbind our chains, to open our prison house, to cancel our debt; in a word, to give us the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Is not this joy? Where can we find a joy so real, so deep, so pure, so lasting? There is every element of joy – deep, ecstatic, satisfying, sanctifying joy – in the gospel of Christ. The believer in Jesus is essentially a happy man. The child of God is, from necessity, a joyful man. His sins are forgiven, his soul is justified, his person is adopted, his trials are blessings, his conflicts are victories, his death is immortality, his future is a heaven of inconceivable, unthought-of, untold, and endless blessedness. With such a God, such a Savior, and such a hope, is he not, ought he not, to be a joyful man? Octavius Winslow

Bible Memory: The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words. I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. Psalm 119:57-58

Limiting God

And the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”   (Numbers 11: 23 ESV)

God’s way is certainly not our way.   Our God is the God of the impossible and He delights in continually proving that nothing is too hard for Him.   He chose Israel, the fewest of all people (Deuteronomy 7: 7).   He chose David to be king of Israel, the youngest and least likely of Jesse’s sons (1 Samuel 16: 11 & 12).   Jesus was born in Bethlehem, too little to be among the clans of Judah (Micah 5: 2).   In each of these instances God chose to use something that would be easily overlooked as a way to show His great power.   Similarly, He will continually bring us into difficult trials as a way of building our faith and trust in Him.

Oswald Chambers said, “Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led.   But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading.”   Faith is the key to our walk with God.   Everything we go through is meant to strengthen us and ultimately conform us to the image of Jesus Christ.   We are brought into situations that overwhelm us so that we will look to God and not our own abilities to find the solution.   Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever   (Ephesians 3: 20-21). The three key words are exceedingly, abundantly and all.   All is totally inclusive; there is nothing that we can ask of God that He cannot do exceedingly abundantly more than what we ask.   This is so that we will trust Him and that others will see that it is God and He will receive the glory.

There are always people watching us.   God wants to bring us to the point that when people see us, they actually see God.   This only happens when we yield every aspect of our lives to Him and follow Him with complete trust, keeping our eyes securely on the One who is leading and not watching the things that are going on around us.     When we reach this point we know that all that comes our way is based on God’s perfect love for us and He will carry us through. Allen E. Beltle is CFO at America’s Keswick and a contributor to Real Victory For Real Life Volume 2, which is now available from Amazon.com and on Kindle.

Keswick, America’s  (2012-12-13). Real Victory for Real Life Volume 2 (Kindle Locations 3321-3343).  . Kindle Edition.

Daily Bible Reading: Job 22-24; 1 Corinthians 8

Quote of the day:  Be such a person and live such a life that if everyone were such as you, and every life a life such as yours, this earth would be God’s paradise. Phillips Brooks

Bible Memory: The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words. I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. Psalm 119:57-58

Patience and Love

Acts 17: 26-27; And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that the might grope for him and find him, though He is not far from each one of us.
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Patience-waiting calmly without complaint for something we hope will occur.

How often I find myself able to put on an outward appearance of patience when in my stomach there is a volcano preparing to erupt and the restrain I use not to force God’s hand is nothing short of an act of God itself. I find myself wanting to force the hand of others instead of showing them the love of Christ.

So when we have a desired outcome how do we wait without anxiety? How to we have patience without masking impatience?|

In my own life, and as a Christian, the times I have had to put trust completely in God for the outcome, he has always gone beyond my expectations exceeding whatever plans and dreams I imagined on my own.

How do we get to a place where our hands do not want to force an outcome? Where we actually have the desire to wait knowing God’s way in time will be better?

True patience requires love and trust. When we trust God to work through others we are loving them. Big things can happen.  When I knew that God loved me what happened? I changed. People are no different. When they know they are loved, they change.

God’s love is the foundation of change: In life, in others and in our desired circumstances as well. And guess what, as we wait on the Lord and the changes that others will make we find out we are the ones who have changed and the joy is in the waiting. – Dan Gavin Jr. is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is currently in our internship program at America’s Keswick

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

Quote of the day: In the Bible, faith is a mixture of trust and trustworthiness. To have complete confidence in God makes a man reliable. And, when someone never lets you down, you look instinctively for a deeper relationship. Robert Mackie

 

Bible Memory: The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words. I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. Psalm 119:57-58

Lift’em High Up!!

