Who’s Clock Are You On?

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Who’s Clock Are You On?

“I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.” Romans 1:14-15

I “work” in housekeeping. I push a time clock to record my hours. I am certain that millions of people everyday do the same thing at their work. Punching of the clock equates to money in the pay check. It has been this way since the start of organized labor.

But whether I am “clocked” in or not; I am always on my Father’s time. I am a servant (slave) to the One who purchased me 24 hours a day – 7 days a week. As a servant, I don’t decide when and where I work, the Master does. The reason for this is “I am a debtor.” Morally obligated to the One who purchased me. How big is this obligation? Rom 1:15 “as much as is in me.” My Master demands I put everything I have into it. No holding back.

If Jesus is indeed your Lord and Savior, you are a debtor as well. Are you discharging your debt? As much as is in you? If not, what is hindering you from becoming a better steward of your debt? Is it your pride, time, yourself (I hate that one), preoccupations? Maybe you are not making yourself available to serve God. Did you ask Jesus this morning to make opportunities for you to “work”? Or are you “unemployed”? I need to constantly check my priorities. Do I involve God in all my choices? Am I putting Him first in these choices? Do I need a stronger sense of responsibility? (1 Cor 10:31) I owe everything to Jesus, do I live like it? Am I seeking out ways to further His kingdom here on earth? (Matt 18:11) A while back I began praying that Jesus would give me the courage and conviction to stop disrespecting Him by claiming His name then go on living like I am the only one He came to save.

Brothers, the hour is late and there are 6.5 billion people on this planet and the majority don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Where is our sense of urgency? A reckless abandon for God? This is our Father’s time, are you being a good steward of the time He has entrusted to you? — Chris Connors is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and the Director of Housekeeping

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 28; Numbers 17-19; Mark 6:30-56

Great Quote: Good morning, Lord! What are You up to today? Can I be a part of it?Thank You. Amen. Norman Grubb

Where’s the Bread?

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Where’s the Bread?

“Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.” Mark 8:14

Yesterday I got whacked in the head yet again by the Lord. Many of you know that 2008 was a challenging year financially for America’s KESWICK, as with most ministries. 2009 started out with a bang — in a good sense, and we were blown away at how God has provided for our needs in the month of January, which typically is a “challenging” month.

On Tuesday, our CFO shared with our Administrative Team the goodness of God and we were rejoicing. On Wednesday morning at our daily staff prayer time, our CFO shared that cash flow is really tight because of the two ministry weekends we are doing for our Hispanic friends. Our normal weekend income is much lower, but we know that this ministry to our Hispanic friends is an important one.

I confess that after Allen’s report, I was saying to myself, “Lord, here we go again!” Most of the day I was feeling sorry for myself, weary from the last six months of constant concern regarding our finances.

This morning I got blasted, but God. Here is the “Welte” paraphrase of the story. Jesus tells his disciples to get into a boat, and they are going on a little excursion. Ever think of how many teaching times happen with those dudes when they are in boat?

I don’t sense that they knew in advance that they were leaving that soon, nor do I think that they had any idea how long a trip it would be. As far as food goes — they had ONE loaf of bread. The text says they forgot to bring bread with them! I am not sure how big that loaf was, but remember that along with Jesus, there were 12 in the boat!!! How far does one loaf go with twelve guys who were quite put together?

They must have all been thinking about the bread and started to discuss this among themselves. I can imagine them saying, “There ain’t no McJerusalem around these parts. This is a full service cruise. Jesus is obviously listening in on their conversation! Don’t you love it! He sees and knows everything!!! He asks them why they are concerned about the bread. Before they are able to even answer, he asks them if they have vision and hearing problems!

And then Jesus nails it! Can they be that blinded that they forgot so quickly the miracle that they just had witnessed. In fact, they saw it twice! Miraculously Jesus fed 5000 and then 4000, all with a very limited supply of bread!

Hello! How could these guys be so dumb! How could they miss this? And then I felt the nudging of the Holy Spirit — “what about it, Welte? Do you not get it? Do you not understand whose ministry this is? It is my ministry. I have taken care of it for 111 years, 12 of those without your help!” Gulp!

I wrote in my journal, “Lord, I am as dumb as the twelve. I just don’t get it. You display your glory day in and day out in hundreds of ways, and I still don’t trust you. If you can take care of us in January, can you not do that in February and March? You know how much we need to care for bills and payroll. As the man cried out in the New Testament — ‘Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!”

