Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearby; for God said, “The people will change their minds and return to Egypt if they face war.” So he led the people around toward the Red Sea along the road of the wilderness.” Exodus 13:17-18 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The path forward is seldom straight.”

The country music singer Garth Brooks once wrote a song called, “Unanswered Prayers”. It was about a night when he ran into an old high school girlfriend. As they talked, he remembered how he was so in love with this woman and how he used to pray that God would make her his wife. But the romance fizzled, they both moved on, and eventually he met and married the real woman of his dreams.

After that high school romance ended, there must have been some number of years of more failed relationships, aloneness, and periods of wondering why God had not answered those original prayers. But as he looked back on it the man realized that although the path that led him to his wife was long and took many twists and turns, it had been the right path after all and God knew exactly what he was doing.

In today’s Bible verse we read of how the time when God delivered the nation of Israel from captivity in Egypt. He didn’t lead them straight to the Promised Land by the most direct route. That would have been too easy. And if it was too easy, they wouldn’t learn and grow and become strong. Instead they would be weak.

So God led them out into the wilderness for awhile. It would be during the wilderness years that the people would have to face challenges, deal with struggles, learn to rely on God, and they would become strong and resilient. The easy and direct route was not the best route for them. It usually isn’t the best route for us either, and for the same reasons.

As you seek guidance from God you will naturally be looking for the easiest and most direct route from where you are to where you want to be; in your mind that answer would make the most sense, but you will probably be wrong. Our paths through life are almost never straight. There are always twists and turns. And the problem is, if we’re looking for and expecting God to give us a simple, easy, direct way forward, we will probably dismiss any guidance that doesn’t look like that. We will assume it isn’t from Him because it’s not what we were expecting. But you would then be dismissing the very guidance God is giving you, and potentially missing the good things He wants to lead you to.

Don’t dismiss God’s guidance just because it isn’t a quick and easy solution and therefore not what you were expecting.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

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Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “There is profit in all hard work, but endless talk leads to poverty.” Proverbs 14:23 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Do something.”

Proverbs 14:23 is intended to spur us to action. It’s supposed to inspire us to do something. It establishes a contrast between someone who talks a good game, and someone who just goes out and does the thing.

The most specific and direct application of that Proverb is with respect to working, and the fact that a lazy person talks about work but a diligent person actually does the work. Solomon’s point is that you need to stop talking about work and just go do some work.

But the same lesson can also apply to seeking God’s guidance. Sometimes Christians use the claim of “I’m seeking God’s guidance”, as a reason for not doing anything. We claim, “I don’t want to get ahead of God on this”, and as a result we end up getting far behind God because God has moved on and we’re still sitting there undecided about what to do.

As was noted in yesterday’s devotional, often we’re looking for a grand vision and specific guidance, but God just wants us to get off our duff and do something. He has given us skills and abilities and opportunities. He has given us a mind with which we can think, and evaluate, and decide, and He has outlined for us the Biblical boundaries within which He wants us to stay. Beyond that we just need to use our judgment, make some choices, and get moving.

One of the things I love about President Teddy Roosevelt, and the reason he has become one of my role models in life, is because he was a doer of deeds. He got stuff done. He wasn’t tentative and indecisive. He considered, he evaluated, he made a decision, and he moved. He once wrote, “I have always had a horror of words that are not translated into deeds, of speech that does not result in action.”

Of course you should seek God’s guidance. You should pray, search Scripture, consider circumstances, discuss it with friends, and give God some time to speak to you if He wants to. Just don’t get stuck there. Don’t use, “I’m waiting for God’s guidance” as an excuse for doing nothing when you should be doing something.

Most of the time God just wants you to make your best decision and get moving. Just do something.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “A wise person has good counselors.”

I was fortunate to come to faith in Christ during the hey-day of the Promise Keepers movement. Right at the time I was beginning my relationship with Jesus, across the nation men were filling huge stadiums for weekend-long crusades. There was lots of great worship music, powerful teaching, and it was all designed to bring men closer to the Lord and closer to each other.

One of the key lessons taught by Promise Keepers was the need for fellowship and accountability. God doesn’t call us to be “Lone Ranger Christians”. None of us are supposed to be a spiritual Rambo, living off the land, “eating things that would make a Billy Goat puke”, and needing help from nobody.

The Christian life is to be lived in close fellowship with other Christians and we are to make ourselves accountable to others. Each of us needs to have a few close Christian friends who are mature in their faith and wise in their ways. These should be people who have our permission to ask hard questions and to speak straight truth to us. A friend who simply tells us what we want to hear is no friend at all. We need people in our lives who will tell us what we need to hear, even if we don’t want to hear it.

For this Father’s Day weekend devotional, I’ve chosen a classic verse of Scripture often used in men’s groups, Proverbs 27:17. It speaks of how one Christian sharpens another by speaking truth and enforcing accountability. This is important. One of the most common ways God guides us is through the wise counsel of Christian friends.

