Devotion Hebrews-7/15/21

Had a restful night last night. What a relief to actually get sleep! I have an off day with work today; I guess not being stressed about having to do so much the next day helps…

Why do we always desire more? We might have a place to live, a family and/or neighbors that may care about us, things that we already own. And yet it seems like it’s not enough!

When people make a lot of money it seems to be a response to the life of a sinner: they will be happy with just a little more. To “make more money” seems to be the person’s life dream!

We should be glad of what blessings God already has for us though. Believe me, I know what it is like to keep wanting extra in life. But the ones being encouraged in the book of Hebrews are reminded of what one has can be enough:

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 NIV

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” Those were the words of the author of the Book of Hebrews. The temptation was strong amongst the Jews that they keep their faith, that they hold on to the traditions and rituals of their fathers. .. Source: owlcation.com Quote excerpt from search engine

Mainly I learned that it wasn’t exactly they were trying to keep up with tradition, there was more to that (I kind of feel like I put up a not so reliable source above)!

The main parts of this book of the bible from the New Testament was to state the supremacy of Christ and also to persevere even in tough times (like persecution).

That again would be going on a tangent (maybe I will cover this book entirely sometime!) so I will end with these thoughts.

Living a life in general means you will have aimless goals and might even be very successful. Living a life for God might entail a lot of roads to travel and try out before knowing what really is important.

But what we must realize is to be content. Why? Because God gave us the things we have. To desire “more” as in a lot more may take our eyes off of our goals for God. We have to stay focused and keep our hearts untainted by greed to see what God truly has for us!

Waters Do Not Fail

For Isaiah You guided continually

As He looked to Your will, You abided still

While he walked he found the way to go in You

As His footsteps found He was through the Lord bound

He spoke of what had yet to come

He told tales unheard, would in future some

Would experience close, be still

Because those words were not hid Jesus would seek God’s Will

If he felt troubled, Lord guided

His hope like rain poured as Isaiah confided

Was a “garden” to His love

A spring welled of hope, a never give up “dove”

And the verse says He restores

Brings up greatness through the Lord’s compassion implores

Like waters that do not fail.

(Note: This was based off of Isaiah 58:11, my devotion today)

Who Are We “In Christ?”- 6/17/21

Gonna put this up, then hopefully will go to bed afterwards!

Do you believe you have an identity? What could that mean…?

I have an identity. It’s called an I. D. Identification. It has everything on it including my name. If I had someone ask who I was and I wasn’t sure, I’d check that and say “This should tell you everything you are concerned about me. All the info on there is enough!”

Is it though? Is it really all there is “about” me? Could I rename myself? Better yet could someone in my life give me a new “identity”…..?

The news is so matter of fact about how people according to their facts “are.” It seems that many may feel that it is impossible to change. Hey whatever experiences people have is what people from there will expect.

I “can’t” change.

Well if one can’t change, I hope they realize the wonderful love of Jesus. If you follow His path and even want to live for Him wholeheartedly it will be amazing what He can do!

Now I have another thing to ponder. If we can, if we might gain a “new” identity… what will be involved with that?

The answer to that is simple. It will be like a beautiful dream only you HAVE woken up.

You realize that with Christ you have a new way of life, a way you didn’t think could matter! You see in yourself a change to the point you feel He has turned you completely around.

How can that happen? By trusting in Jesus in what He did on the cross!

Life without Him is horrid but life in Him is wonderful…

I’ve felt like I was without the Lord. Many times.

If you ever feel tempted, stay away from this stuff. It’s no different than alcohol in my opinion:

One of my biggest regrets was jumping into looking at pornography.

It was sick and I know people that go to my church might be quick to judge me but I knew it was wrong. I knew it and know it now!

I was too dern young. I just went through puberty! I was at a new school that year; I was up on the computer one night, I hesitated and then made that choice…

Now some people might think “porn” is no big deal. It is a big deal. It’s a spiritual warfare deal. Demonic things happen when people look at porn!

I entertained lusts in my heart that I should have talked to people about but instead stayed by myself and yearned endlessly to live to keep that evil flame burning.

I found all kinds of ways to get it again and again. It was not even fun. It sure seemed like I was getting some kind of enjoyment but it was never satisfactory!

I gave in constantly. It became a “drug.” It would have felt good if it didn’t feel like some kind of hell, dragging me around, making me feel like I was nothing after I learned slowly more and more that I was addicted to it.

These “freedom” moments in my life felt more like I was given shackles and then dragged through the mud and rocks while strung from the back of a vehicle. It felt like I was a slave to sin, and seemingly without God, but somehow I wasn’t.

