These devotional blogs appeared in the Come Ye Apart devotional quarterly (now titled Reflecting God).
"God has the power to help or to overthrow." (2 Chronicles 25:8, NIV)
King Amaziah was desperate. As he prepared for war against the Edomites, he began to fear that his Judean army would not be strong enough. So he hired 100,000 Israelites to fight alongside his soldiers. After he had given these mercenaries some money, a prophet arrived to caution the king that he had sought help in the wrong place. The king was told that he should depend on the Lord God instead of on apostate mercenaries.
Amaziah did not always listen to men of God. But this time, he did. And the victory was his.
Sadly, God's people still repeat Amaziah's mistakes. Facing mountainous personal, family, and even church problems, we sometimes decide that our resources are too limited. So we succumb to the temptation to look for help in the wrong places. It's good to remember the prophet's words to Amaziah: God's resources are unlimited. Count on Him.
My Haitian friends are fond of saying: "Bondye kapab." Translated, this means: "God is able." And indeed He is. Let's trust Him. [ e-book on Haiti ]
"How inexhaustible God's resources, wisdom and knowledge are!" -- Romans 11:33, Goodspeed
In Romans 9, Paul recounts God's dealings with His chosen people, Israel. Then, as he finishes talking about God's workings in history, Paul bursts forth into spontaneous adoration with the beautiful words of Romans 11:33-36.
I've seen the same kind of awe on the faces of Nazarene Missions Team members [ mission trip resources ]. As they've given praise in dedication services for buildings they've built with their own hands, they've suddenly caught a glimpse of the way God has been at work in their lives and in the lives of the people whose church building they came to help construct. What may have seemed a series of disconnected events suddenly revealed a designer at work as people saw the wise hand of God at work. Caught up in praise and adoration, they've turned their faces to heaven with tears streaming down their faces.
I've seen it happen at Nazarene General Assemblies. People gathered from all over the world suddenly become conscious of God's wise workings in beautiful ways through their denomination, the Church of the Nazarene. Overcome with adoration, they've begun to praise God and raise their arms.
We used to sing a chorus with the words "Isn't He wonderful wonderful wonderful? Isn't Jesus my Lord wonderful?" He really is. Praise His name.
Romans 11:33 is part of a doxology, a moment of praise to God, and it has at least seven takeaways for believers. They include:
In short, Romans 11:33 is a declaration of God's immeasurable attributes. It should stir us to trust in His wisdom, knowledge, and judgments. We must respond with humility, reverence, and a heart of worship.
"'All we have here,' they said, 'are five loaves and two fishes"' -- Matthew 14:17, NEB
Five thousand people, and they were all hungry. When Jesus told His disciples to feed the crowd, all they could come up with were five biscuits and two sardines. Acutely conscious of how inadequate that would be, the disciples went to Jesus. He took what they had and transformed it into abundance.
He's still doing that. For example, some people think cross-cultural missionaries are superheroes of the faith with extraordinary spiritual resources. While we were serving as missionaries, an American lady told me: "I could never do what you're doing. You're a better Christian than I am."
While troubled by her inadequacies, she had mistakenly put me on a pedestal. Actually, I'm just as inadequate as she felt. Alas, in front of life's enormous problems, we are all merely five-loaves-and-two-fish people. However, that's also good news. Like the little boy mentioned in John's account of the story, we can give Jesus what we have. However inadequate it may seem, He will make it sufficient. God has the ability to take little and make much of it. Let's trust Him.
What feelings led to the response of Jesus' disciples in Matthew 14:17?
"Take courage. It is I. Don't be afraid." (Matthew 14:27, NIV)
As the disciples sailed across Lake Galilee, they were suddenly engulfed by a storm. With their little fishing boat bobbing up and down in the waves, they became terrified when they saw something moving toward them on the water. Then the seeming apparition spoke. It was Jesus. "Take courage. It is I," He said. Jesus' presence immediately chased away their anxiety and distress. (Matthew 14:25-33)
One day, I encountered Pastor Odius Merzilus while driving down a dusty Haitian road. This 35-year veteran of the ministry was trudging up to a mountain village where he was trying to plant a new church. I stopped my jeep. We talked a bit about the lack of rain. We talked about the malnourished kids coming to his school. We talked about the persecution some of his people were encountering at the hands of voodoo followers. Then, our talk turned to the Lord and what He was doing in our lives. As I drove away, Odius' face crinkled into a smile. "Take courage," he shouted as he waved goodbye. [ e-book on missions in Haiti ]
In the desperate situations of life, we need to be wary of trusting our senses. We need to look up. He is there. In life's anxious moments, we need to listen for His voice: "It is I. Do not be afraid."
