Into The Storm

Charlotte Adams shares a devotion written by,
Steve Troxel of God's Daily Word Ministries:

"Then those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, 'Truly You are the Son of God." Matthew 14:33

Look for new revelations of His love, even as we are sent into the storm. Immediately after feeding five thousand men, plus women and children, with five loaves of bread and two fish, "Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side" Matthew 14:22. The disciples had begun to cross the Sea of Galilee when a storm arose which caused them to "strain against the oars" Mark 6:48. It was the middle of the night, and after already rowing about three and a half miles they found themselves fighting against the wind and waves.

Lending to God

"He who is kind to the poor, lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done." Proverbs 19:17

By the title of this devotional you'd think that I had mis-spoken or misprinted what I was trying to say, huh? After all, God doesn't need anything from us so how could we lend him anything? What then could this possibly mean that when we are kind to the poor we are lending to God?

You the Temple

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" 1Corinthians 3:16

Well... Do you know that? We talk a lot about being in Him, but it also follows that He is in us too. We are actually the residence of the Holy Spirit and He lives inside us. He doesn't live in temples made of wood or stone, He lives in the hearts of men and women, boys and girls. We are too abide in Him, made easier by the fact that He abides in us. That is why we should be able to hear Him knocking, because it is His house. He is living in you.

Looking for a Way to Kill Him

"As He taught them, He said, Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations' but you have made it a 'den of robbers.' The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and they began looking for a way to kill Him, for they feared Him, because the whole crowd was amazed at His teaching." Mark 11:17-18

The effort to kill Jesus; Him, His name, His teaching, His people, and His church is as old as the Gospel. Once those in power and those who control the money realized that what Jesus was teaching was going to change their religion, and the power structure, and money distribution system of the day, they had to get rid of Him.

Our Monday Devotion comes to us from, Pastor Rick Ballester:

"... For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand." Isaiah 41:9-10

There are times in our lives when things just seem so overwhelming. Whether its finances and trying to figure out whether to pay your cell phone bill or buy food for the family. On the other hand, it could be career challenges where your company is not doing well and there are talks of layoffs, pay cuts or mandatory days off without pay.

I Thank the Lord

Our Friday Devotion comes to us from Council Member, Ray Beeman:

Grace Harbor Saints - I ran across this today, from a young lady who was a neighbor of ours in Tustin, who ran with Liz, and who posted the following for her 24th birthday. I thought it was so special - she is such a sweetheart! We all have many things to be thankful for! Paul opens his epistle to the Romans with "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all..." Rom 1:8, and later says that "...although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened." Rom 1:21 And the Psalmist says "Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." Psalm 100:4 Here's how she expresses her gratitude in 24 ways:

The Good Fight

"Fight the good fight of the faith." 1Timothy 6:12

Christianity is not a passive religion that advocates waiting for God to act. We must have an active faith. Other words from Paul to Timothy in surrounding passages suggest that he flee, pursue and take hold. Uh-oh when do we flee and when do we fight? Not an easy decision to make all the time. I have fled when I should have fought and I have fought when I should have fled.

Sufficient Sorrow

"If anyone has caused you grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent-- not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you therefore, to reaffirm your love for him." 2Corinthians 2:5-8

The personal tenderness of Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians is notable and should touch our hearts. Paul is suggesting that a repentant man be restored and forgiven. Perhaps this is the man from 1 Corinthians 5, who had committed some act of egregious sexual immorality and was banished. Perhaps it was the man who had so opposed Paul in the early days of the church, that needed to be put out of the church, and, who had now been transformed. Regardless, there is a time to confront extreme sin and exercise church discipline, and there is a time to comfort the wayward one who is contrite and broken and should be forgiven.

Elders and Young Men

"The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their singing." Lamentations 5:14

Recently, Lamentations moved very near to the top of the list of books that I haven't read in a long time. As I was reading Jeremiah's sorrowful lament about Jerusalem and about God's people, I began to realize why he was so sad and weeping. The great city was being compared to Sodom (that's not good) and God's people are very, very far from His will. Idolatry and sin were out of control and everywhere Jeremiah looked was more evidence of just how far from God everything had gotten.