“No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”                                                                                                                         John 3:13-15 (ESV)

I recently spent a Saturday afternoon at a Christian Life and Ministry conference in Allentown, PA. and sat in on a seminar on “How to Become a Caring Staff Pastor or Ministry Leader” that was led by Pastor Scott Weldon of the Bethany Wesleyan Church in Cherryville, PA. He told us how to develop a statement concerning your role as you support your Senior Pastor. He shared with us that his was to keep the Senior Pastor’s hands lifted up. I immediately thought of how Moses’ hands had been lifted up and supported by Aaron and Hur as Joshua battled against Amalek. (Exodus 17)
I also thought about how Moses lifted the bronze serpent up…”And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” (Numbers 21:8) The verse falls right in line with the verse I am using for this Freedom Fighter today. In the story of the bronze serpent the manna was running out of ways to prepare it (Manna Burgers?) and the people were growing weary of wandering around Edom. They complained, God sent fiery serpents, they bit people, Israel repented and Moses made a bronze serpent head, placed it on a pole so that all who looked at it lived.

Now move forward to where we find Jesus having His infamous discourse with Nicodemus in which Jesus would reveal that the Cross would be His Messianic Throne. “So must the Son of Man be lifted up” is its announcement and He is making something known. As the bronze serpent healed when it was lifted up so will it be when He is lifted up at the Place of a Skull. It will be by the virtue of His death that will bring a new life to all who would confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart’s that God raised Him from the dead. For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

It strikes me as funny how what has been lifted up high in Heaven was willing to descend down to rub elbows with us. Does it originate out of God’s love for a disobedient world? Does it hinge on saving the lost race of the first Adam? Does it find its root in Abraham’s giving of Isaac, a son whom he loved? We can answer with a solid “YES” here but the view is much vaster than that. Dr. George R. Beasley-Murray wrote, “If the purpose of the mission of the Son is that people may live and not be lost, the possibility of both destinies is clearly implied, and God in His love stands behind both.”

As I think this stuff all the way through, I come to this conclusion. True righteousness gets lifted up each and every time. As Pastor Scott was saying we do what we do without our own agenda’s when we serve in ministry. That can be extended to those who are in the pew every Sunday, who are at Wednesday night prayer group and attend Bible Studies. We are all there to help lift up and hold up righteousness and that righteousness can only be found when we first lift up the Cross before us and we hold it in our sights each and every day. As individuals our strength to do it my falter but with a rock for a seat and with our fellowship in Christ victory is at hand. – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular Freedom Fighter Blogger

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

Quote of the day:  “God prepares a Cross for you that you must embrace without thought of self-preservation.”—Fenelon

Bible Memory: The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words. I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. Psalm 119:57-58

Music – The Universal Language

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”  And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen. – Revelation 6:9-12

Several weeks ago, Robert Hayes, our Director of Program & Worship, shared a devotional for our weekly staff chapel and gave us a music theory lesson. He explained that if you look at a piece of music, the notes on the lines starting from the bottom working up read: E G B D F (Every Good Boy Does Fine). The space notes start from the bottom read: F A C E (Face).

Musical notes have value. Depending on the note it could get one beat, two beats, three beats, or a half a beat. The key signature determines if the music is written in sharps or flats.

The amazing thing about music is that no matter what language you speak, what you see on the printed page apart from the lyrics, is the same in every language. Key signatures, sharps or flats, half notes or quarter notes – they are all the same. Bring together musicians from almost any part of the world, even though they cannot read English, they could all read a piece of music and we’d all be on the same page.

These past two weekends we have had several hundred of our Hispanic friends on campus for a special weekend. Robert and I have played for their worship. Most of the words we don’t understand. But the music we are playing looks the same as what is in our hymnbooks.

While we may not understand the words – we can worship the Lord with these precious friends because there is no musical language barrier.