It would drag me through nonstop personal mental “pain” and misery until I died if it was possible.

This was no “burden” to bear alone…

But yet it was a burden I didn’t even have to bear at all. Because of Jesus I was able to give it up (yes I fought with it again and again time and time again, but I still struggled against it versus not caring about doing it!). The feelings of being alone. The toiling and anguish in feeling like I was alone it seemed in my struggle.

Jesus took my burden as well as many things on the cross. He had every sin laid on Him so that He would be like a lamb and be “slaughtered”

How could that be?

They describe Jesus as a lamb. He was like a sacrifice but the ultimate sacrifice. He was the only one that worked!

In the Old Testament so-called “perfect” lambs were slaughtered just as a visual image. It brought people to glorify and worship God.

Because they did great at letting people know that God was good and one to worship but it was not spiritually cleansing.

People needed a real sacrifice. One which took on the sins not just of the world but then also for both you and me!

Without the shedding of blood there was no forgiveness.

He was the Lamb of God. He was the one who paid a debt because He was perfect (the real perfect!).

And so all sins were laid on Him so that He would be broken for the cause of Christ. That ones would come to know Him through His Son so that we were no longer separated if we ever felt lost and without God in our lives.

Now if you follow this way there is also a thing called soul liberty. Once you follow Him you don’t have to keep going this direction. Almost like Adam having a decision you can select whether to follow always or not…

you can choose to follow or not follow Christ. You can choose to stay in His body of believers or not.

But to make the choice to follow Jesus is being Christ bound!

It means you want to be bound to the ways of Christ Jesus. You want to follow all of His ways.

You can now know what it is in store to know Him more. Your master is God your father because now You know that thee is a will. It is like a new you!

Check this out. Some Scripture:

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. ~John 15:15

And your old self was on the cross where Jesus died. It no longer is a “part” of you but you have been completely turned around if you trust in His ways.

Scripture:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” ~Galations 2:20

Isn’t that awesome. How marvelous it is to know this Jesus.

Do you want to pray to follow Him? Let’s see what your identity is in Him today!

Father:

I pray for the people who may be following a certain path. I know all about paths. Mine led to endless destruction. God I don’t want anything like that to happen to whoever might be reading this today (or tonight later) and I pray You reveal Your will for this person after they pray this.

Father God… I realize no matter how hard I try I cannot be good like You. I realize that any and all bad was paid for at the cross. IT was so much stuff and I know now You paid for it by the giving of your Son Jesus Christ. May I follow You with my whole heart and seek a place that speaks the truth that will help guide me Your way. I know that He died for my old self. Let me know more and more my new identity which is in You. I hope that in life I will be able to experience that here. . . Thank you for the wonderful privilege of prayer.

My hope now is that you see every day who you are in Christ. Did you know He sees You as forgiven? He sees one without sin! Wow. Now what a new identity. Praise God if you prayed but be encouraged and know how awesome living for God can really be. That is part of my prayer for you!

Devotions Psalms 23

The famous Shepherd Psalm. What is so beautiful about this passage, the entirety of the chapter is it not only paints a beautiful picture of calmness and serenity in the peace of God but that it is written during times of trouble.

The writer David was being pursued to being murdered by King Saul. But in all of this he was at peace in knowing that his heart was with the Lord no matter what.

To live wholeheartedly for Christ isn’t just practice per se it’s actually not even “practice” in a way at all. It’s giving up on what we expect and putting complete and total faith in Jesus Christ. Trust and to remember He is good no matter what should happen even if it might end up tragic.

Let’s break it down verse by verse!

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. What could this mean??

It means to desire the world or at least desire things in the world at all times. We should even if we may or may not be believers not be enslaved to either our old selves and only want old sins or to live not in Christ but have a heart that reflects a person that is in the world.

We shall not want. We should desire at least wanting to live for the Lord.

He (has) me lie down in green pastures. Doesn’t that sound peaceful? It sounds like the pastures are almost like a calm bed to lie in after a day’s work and the lying down makes one feel so good. Like a bed of relief! Or a place of peace.

…”Leads me beside still waters.” In the original version of my text it says “the” still waters.

In case all of this imagery is making one wonder David was a shepherd. He here is talking about being like a sheep and all of these things being as if he is being guided by a “Shepherd’ only this Shepherd being described is God.

So much being described is what a shepherd does for not only the flock but the care towards each individual sheep of that flock.