And guess what — God already had the answer the way. We needed $3,000 today to cover the bills due this week. We also need payroll for next week. And got sent in an unexpected gift of $50,000 today! To God be the glory. The Lord moved me from fear and fretting to faith and victory! Hallelujah!

Is God stretching your faith today, my friend? If He can meet the needs of America’s KESWICK, He can meet your need today. Will you trust Him? I know one friend that needs to hear this today! Hold on, brother … the answer is on the way! — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for TODAY: Proverbs 27; Numbers 15-16; Mark 6:1-29

Great Quote: (continued from yesterday) God has given us prayer as a wartimewalkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world. Prayer gives us the significance of front-line forces, and gives God the glory of a limitless Provider. The one who gives the power gets the glory. Thus prayer safeguards the supremacy of God in missions while linking us with endless grace for every need. John Piper

Are We Too Connected?

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Are We Too Connected?
This blog entry did not go to the email list. It was too good to miss. So I am sending it again today.
“Be still and know that I am God …” — Psalm 46:10

Question … and can we agree that my question is not a judgment but one to help bring some perspective to our lives?

How much time did you spend today in Bible reading/study/meditation and in prayer?
What was the first thing that you did when you woke up this morning?
Did you turn on your radio? Turn on your computer? Or was the first thing you did today was to grab a cup of coffee and your Bible to engage with the Lord?

How much time did you spend with the Lord? 3o minutes? 25 minutes? 15? 10?
How much time did you spend in answering email today?
How much time did you spend texting?
How much time did you spend searching the Internet?
How much time did you spend on Facebook?
How much time did you spend playing cards on the computer?

Our world has become very connected to everything but our relationship, our personal relationship with the Lord. We are living in some of the greatest times technologically, but will technology enable us to spend more time with God or with technology?

My cell phone is ready for an upgrade. I have been trying to decide if I should take the leap into a more sophisticated device. Right now I can text and I can take pictures. My techie friends all have phones that now connect them to the Internet and access email. I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t tempted. But my family and the Holy Spirit (not Jan … but close …) challenged me to think through that fact that I don’t need one more device that is going to get me more connected.

I need to find ways to disconnect and unwind so that I can enjoy life and my family. But I also need to find ways to be able to be alone with God, and to get still enough that I can hear Him whisper rather than have to shout at me over the technology. Don’t get me wrong, technology is wonderful. Think of all the things we can do not with speed and precision. But is technology interfering with my relationship with God?

If I’ve spent more of my leisure time connected to technology and given God the left overs of 5, 10 or 15 minutes because I am “too busy” — is there something wrong with that picture? Making a daily commitment is not easy. As soon as I hit the ground, my mind is in a flurry of activity. I find myself at times rushing through my quiet time so that I can get to the office to handle work before everyone else gets in or I try to see how many other things I can read beside the Bible to fulfill my quiet time.

Lately, I have found myself stopping and saying — DON’T RUSH! Don’t look at the computer first. Don’t send one single email until I sit and spend time with my heavenly Father. I have been working through an old practice of just reading the Word and then journaling what He is teaching me. I ask the Holy Spirit to give me one verse from my Bible reading. I write that verse in my journal and make some observations. I then write out how I believe God wants me to apply that verse to my life. At the end of the exercise, I write out a prayer, asking God to build that principle in my life.

Is this an easy practice? NO! But I believe it is necessary. It seems easier to get on Facebook or answer email. But I want to work at having connectedness not as important to technology as to my heavenly Father. How about you? Is it just me? Am I the only one? — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 25; Numbers 9-11; Mark 5:1-20

Great Quote: Life is war. That’s not all it is. But it is always that. Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den.(continued tomorrow) John Piper

To Sleep or Not to Sleep

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To Sleep or Not to Sleep

” … when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” Proverbs 3:24

I just completed reading a powerful book by Dr. Archibald Hart called “THRILLED TO DEATH?” I had it sitting in my “to read” pile, but what pushed it to the front of the pile was listening to an interview on Saturday’s Focus on the Family broadcast.

Dr. Hart was being interviewed about the way technology is impacting our society, and alarmingly, how our overload of technology is impacting our kids in a negative way. I will share some insights throughout the next couple of days, but one of the things I re-learned is that we need to value sleep.