I thought about heaven – when we will all be gathered around the throne worshipping and praising the Lord. As John wrote, people from every tongue, tribe and nation will be worshipping the Lamb. Will we be singing in our native tongue? Will we be able to understand every language? I have no clue.

But I do know this – we will all be singing on the same page! The music will all be the same. How do I know that? Because God is the creator of all music. Not sure about that? Then check out Zephaniah 3:17.

Running the race with joy,

Bill Welte
President/CEO America’s Keswick

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

Quote of the day:  Abundant life means that we are fully alive at every level our being, to the whole of life; alive to the very tips of our fingers; aware of the whole range of response, intellectual, spiritual, emotional, sad and joyful, painful and peaceful. Tom Marshall

Bible Memory: The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words. I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. Psalm 119:57-58

Do Not Forget the Comforts

In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul. (Psalm 94: 19)

My wife, Bobbie, had a stroke after our morning church service on October 6, 2002.   It happened at church, and when I got to her, I wasn’t sure she was alive.   She regained consciousness, and the paramedics got her to the hospital.   While I was standing beside her gurney in the ER, she spoke these words to me: In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul (Psalm 94: 19).

I didn’t recognize it as a verse of Scripture, and I asked her about it.   She told me the reference and said she had run across it in her Bible reading just a week or two back and had memorized it.   Even though she does not remember the conversation, that verse of Scripture got us through a month of hospital stay and her doing the hard work of learning to walk again.

All of us, eventually, experience multitudes of anxieties.   Job knew what he was talking about when he said, “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble” (Job 14: 1).   The psalmist also knew what he was talking about.   When those full of trouble days come our way, we have a way to get through them.

Your comforts delight my soul provides the way through the dark days.   Do not forget the ways God brings comfort to your soul.   Maybe a particular song gives you strength when you struggle.   Perhaps a favorite verse of Scripture comes to mind when life is hard.   A good friend may have just the right word when it seems like the multitude of …anxieties is about to overwhelm you.   Do not forget those comforts!

You can hold onto them by doing two or three simple things.   You can share them with others when you recognize them.   Talking about them will settle them in your mind, and God’s Spirit will bring them back when you need them.   You can also hold onto them by writing them down.   Journaling has many benefits, but helping us remember God’s work in our lives is one of the best.   You have a way to go back and review the last month, the last year, the last several years.   Finally, choosing to thank God for those comforts will help fix them in your heart and mind.

All of us need God’s comforts.   They sustain us during the full of trouble days.   Let God’s comforts delight your soul when anxieties try to rob you of your peace in Jesus. Rev. John Strain recently retired from the Senior pastorate of First Baptist Church of Toms River and is a contributor to the Keswick devotional, Real Victory for Real Life

Keswick, America’s  (2012-12-13). Real Victory for Real Life Volume 2 (Kindle Locations 3200-3230).  . Kindle Edition.

Daily Bible Reading: Job 5-7; 1 Corinthians 3

Quote of the day: Peace of heart lies in perfect resignation to the will of God. What you need is true simplicity, a certain calmness of spirit which comes from entire surrender to all that God wills, patience and toleration for your neighbour’s faults, and a certain candor and childlike docility in acknowledging your own faults. Francois Fenelon

Bible Memory: Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promises; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. Psalm 119:41-42

THE INTERRUPTION CONSPIRACY

“But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth, more than my necessary food.” Job 23:10-12 (NKJV)

Matthew Henry wrote…” Job knew that the Lord was everywhere present; but his mind was in such confusion, that he could get no fixed view of God’s merciful presence, so as to find comfort by spreading his case before him.” My friend from Brooklyn sent me one of his infamous “tex-votionals” and he told a story about a Pastor who had recently written him. This Pastor shared that…”My greatest battle is not with some secret sin of the flesh but with maintaining a consistent life of prayer and study in God’s Word! Satan rarely tempts me with sexual sin, but he gets me so busy with the daily affairs of life that my times for prayer and study are crowded out. I don’t allow this to happen intentionally but I get caught up in all kinds of projects and interruptions. This cycle is repeated over and over and Satan is robbing me of my time with God.”

