December 15, 2012

Saturday: December 15, 2012

READ: John 11

THINK: I have been searching all day for the right words. I sit here now – thinking about the events in Newtown, Connecticut – looking at my computer screen through red, tear-soaked eyes. Our world is so broken. It is a place where the young and the weak and the innocent are too often made to suffer. And in times where we witness such suffering acutely, we all wonder why God allows it. There is no simple answer to this question. If there were, we would know it already. Our sin and rejection of him is at the root of it all, and we know that if God did away with all evil and oppression, all injustice and violence then he would, out of necessity, have to do away with all of us because those things are so powerfully a part of who we are. But that doesn’t fully explain why God doesn’t stop things like this. We will never fully understand why a loving God allows evil and suffering in our world. But we can know one thing with absolute certainty: it is not because he doesn’t care. As I watched the coverage of Newtown I was reminded of the words of Dr. Tim Keller, a pastor from Manhattan, after the attacks of 9-11:

“One of the great themes of the Hebrew Scriptures is that God identifies with the suffering. There are all these great texts that say things like this: If you oppress the poor, you oppress to me. I am a husband to the widow. I am father to the fatherless. I think the texts are saying God binds up his heart so closely with suffering people that he interprets any move against them as a move against him. This is powerful stuff! But Christianity says he goes even beyond that. Christians believe that in Jesus, God’s son, divinity became vulnerable to and involved in – suffering and death! He didn’t come as a general or emperor. He came as a carpenter. He was born in a manger, no room in the inn.

But it is on the Cross that we see the ultimate wonder. On the cross we sufferers finally see, to our shock that God now knows too what it is to lose a loved one in an unjust attack. And so you see what this means? John Stott puts it this way. John Stott wrote: ‘I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the Cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?’ Do you see what this means? Yes, we don’t know the reason God allows evil and suffering to continue, but we know what the reason isn’t, what it can’t be.

And this is key: It can’t be that he doesn’t love us! It can’t be that he doesn’t care. God so loved us and hates suffering that he was willing to come down and get involved in it. And therefore the Cross is an incredibly empowering hint. Ok, it’s only a hint, but if you grasp it, it can transform you. It can give you strength.

And lastly, we have to grasp an empowering hope for the future. In both the Hebrew Scriptures and even more explicitly in the Christian Scriptures we have the promise of resurrection. In Daniel 12:2-3 we read: Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake…[They]… will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and…like the stars for ever and ever. And in John 11 we hear Jesus say: I am the resurrection and the life! Now this is what the claim is: That God is not preparing for us merely some ethereal, abstract spiritual existence that is just a kind of compensation for the life we lost. Resurrection means the restoration to us of the life we lost. New heavens and new earth means this body, this world! Our bodies, our homes, our loved ones—restored, returned, perfected and beautified! Given back to us!”

In times like this we know that there is a God who draws near to Newtown even now. And he is not a distant God. He is the suffering God! He the God who so loves and so cares that he walks in our pain with us. And he not only walks with us, but we see in John 11 that he even weeps with us. He feels, and he loves, and he heals, and he saves in a way that no one else can. He is the hope that our world is desperate for in these dark days. He is the only real hope that we have. But what an incredible hope he is! Resurrection. Restoration. All things made new. Life everlasting. The taste of eternity is the only antidote to the bitter taste of our shattered world.

PRAY: Pray for Newtown. Pray for our nation. Pray for our world. Specifically, pray that people would find Christ through this tragedy because, truly, there isn’t anywhere else where they can find the hope and the healing they need. Also, I’d really encourage you to take 6 minutes and pray/sing along to this song (lyrics here). Take time to thank God for being so preposterously loving that he stepped in to our suffering. Thank him for not forsaking us for one single moment! It is so humbling and shattering and overwhelming to know that God never forsakes us – and to remember all the times when he has loved us and wept with us and carried us in our pain.

Posted by on December 15, 2012 in Gospels.

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December 14, 2012

Friday: December 14, 2012

READ: 2 Corinthians 4

THINK: I hope you read yesterday’s post about evangelism. I was convicted by those thoughts. I want to continue on the same thought process as we dig into 2 Corinthians 4. I am involved in church ministry and as I read this chapter it spoke loudly to me and to the purpose of the local church.

