Category Archives: Devos

Oct 07 2016
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Devos

Security? … Where’s the best place to find it?

financial-securitySecurity… It’s a big deal! People spend a lot of their hard earned money and put their confidence in the advice of financial planners to get it! No one knows what the future holds or what might happen; so they try to create some security… diversified investments, buying up gold and silver, property purchases… Some even have been known to “stash a shoe box with cash” in some “safe” place where no thief would find it.

Security is found in different places for different people. This morning during “coffee with the Lord” I came across a brief passage in Proverbs that presents a stark contrast…

“The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe…

“A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve made what I believe to be a quality decision… “The name of the Lord (His person, promises, and character) will be “my strong tower” that I run to in times of instability and trouble! I’ve seen what happens to those who seek to make “wealth” their “strong city” or “high wall!” Their security – present and future – is simply a figment of their “imagination,” as the proverb emphasizes. Putting your confidence in “The everlasting God – Creator of heaven and earth” (Isaiah 40:28-31 cp. Luke 21:33) it seems to me, is a much better choice!

Oct 05 2016
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Devos

“What a Wonderful Savior!”

paid-in-full-cross

Hey, you’ve got Someone on your side! Someone who went all the way to cross and died there in your place and on your behalf! A true friend, advocate, and Savior! He’s the one who can save us from our sin and its debilitating and disastrous consequences. He’s the one who stands before the Judge of All and offers His own sacrifice as payment in full for the penalty and consequences of our sin! I read about it this morning during “coffee with the Lord” and rejoiced… and offered my sincere gratitude!

“He [Jesus Christ] had no need, like those high priests [merely human high priests in the Old Testament] to offer sacrifices daily, first for His own sins and then for those of the people. He [Jesus Christ – our Great High Priest] did this ONCE FOR ALL when He offered up Himself!” (Hebrews 7:27)

And that brought to mind a couple of other reinforcing verses of Scripture…

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who can bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies! Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, interceding for us?” (Romans 8:31-34)

“While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – But God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” (Romans 8:6-7)

There’s an old hymn that takes the words right out of my mouth this morning… or maybe it would be better to say, puts the words in my mouth… ‘WHAT A WONDERFUL SAVIOR!” (Want a treat? Google the words to that old hymn!)

Oct 03 2016
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Devos

I gotta tell you… I’m blown away by God”s great redemptive love!

Oh, the mercy and grace of the Lord!  His redemptive love is beyond our imagination!

God’s people, Israel, redeemed by His grace from slavery, had behaved like a common prostitute! More than being tempted and seduced by false Gods, they had run after evil, pagan gods! No longer the seduced, they had become the seducer! They were worthy of rejection and judgment! In Hosea, in your Bible, a prophetic drama is played out… Hosea, the prophet, is commanded to take Gomer, the prostitute, and have children by her… His relationship with her dramatizes God’s great redemptive love!
At the end of Hosea 2, the Lord declares: “In that day declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband!’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals [the pagan gods] from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more… And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord. And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord… I will have mercy on ‘No mercy’ and I will say to ‘Not My People,’ [symbolic names given to the children born to Hosea through Gomer] ‘You are my people!’ and you shall say, ‘You are my God!’” (From Hosea 2:16-23)
Perhaps, after experiencing the Lord’s great redemptive love, you slipped away, and returned to sinful living and served false gods! You not only were seduced by sin and temptation… you pursued it, practiced it, and promoted it. The Lord wants you back! He forgives and restores! His love and grace are beyond imagination! God’s message to Israel through Hosea is His message to you! It is his message to all of us “who like sheep have gone astray!” (Isaiah 53:6) Gotta tell you… His redemptive love blows me away!
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