Be encouaged!
(from personal devotion April 17, 2006)
Galatians 5:22-26
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit. We must not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
We are created to worship Him alone.
God is looking for worshippers to worship Him in spirit and truth. In ours Christian lives, anger, frustration, and impatience should be foreign emotions. Our actions, gifting and talents must demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. I can not write or perform His anointed music if it does not give evidence to the fruit of the Spirit. If we are to be His instruments in this world, our lives sing with the Holy Spirit. We must reflect His holiness and righteousness. We cannot do it alone, but His Holy Spirit will do it for us.
Love covers a large gamut of emotions, Joy is passionate, powerful and uplifting, Peace is quiet, still and intimate, Patience is never hurried or stressed, it is tolerant and waits for God’s wisdom and strength, Kindness and Gentleness are soft and nonabrasive, Faith believes with strong confidence and has an assuredness that does not need to witness miraculous signs for strengthening, Goodness is eager to help and fulfill the needs, it is readily accepted, and Self-Control is disciplined and prepared, it compliments Joy.
King David worshipped by dancing with “Holy Spirit passion.” He was bringing God’s Word in the physical representation of the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem and God’s chosen people — Israel. It was a cause for celebration that overjoyed David’s heart, mind and soul. One might think that David was out of control or undisciplined. Even his wife, Michal, was disgusted at the sight of the King’s undignified dance.
Undignified carries two designations here; one of Michal’s unrighteous judgment and one of holy worship. Michal believed it was beneath the King of Israel to present himself publicly in such undignified manner. On the other hand, David oblivious to all earthly surroundings, sought after God’s approval and blessing. He was lost in worship. He was so caught up in giving worship to God that every temporal possession, every earthly crown, every prestigious trophy coveted by man — meant nothing in light of being in God’s awesome presence.
Father, You teach us love.
As children, we are Your gift conceived from the holy union of love between husband and wife
You breathe a life excited to receive and give love
Through You our capacity to love is limitless
Through You our potential and power is matchless
We live receiving love through Your generosity in others
We live giving love away through Your charity in us
From the beginning it defines us
Throughout our lives it transforms us
In the end it will conform us to look like Your Son, Jesus.
It seems many self-called Christians are ashame to speak the name of Jesus Christ out loud in public. Fear of rejection, fear of persecution, fear of offense, fear of failure or a myriad of other reasons may be to blame for their silence. Nonetheless, it is an action that demonstrates a lack of faith. One that could cost your eternal soul.
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. ~ Matthew 10:32-33
Jesus said this just after he warns his disciple of the troubles they would face when he sends them out to preach the Gospel. He encourages them to not fear man, but God!
We will have difficulties in our ministries. They are hurdles to increase our endurance, to strengthen us, to grow us more into His likeness. We can not strategize away “the Name above all names” for fear it is too “churchy” or that it might offend someone. Christians! Lost people need to hear the Gospel – whether they like it or not!
(Taken from 10/28/2005 devotion)
In Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick affirms that we are created to worship God. It is a basic truth that I know as well. True worshippers are givers. We recognize that God has provided every good and perfect thing. Thus, we are gradually being transformed into the image of Christ – who gave His life as the ultimate act of obedience and worship. He is the only perfect gift.
There are times when a brother or sister backslides in their walk with the Lord. We are instructed to help them by tenderly showing the error of their way. But, what happens when an entire church, a culture, an emerging generation falls into error?
If you consider the worship service an offering, then it should be about giving. If everyone entered into the service with thoughts of how they can bless our Lord and with actions that demonstrate their faith, He is faithful to take us to another level of worship. As Matt Redman wrote in his song, Heart of Worship – “longing just to bring something that’s of worth, that will bless Your heart.” Wow! I want to be there! – I want to bless Your heart , my Lord!
I am persuaded that our culture is steadily losing its fear of the Lord. The reverence that is due the Lord is missing in most of our Church’s worship services. He is holy! We are not. There is a huge distance, a gap between the great I Am and who we are. I believe the fear of God is more about realizing our worthlessness and recognizing His infinite worth. We are nothing without Him. Without Him we are doomed to an eternity in hell. That should give you a pretty good definition of His worth.
Many of us are overly concerned about what we get out of the service, not what our Heavenly Father is receiving from us. Many times after a service we hear comments like: “The pastor just wasn’t there today.” “The music was off.” “The video didn’t work for me.”