The church I serve at has a mission, “To be a church that unchurched people love to attend.” I love that mission. We want to reach lost people. We want people who have always been far from God to feel comfortable at a church where they can learn about him. My desire is to see unchurched people’s ideas of church change. I think a lot of us desire that. We don’t want to be known for things we hate and the list of things we can’t do. Instead, don’t we want to be known for speaking truth that brings life, for walking along people whose lives are being transformed?

How will we do this? Well it will start by acknowledging were we are at. We live in a dark world that will oppose the church. They may call the gospel distorted and deceptive. In fact, just the other day I was talking to a girl who had been told many times that “Christianity” was keeping her from a greater truth. This can weigh heavy on our hearts and cause us to doubt, but Paul says this, “We do not lose heart!” God has given us the unique responsibility of helping draw people who are far from him, closer to him. This is reason to rejoice, even in the midst of others’ doubts and opposition. This is reason to work as hard as we can at reaching the lost.

There is no reason to fear if your life isn’t all together and you don’t have all the answers…you aren’t preaching yourself or trying to win someone over to be like you, we preach Christ(vs. 5-6) through the power of the Holy Spirit. You can start making a difference by inviting just one person to church with you. See how God uses that not only in your friend’s life, but also in yours.

So let’s join forces in changing the attitude in this culture toward church. Let’s do all we can to make it easy for people to enter into God’s kingdom. Why? So that God can be given all the glory (vs. 15).

PRAY: Pray for people/organizations who are trying to reach lost people in a different way than you are. Ask God to give you respect for those people instead of judgment because they do it differently. Pray that God may give you opportunities to see radically transformed lives!

*for more on this topic, check out Andy Stanley’s book, Deep and Wide

By: KVH

Posted by on December 14, 2012 in Epistles.

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December 13, 2012

Thursday: December 13, 2012

* Sorry about yesterday. I accidentally posted Tuesday’s devotion with the wrong date (12-12) so yesterday’s devotion (also labeled 12-12) got posted underneath it instead of at the top of the page. Hope everybody found it!

READ: Psalm 66

THINK: Over the course of my lifetime I have been exposed to more methods of evangelism than I care to count. I’ve seen countless tracts – and used some of them – designed to make the gospel simple and easy to understand. I’ve led people through the 4 Spiritual Laws, the Romans Road and more. I even went to a retreat once where the speaker showed us 4 different ways to lead people to Christ by drawing stuff on a napkin at a restaurant. None of those things are bad. In fact, though I’ve found some printed tracts to be kitschy and too ridiculous to use, I really love most of those evangelism strategies as ways of explaining truth. I just don’t love them as evangelism strategies.

Let me explain: I think that there is a level of cognition and assent – understanding and acceptance – that is an essential part of coming to know Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord. And many of these packaged evangelism methods are geared towards helping people come to an understanding of the basic tenets of Christianity. They are designed to cover the major points. And that is important. And it’s stuff that we ought to be communicating to an unbelieving world in ways that they understand. But I think very few people are drawn in to relationship with God through a list of facts. Unbelievers are no more likely to find intimacy with Christ through a simple list of Christian beliefs than you or I would be to suddenly find intimacy, meaning, and relationship with another god after hearing a lecture on the content of Mormon, Islamic, Buddhist, or Hindu belief. The facts are critical but often not compelling.

So what is compelling? And what makes Christianity compelling in a way that is unique and significant – a way that blows all of those other religions out of the water because they can’t match it or offer anything like it? A personal relationship with the Creator of the universe! Being a Christ-follower isn’t about a cognitive assent to propositional truth. It is about being transformed by his love and his sacrifice and allowing him to radically work in and through your life. It’s become cliché but it’s no less true: this is a relationship, not a religion.

That’s what the song we know as Psalm 66 is all about! It is a description of the incredible ways that a living God worked and moved in the life of the author – and the entire nation of Israel. It is a shout for joy at his great works. It is a call to remember his miraculous intervention – one of no less than 8 different Psalms that recall God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt. It is even a powerful testimony to God’s presence and provision during times of difficulty and trail, and a witness to the fact that life in him always leads ultimately to a place of abundance. Psalm 66 is a testimony to what a real relationship with God looks like in the life of a human being. And that kind of testimony is the most effective, undeniable, influential, and mighty type of witness anyone can offer. It is one that those who have seen God’s transformation in their lives ought to feel compelled to offer. That’s why the Psalmist declares, “Come and hear…I will tell of what He has done for my soul.”

