Hi saints, I think that everyone could write at least one devotional for the edification of others. One paragraph, one Scripture, probably your favorite. Gonna do it? It can be scary writing something and just putting it out there for all to see but oftentimes great things happen outside of our comfort zone. Who is gong to be first? :) .........bro Frank
1 John 4:7-9 KJV Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. (8) He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (9) In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
May all that we say, think, or do be rooted in Agape love toward one another and especially toward those who are on the outside that God may draw them unto Himself.
Who Am I?
So much controversy and rage in the world are now centered on the simple notion of "this is who I am". Gender identity, sexual conduct, and a wide swath of laws with far reaching consequences face us. It can be intimidating and frustrating and exasperating.
But, brothers and sisters, our life's purpose is not answering the question "who am I" nor is it establishing any identity of "who I am". Our life is "hidden with Christ in God". Colossians 3:3
Jesus understood that the great battle of carnal men's hearts is his wrestling with "who we are". Every one of us subtly serves an inner "me monster". Paul called him the "old man". Jesus understood that this battle is not only at the heart of every man, but at the heart of His church.
After calling unto Him whom He would (Mark 3:13, 14), and sending the 12 into ministry, these called out ones were assembled with Jesus and asked, "Who do men say that I am?" After answering the various ways that others identified Jesus, He asked Peter, personally, point blank, "Who do you say that I am?" (Mark 8:29, 30; Matthew 16:13-20). Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."
We have no instance in all of Jesus' ministry where He asks His people "who are you"? In fact, He did something quite remarkable: He TOLD them who they were (John 10). He told them who the world would say they were; He even went so far as to say the world would hate THEM because of who HE is. (Mark 13:13, Matthew 10:22; Luke 21:17).
It is the everyday ultimatum that we gladly surrender in His favor, for the glory of God, for the edification of the Body of Christ. Who I, the individual, am is a question that I have to jettison from my own heart. "Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ".
Every man's objection to the gospel, every man's objection to any challenge to his own enthronement of his own life, is an objection to who Jesus Christ is. Whenever anyone says, "This is who I am", or some variant of that expression, it is an admission that should send us to our own knees. It is an assertion of one's own self as his own god, and it is the very heartbeat of the "old man" and "me monster" that would snake his way to life again if we let him.
Guard our hearts, brothers and sisters. Paul said, rightly, that we have been given this treasure to hold in earthen vessels. We are frail and we are prone to breakage. Our integrity is lacking. But, because we are dead, because there is no "me" to attend to except as my life is "hidden with Christ in God", I am free from the failure of my own vessel. I do not have to live as a slave to serve my own self at all. I can live in the Spirit of God, walking in the heavenly places with Jesus Christ, in the secret places of transformation and aloneness with Him and the Father and the Holy Spirit, until that day when He appears and I will be made like Him.
Who are we? We are nobodies, dead men. Who is He? He is Jesus Christ, son of the living God, who hides us in Himself, and whose name causes the world to hate us but by whose name alone men must be saved. Jesus is always the issue, not us. Jesus is always the answer, not us. With this ever in front of our own hearts, the church of Jesus Christ is indeed the church triumphant in the days we are living and dying in.
So much more can be said of Him. Glory to God for His mercies to us.
Thank you Tim and David, excellent. Now, who is next to edify and encourage the saints?............bro Frank
Yes, beautiful brothers!
I hope to contribute soon
The Dangerous Drift
And though you say your heart isn’t drifting, drifting
The words simply don’t ring true
You’re drifting and I’m losing you
~~Drifting, Harry Connick, Jr.
Several years ago, I was down at the Outer Banks lying atop a "boogie board” and enjoying the surf. I had taken enough beating from the waves and was now just relaxing, and I wasn’t really paying attention. Before I knew it, I was out too far. I wasn’t doing anything, but the current was taking me away from the beach. Not generally being a fan of drowning or shark attacks, I panicked and started paddling and kicking like mad to get into shore. Then I vowed never to allow that to happen again.
We must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it (Heb. 2:1, NLT).
Have you ever "drifted away” from the truths of scripture, or the reality of your own salvation? Most Christians, at one time or another, have found themselves "far from shore” and often they are not sure how it happened. The writer of Hebrews is essentially warning us to "pay attention!” Sometimes we forget that we "were bought at a price.” (1 Cor. 7:23). Sometimes we forget that Jesus expects us to obey his commandments (John 15:14). And before you know it we are out beyond the breakers, drifting who knows where.
How do we keep our attention to avoid drifting away? By practicing the basic spiritual disciplines like reading the Bible, praying, serving, fellowshipping, and worshiping. These things should keep us anchored before we get too far out from shore-- where the sharks swim.
Excellent Todd! Great word of admonition
Amen Todd!!! It is dangerous indeed to drift and it is astonishing how far you can drift in such a short time, all it takes is to close our eyes and fall asleep and suddenly, the land is gone and we are lost..........bro Frank
Nehemiah and the Gates of Hell
Not long ago our pastor preached a sermon series about Nehemiah and his efforts to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem.
This reminded me of another passage about a defensive wall: "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Mt. 16:18. Some versions read "prevail against it.”
This is important. A wall is defensive, not offensive. Mt. 16:18 says the gates, or the walls, of hell will not withstand the Church. How DOES a defensive wall prevail? I mean, it just sort of sits there. It prevails if it is not ATTACKED, or if it is attacked in a half-hearted manner.