Is your prayer closet being invaded by a conspiracy of interruptions? If you are answering yes then understand this…you are not alone. The adversary’s chief target in these attacks is the secret closet of prayer and study. Does he entice us with erotic images, soothing thoughts of escape through alcohol or drugs, or dreams of fame and prosperity? No…not always. That old serpent knows that when we are in union with Christ we cannot be tempted by these things. Instead that crafty beast seeks a way to interrupt our every attempt to enter the presence of God and study His word.

Let’s take the story of Elijah and those 950 crazy prophets of Baal and Asherah. You can find it 1Kings 18 for your own read but the point here is that during that mosh pit of lunacy created by those prophets Elijah stood his ground. God showed Himself mightily and rains came but when the peace of God should have fallen upon Elijah Satan used Jezebel’s anger to send Elijah into a cave with his whimpers of “I’m the only one.” Then it was by the grace and mercy of ABBA FATHER to restore his spiritual equilibrium that had enabled Elijah to go on and anoint Elisha as his successor.

Even though He came to us in a fallen world Jesus always maintained His spiritual equilibrium. That is our example. My friend from Brooklyn’s “tex-votional” had these few other things to say…”All hell quakes at the effectual, fervent prayer of a single believer. The powerful praying of just one intercessor sounds like raging thunder in the caverns of the damned. Not one inch of space in hell remains unaffected by a believer who denies himself, takes up his cross, and follows Christ with his whole heart. Yet, we must remember: The soul that cries out with agonizing yearnings for depth in Christ will become the central focus of Satan’s conspiracy of interruptions.”

“Communion in prayer and the study of God’s Word cannot be optional. Your thought should not be merely that you ought to pray but that you cannot survive without prayer. Only when prayer becomes important enough will you make the time to do it!” AMEN?! – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular blogger for Freedom Fighter

Daily Bible Reading: Job 3-4; 1 Corinthians 2

Quote of the day:  THE INTERRUPTION CONSPIRACY

“But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth, more than my necessary food.” Job 23:10-12 (NKJV)

Matthew Henry wrote…” Job knew that the Lord was everywhere present; but his mind was in such confusion, that he could get no fixed view of God’s merciful presence, so as to find comfort by spreading his case before him.” My friend from Brooklyn sent me one of his infamous “tex-votionals” and he told a story about a Pastor who had recently written him. This Pastor shared that…”My greatest battle is not with some secret sin of the flesh but with maintaining a consistent life of prayer and study in God’s Word! Satan rarely tempts me with sexual sin, but he gets me so busy with the daily affairs of life that my times for prayer and study are crowded out. I don’t allow this to happen intentionally but I get caught up in all kinds of projects and interruptions. This cycle is repeated over and over and Satan is robbing me of my time with God.”

Is your prayer closet being invaded by a conspiracy of interruptions? If you are answering yes then understand this…you are not alone. The adversary’s chief target in these attacks is the secret closet of prayer and study. Does he entice us with erotic images, soothing thoughts of escape through alcohol or drugs, or dreams of fame and prosperity? No…not always. That old serpent knows that when we are in union with Christ we cannot be tempted by these things. Instead that crafty beast seeks a way to interrupt our every attempt to enter the presence of God and study His word.

Let’s take the story of Elijah and those 950 crazy prophets of Baal and Asherah. You can find it 1Kings 18 for your own read but the point here is that during that mosh pit of lunacy created by those prophets Elijah stood his ground. God showed Himself mightily and rains came but when the peace of God should have fallen upon Elijah Satan used Jezebel’s anger to send Elijah into a cave with his whimpers of “I’m the only one.” Then it was by the grace and mercy of ABBA FATHER to restore his spiritual equilibrium that had enabled Elijah to go on and anoint Elisha as his successor.

Even though He came to us in a fallen world Jesus always maintained His spiritual equilibrium. That is our example. My friend from Brooklyn’s “tex-votional” had these few other things to say…”All hell quakes at the effectual, fervent prayer of a single believer. The powerful praying of just one intercessor sounds like raging thunder in the caverns of the damned. Not one inch of space in hell remains unaffected by a believer who denies himself, takes up his cross, and follows Christ with his whole heart. Yet, we must remember: The soul that cries out with agonizing yearnings for depth in Christ will become the central focus of Satan’s conspiracy of interruptions.”