So many of us get caught up, when we think about sharing our faith, with the question of “how?” and we often use it as an excuse not to share at all. We don’t tell people about the gospel message of a God who loved them so much that he gave his own life because we’re worried we don’t have all the right words and the right methods. We fear that we’ll miss one step along the Romans Road or forget one of the 4 Spiritual Laws and that it will be our inefficient or incomplete walkthrough that inhibits our audience from finding God. I want to encourage you today not to ignore truth or intentionally forget the story but to start in a different place. Begin, as the Psalmist did, by allowing God’s goodness to burst forth and shine through you. Tell people about the incredible things that he has done in your life. Tell them what a relationship with Jesus means to you and how he sustains you. That is an evangelism strategy for changing lives. And it’s one that you can do. Without the fear of forgetting part of messing up. Today! 🙂

PRAY: As we approach the end of the year, spend some time reflecting on what God has done for you this year. Think about what he has taught you and how he has provided. Then just worship him for it. Shout for joy to the Lord for his greatness in your life. And then go tell somebody about it.

Posted by on December 13, 2012 in Uncategorized.

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December 12, 2012

Tuesday: December 11, 2012

READ:  Ecclesiastes 11-12

THINK: You are likely young, strong, healthy, and full of potential. But as you read think about what you just read, look deeply at the perspective it presents: old age. Mull over the images, putting yourself in that place as best you can. Think of the contact you’ve had with elderly people: the physical aspects such as sights, sounds, textures, and smells; and the mental aspects, such as attitude, knowledge, and experience.

Now return to the present. Look down at your body. Examine your hands; fell your legs and stretch them out. Touch your hair and some of the muscles in your body. Look in a mirror at your eyes and face. Forget your standard checklist when you evaluate yourself. Instead see your youth, health, and strength. What does that feel like? What do you notice?

PRAY:  The Message translation of Ecclesiastes 11:9 is this:

“You who are young, make the most of your youth.
Relish your youthful vigor.
Follow the impulses of your heart.
If something looks good to you, pursue it.
But know also that not just anything goes;
You have to answer to God for every last bit of it.”

When you are told to “make the most of your youth” and “relish” it, what does that mean to you? What would being present to your life and enjoying it right now mean? Does being aware that you won’t always be young change your view? Talk with God about what you think of youth and old age. And ask him to align the desires of your heart with his so that you can spend your youthful energy pursuing things that really matter and make a difference!

Posted by on December 12, 2012 in Poetry.

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December 12, 2012

Wednesday: December 12, 2012

READ: Micah 5

THINK: This is a prophecy about the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah that the entire world had been waiting for since the very beginning. The Messiah whom God had promised Adam & Eve after they had sinned and cut humanity off from him. The Messiah named Jesus who was born in Bethlehem Ephrathah on that first glorious Christmas day. The Messiah whose “goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.”

What exactly does that last phrase mean? The great preacher, Charles Spurgeon, put it this way, “The Lord Jesus had goings forth for his people as their representative before the throne, long before they appeared upon the stage of time. It was “from everlasting” that he signed the compact with his Father, that he would pay blood for blood, suffering for suffering, agony for agony, and death for death, in the behalf of his people; it was “from everlasting” that he gave himself up without a murmuring word. That from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot he might sweat great drops of blood, that he might be spit upon, pierced, mocked, rent asunder, and crushed beneath the pains of death. His goings forth as our Surety were from everlasting. Pause, my soul, and wonder! Thou hast goings forth in the person of Jesus “from everlasting.” Not only when thou wast born into the world did Christ love thee, but his delights were with the sons of men before there were any sons of men. Often did he think of them; from everlasting to everlasting he had set his affection upon them. What! my soul, has he been so long about thy salvation, and will not he accomplish it? Has he from everlasting been going forth to save me, and will he lose me now? What! Has he carried me in his hand, as his precious jewel, and will he now let me slip from between his fingers? Did he choose me before the mountains were brought forth, or the channels of the deep were digged, and will he reject me now? Impossible! I am sure he would not have loved me so long if he had not been a changeless Lover. If he could grow weary of me, he would have been tired of me long before now. If he had not loved me with a love as deep as hell, and as strong as death, he would have turned from me long ago. Oh, joy above all joys, to know that I am his everlasting and inalienable inheritance, given to him by his Father or ever the earth was! Everlasting love shall be the pillow for my head this night.”