We need not fear even the worst storms of life. For we are in the hands of Him who is Victor and Master over all.
More on "Take Courage"
"The Lord said . . . 'Should I not be concerned about that great city of Nineveh?'" (Jonah 4:11, NIV)
The Lord tried to use Jonah in cross-cultural missionary outreach. However, Jonah's prejudices against foreigners and his lack of love for them made him endure the experience rather than enjoy it.
At the end of the biblical account, Jonah sits overlooking the city God had just saved. Jonah's actions and words do not indicate that there was a lump of sadness in his throat as he preached. There were no tears in his eyes.
Exasperated at His prophet, God asks Jonah: "Are not people important?"
"Not these Ninevites," Jonah seems to reply.
His own prejudices had distorted the truth, created barriers, and prohibited him from seeing the Ninevites with God's eyes. Clearly, Jonah didn't care at all for the people he had just preached to. It seemed distasteful to him to think that God would care for them. It was a sad moment in salvation history.
God continues to lay great missionary opportunities before His people today. Let us not be guilty of Jonah's selfish callousness or of using his perverted, narrow-minded scale of values. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to demolish those walls of division created by prejudice. [ Jonah, the reluctant missionary ]
Overall, Jonah 4:11 serves as a reminder of God's boundless compassion, the importance of understanding and forgiveness, and the value of all life.
"You are my servant in whom I will display my splendor" (Isaiah 49:3, NIV)
The first verses of Isaiah 49 form one of the great "servant" passages of Isaiah. Here, Isaiah shouts his vision of the exalted and glorified Christ. He had seen that the great light emanating from God was to be focused with brilliant intensity on a coming Son and Servant whom we know today as Jesus Christ.
Isaiah shouted this message not just to the Jews, but to the islands of the sea, to distant nations. This message of a Servant in whom was displayed the splendor of God Himself is still being proclaimed to distant nations. And the message is being heeded. One great evidence of this is the quadrennial Nazarene General Assembly where Christians from all over the globe gather to give witness to God's working in their lives and to lay plans for an even wider proclamation of the Kingdom.
Haitian Christians like to shout together: "Glwa a Jezi!" Sometimes they'll shout it even three or four times. It means: "Glory be to Jesus." Yes, indeed. Glory be to Him.
"This so-called foolish plan of God is far wiser than the wisest plan of the wisest man" -- 1 Corinthians 1:25, The Living Bible
Jesus died while nailed to a crude wooden cross above Jerusalem's garbage dump. As his life ebbed away, cynics talked smut, a thief cursed, and soldiers gambled. To passers-by watching him suffer and die, Jesus' claim to be the Son of the Living God must have seemed absurd. To those who called him Master and Lord, Jesus' public execution surely must have shaken their belief that He was to be the world's Savior.
As Jesus' friends took his body down from the cross that afternoon, the world scarcely took notice. As a messiah, Jesus appeared to have been a failure. But he wasn't. He has, in fact, emerged as the triumphant victor, the Messiah he claimed to be. His crucifixion is regarded as a cornerstone event in the history of the world.
Self-denial has proved to be more powerful than self-assertion. Divine love, grace, and mercy had devised a plan of salvation so radical that some still refuse to accept it. Jesus' suffering, self-sacrifice, devotion to principles, and heedlessness of immediate consequences run contrary to all human wisdom.
But out of all that has come the greatest good the human race has ever known. [ a Easter blog ]
Bottom line: 1 Corinthians 1:25 calls us to approach life with humility, faith, and a reliance on God's wisdom rather than trusting our perceptions.
For Sunday
Scripture Reading — Romans 7:1-6
We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in
the old way of the written code" (Romans 7:6).
When Barbara and I lived in South Texas, we had some "Jesus people" friends who felt the central theme of the Christian's life was to be "freedom in the Spirit" rather than "service to the King." They define this as meaning there are few moral restraints on their lives. They neglected to see that human beings were created to serve God.
Paul reminds us that, though we now live under grace, we are still to serve God. Believers have been freed from the curse of the law. Because of that, they can now obey God from love, with spontaneity and gladness of heart. In itself, the law — though just, holy, and good — was insufficient for freeing people from the power of inbred sin. So, under the law alone, human beings had great difficulty serving God in the way they for which they were created.
Our joy in the Christian life comes not because we have been released from the law. Rather, our joy springs from the fact that now we can "serve in the new way of the Spirit."
Our service to God now is no less demanding than it was under the law. But now the Spirit makes power for service available to us. The secret of victory in the Christian life? It is serving "in the new way of the Spirit."
Worship in Song no. 398:
Jesus is the Joy of Living;
He's the King of Life to me.