Some of us Type A personalities have prided ourselves into believing that we don’t need as much sleep as others. Guess what? The medical world has debunked that myth. Listen to just a few if the benefits of sleep as presented in Dr. Hart’s book:

1. Why do we sleep? Because the brain, like the rest of the body, needs rest.
2. When we don’t get enough sleep, our body will force us to make up for it!
3. Sleep helps the brain to fix new memories and replenish energy.
4. Sleep helps to consolidate new memories.
5. The more sleep we get, the faster we can perform many mental tasks.
6. Sleep helps us retain new memories (learn new things).
7. Sleep helps the brain make new connections.
8. Dream sleep is the defragmentation program of the brain.
9. Sleep helps the growth of new brain cells.
10. Good sleep helps us to undo the effects of stress.

Ever notice that some people can sleep anywhere, anytime, and enjoy a fitful sleep. Others of us are thankful for two solid hours of sleep, and then little catnaps throughout the night.

There are many reasons why we don’t sleep fitfully. Sleep apnea is one of the major causes of sleepless/restless nights. Too much caffeine after 3:00 PM will impact our ability to sleep. For some, we are so addicted to adrenaline (stress) that our body just can’t unwind.

Another sleep robber is worry and fear. It will keep you awake for hours if you allow it to stay at the forefront of your mind.

Is there unconfessed sin in your life that is causing you to be restless? Are you harboring bitterness, resentment or a spirit of unforgiveness?

If you are not sleeping fitfully, you might want to ask the Holy Spirit to show you what it is in your life that might be causing you to sleep well. While there are many physical reasons why a fitful night sleep may be eluding you, it could very well be that there is some area of your life that needs some spiritual attention. You just might have “Spiritual Sleep Apnea.” Why not talk to the great Physician about it. — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 24; Numbers 7-8; Mark 4:21-41

Great Quote: “It is possible to have a saved soul and a lost life.” In other words, it is possible to be saved and forgiven of one’s sin but to waste one’s life by not serving the Lord. Alan Redpath

Assuming His Presence

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Assuming His Presence — Here is another “never-seen-before” devotional written by the late Pastor Bill Raws

“Supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey.” Luke 2:44

Jesus’ parents had taken Him to Jerusalem for the Passover. They travelled homeward in the company of a large crowd of pilgrims returning to Galilee. Assuming that Jesus was somewhere in the crowd, they went a day’s journey before they discovered His absence. When they failed to find Him among their relatives and friends, they returned to Jerusalem.

Several lessons and applications can be drawn from this incident. First, there is a danger in assuming that He is walking with us in fellowship. It is true that He has promised His presence to be with us always, but the realization of His presence is conditional – “if we walk in the light” (1 John 1:7).

Second, it is possible for Him to be obscured by the crowd. There were instances in His ministry when needy persons could not see Him for the crowd. Zacchaeus, because he was short of stature, was prevented by the crowd from seeing Jesus. He overcame the problem by climbing a tree for a better view. In a different situation, a paralytic in need of the Master Healer was prevented from getting to Jesus because of the crown in the house. His enterprising friends solved the problem by removing roof tiles and placing the man directly before the Lord. Crowds and popular opinion can deter people from finding Jesus.

Third, Jesus was found in the place where His parents had left Him. When we have turned away from the Lord and assumed that He would follow us on a way that we have chosen, we can only be restored by returning to the place of departure. In this account, it was the place chosen by the Heavenly Father for His business to be carried on (Luke 2:49).

Instead of merely assuming that He is with us, we must learn to practice His presence. Don’t lose Him through the influence of the crowd. Before the day’s journey begins, be sure you’re in the fellowship of His presence.

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 23; Number 5-6; Mark 4:1-20

Great Quote: God created us to have needs, not counting them as sinful or selfish. Without them, we’d have no way of knowing our need for God or how much He loves us. Anonymous

PAY DAY

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Pay Day

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth”
(3 John 4)

I’ve worked at Americas Keswick for over 6 1/2 years now. During my time as a staff member and also a Colony Grad, I’ve seen both success and failure. Most of the time it seems that we only hear about the men that fall back in their addiction, but that’s not always the case. One night after a couples conference here at Keswick, it was almost 10 pm when my doorbell rang. It was three recent grads who worked with me in maintenance, and they were with their wives. You’re probably saying “of course they’re with their wives it is a couple’s conference”. Well, I know that less then six months ago at least two of those marriages were in serious trouble.

As we all sat around my living room, it was as if I were outside looking in. I know their not my children, (first of all I’m way too young) but I can somehow relate to the Apostle John “no greater joy then to see my children walking in the truth”. As I sat and watched them smile and laugh I thought back to when they were in the Colony and the prayers we prayed watching them each day after work going into the Chapel to cry out to God on behalf of their marriages, they began to trust God and to walk in His truth. Well my friends this is what we as staff members and prayer partners call “Pay Day”. Now I know they have a long way to go and a lot of work ahead of them but, it will be a long time before I forget that moment.