All of human history built up to the birth of Jesus and all of human history hinges upon his incredible death and resurrection. Our hope is found in the Messiah – in what he did on our behalf and in the fact that he is coming again to set all things right!

PRAY: Watch this video. Listen to the lyrics and meditate in your heart on what it meant that Jesus purposed from the beginning of eternity to come – to step into human history and save us. And think about the hope that we have now for his return!

Posted by on December 12, 2012 in Prophecy.

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December 10, 2012

Monday: December 10, 2012

READ: John 10 – Notice, while you read, the closeness of relationship that is described between Jesus and the Father (in verses 2-5) and between Jesus and the sheep (in verses 14-18).

THINK: Read verses 14-18 again aloud, as if he were explaining this to you personally. Notice that the word know occurs five times. Jesus knows his sheep; they know Jesus. The Father knows Jesus; Jesus knows the Father.

1. What do you make of the centrality of knowing one another?

2. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, does the following for the sheep. Which of these do you most need for Jesus to do for you today?
– call his own sheep by name
– lead them out
– know his own sheep
– put the sheep before himself, sacrificing himself, if necessary
– gather and bring other sheep

3. The sheep recognize Jesus’ voice and respond by following him and knowing him. How do you need to respond to Jesus today?

4. How are you growing in your capacity to recognize his voice, perhaps through your experiences in prayer and reading the Bible?

PRAY: Talk to Jesus about what you need from him. Especially talk about your capacity to recognize his voice. Ask for help with this.

LIVE: Sit quietly before God and practice alert waiting. Receive the assurance that such practice will help you be more alert to Jesus’ voice when you hear it.

Posted by on December 10, 2012 in Gospels.

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December 9, 2012

Sunday: December 9, 2012

READ: 2 Corinthians 3

THINK: Bible scholar C. I. Scofield once visited a psychiatric hospital in Staunton, Virginia. The superintendent, who was giving him a tour, pointed out a powerfully built young man who seemed to be the picture of health.

Scofield asked, “Wouldn’t that man be very difficult to manage if he became violent?”

“Yes,” said the superintendent, “but he never exerts his power. His delusion is that he has no strength! He is always asking for medicine and complaining of weakness.”

Scofield later commented, “How many in the church are like that! Divinely gifted with the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, they lack the faith, knowledge, and consecration to use it. People are always praying for power. There is power enough. What they need is the willingness to be used in any humble position, and the faith to exercise the strength God has given.”

There are many splendid goals we could reach if we would cease our timid excuse-making and just let the Holy Spirit fill and control our lives. Because of our relationship to Christ and the indwelling Spirit, we have all the strength we need to do His will (2 Cor. 3:5).

The human spirit fails unless the Holy Spirit fills.

By: Henry G. Bosch in Our Daily Bread, November 28, 1994

PRAY: Thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and ask him to help you stop your timid excuse-making and let him take control of you life. Ask him to show you where he wants you to serve.

Posted by on December 9, 2012 in Epistles.

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December 8, 2012

Saturday: December 8, 2012

READ: Micah 3-4

THINK: Reread Micah 4:1-4 from The Message, noting what it says about “true teaching” – how it’s found, what it says, and what it results in:

But when all is said and done,
God’s Temple on the mountain,
Firmly fixed, will dominate all mountains,
towering above surrounding hills.
People will stream to it
and many nations set out for it,
Saying, “Come, let’s climb God’s mountain.
Let’s go to the Temple of Jacob’s God.
He will teach us how to live.
We’ll know how to live God’s way.”
True teaching will issue from Zion,
God’s revelation from Jerusalem.
He’ll establish justice in the rabble of nations
and settle disputes in faraway places.
They’ll trade in their swords for shovels,
their spears for rakes and hoes.
Nations will quit fighting each other,
quit learning how to kill one another.
Each man will sit under his own shade tree,
each woman in safety will tend her own garden.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies says so,
and he means what he says.

1. What words or ideas touch you in this passage? Perhaps…
– nations streaming to hear God
– people wanting to live God’s way
– people giving up weapons to do their work quietly
– other:

2. Why do you think those words or ideas touch you? How does this connect with what you want in life?

PRAY: Pray for God’s true teaching to prevail in troubled places – within troubled people, within troubled relationships, within troubled groups, between troubled nations.

