Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Pushing through adversity”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and He with Me.” Revelation 3:20 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Open the door and let Him in.”

 

As I write this I’ve got a song playing in my head. I’d like to say it’s a Christian song but it isn’t. However it does apply nicely to our devotional this morning. The song is by the former Beatle Paul McCartney and the title is “Let him in”. The song is all about someone knocking at the door but nobody is letting him in. So the singer requests that somebody get up, open the door, and let him in.

 

I’ve never particularly liked that song. I really can’t imagine why someone would write a song about getting up and opening a door. The song never even tells us who was knocking and why they wanted to come in.

 

However in Revelation 3:20 we are told who it is that’s knocking on the door of our hearts. It’s Jesus, and He wants to be allowed in. That might sound like a strange request for a believer. After all, you already opened the door of your heart to Him when you prayed to accept Him as Savior and Lord. That is true, and He did come into your heart at that time, but this verse is referring to something different.

 

The meaning of Revelation 3:20 is that Jesus not only wants to be your Savior but He also wants to be your Lord. Not only does He want to be invited in for the moment of salvation, but He wants to be invited into all the moments of your life. That takes a decision on your part to open the door of your heart for each of those individual moments that follow after the moment of salvation for the rest of your life.

 

This doesn’t mean that Jesus ever left your heart once He saved you. He didn’t. Hebrews 13:5 is just one of many verses that assure us Jesus will never leave us. Instead this is a word picture designed to create a metaphor for intentionally inviting Jesus into each and every moment of life. This is what it means for Him to be your Lord as well as your Savior.

 

Inviting Him into every moment of your life becomes especially important when you are struggling to push through adversity. We need Jesus all the time, but especially during the tough times. He is there for you, knocking at the door of your heart, wanting very much to be invited into that situation. But you do have to open the door and invite Him in. Jesus is a gentleman. He is not going to force the door open and He is not going to barge in uninvited.

 

It turns out that Paul McCartney’s song might not be so silly and meaningless after all. Perhaps it does have a Christian application (even if it is unintentional). Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart and wants to be invited into this, and every, situation. So open the door – let Him in.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Pushing through adversity”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Leave it at the cross”

 

At our church we have a large wooden cross erected on the stage. At the foot of that cross is a large pile of rocks – good sized rocks, each weighing a pound or more. Off to the side of the stage is a large plastic tub filled with a supply of those rocks.

 

Each rock represents a burden someone has been carrying. The rock serves as a symbol and is designed to help us avoid a common problem when it comes to dealing with our burdens. We often talk about laying our burdens at the cross, which is a good and proper thing to do. Sometimes we do it in our minds, and sometimes we actually kneel at the altar on a Sunday morning and prayerfully ask the Lord to take our burdens from us. But then we get up and carry the burden back with us rather than leaving it at the cross with Jesus.

 

The purpose of our cross display, with its pile of rocks, is to assist people with truly giving their burdens to Jesus and then leaving them there. When you come to our altar you can select a rock from the tub (the rock symbolizing your burden). Then you can prayerfully lay it at the foot of the cross. The thing is, once you’ve put it there you can’t have it back. You have to leave the rock (and your burden), at the cross.

 

I have an index card in my Bible with a list of the rocks (burdens) I’ve left at the cross. I look at that list everyday just to remind myself that I gave those things to Jesus. I also swiped a rock from the bin and took it home with me. It sits on a bookcase close to my desk where I can see it every day (I tend to need lots of reminders).

 

In 1 Peter 5:6-7 the Apostle urges us to humble ourselves before God (actually kneeling at the cross helps with this). Then he tells us we should cast all our cares and anxieties on Him because He cares for us. The implication is that if we will give the burden to Him He will gladly take it from us. But, you do have to leave it with Him. Don’t make a show of giving it to Him but then continue to carry it yourself.

 

I encourage you to give your burdens to Jesus – cast your cares on Him, because He cares for you.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Pushing through adversity”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name.”

 

Our thought for today: “Count your blessings – name them one by one …”

 

I’m currently reading a biography about a man by the name of Noah Galloway. The title is “Living with No Excuses”. It’s a great title because that’s exactly what Noah does – he lives without excuses. It’s a good thing too because if he wanted to, Noah could find lots of reasons to make excuses. Noah is a veteran of the war in Iraq. He lost an arm and a leg to a roadside bomb. So he now faces life as a double amputee.