I remember my time in the colony, sometimes I walk past my old room and remember when the truth of God’s word began to sink in. I pray that God will bring back a memory of times past to renew the “joy of your salvation”. It has caused me to renew my walk with the Lord and appreciate my wife, and who knows maybe Jesus is looking down and a smile on His face with a Fatherly “that a boy”.

Thank you Barry, Carson and John for allowing God to work in your lives, you may not be my children, but I am certainly proud of you. — Rob Russomano is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves on the full-time staff at America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 22; Numbers 3-4; Mark 3:20-35

Great Quote: There hath not one tear dropped from thy tender eye against thy lusts, the love of this world, or for more communion with Jesus Christ, but as it is now in the bottle of God; so then it shall bring forth such plenty of reward, that it shall return upon thee with abundance of increase. “Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.” (Luke 6:21) John Bunyan

To Smoke or Not To Smoke Part 2

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To Smoke or Not to Smoke (Part 2)

–“All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. Let no one seek HIS OWN good, but the good of his neighbor.” 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 ESV

Yesterday I touched on a topic that has been very controversial in Christian circles. I do not consider myself to be a legalist, but I do believe that I believe that the Word of God does clear instruction on taking care of our temples.

I hear a lot of what I call “sloppy grace teaching” that I believe is causing well-meaning Christians to explore liberties that eventually end up causing destruction in their lives. The verse quoted above, and many others, are often not considered because of our selfish fleshly desires.

I have been blessed by a daily blog written by Tim Challies. On Wednesday Tim wrote about the subject of smoking that I think is worth sharing. I emailed him and received his permission to quote this section of his blog:

I guess the crux of the matter is this: is it sinful to smoke? It seems to me that it is hard to sustain a consistent biblical argument which would conclude that smoking is always and ever sinful. I think it is difficult to bind another person’s conscience without resorting into some kind of inconsistency or legalism.

I see the logic behind these arguments, but those same principles seem to fail when they are extended to the rest of the Christian life. There is part of me that feels I should say with certainty that smoking is sinful. But I don’t think I can do so in good conscience.

I actually quite like John Piper’s take on this one (though he does conclude that smoking is sinful). He says, “Habitually smoking cigarettes seems to say, ‘Life doesn’t matter as much as my pleasures do.’ And the fact that it is highly addictive should also encourage Christians to keep their distance.” So maybe there is a difference between the person who smokes two packs of cigarettes a day and the person who occasionally enjoys a fine cigar.

Piper writes that in his church they do not focus specifically on smoking; instead, they have a higher standard. “We engage to abstain from all drugs, food, drink, and practices which bring unwarranted harm to the body or jeopardize our own or another’s faith.” Some might argue that this is a lowering of standard, but I’m inclined to believe that it actually raises the standard. It removes the focus from specific pet sins and widens the focus to a wider range of sins that we may be willing to tolerate. We should give thought to everything we do, everything we eat, everything we breathe in.

I have an intense dislike toward smoking. I dislike the smell of it and I have a special pet peeve toward seeing cigarette butts lying on the ground outside buildings. But I don’t presume to think that I can tell much about a person’s spiritual condition by the fact that he smokes. Nor do I find that I can (or would want to) generate the kind of argument from Scripture that would tell another person that smoking is absolutely forbidden. But when we look at the evidence of how smoking impacts the smoker’s health, how it impacts the health of others around him, how it encourages addiction and so on, it seems that it is something the Christian would be eager to avoid or overcome.

Is it always and for all people sinful? I don’t know that I would go that far. Piper gets it right when he says “Don’t pick out a few individual named sins, but let your definition of sin be sweeping and pervasive so that it touches everything. And let your definition of holiness be the same. How you drink Coke, eat pizza, or exercise can all be sin issues, or not.”
So what do you think? Is smoking sinful? Or can it, like so many other things, be done for God’s glory?

I think it important for you to think this through, brothers. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart. I do know this — that the same Jesus who can set an alcoholic free, can set free the man, woman or teen who is addicted to tobacco. What is He speaking to your heart? — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

If you’d like information about Tim’s blog, send me an email. Thanks.

