Ongoing, Continual Praise

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

It’s the beginning of a new week and there is much to do for the Lord. There will be blessings and challenges to face, I’m sure. So, let’s start this week in thankfulness and gratitude to the Father in the name of His Son, Jesus.

In my humble opinion, a grateful heart is the single greatest act of personal worship we can offer to God. Thankfulness should be the primary and consistent response to whatever happens in our life, this and every week. 

Paul, in writing to the Ephesian and Thessalonian Christ followers, said that we are to be thankful “in everything” [see 1 Thessalonians 5:18], and “for everything” [see Ephesians 5:20].

In everything, and for everything, implies the hard things and the blessings that come our way. Now before you get too excited and say, “Rick, how can I be thankful for all things? How is that possible?” I have two responses:

• It’s possible if you live a spirit-filled life. In the Ephesian passage quoted above, giving thanks is the last of 5 Greek participles that describe what it means to be filled with the spirit.

• Don’t be misled by the word for. It comes from a Greek preposition meaning, over, beyond, in the stead of. Suppose you fall down this week and break your arm. Are you required to say, “Thank you for the broken are?” I don’t think so! The idea behind the Greek word is that your gratitude is undisturbed by the event. Just keep on being thankful.

There is no escaping the importance of a continual offering of thanks to the Lord in everything and for everything. The author of Hebrews said it well, “Therefore, through Jesus let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips that confess His name” [13:15].   

And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 5:20

A Name Like No Other

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Have you ever received a personalized gift with your name on it and what your name means? I have a few cups that were given to me like that, and interestingly, my name doesn’t mean the same thing to different companies. I also find it interesting that when you are looking at things like that, you never see anything negative about a name. Everyone’s name means something good. 

In Bible days, naming a child was a major event. The Hebrew family took great pains when selecting a name. Sometimes the name had a personal meaning to the parents. One such example is Leah. When her fourth child was born, she named him Judah, saying, “This time I will praise the Lord” [Genesis 29:35 — the first three children were given names in lament]. Occasionally, the child was given a name that, later, turned out to be a personality trait. Think about the name Jacob. It means, one who supplants [Genesis 25:26].

Mary and Joseph had a vastly different experience. They did not choose their Son’s name. His name was given to them by an angel. It was a name that the the heavenly Father selected; one that would represent His purpose in coming to earth. And, a day will come when every person, in every nation, in every language will mention His name on bended knee [Philippians 2:10].

What was that name? Jesus, meaning, salvation, or, He saves. He is called many things in Scripture: Lord Immanuel, Teacher, Messiah, et al. But it is His name that tells the story. He came as a Savior, “He will save His people from their sins” [Matthew 1:21]. Is it any wonder that God gave Him a name above all names!

Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, 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 2:9-11

Listen Up!

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

When Jan and I were missionaries in Germany, we visited Hof, a small village very near the border of East Germany (Germany was divided at that time, East and West). A Captain in the military took us on a tour, but before it began, he said, “Listen up! For your safety, there are things you shouldn’t do while we are at the border.” Then he listed several things we should refrain from doing in order to avoid being hauled off by the Military Police.

When your personal safety is at risk, you listen. I think we should listen to God’s Word with that mindset. Jesus told a parable one day, and He talked about a soil, which He described as noble and good hearted people who listen and retain the Word, producing a harvest.

Let’s call them “faithful hearers.” They hear God’s Word and obey it, cling to it, retain it, and then, by persevering, produce a crop. Every Christ follower can do this by doing two things: Reading and meditating on the Scriptures. Read for consumption (because you delight in it), and for comprehension (as you meditate on it). One of my Bible College professors used to say that he preferred the “countrified” words for meditate… “chew on it.”

The Psalmist understood this perfectly. He talked about the person who is blessed—the one who finds his “delight in the Law of the Lord” and “meditates on it day and night.” What is the result of that? He is fruitful. He is like a tree nourished by plenty of water, which produces “fruit in its season” [Psalm 1].

Listen up! Fruitful trees grow in good soil, as the parable said. Good soil is made by our cooperation with the work of the divine Gardener who has given us His Word. 

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. Luke 8:15

Submit, Resist, Stand

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

I’m often asked how to remain strong in the Lord when it seems there is nothing to quell the advance of the enemy. There is no simple answer to that, but it is part of our spiritual warfare, and there is no shortage of teaching on that subject today. Go to any Christian bookstore and the shelves are lined with books on the subject. 

I’ve picked up several in the last few years, and here is some of the advice written in them:

Rebuke and bind Satan

Expel demons though deliverance ministries

Assault the stronghold of territorial demons

And on it goes.

I have given a lot of thought to the subject of spiritual warfare over the years. One of the overarching principles of Scripture seems to be that our warfare isn’t so much an assault on Satan’s domain as it is the ability to stand our ground to resist his advances. 