However, when you seek counsel from other Christians make sure they are mature and make sure they are wise. Your counselors should be people you admire and who are living lives that honor Christ. They should be people who know the Bible well, who have a rich prayer life, and who live what they profess to believe. It’s also helpful if they have personal experience with the issue you’re seeking the Lord’s guidance about.

If you’re not in the habit of seeking counsel from other Christians, I can say with certainty you are missing some (or even a lot) of the guidance God is trying to give you. One of God’s favorite ways to guide us is through the wise counsel of other Christians.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “You word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The answer may come one step of obedience at a time.”

I love the word picture the Psalmist paints in Psalm 119:105. There we find a faithful man seeking guidance and following the Lord. His way forward is illuminated one step at a time, and it isn’t until he has taken the next step that he’s able to see the step he is to take after that.

This is a perfect illustration of how God often guides us. Usually we’re looking for big answers to complex problems. We want to know why we are where we are; we want to see a clear path out of our situation; and we want to know how it’s all going to turn out. But seldom does God give us that much illumination all at once. More often the lamp of guidance illuminates only the next step on the path of obedience, and little more. God has probably given you a general sense of the direction He wants you to go, but the specific steps that will get you there only become clear one small step of obedience at a time.

In our Baptist churches we sometimes sing an old hymn titled “Wherever He leads I’ll Go”. The first stanza and chorus go, “Take up thy cross and follow Me”, I heard my Master say; “I gave My life to ransom thee, surrender your all today”. Wherever He leads I’ll go, Wherever He leads I’ll go, I’ll follow my Christ who loves me so, Wherever He leads I’ll go.”

That song highlights the nature of Christian living – it involves one faithful step of obedience at a time. We know the Lord is leading us somewhere good; we may even have a vision of where that destination is; but beyond that we just need to put one step in front of the other and faithfully follow Him.

As you’re seeking guidance today remember that the guidance you receive could very well be nothing more than what you are supposed to do today, rather than next week, next month, or next year. You might not have a full plan to take you all the way to where He’s leading you. But if God shows you something you can do today that will take you one step closer to where you need to be in life, then you have the guidance you need for today.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord is good and does what is right; He shows the proper path to those who go astray.” Psalm 25:8 (NLT)

Our thought for today: “This can be fixed.”

Have you ever made a big mess of things in your life and then found yourself wondering, “How in the world is this ever going to get straightened out?” Sometimes we all do dumb things and we create messy situations in our lives. And the longer we continue down that wrong path the worse things get. God’s way and the wrong way are not parallel paths, they are divergent. The longer you stay on the wrong path the further it takes you from the right path.

The good news is that messy situations can be cleaned up and lives can be transformed. The answer is to get back on the right path. Doing so might take time and effort, but it is possible and God will show you the way.

God wants to be heard and understood by His people so that He can then be obeyed. If you sincerely desire to know His will so you can then obey it, He will guide you and direct you back to where He wants you to be. Earlier this month I suggested some steps you can take, and a prayer you can pray, to help you discern God’s guidance. If you don’t remember what was taught in those devotionals messages, and if you no longer have them to refer back to, let me know and I will be happy to send them to you again.

As Psalm 25:8 says, God shows the proper path to those who have gone astray. In many different ways, through sermons, Bible studies, devotional messages, song lyrics, the counsel of Christian friends, circumstances in your life, and multiple other ways, God will get your attention and He will show you the path back to where you’re supposed to be. You just need to be paying attention to Him, seeking His guidance, and you need to respond in obedience.

And when you do, He will begin to put the pieces of your life back together again. Through the Old Testament prophet Joel God once said, “So I will restore to you the years the swarming locust have eaten.” (Joel 2:25) God spoke those words to the rebellious nation of Judah but they’re true for you too. The devastation brought by the swarming locust that He spoke of represents the destructiveness of sin in our lives. You may not regain everything you’ve lost by going astray, and it might not be possible to repair all of the damage, but God can and will help you to pick up the pieces and begin putting it all back together again. You just need to get back on the right path.

This can be fixed. Whatever “this” is in your life, it can be fixed. You just need to get right with God.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Seeking guidance requires faith.”

Having faith often requires us to believe even when it goes beyond all reason to believe. That was certainly the case with the American Revolution. Yesterday I told you about the strong faith of George Washington and how it was that in faith, he constantly sought God’s guidance. And boy did he need it! The prospect of a puny, untrained, and ill-equipped little band of farmers and laborers being able to defeat the mighty British army was beyond belief. Washington needed faith in the impossible, and he needed God’s guidance every step of the way.

One of the great truths that George Washington clung to, and which helped to carry him through the deepest and darkest days of the Revolutionary War, was a firm belief that God could and would accomplish great things through the strong faith and sacrificial obedience of good people. If the colonists would just have faith in God; if they would sincerely seek His will and then be resolved to sacrificially do their part; God was poised to perform miracles and the results would be amazing. Washington firmly believed this.