We are gradually replacing our “awesome” God with a God of love and comfort. “Awesome” by definition, means to “fear terribly!” We need to be careful how we use words that try to describe our God. Awesome is a good descriptive word – but know and adhere to its true definition when you use it to describe “the indescribable.” We should not superficially use words reserved to illustrate our God. If in one sentence we use it to describe our adoration and respect for our Lord, then in the next we use it to exaggerate the merits of a song. “We need to put away the things we did as a child.”
I believe our Lord wants us to have comfort and joy. He prospers His righteous people. But, in the sanctuary of His church during a worship service we are not meant to receive, but to give. We need our focus to be about Him. To give Him our love, praise, adoration, reverence, our worship. Afterwards, we should take from our worship services the attitude of giving. How can I help? How can I be a blessing to someone? How can God use me? What gifts do I have that can be shared with others?
Prayer meetings, fellowship and accountability gatherings are better places to make requests of Him. Granted, we need to pray all the time. I constantly seek His strength and guidance and I feel I am always connected to Him. Unfortunately, I get distracted regularly by the world, Satan, and my flesh. Eventually, I repeatedly find myself in repentance and prayer.
He gives us everything; I don’t believe it is too much to ask to give back to Him during our Sunday worship services.
In His sanctuary, our attitude should always be one of giving.
The Lord is the only audience necessary. He is the VIP, the sole guest of honor.
The service is an offering of our first fruits to the Lord. I gift of gratitude, a blessing from our menial estate to the Creator of everything and owner of all things present, past and future. It is not just the worship team, pastors, deacons, or church leaders that need to give on Sunday — it needs to be everyone’s attitude.
Finally, our everyday walk needs to reflect this strength – our joy of the Lord. The integrity of He whom we emulate must be witnessed by those in this world and the great cloud of witnesses we do not see with temporal eyes.
(taken from personal devotion written 08/28/09)
God in His great love and through the majesty of His awesome power created the universe. All creatures in Heaven and Earth and below the Earth are marvelous testimonies to His handiwork. Every atom, every particle of energy that exists is under His control and Will. He wills it and it is so! Of all His creations — Man is His delight. Hallelujah!
Man was made in the form of His image. It was for His pleasure Man was given life to walk and commune with Him. How precious is life to our Heavenly Father! So much so that even death was alien to His initial creation. Adam and Eve were created to be fruitful and multiply — and live. To eat of every tree in the Garden – except one. God loved us so much that He gave us the freedom to choose in life. To our downfall, Man rebels and chooses His own way – a way that leads to death — through sin. God never created sin — or it’s by products; suffering and death. They are created by the choices of Man.
Though sin has limited our lives on this earth, God in His great love for us renews His mercy each day. Every breath, every heartbeat, every moment in our lives is by His amazing grace.
• This day is His gift to us.
• This day is our only opportunity to prove our worship of Him alone.
• This day is our day of salvation.
• This day we are to rejoice and be glad in it.
• This day we are to love Him and our neighbor.
We are “sons of the day.” (1 Thes 5:5)
As we journey through this gift of life these three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love. Love is the greatest. God is love. Our first gift from God is His love.
• He loves us so much to create us from nothing and give us life.
• He loves us so much that He gives us the freedom of choose Him or ourselves in our lives.
• He loves us so much He gives us the Way to be with Him eternally.
• He loves us so much He gave us His only begotten Son, Jesus
Christ, and through Christ we will have life in abundance. We were created to live! Not just in this world, but eternally with our Lord, our Savior, our God, Jesus Christ. Amen.
To say that everything that happens is the will of God is ignorance. God is in control and nothing escapes His power and majestic rule. He can use what Man means for evil and conform it to His will and purpose. But, our choices are ultimately — ours. While in this world, we as Christians can not believe God’s grace is a scapegoat from the repercussions of our rebellious choices. Moreover, it is because of His grace through Jesus Christ we are capable of doing any eternal good on our own.
Genesis tells us of the origins of heaven and earth. It tells us that our God is our prideful creator, faithful to provide every good and perfect thing from the beginning of creation. Our Heavenly Father creates a perfect environment for us, the garden of Eden. We only had one rule. It was His will that we do not eat from the tree with knowledge of good and evil. During this awesome time, our Father walked with us. He talked with us. His presence was with us. His provision completely surrounded us. Yet, in His great love for us He allowed us the freedom of choice. In His love, He gave us our own will. We had the ability from the beginning to choose His way or ours.