— "Jesus Is the Joy of Living" by Alfred H. Ackley
Romans 7:1-6 discusses the relationship between the law and believers, using the analogy of marriage to illustrate how believers are released from the law through Christ. There are at least four takeaways for us in these verses:
For Monday
Scripture Reading — Acts 10:17-23
"So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."
(Acts 10:20).
Peter's rooftop vision was painful for him. It called him to renounce racist pride and prejudice. It meant repentance from his narrow Jewish parochialism. But he did not shy away from letting the Holy Spirit alter his attitude and motivations.
That did not solve the problem for all mankind, however. Racial pride and prejudice (anti-black and anti-white, anti-Jewish, and anti-Arab, as well as other expressions of racism), political imperialism, cultural insensitivity, sexual oppression, and indifference to the plight of the needy and powerless have continued to mar the church's testimony to the universality of God's grace.
So I may need my eyes opened, too. Whatever "us-them" lines keep me from witnessing across racial, social, political, or economic boundaries must be swept away. The only dividing line that should counts is the one between those in Christ and those not in Him. Satan can easily use all other divisions to block the gates of the Kingdom.
Equality may often be a hollow dream everywhere else, but in the kingdom of God, it is a reality! May my life and attitudes ever be a testimony to that truth!
Pointers on dealing with blatant racism
Worship in Song, no. 337:
Hark, 'tis the Shepherd's voice I hear,
Out in the desert, dark and dear,
Calling the sheep who've gone astray,
Far from the Shepherd's fold away.
— "Bring Them In" by Alexcenah Thomas
What can the book of Acts teach us today?
For Tuesday
Scripture Reading — Acts 16:6-10
"We got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel unto them" (Acts 16:10).
Quite a few years ago the Holy Spirit laid before Denver First Nazarene Church a vision of enlarged ministry. They responded and became a potent spiritual force in that city as well as the largest Nazarene church in North America at that time.
In 1975, a group of "dare-saints" under Paul Moore moved into New York's Times Square with a Holy Spirit-inspired vision bigger than their pocketbooks.
The Oregon Pacific District of the Church of the Nazarene entered the 1980s with the aim of planting more than a dozen new congregations every year
A vision of enlarged ministry has pushed Los Angeles First Church into becoming a mosaic of linguistic, ethnic, and cultural groups.
This list could go on and on. Not of man-made dreams, but of Holy Spirit-given visions of ministry. Paul's vision at Troas was an example of how the Holy Spirit will lead both churches and individual Christians.
It is never a mistake for God's servants to follow His leading. As we follow Him, we will discover like Paul did, that to follow the Holy Spirit is to find ourselves involved in an ever-enlarging ministry. God will call. He will lead. Will we follow?
Worship in Song, no. 356:
Proclaim to ev'ry people, tongue, and nation
That God, in whom they live and move, is love.
Tell how He stooped to save His lost creation,
And died on earth that man might live above.
— "0 Zion, Haste" by Mary AnnThomson
For Wednesday
Scripture Reading — Hebrews 12:5-11
"The Lord disciplines the one he loves." (Hebrews 12:6).
"I was really sailing along good, and then this happened . . ."
Maybe that is the wrong reaction when we hit a bump in the road of life. God can use what may appear to be unnecessary trouble to discipline us. True, it may be a bitter medicine at times. But consider this: It may be our Father's hand of love measuring out the dosage and asking us to drink it.
If we are honest, we will admit that, at times, we all need to be disciplined. God's gracious and firm discipline will improve us as believers. Divine discipline, which is perfect in every way, aims to make us sharers in the very holiness of God himself. While the suffering occasioned by divine discipline will not save us, it can produce more holiness in us.
Let us never lightly dismiss God's disciplinary efforts nor allow such rigors to discourage us. God's discipline shows us clearly that we are loved by Him as His children. May the correction efforts of our Heavenly Father produce in us the ever-growing peace (shalom) of a righteous life!
Worship in Song, no. 279:
Deeper, deeper! tho' it cost hard trials,
Deeper let me go!
Rooted in the holy love of Jesus,
Let me fruitful grow.
— "Deeper, Deeper" by Charles P. Jones
For Thursday
Scripture Reading — Acts 16:23-34
"At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he
and all his household were baptized." (Acts 16:33).
Disorders. Floggings. Earthquake. Those were the headlines out of Philippi. The morning dawned brighter, though. Third-century preacher John Chrysostom — himself no stranger to persecution — sums it up this way: "The jailer washed them from their stripes, and was himself washed from his sins."
The jailer and his family may not have been the only converts that night. Maybe even some of the other prisoners were to become part of that congregation to whom Paul would later write a letter we know as his Epistle to the Philippians.
What could have been interpreted as just the calamities of life was actually God's way of leading someone to hope and salvation. The good news is that God can be at work in the midst of trouble. Through the painful experiences of Paul and Silas the Spirit of the living and loving God was at work to bless other people.
Are you hurting in some way? Even in what may seem to be useless wounds, let's look for the hand of God at work. Let's pray that He'll use our bleeding to bless someone else.
Worship in Song, no. 349:
Rescue the perishing; care for the dying;
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave.
Weep o'er the erring one; lift up the fallen;
Tell them of Jesus, the Mighty to Save.
— "Rescue the Perishing" by Fanny J. Crosby
For Friday
Scripture Reading — Mark 14:32-42
"They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I
pray.'" (Mark 14:32).
Prolonged anxiety sometimes seems to turn the heart to stone. A spiritual life fed only by prayers of habit withers in the face of soul anguish and one finds himself the victim of the sin of prayerlessness.
I wasn't in the full-time ministry very long before I had already discovered that when many weary souls called for the pastor, they were not wanting their prayer life revitalized. More often than not, they're looking for temporary psychological props.
Jesus' response to heartbreak was radically different. On the night of deep agony of spirit, the Son of Man turned again and again to prayer. He knew that prayer was the quickest and surest way of recovering spiritual equilibrium.
Jesus came from that hour of repeated praying and submission with a sense of power and poise. As He prayed, His words reflected a growing perfectness of submission to the Father. This ought to be our pattern to follow.
Life's buffetings and long-prolonged struggles should not be allowed to exhaust us emotionally and spiritually. Instead, they should compel us to desire ever more intensely the intimate fellowship of prayer.
Worship in Song, no. 479:
Oh, how praying rests the weary!
Prayer will change the night to day.
— "Did You Think to Pray?" by Mrs. M. A. Kidder
For Saturday
Scripture Reading — Job 1:6-12
"The Lord said to Satan, 'Very well, then, everything [Job] has is in your power, but on the
man himself do not lay a finger.;" (Job 1:12).
Numerous buildings in Florence, Italy, have little plaques marking the height of floodwaters on November 4, 1966. On that day the Arno River overflowed its banks and came swirling into buildings, depositing debris, mud, and oil everywhere. In some places, the water rose as high as 20 feet, damaging and destroying businesses, homes, and art treasures.
Those little marble markers serve a tourist function. But I like to think they also say: Yes, the river invaded us. All the way up to here. It did its worst. But it had a limit. And we survived.
That's what Job's story tells us about Satan's demonic powers. Satan has his limits. And he can go no farther than God will permit. We, too, are a part of the cosmic battle which involved Job and Satan. Sometimes, we feel like pawns in a battle between equal superpowers, but we need not succumb to pessimism and lose sight of the triumphal theme of the gospel.
Job's life teaches us that nothing can touch us except with our Father's knowledge and His permission. Alleluia! We are ultimately in God's hands. God's power is revealed even as Satan's limits are uncovered.
Worship in Song, no. 431:
In the midst of battle be thou not dismayed,
Tho' the pow'rs of darkness 'gainst thee are arrayed.
God, thy Strength, is with thee, causing thee to stand;
Heaven's allied armies wait at thy command.
— "Victory All the Time" by Lelia N. Morris
For Sunday
Scripture Reading — Ephesians 3:14-21
"I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in
your inner being," (Ephesians 3:16).
Got any rivers you think are uncrossable?
Got any mountains you can't tunnel through?
Remember that classic little chorus? It reminds me of the last part of Ephesians 3. Here in the middle of a letter whose main subject is the Church, Paul breaks forth in a prayer for victorious strength in Christ. He seems fired to an incandescent glow by the thought that there is limitless power available to achieve God's goals for us.
Paul's prayer for believers battling in the thick of the fray reminds us that we do not have to be despondent stragglers in the rear. Like Paul, we can be happy passengers in the chariot of God, calling out to others with infectious enthusiasm: "Come up and ride with us!"
In these days when shadows of human error and apostasy hang dark on the world, let us live intoxicated by the thought that we can be divinely strengthened to be victorious in every circumstance. There is no limit to God's power! Only our words and thoughts about it are limited.
Worship in Song, no. 362:
Trials many will beset my pathway,
And temptations I shall surely meet;
But my Saviour promised grace to help me
Till I lay my trophies at His feet.
— "My Soul Is Filled with Glory" by J. M. Harris
-- Howard Culbertson,
The Come Ye Apart" is now published quarterly as Reflecting God by Word Action Publishing and available through what is now called The Foundry.
Having a daily time of personal devotion, which may involve prayer, meditation, journaling, music and other reflective practices can be beneficial for at least eight reasons:
Simply put, having a daily time of personal devotions can be beneficial for our overall well-being. It can bring peace and provide insight and growth even in the busyness of life.
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