And the miracle did come. Goliath fell and a great nation was born. Strong faith in the God of the impossible, along with persistent seeking of His will, coupled with a willingness to sacrificially do their part, was what was needed – and God came through.

There’s an obvious lesson in that for us. God can and will accomplish great things through the strong faith and sacrificial obedience of good people. If you sincerely desire to know His will so you can then be obedient to it; and if you patiently and persistently seek the guidance from Him that you need; in His way and in His time He will show you what to do and then He will guide you and carry you through it.

The starting place is faith. If you’re seeking guidance from God, it’s because you obviously believe He will give it to you. Now stick with it. The American Revolution lasted seven long years, and during most of those years the situation looked pretty bleak for the colonists. But they didn’t give up. They trusted God, they walked it out, and because they did, you and I have this great country today. They didn’t give up and neither should you. Keep seeking His guidance until you get it; then trust Him to lead you where He wants you to go.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory because of your faithful love, because of your truth.” Psalm 115:1 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Give the credit to God.

I’ve always considered George Washington to have been one of the greatest leaders of all time. He was a patriot, a brilliant general, a hero of the Revolutionary War, and he was our greatest President. He was a man of high integrity and he was known for his courage, his honesty, and his strength of character. Those who knew him said that he always carried himself with a sense of dignity and he exuded a sense of quiet confidence. I’ve read several biographies about him and currently I’m reading a little book called “George Washington’s Leadership Lessons: What the Father of our Country can teach us about effective leadership and character.”

Another thing I admire about Washington is his strong faith. Despite the fact that modern revisionist historians try to say that Washington was not really a Christian, or at best he was just a deist, it’s simply not true. His speeches, letters, and personal conversations were laced with references to God, and he regularly spoke about the importance of faith. He frequently commented on how much he relied on God’s guidance and provision, and he invariably gave credit to God for his successes. His was an interactive and intimate relationship with the One he called, “The Savior of mankind.”

Another notable aspect of Washington’s character was that he would rarely accept credit or praise for something he had accomplished. He would always respond by giving the credit to God and to others.

Author and historian James Rees, the Executive Director of Mount Vernon, writes about Washington, “Whenever Washington achieved something special, or whenever circumstances conspired in favor of America, he almost always gave credit to God. In doing so, he downplayed his own contributions and enabled the spotlight to shine on the many (and on God). With his typical graciousness, Washington was able to defer the praise that his country and, in fact, the world was more than ready to shower on him.”

Rather than accepting praise for himself, Washington consistently gave the credit to God and to those God had brought around him to assist him in the endeavor. This is instructive for us. As we seek guidance from God for our various endeavors in life, and as we receive that guidance and therefore achieve successes, we need to be careful to give the credit to whom it is due. Remember where your success really comes from, it comes from God. By all means, go ahead and ask Him for guidance, but then give Him the credit when things go well for you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “God’s guidance”

Our Bible verse for today: “Help me understand your instruction, and I will obey it and follow it with all my heart.” Psalm 119:34 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “When God shows you what you to do, you need to act on it.”

One of the most common mistakes people make is failing to act on the guidance God has given them. We seek His guidance, we pray for His leading, but then when He shows us what He wants us to do, we don’t do it.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen this happen with people coming home from a mission trip. I’ve taken hundreds of people on international mission trips over the years, and I love to watch as God uses those experiences to open their eyes to things He had been trying to say to them, or to provide them the direction or guidance they’ve been seeking. Mission trips are often “mountaintop spiritual experiences”. We’re removed from all the hustle and bustle of normal life, God has our full attention, and He is able to speak to us more directly and more clearly than ever before. As a result, mission trips are often eye-opening experiences and people come home with a new vision from God.

Sadly, even though God has spoken to them, and even though they come home all fired-up and enthusiastic, once they’re home they often allow the vision to slide onto the back burner of life. The person quickly sinks back into the ebb and flow of everyday activities and life soon swallows them up again. Since the vision is now on the back burner and not getting much attention, soon the enthusiasm wanes and the vision fades, and it often ends up that they don’t do anything with the guidance God gave them. (My first book “Bringing it Home: A post-trip devotional guide for short-term international and domestic missions” was written to help prevent that very thing from happening”.

That example applies not just to those who have been on mission trips, but to anyone who is seeking God’s guidance about anything. When God speaks to you, you have to immediately do something with it. You have to protect the vision or guidance by nurturing it. Write it down; make a plan for how you’re going to fulfill it; take some initial steps in that direction; and pray about it every day. Keep it fresh in your mind and maintain your enthusiasm for it.

Don’t lose what God has given you!  When God shows you what to do you need to protect it, nurture it, and quickly do something with it.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is: