Category Archives: Devos

Jan 18 2016
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Devos

Good News: Salvation, not only for individuals, but nations!

I am continually concerned about the spiritual and moral direction our nation and culture have taken! This concern not only has to do with national (and international) trends… It has to do with the drift and decisions of religious bodies that claim to be “Christian.” There are consequences for our decisions – tragic consequences! Any honest reading of the Bible makes that clear! Scripture warns… “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7) And what is true for individuals is also true for nations… especially those who have the worship of the One True God as a part of their national heritage.
 
This morning during my time of “Coffee with the Lord” I read a passage that we most often default in our interpretation in a personal way. However, a closer examination reveals it has clear national implications…
Israel, as a nation, has drifted far from their covenant relationship with God. They had abandoned the first and second of the ten commandments (“You shall have no other gods before me!” And “You shall not make for yourself a carved image…you shall not bow down to them or serve them!” – Exodus 20:3-4) and had violated many other commandments as well! God allowed them to reap the consequences of their choices, and Assyria had become a cruel tool of God’s judgment (read portions of Isaiah 8-11)!
 
But there was hope for the repentant – those who would return to God – hope, not only personally but nationally! I am one, among many interpreters, who believe that Isaiah 12, not only proclaims hope and salvation personally for the repentant, but also proclaims salvation for a repentant nation! Here is what it says…
 
“You will say in that day: ‘I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” With joy you (plural) will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you (plural) will say in that day: ‘Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth!’” (from Isaiah 12 ESV)
 
So I’m going to guard my heart personally and seek to serve the Lord faithfully. But I’m also going to pray for national revival and do all in my power to influence my neighbors and friends to return to the Lord and serve Him faithfully!
Jan 17 2016
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Devos

The successful Christian life is more than keeping a list of rules – It’s living by an inner dynamic!

Trying to please God by simply keeping a list of religious rules and regulations can be a frustrating, discouraging and unsatisfying proposition! Not only that, if you succeed at keeping the rules to any degree, it can feed one of the worst sins of all – pride!

There is a better way according to Apostle Paul! Here is what he recommended under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit…

“You have died to the law [i.e. trying to please God by simply keeping a list of religious rules] through the body of Christ [i.e. What Jesus accomplished for us through His death for our sins on the cross], so that you may belong to another – to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God! … Now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, SO THAT WE MAY SERVE IN THE NEW WAY OF THE SPIRIT and not in the old way of the written code!” (from Romans 7:1-6 ESV)

And to that I say Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!

That doesn’t mean, however, that we are free to go on living in sin! The same apostle, in the preceding chapter said, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!… And are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” (Romans 6:1-2, 15)

So what it means is this; having been redeemed, forgiven, and cleansed by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins. And having been given eternal life through “new birth.” the Holy Spirit is now at work in our lives leading us and empowering us to live pleasing to God! Consequently, we moved from simply living by an external list of rules or just living to please self, to an inner dynamic at work within us – the Holy Spirit – prompting us and empowering us to live in a way that pleases God! And that, my friend, is a good deal!!

Jan 16 2016
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Devos

Hey, “Is ANYTHING to hard for the Lord?”

Have you ever been prompted by God to believe Him for something seemingly impossible – something absolutely incredible. The Holy Spirit seemed to drop the idea into your heart or there was an authentic prophetic word that came and you were left speechless. You found yourself saying, “No way! That can’t happen! How could it? It’s impossible!” You almost laughed out loud… You did inside!
Well that very thing happened to a very old couple in the Bible – Abraham and Sarah. Here’s the account straight out of the Bible…
“And God said to Abraham, ‘I will bless Sarah, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah who is ninety years old, bear a child?’
“And the Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold three men were standing in front of him… They said to him, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’ And he said, ‘She is in the tent. The LORD said, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ IS ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR THE LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied it, saying, ‘I did not laugh,’ for she was afraid. He said, ‘No, but you did laugh!’
“The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, ‘God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.’ And she said, ‘Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.’” (taken from Genesis 17, 18 and 21 ESV)
So don’t laugh! If God has truly spoken to you and prophetic words spoken over you are authentic and real, God will fulfill them as promised in His time! (In some cases the promises are fulfilled even beyond our lifetime, as some of the promises given to Abraham and Sarah.) Just believe… and keep on believing! After all, “IS ANYTHING TO HARD FOR THE LORD?”

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