Could these still waters mean that the great Shepherd is guiding people towards a peaceful place. A place to be restored by the water. The water that is needed for living life? Here it could be that not only is it good for physical restoration but spiritual.

“…restores my soul; (and) leads me in the paths of righteousness

What is your belief in that? Can God actually take a person who merely believes with all their heart and lead them in righteousness. It can only be by one way!

“…for His name’s sake. Wow this feel’s prophetic in a way! I don’t think I rarely ever hear a book of the Old Testament say that God has a name. That is astounding! But David probably didn’t know that that name was (Jesus. The good shepherd).

David was talking also about how He is restored in Him. But we could say we can apply this to now. Living for goodness that is God through the Lord.

Truly, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” Whoa, is this about hardships or is this just some imagery? “I won’t fear evil for You’re with me.”

Was David facing possible death from King Saul’s hands? Then why was he at such peace in the midst of all those circumstances?

I used to be afraid of many things. I didn’t know how to deal with them until I started to be a stronger person in faith. This was not really because of any specific ritual or thinking patterns… I started to pray to the Lord and then scares about things as seemingly little as very stormy weather had me over time experience the peace and living while keeping my soul focus off those storms and praying that He would keep me safe. That is kind of like Peter from the bible only he took his eyes off of someone to trust and then sunk like a stone in the water because of the stormy terrors around him.

Are you afraid of the circumstances going on around in this world? Pray. Maybe God will open something for you in your life.

Justice and Mercy- 5/15/16

Am doing fairly well. Got a big dose of God’s leading and now there is the trust and giving to Him! 🙂

One of my favorite songs by Brian Wilson is “Love and Mercy.” It tells of how violence is in our culture, there is scary things going on in the news, and also people are isolating themselves and feeling alone.

It moves my heart to hear a song like this: to have love and even compassion. To reflect that kind of attitude and it happens to be from a great musical artist.

While I am not going to praise Brian I am only reflecting the fact that it is true that we sometimes we see awful things going on: there is homelessness, losing of jobs, violence, and even people who hurt. There are many in fact, all of us that yearn for something more in their lives.

Is how we feel towards them reflective of our hearts? How about if we yearn to live for God?

I got a dose of changing attitude this morning. At times I have felt like doing things for the Lord is like being holy or doing it for some kind of approval from God. Or something like that–

Sometimes I don’t know what I feel like, haha!

All I know is that to serve God with love and compassion toward others is done to only glorify God.

We as believers serve a righteous God but that does not make us righteous!

We as lovers in Christ only show love in Him because our sin was paid for by His blood.

We should only reflect His love but also show justice and mercy. I had wondered what that phrase meant too. Going home today I looked it up.

Justice and mercy. In Psalms 89:14, it says “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Christ’s throne.”

“…Lovingkindness and truth go before Him.” (found this online by looking up the phrase “justice and mercy” from Bible) This is all in God’s Word, the Holy Bible Amen.

The church is not too late in telling others about God’s love and truth. To share of His love should not come with the wrong heart or attitude but in knowing the ultimate love of what Christ has done, has revived and changed your personal life, and you want to share of His love and mercy.

What justice He has shown us! We were sinners and Christ sent us His Son so that we would come to the truth that eternal life is found in Him and to live and trust in Him, keep us going in the way we can live.

Sure we will still fall down but God has endless mercy through His Son.

There are times where I’ve fallen apart and felt hopeless. There were times where I thought I didn’t want to be on this earth.

I’ve even (ashamedly) doubted God’s existence before… but I know now that my redeemer lives!

Through His just love we can turn from ways we have thought were the way or habits that were not right and in His strength we can come into place, emotionally but be restored spiritually by His love and tender mercy. We might become hopeless or that we have no reason in life, or are unsure of God.

I thought that way because that was a part of my sin nature. But I am heartbroken that there are people who think that everyday and don’t yet know God.

There is love and mercy to you and your friends you know today! There is seemingly endless joy you can experience here on earth and it is not found in the world but in Jesus Christ. Is that comforting? Amen!

God made right our relationship with Him by giving His Son Jesus for our penalty. He died and rose again bodily and lives today!

None of us deserve His love because none of us are righteous and have been tainted by our sin. But Jesus made a way so that we could find that place one day in Heaven and it is only in believing and trusting in what He did for You (and your friends).

It is so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him as His word. Follow Him. Simple loving words. God blesses any moment you spend with Him (reading the bible for even five to ten minutes, just an example) because He loves you. How comforting is that?

We deserved swift justice but God made a way so we can live for Him.

How righteous and amazing He is! Love and mercy to all who will hear Amen.