Consider these three Scriptures (and there are more like them)…

James 4:7 — Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

1 Peter 5:9a — Resist him [Satan - the roaring lion of verse 8], standing firm in the faith…

Ephesians 6:13 — Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 

From these passages (and others) we learn that victory involves submitting to God, resisting evil aggression, and standing firm in the evil day. The evil day is not a specific day like November 3, 2016, but rather a general reference to the evil that presently exists. 

Since Satan is the “god of this age” [2 Corinthians 4:4], he will produce continuous evil until he and his cohorts are bound and cast eternally to their doom [Revelation 20:10-15]. Then, the evil day will surrender to eternal righteousness.

In the meantime, make these three things part of your daily routine:

Submit to God

Resist the devil

Stand firm in your faith

Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:13

Confident Hope Under Pressure

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

As a pastor, people often ask me to pray for them That’s part of my sacerdotal duties. Even if I weren’t a pastor, as a Christ follower, I’m told to pray for one another. Now I can’t speak for you, but not all of my prayers are answered in the way I think they should be. 

Some years ago, a man asked me to pray for him because he had been sick for quite a while. So I prayed for him. He got worse! In fact, he told me (with tongue-in-cheek), “I’ll never ask you to pray for me again!” 

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that we want God to be glorified in healing a person, but God seems to say, “I will be glorified, but in another way.” Yes, sometimes God removes a sickness or difficult situation. Sometimes He does the miraculous, like removing cancer from someone. But let’s be honest here, sometimes when we pray, things just get worse.

Why is that? Because God can be glorified by suffering saints, and there are things to learn from our pain. Everyone suffers, believer and unbeliever alike. But when a believer suffers, and glorifies God in the process, it is a powerful testimony to unbelievers. When they see you honoring God in the midst of suffering, it demonstrates to them, and to yourself, just how real your faith in God is. 

Maybe this will come as a surprise to you, but you can actually grow stronger through hardship because there are lessons you can only learn while you are there. Our tribulations (the Greek word thulipsis, meaning pressure, to be pressed) produces something in us, if we take it the right way. The Apostle Paul agrees. He said there are benefits in our suffering—it produces many things, one of which is hope. One of my Bible College professors was fond of saying, “Hope grows in the garden of suffering.”

So don’t stop praying; it is a blessing, and a duty, to pray. But let God be God. And if things get worse, glorify God anyway. Let your pain develop endurance, character and hope. According to the Apostle Paul, that hope will not lead to disappointment.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Romans 5:3-5

An Unlimited Power Supply

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

When I was a kid, I hated to open a toy gift only to see those dreaded words, Batteries Not Included. I’m glad the Spiritual Gifts aren’t like that! Another thing that brings me great joy is the fact that our spiritual life is not dependent on a perishable power supply. Instead, the Holy Spirt strengthens and empowers us with every resource to serve the Lord and minister to others. 

Paul makes us aware of this in his prayer for the Ephesian Christ followers, that “from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit” [Ephesians 3:16]. He was also certain that the Spirit can do far more in our lives than we could possibly imagine [see 3:20]. That’s some power!

Paul experienced the unlimited supply of the Spirit’s power firsthand. Even when he was exhausted, stretched to the limit both physically and spiritually, he said, I am “pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” [2 Corinthians 4:8-9]. 

Are you hindered? You needn’t be frustrated. Are you perplexed? You needn’t be in despair. Are you persecuted? You aren’t alone. No matter how difficult or discouraging life can be, we have the very same Spirit in us; the same Spirit that renews us daily.

The Holy Spirit gives Christ followers all the spiritual power they need to live the Christian life. I mean no disrespect here, but when it comes to the Christian life, Batteries ARE Included!

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 2 Corinthians 4:16

He Is With Us In the Storms

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Did you see the movie The Perfect Storm? It told the story of an actual storm off the coast of Massachusetts in 1991, one of the most powerful storms in recorded history. It was dubbed the perfect storm when two existing storms were absorbed by a hurricane, ironically named Hurricane Grace. When these three storms combined, it produced a monstrous system with effects as far north as Newfoundland, and as far south as Jamaica. In some places, waves were measured over 100 feet tall.

The Disciples experienced a smaller version of the Perfect Storm that we read about in Matthew 8. In this account, Jesus got into a boat, followed by His Disciples. “And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep" [23–24].

When I read that story this morning, it stuck me that “His disciples followed Him” into the boat. When the storm came, it was not because they disobeyed Jesus, they experienced the storm simply by following Him. Too many Christ followers think that all their troubles come from acts of disobedience. While that may be true in some cases, it’s not absolute. Storms may come into our lives as a direct result of obedience.  

Why is that, you ask? Because God can use storms in our lives to teach us His ways. My Dad was a carpenter, and he was fond of saying, “The same hammer that shatter glass also forges steel.” Of course we think it would be better not to experience storms in our lives. Who wants to go through them? But there are things we learn in storms that we can’t learn elsewhere. One of my Bible College professors often said, “Where there are no trials in life, there are no triumphs.”

God has divine purposes in the storms. But never forget, Jesus was with His disciples during the storm, He is with us too!

Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with His disciples. Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke Him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then He got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm. Matthew 8:23-24