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 21

Great Quote: God created us to have needs, not counting them as sinful or selfish. Without them, we’d have no way of knowing our need for God or how much He loves us. Anonymous

To Smoke or Not to Smoke

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To Smoke of Not to Smoke –“All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. Let no one seek HIS OWN good, but the good of his neighbor.” 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 ESV

Well today’s Freedom Fighter will most likely strike a chord of agreement or cause a flurry of responses. Having read an excellent blog on the subject of smoking, I want to share some thoughts for consideration. In fact, this might be a two-parter.

Prior to my Dad’s conversion, he was a miserable alcoholic. From what I hear from his family, I am grateful that I never knew this side of my Dad’s life. The day he was saved, he was totally set free from his bondage to alcohol and never touched alcohol again.While he experienced freedom in Christ in this area of his life, he secretly struggled till the day he died to his addiction to cigarettes.

For many years I struggled with the question, why could God set Dad free from alcohol, but not cigarettes. He would openly shed tears of gratefulness to the Lord when he shared his testimony about victory over booze, but went to his grave miserably addicted to cigarettes.

It wasn’t until becoming involved with America’s KESWICK and the Colony of Mercy that I have come to understand that tobacco is a life-dominating bondage for many people. Despite the fact that some believers, and this isn’t a judgment call — believe that since the Bible doesn’t list smoking as a “sin” — tobacco is classified by the world as an addiction. In fact, if you visit www.phillipmorrisusa.com, you will discover from their own literature that this addiction is one of the most difficult addictions to break.

For years, the men of the Colony were able to spoke pipes and cigars at a designated area referred to as “Little Egypt.” This really puzzled me because our message since 1897 declares that through Christ we can live a life of victory and freedom. Unless I am reading my Bible incorrectly, Egypt in the Scriptures is a reference to BONDAGE.

Years later, the men of the Colony came to Administration and shared with them that tobacco is a huge area of bondage. The tobacco manufacturers in their own literature declare that their desire is to captivate people at an early age to get them addicted so that they can have a customer for life. They have increased the nicotine content in the product. They have made soft drinks like “Nic-Light” to take care of the smoker who can’t make it from airport to airport without their “drug of choice.”

Some would argue that smoking is no different to the bondages to coffee, chocolate, sex, food, and the list goes on and on. And they are absolutely right. Our working definition of addiction is that “it is bondage to the rule of a substance, activity or state of mind, which becomes the center of life, defending itself from the truth, so that even bad consequences do not lead to repentance, leading to estrangement from God.” (Dr. Ed Welch — Addiction — A Banquet to the Grave.”

I have friends that have been willing to see their relationship with their wives go down the tubes because of their unwillingness to lay this bondage at the foot of the cross. I’ve seen men allow this bondage destroy their lives physically rather than allow Christ to set the free.

My Dad’s death was untimely. He missed the joy of seeing his grandchildren grow up to serve the Lord. Was it his time to go? Maybe? But maybe not. Maybe God’s permissive will allowed his premature homegoing. The day of his death (heart attack and stroke that affected the brain stem) he had smoked several packs of cigarettes. What I know now is that for a heart patient this was lethal!

Tomorrow I want to share with you an excerpt from a blog that I received yesterday. It helps to put things into perspective on the subject and one that I think will help all of us understand why this needs serious attention. — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 20; Leviticus 26-27; Mark 2

Great Quote: Be not discouraged because of your soul’s enemies. Are ye troubled with thoughts, fears, doubts, imaginations, reasonings? Yea, do ye see, yet, much in you unsubdued to the power of life? Oh! Do not fear it; do not look at it, as to be discouraged by it; but look to Him! Look up to the power which is over all their strength; wait for the descendings of the power upon you; abide in faith of the Lord’s help, and wait in patience till the Lord arise; and see if His arm do not scatter what yours could not. So, be still before Him, and in stillness, believe in His name; yea, enter not into the hurryings of the enemy, though they fill the soul; for, there is yet somewhat to which they cannot enter, from whence patience, faith, and hope, will spring up in you, even in the midst of all they can do. Isaac Penington

So, What Does It Mean — Part 3

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So, What Does it Mean? Part Three

“So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the walls fell down flat, so that the people went into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.”Joshua 6:20 (ESV)

There are no coincidences with God. That we should agree on. Why do I start this way you may ask? Well it has to do with something my Pastor preached on a few weeks back. Mediate on the Word he told us. We were encouraged to immerse ourselves into the Bible even if that meant putting it on our I-pod, which I did. I bought the mp3 version of “The Message” and I listen to it on my way to work. (And please no letters to Bill Welte brethren, it is not my study bible either but it is for devotional purposes.)