Our weak faith in His promises, made us subject to the temptations from our Enemy, the devil. We chose to disobey God and it was not without consequences. Our choice led to sin, suffering and death. We let them enter God’s perfect creation from our selfishness.
To say that these sinful choices are God’s will is ludicrous. (There is no darkness in Him!) Genesis makes it plain that God has been in control since the beginning of time. Even with all the obstacles and rebellion we have chosen to put in front of His will, He sacrifices His Son to pay for our disobedience. God’s will is to sacrifice what He loves most for a people who despise and hate Him. Surely, His ways are not ours! If you think you got Him figured out — PRAY HARD!
What are good works?
Know God’s word! Delight in it! Walk in it! Live it out!
What Man knows as good is not God’s way!
His ways are higher! The finite cannot define infinity!
Micah 6:8 says all that is necessary; do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your Lord!
Know God’s word! Delight in it! Walk in it! Live it out!
God will measure faith and wisdom to each man!
It is the intensity of passion during the pursuit of God that determines your strength of faith and the depth of wisdom
How hard do you seek God?
If you love God, you obey His commands!
How can you obey what you do not know?
Know God’s word! Delight in it! Walk in it! Live it out!
O How can I praise my awesome, amazing, holy God?
What can I say that hasn’t already been said?
Nothing I do is new to You!
I can build the tallest building and sculpt incredible detailed statues
I can compose and perform lengthy, complex literature, books, symphonies and songs
I can paint wondrous murals depicting the deep mysteries of my life’s journey
I can win spectacular athletic events demonstrate my physical strength and endurance
I can dance and run naked through the streets of my community passionately exposing all that I am
I could live my life in quiet obediance, seeking only Your provision and loving Your decrees
Trusting You and rejoicing at every hardship
Excited at the opportunities Your mercy will afford me each new day
When Jesus spoke about fasting, he didn’t say if you fast, but “when you fast” (Matthew 6:16).
“Then the followers of John came to Jesus and said, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees often fast for a certain time, but your followers don’t?’ Jesus answered, ‘The friends of the bridegroom are not sad while he is with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.'” (Matthew 9:14-15).
Fasting does not impress God with our spirituality to the point that he ignores our disobedience. On the contrary, genuine fasting will always cause us to examine our hearts to make sure everything is right with Him. (Isaiah 58)
Several years ago, during a fast, God told me fasting was about “denying my flesh to strengthen my spirit.”
It’s not about dieting, it’s not about looking religious (hypocrisy), and it’s not about trying to do something religious in order to manipulate God. (I have tried this — I accomplished nothing.)
When the Bible uses the term “fasting” it has spiritual goals in mind.
Biblical fasting is “not eating” with spiritual communication in mind. You can pray without fasting, but you cannot fast without praying. Biblical fasting is deliberately abstaining from food for a spiritual reason: communication and relationship with the Father.
Fasting is a physical discipline necessary at times for holiness. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father is only as good as our communication with Him. Sometimes during our service to the Lord, the noise of sin in this world can dampen His voice. We are constantly bombarded with temptation and the desires of our flesh. Gluttony and Sex run rabid in our world. Not to mention, gluttony carries over into other areas of sin such as greed and materialism. God wants us to live in moderation – with temperance, restraint, and self-control. God wants us to live in peace. Pride and greed can not have a foothold in our lives physically or spiritually.
Fasting is a way for me to tell my flesh “No!” because I need a better relationship with my Father. I need to clearly hear Him. We must all realize there are something’s we can not accomplish by prayer alone. We need His divine direction, protection, healing, and revelation that can only be brought about through prayer and fasting.
We need to always be very aware of what we ask of Him — even in our songs and hymns: I surrender all (Do we really?) Just a closer walk (Are we ready for where that closeness will take us?)
By God’s Mercy, I will “offer my body up as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to the Lord.”
“When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you” (Jeremiah 29:13,14). Fasting is an expression of wholeheartedness. This is clear from Joel’s call to the nation of Israel: “Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting. . .” (Joel 2:12).
(Taken from a devotion written in October 2007, Marshall Mabry)