“Communion in prayer and the study of God’s Word cannot be optional. Your thought should not be merely that you ought to pray but that you cannot survive without prayer. Only when prayer becomes important enough will you make the time to do it!” AMEN?! – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular blogger for Freedom Fighter

Daily Bible Reading: Job 3-4; 1 Corinthians 2

Quote of the day:  We stop praying because we can’t see any tangible difference with our natural eyes. We allow our circumstances to get between God and us instead of putting God between us and our circumstances.”—Mark Batterson

Bible Memory: Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promises; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. Psalm 119:41-42

Leading with Compassion

II Corinthians 1: 3,4 ” Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

My life after 40 years had become a mess which is an understatement at best due to poor, foolish, and outright sinful choices.

But by the grace of God long before I surrendered to Christ, long before I admitted my sin, long before I was even alive, Jesus Christ in his mercy, pursued me. He had compassion on me and gently led me out of the darkness and into the light of grace.

Yet today I will shout of the grace of God from the rooftops and post it daily on my face book status,  but I often find it difficult and sometimes painful to look at someone’s self-inflicted pain and show compassion and mercy without judgment.

Back to Jesus, who at the cross looked past my sin and met me at my deepest need. His compassion and mercy penetrated to my heart and allowed me for the first time to understand grace. It was through God pursuing me through the years that I can look back and name and claim his mercy at specific times in my life. It was so important to see my sin, but even more important to acknowledge his grace in spite of my sin.

In turn I need I need to look past the sinner. I’m not saying look past the sin. We need to call sin for what it is, but look further into the deeper need in someone’s heart.

Where would the women caught in adultery be if Jesus justly allowed the men to stone her to death?

Showing mercy gives comfort, and being able to genuinely give comfort builds a trust, and gives you access into someone’s heart. Mercy is the light of our savior. And any leader looking for a heart change in another will only succeed by the words in the book of Micah 6:8 ” Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” – Dan Gavin is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is now serving in our internship program

Daily Bible Reading: Job 1-2; 1 Corinthians 1

Quote of the day: We cannot speak of the hidden manna unless we have the taste of it in our mouth. We cannot speak of the living water unless it be springing up within us. Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Bible Memory: Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promises; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. Psalm 119:41-42

“America, Bless God”

“Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God,

 You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty.”

Psalm 104:1

  I remember as a child the first time I bought a gift for my Mom with my own money. It was the hardest thing to depart with what little I had but when I saw the joy it brought it was well worth it.

I had always been and am still very good at asking for things, but when we give it completes the transaction of a relationship.

When I hear the song “God Bless America” it causes me to reverse the asking and I have caused myself to praise and honor God. How much more could He give us and yet it seems like we just keep asking?

The verse in Psalm 104 suggests that we “Bless the Lord”; it goes on to recognize the attributes and power of God. To make sure we are not just “Religious” but instead “Relational” we must complete the transaction by giving God the honor He is due.

So the next time you hear “God Bless America” or for that matter, right now “Bless The Lord”, amen! – Rob Russomano is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves on the full-time staff at America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Exodus 39-40; James 5

Quote of the day:  Jesus Christ, God the Son, joyfully obeyed God the Father, who sent him to rescue his rebellious creation, by being miraculously born of a virgin (he was sinless) and became a human. He willingly paid the price for rebellion—spiritual, eternal and physical death—by dying on a cross.  Then was raised back to life to demonstrate his complete victory over sin and death.   He came to establish his Kingdom rule and redeem (buy back for himself at a price) a people of his own possession.  The whole Old Testament, its laws, ceremonies, stories, characters, kings, prophets and promises, is the uncompleted story, of which Jesus is the fulfillment. Jesus is, as C S Lewis wrote, “the chapter on which the whole plot turns.   Scott Thomas & Tom Wood, Gospel Coach

Bible Memory: Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promises; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. Psalm 119:41-42