Anyway….while studying for my Tuesday night class on the First Epistle to the Corinthians I had opened up a Matthew Henry commentary to have someone else’s notes from The Book of Joshua fall into my lap (I bought these commentaries from the Keswick book store, used). Well since I just happened to be at that part of my “mediating on the Word” (chapter 6 in Joshua) I thought I would share what God plopped into my lap.

The first thing is God has a plan for victory. In verse two God tells Joshua that Jericho has been given into his hands however this plan is spread over time. In verse three the men of war are to march around the city for six days. This plan called for obedience and eighty five percent was not going to cut it (that’s what these notes said). In verse five God’s plan was going to involve faith, the kind of faith that would have seven trumpets and a crowd of people shouting at some pretty heavy duty walls.

The fourth thing that is going on here is God’s plan involving persistence. How many of you “Freedom Fighters” would spend your time walking around the walls of city because God said so, let alone walk around it again on the seventh day for seven times so some horns could blow and a crowd of people could shout. Well now Brethren comes God’s plan involving discipline.

In verse ten “Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” What? But for six days they did what they were told. Everyone woke up early, the priests lifted the ark of the Lord and blew the horns continually like they were told to and on the seventh day Joshua said “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.” Verse twenty tells what happens next. The people shouted, trumpets were blown and the walls came “a-tumblin’-n-rumblin’ down”. With the exception of Rehab and her household, everything that God said to destroy was destroyed and what God said keep, was kept. Yes my friends there were shouts of victory that day.

So what does it all mean? In second Corinthians Paul writes “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” Which brings me to the last part of the notes that had fallen into my lap. There is a simple formula that coincides with this verse in Scripture and it goes like this…Divine Direction plus Obedience equals Victory.

This morning I would like to thank whoever it was that left those notes for me to find and then ask you what is God plopping down in your lap? — Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 19: Leviticus 25; Mark 1:23-45

Great Quote: Grace conquers us first, and we by it, conquer all things—whether it be corruptions within us, or temptations without us. “Everyone that is born of God, overcomes the world.” (1 John 5:4)—Richard Sibbes

Lord, What Do You Want Me to Do?

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Lord, What Do You Want Me to Do?

Acts 9:6a; so he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”

With threats of murder and imprisonment still in his heart for the men and women found of the Way, Saul could only find these words to ask our Savior after He revealed Himself to him on that road to Damascus, “Lord what do you want me to do?”

Before I can ask Jesus this question for myself, I first must ask; am I willing to be separated from my foolish ideas and my selfish desires to live exclusively for Jesus? Matt.16:24 says; “let him deny himself, take up the cross and follow me.” On my own strength I am incapable of doing this. (Phil.4:13) But do I want to be a doormat for people to walk all over anyway? Why can’t I have the recognition in Christ I seek without His suffering?

To be honest, all I really want is anything God can do for me to make me more desirable in my own eyes. But Jesus has been transforming me from this mind set, showing me how my ideas and desires do little to further His Kingdom here on earth. How my way of doing things are inconsistent with His words in Matt.11:29b. Though I still struggle, I am certain of this, my responsibility in Christ. And that has never changed; to make Him known as the only Savior of sinners! Never mind whether people appreciate me now, never mind whether I get my reward down here.

I’m willing to do without it until I come face to face with the One who judges justly. My Master has superseded my wants and has put this necessity upon me, to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior 1Cor.9:16. I won’t deny Him Matt.10:33.

When God is glorified, His Spirit can work to bring Christ to those who need to know Him. Warren Wiersbe spoke well when he said, “True servants of God help others whether they themselves get anything out of it or not. Their concern is only that God be glorified and people trust Christ.” Brothers, as servants of God we will experience His suffering in our service. We may suffer emotionally, physically and yes, spiritually. But serving is never punishment! It’s nourishment!!! Have YOU asked Jesus lately; “what do you want me to do?” I have, and never once was it the answer I was expecting. Glory be to God for that! — Chris Connors is Director of Housekeeping at America’s KESWICK and a graduate of the Colony of Mercy

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 18; Leviticus 23-24; Mark 1:1-22

Great Quote: In adversity God gazes into and searches out each one; He weighs the disposition of every individual in dangers, even to death at last; He investigates the will of man, certain that to Him nothing can perish.Therefore, as gold is refined by the fires, so are we declared by critical moments. Minucius Felix