 

I’m going to tell you more about Noah’s story at another time because it’s a very inspiring story, but one of the things Noah’s story did for me is it caused me to remember how much I have to be thankful for. For one thing, I still have all of my limbs. I have two arms and I have two legs. Granted they’re short legs (I’m only 5’ 10”) but still, even though they’re short, there are two of them. And I have two arms, along with ten fingers. I can see pretty well too because I have both of my eyes and a good pair of glasses. Also, I live in middle-income America rather than in a grass hut in Africa. I have plenty of food too, as well as a dependable car (and a Harley), and I have a good income.

 

I could go on but you get the point. I, like you, have a lot to be thankful for. Unfortunately I tend to take so much for granted! I can’t remember the last time I thanked God that I do have two legs – even if they are short ones. Nor have I thanked Him lately for puppies, or clean sheets, or cornflakes. Life itself is a gift and my sixty-three years of life (so far) are a lot more than many people get.

 

Even on a good day we take many of our blessings for granted, but when we’re going through times of adversity we are especially prone to focus on our few problems rather than on our many blessings. In church we sometimes sing the old Baptist hymn “Count Your Blessings”:

 

“Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God hath done; Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your many blessings see what God hath done.”

 

On this Thanksgiving Day 2017 I encourage you to spend some time counting your blessings. Count the big ones and the small ones. Thank God for your life, and for your family, and for your friends. And then be sure to thank Him for the blessings you might normally take for granted.

 

My family and I wish you and your family a blessed and happy Thanksgiving.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Pushing through adversity”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Do you know what I have done for you? You call Me Teacher and Lord. This is well said, for I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you.” John 13:12-15 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Take your eyes off of yourself.”

 

In yesterday’s devotional we considered the sad example of King Saul. We read of how he was completely self-absorbed, wallowing in self-pity, and he had a victim mentality. Saul’s problem was that he was thinking only of himself, and that made every other problem he had worse.

 

In today’s Bible verse Jesus takes us to the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Here we find Jesus, our Lord and Teacher, modeling a life of service. Rather than being self-absorbed Jesus was always focused on how He could minister to others – and He did it while He had nothing for Himself. He had no home, no income, no money, and He was dogged by His enemies. And yet, He was constantly focused on being a blessing to others. In John 13:15 He made it clear that by doing so He had set an example for us to follow.

 

Psychologists tell us that the unhappiest people in the world are those who are self-absorbed. They’re the ones with the persecution complex and who see themselves as a victim. They’re completely consumed with thoughts about themselves – and that is the exact opposite of what Jesus teaches us to do!

 

Selfishness and self-absorbed thinking is an epidemic in our day. As a result, our society has one of the highest rates of depression in the developed world, with more people on anti-depressant medications than any other country, and one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

 

Conversely, when we do what Jesus taught, when we shift our focus off of ourselves and focus instead on serving others, our level of happiness and contentment skyrockets. Psychologist Paul Kellerman discovered in his own research, “The only path to genuine happiness and fulfillment is through service to others. It is only as we give ourselves away that we can fully discover ourselves.”

 

Taking yesterday’s devotional and today’s together, we learn that one of the best ways to deal with a period of adversity and difficulty in our own lives is to take our eyes off of ourselves and our own problems, and focus instead on serving and blessing others. Do that and you will quickly discover that you’re much happier, and your own problems seem smaller than they did when you were focused on yourself and wallowing in self-pity.  So take your eyes off of yourself and focus instead on serving and blessing others. You’ll be much happier once you do.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Pushing through adversity”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “That’s why you have all conspired against me … none of you cares about me …” 1 Samuel 22:8 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Don’t play the victim.”

 

King Saul had become a pathetic figure. Once he had been God’s chosen leader of the people of Israel. Once he had been a strong and noble king. Once he had been looked up to by all the people. But not anymore. Over time Saul’s thinking had become distorted. He had allowed a sense of entitlement, along with jealousy and insecurity, to dominate his thinking. Soon that morphed into a persecution complex. He began thinking that people were plotting against him and treating him unfairly. He even became suspicious of his most loyal soldier – David.

 

Thinking like that is always poisonous … and so it was with Saul. He ended up becoming emotionally and spiritually unhinged. He spent long periods wallowing in self-pity and he developed a terrible victim mentality. With that distorted thinking Saul ended up bringing most of his problems upon himself. He himself became the root cause of all the things he was blaming on everyone else. And, that was his undoing. From that point forward everything fell apart for Saul and his story had a very sad ending.