My wife Mary and I watched the Lord of the Rings movies over New Year's Eve- sort of a tradition. In those movies there are two major scenes involving attacking defensive walls. In that case it was the bad guys (orcs, trolls and other nasties) attacking the walls of the good guys. But even so, I noted several ways the walls were attacked: 1) they were scaled using ladders and ropes; 2) they were blown apart with an explosive device; 3) they were demolished with stones hurled from catapults or battering rams.
Persistence, coordinated effort, courage, cunning, and willingness to sacrifice oneself for the cause were all necessary in order to breach the walls. I think all of these things are also necessary to breach the gates of hell.
But, attacks against an enemy’s defensive wall are of no use **unless the army gets through to the other side**.
It seems the modern Church has tried a lot of methods to damage the gates of hell, but to a large degree the gates of hell have still prevailed. As our pastor stated, we still live in a very broken world and it only seems to be getting worse. We are losing, not gaining ground. Could this be because there are not enough Christians who are willing to scale over the walls and run through the breaches that have been created?
I think the point of his message can be summed up quite simply: ALL HANDS ON DECK!
The Word says the gates of hell will NOT prevail. So let’s get cracking!
Brothers and sisters one of my favorite verses is from the book of Romans 8:
When I was a babe in Christ I was given this verse from my first pastor.. I still claim it today and it refreshes me. I pray it refreshes u too.
Romans 8:33-38
-Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD UNLESS WE LET IT.
Sister Frannie
Amen all must be rooted in LOVE..
May we owe no many anything but LOVE.
Rom 13:8
Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Todd, when we had the Greenock revival conference, I was leading the prayer meetings there. They were very powerful and saints from over 20 countries were involved. There were blind children in a Christian orphanage in Africa who had coordinated so that they were praying with us on the side of a mountain. Our prayer group back home also coordinated and were praying with us live on the phone. One of the nights I had a vision and I saw a great army approaching huge ancient walls. When I looked again, the army was marching on its knees and the inhabitants behind the walls were trembling. As I continued to look, I saw that the prayers were being hurled at the walls like stones from huge catapults. Suddenly there was a breach in the walls. There was a huge surge and the prayer warriors rushed forward to pour through the breach. The Lord showed me that the walls were the denominational walls that kept the Body divided and apart.There can be no unity while the walls remain standing ...............bro Frank
I find the book of Revelation among the most inspiring books in the Bible. In it you will discover the nature of God, his mercy, love and how he works to bring sinful people to himself.
We learn God uses natural calamities to destroy people's security in their environment.
We learn God is in control of rulers, kings, economic systems and that while he will allow them to function for some time, they will meet an inglorious end.
We learn that as the angels were about to inflict another judgement upon the earth the inhabitants of heaven praised God for doing so, saying he is just and righteous.
We learn how the devil in in control of rulers, using them to battle the saints, killing them.
We also see how man is so stubborn, so rebellious that when their securities have been destroyed they blasphemed God, still.
We learn there is a reward for faithfulness - with those being beheaded for Jesus' sake getting the most blessed reward because they will reign with Jesus a thousand years. (So, is it so terrible to be beheaded?)
We learn there is nothing around us that is not under the control of God Almighty, all disasters are designed to force people to rethink their position before God and getting them to repent. But they still won't.
In our time of so much upheaval, anger, lying, truth maligned John's vision - given to him by an angel - is comforting, helping us to understand the God has not forgotten his people.
Sandra
"NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD UNLESS WE LET IT."
True.
Thanks for sharing.
Sandra
I praise God for the ministry of the Body of Christ in the Church. God never intended all of the ministry coming from a pastor or leader, but that every believer to know that they have a ministry, and have been given gifts for the building up of the Body of Christ. We need every member of the Body to be a functioning member. If one member of our body would not function, we would know that we have a serious problem and would seek help to get that member restored to normal activity. Yet, how many go to church week after week to sing a few hymns, listen to a sermon, and never be a functioning member within the Body.
"What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up." (1 Corinthians 14;26)
Psalm 91
The story of the Thundering Legion is in substance as follows: When the Emperor Marcus Aurelius led an expedition against the Quadi in 174, his army, exhausted by thirst, was on the point of falling an easy prey to the enemy. It was then that the soldiers of the Twelfth Legion, which was composed of Christians, prayed to their God for help. Forthwith a heavy thunderstorm arose, bringing the desired relief to the Romans, but terrifying and dispersing the barbarians. Hereupon the emperor issued a decree forbidding the persecution of the Christians and to the Twelfth Legion he gave the surname of fulminata, or fulminea, that is, "thundering."
"Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues." Psalm 31:20
When you go out in the world, you are often confronted with 'the strife of tongues'. Like the coworkers of Daniel, which only sought how to destroy him. But Daniel did not hate them for a moment. He did not fear them either. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not tremble before the face of the king, who was boasting about his power to kill them.
And here you are today... people scanning your life all through. Probably also discussing about you proudly? with contempt? or rather speaking good things? Who cares?! Look unto Jesus and in the secret of His presence, you will be hid from the pride of man. He will keep you secretly from the strife of tongues! Amen!
One look into His eyes
while leaning on His breast
I'll hear His heart cry
"My child, be at rest."
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