You Are More

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1

The world these days and in times past has tried to dismiss, downplay, redefine and excuse sin, but sin is still sin in God’s eyes, and we are all born apart from God because of our sin. Paul tells us in Romans 3:23 that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Choosing Grace

Alan shares a devotion called Choosing Grace written by Dr. James Emery White and originally posted by Crosswalk:

C.S. Lewis once quipped that everyone thinks forgiveness is a wonderful idea until they have someone to forgive. Let’s apply that to grace.

Encouragement

"Therefore, encourage each other and build each other up." 1Thessalonians 5:11

My perception is that being a Christian isn't going to get any easier, and probably will get harder in coming years. Even more reason to follow the counsel that Paul gives the church in Thessalonica, telling them to encourage each other.

Search Me, O God

"Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24

In part, I think David is a man after God's own heart because he so humbly asks God to search his heart. What a risky request. I know we know that God sees through us, one of the obvious byproducts of omniscience. But, like David, would we also implore God to test our anxious thoughts? We should as the Bible encourages us, "be anxious for nothing". David is so real and honest, and we should emulate His transparency.

YES OR NO?

"Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one" Matthew 5:37

Is it just me, or, does this simple verse seem a lot harder than it should be? I seem to be a lot better at the 'yeses' than I am at the 'nos'. That is for sure, even though I know I'm better than I used to be. OK, I admit it; I have invented this whole complex category of 'maybe' to really complicate the simple. Throw into that mix of confusion the famous, 'probably yes', and notorious, 'probably no', and you can cause yourself and others even more trouble and heartache. Can somebody give us a 'definite maybe' about now? No wonder we have such a hard time saying and hearing yes and no. We don't practice what the Lord preaches.

Boast in Understanding and Knowing our God

Our Monday Devotion comes to us from Council Member, Lahoma:

"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I Am the Lord, Who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23-24

"Boasting" defined by the online dictionary is "To glorify oneself or another in speech; talk in a admiring way; to speak of with excessive pride; to possess or own; to contain; have; the act or an instance of bragging; a source of pride."

He Calls Me Friend

Alan shares a devotion titled "He Calls Me Friend" written by Julie Ackerman and originally posted by Our Daily Bread:

"All things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you . . . that you should go and bear fruit." John 15:15-16

Someone has defined friendship as “knowing the heart of another and sharing one’s heart with another.” We share our hearts with those we trust, and trust those who care about us. We confide in our friends because we have confidence that they will use the information to help us, not harm us. They in turn confide in us for the same reason.

Your Children

"It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us." 2 John 1:4

As John gets older his great joys come from the most important things. How encouraging it must have been for him to report to the woman whom this letter is written to, when it came to his attention that some of her children, either her specific children or the children from her house church or fellowship where this short letter is first read.

Fences and Bridges

"Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." 1Peter 3:11

Peter is quoting Psalm 34:14 in this verse as He draws on David's words to make his point about how to live in harmony with one another. He uses those wonderful words in verses 8-10 to encourage peace; "Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because of this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing." Now, apply these words to the following old parable and ask yourself what you need The Carpenter to help you do.

With His Grace, Pastor Fred

Doing Right

"Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17

I recently received a newsletter from a young missionary who stated this verse as part of her motivation for responding to a call from God to dedicate her life to helping minister with women and children who are being sex trafficked in India. I am sure she is earnestly following the first part of the verse and has stopped doing wrong and is learning to do right. As a matter of fact, she is training right now for this venture of faith. She certainly has chosen an excellent verse to illustrate why she is passionate about her call. She indeed will be seeking justice and deliverance of the oppressed and encouraging them, too. She will defend the cause of those poor, victimized and defenseless, unprotected children and plead the case of widows in the process too. She will be doing exactly what The Word says. I find this hugely inspirational and motivating, and I will pray for her cause and calling.

Snoozing

Our Friday Devotion comes to us from Council Member, Dolly:

How many minutes is the snooze on your alarm clock? Mine is 12 minutes.

When the alarm goes off before we are ready to get up, it is all too easy to hit that snooze button. But snoozing can get you into trouble. Three or four snoozes can eat up most of an hour, and then you are scrambling to make up that time to get where you need to be.

Have you been hitting the snooze button on what God has called you to do? Or are you putting your God-given gifts and abilities to good use serving God and His people?