LIVE: Sit quietly before God, mentally rehearsing the sort of person you need to be to bring true teaching that results in such peace.

By: Eugene Peterson in Solo

Posted by on December 8, 2012 in Prophecy.

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December 7, 2012

Friday: December 7, 2012

READ: Exodus 9 & 10

THINK: So, the first whole week of December has passed and we are now fully immersed in the Christmas season. Christmas is always one of the best times of year, but it is also incredibly busy! We have church and parties and decorating and shopping and pageants and…the list goes on. None of those things are bad, in and of themselves, and many of them are great. But I wonder sometimes if we don’t get so caught up in all of the noise that we miss out on the God, and the story, at the very heart of it. Do we get so caught up in talking about, singing about, reading about, and trying to be Santa Claus that we forget about Jesus?

What would it take for God to interrupt you this Christmas? Seriously, what would it take? Are you to busy, too caught up in your own agenda and the many plans you’ve already made to allow him to interrupt you? Are you more like Pharaoh or Mary?

Pharaoh continually hardened his heart. He resisted God’s interruptions, refused to let God’s plan alter his own, and constantly ignored God’s powerful calls to action. And it cost him dearly! It not only cost him the health, both physical and economic, of the country he led, but it also cost him the chance to do something bigger and make a difference for God. In Exodus 9:15-16 God makes it clear that he could have totally wiped out Pharaoh and the Egyptians but he kept them around to show his power so that the world would see his glory. What would it have looked like if Pharaoh had turned and worshipped God? How might the results have been different?

In contrast to Pharaoh, when God interrupted Mary’s life and plans in a major way, Mary responded by saying, “I am the Lord’s servant.” How will you respond to God’s call this Christmas? Do you have a hand up to being interrupted, or are you willing to say, “I am the Lord’s servant.” God may not be calling you to a task as monumental as the one to which he called Mary, but he is calling you to something. You are exactly where you are, at this time and place in the history of the world, so that God can use you to draw the people around you to himself. Create space for him to get your attention. Don’t miss out on the chance to be a part of what he is doing. Respond like Mary, not like Pharaoh.

PRAY: Tell God that you want to be available to be interrupted by him this Christmas. Tell him that you’re willing to commit to his agenda instead of yours. Ask him to open your eyes to the opportunities you have to point people towards him. Tell him, “I am your servant.”

Posted by on December 7, 2012 in Law.

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December 6, 2012

Thursday: December 6, 2012

READ: Psalm 64 & 65

THINK: “Thy paths drop fatness.” — Psalm 65:11

Many are “the paths of the Lord” which “drop fatness,” but an especial one is the path of prayer. No believer, who is much in the closet, will have need to cry, “My leanness, my leanness; woe unto me.” Starving souls live at a distance from the mercy- seat, and become like the parched fields in times of drought. Prevalence with God in wrestling prayer is sure to make the believer strong—if not happy. The nearest place to the gate of heaven is the throne of the heavenly grace. Much alone, and you will have much assurance; little alone with Jesus, your religion will be shallow, polluted with many doubts and fears, and not sparkling with the joy of the Lord. Since the soul-enriching path of prayer is open to the very weakest saint; since no high attainments are required; since you are not bidden to come because you are an advanced saint, but freely invited if you be a saint at all; see to it, dear reader, that you are often in the way of private devotion. Be much on your knees, for so Elijah drew the rain upon famished Israel’s fields.

There is another especial path dropping with fatness to those who walk therein, it is the secret walk of communion. Oh! the delights of fellowship with Jesus! Earth hath no words which can set forth the holy calm of a soul leaning on Jesus’ bosom. Few Christians understand it, they live in the lowlands and seldom climb to the top of Nebo: they live in the outer court, they enter not the holy place, they take not up the privilege of priesthood. At a distance they see the sacrifice, but they sit not down with the priest to eat thereof, and to enjoy the fat of the burnt offering. But, reader, sit thou ever under the shadow of Jesus; come up to that palm tree, and take hold of the branches thereof; let thy beloved be unto thee as the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, and thou shalt be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. O Jesus, visit us with thy salvation!

– Charles Spurgeon

PRAY: Thank God for being willing to communicate with you, for his willingness to let you approach him. Make a commitment to him to make him a priority in your life and spend time with him.

Posted by on December 6, 2012 in Psalms.

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