 

I’ve mentioned several times this month how it is that we all admire and respect those who handle difficult circumstances with dignity and grace. Conversely, nobody admires (or even really feels sorry for) the one who wallows in self-pity and blames everything on other people.

 

One of the worst things we can do when we’re facing adverse and difficult circumstances is to give in to self-pity and to begin thinking of ourselves as a victim. That’s a downward spiral that never ends well. The truth is that you are responsible for your own life. You are where you are because of the decisions you have made. And while it’s true that you can’t always control your circumstances, you can always control how you react to your circumstances. You can choose dignity and grace over self-pity and victimization.

 

King Saul did not do that. He did not behave with dignity and grace. Consequently he ended up being a pathetic figure who nobody respected.

 

Self-pity and a victim mentality are from Satan. God gives to His people the ability to face adversity with strength and courage, with dignity and grace. If you’re dealing with a tough situation today don’t play the victim. Don’t feel sorry for yourself and don’t blame others. Bring the situation to God, lay it at His feet, and ask Him to help you handle it in a way that honors Him and which will inspire others.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

 

 

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Pushing through adversity”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Do not fear, because God is with you.”

 

Joshua had plenty he could have been fearful of. For one thing, he had just been thrust into the most important leadership position that existed in the world in his day – leading the people of God into the Promised Land. And, he was stepping into the shoes of the great Moses. Also, his first task was to lead the people into battle against huge armies with fortified cities, and they were enemies known for their ferocity.

 

Fortunately Joshua had a rock-solid faith in God and he knew without a doubt that God was directing him to do this thing. Now, here he was receiving a personal assurance from God that he had nothing to fear and that God Himself would be with him wherever he went.

 

Several times already in this month of devotional messages on the theme of pushing through adversity we have thought about how it is that we need to just lean into the adversity, push through it, and trust God to go with us as He gets us through it. This promise that God gave to Joshua in Joshua 1:9 is equally true for you and should be just as helpful for you as it was for him. Don’t fear, because God is with you – He will be with you wherever you go. Your job in this is to keep moving forward and to keep trusting God.

 

As we discussed in a previous devotional, and as Proverbs 3:5-6 teaches, to the best of your ability put aside your own preferences and desires, seek only God’s will, and then commit to be obedient to His will. As long as your heart is right you can trust Him to lead you.

 

And here’s the really good news, “God’s way is always the right way.” Whatever it is He leads you to do will always be the best. Psalm 97:2 reminds us that righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne. What that means is that by His divine nature God could never seek anything other than what is right and good. That means that if His will is being lived out in your life then the decisions and actions He leads you to will also be in alignment with His good and perfect plan. They will be right and just and good.

 

So don’t fear and don’t doubt. Do your best to seek only His will, and then trust Him to lead you through this.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Pushing through adversity”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Lord, if it’s You,” Peter answered Him, “command me to come to You on the water.” “Come!” He said. And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out His hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:28-31 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Keep your eyes on Jesus”

 

You really do have to give Peter a lot of credit. I mean after all, he got out of the boat and trusted Jesus to enable him to actually walk on water. Think about that, he got out of the boat and expected to be able to walk on the water! Who does that? It’s impossible. Water is not solid and a man cannot walk on it. It would be nothing less than a miracle.

 

And yet, because Jesus said so, Peter stepped over the side of the boat, placed his feet on the water, and started to walk. What an amazing demonstration of faith. And, he did it! He walked on the water. Verse 29 makes it clear that the water did hold him up and he was walking on it towards Jesus. It was a miracle in the making.

 

But then he took his eyes off of Jesus. Instead of staying focused on Jesus and simply continuing to move forward towards Him, Peter shifted his gaze to the wind and the waves. When he did that he noticed the size of the waves and the strength of the wind, and suddenly he was afraid. And then … and then … he started to sink. When he focused on his circumstances rather than on his Lord it all fell apart and he started to sink.

 

But fortunately Jesus was there to rescue him. As he was sinking Peter cried out to Jesus and Jesus immediately grabbed Peter by the hand and pulled him up. As soon as Peter shifted his gaze back to his Lord and asked for His help he was okay again.

 

There’s an important lesson in that story for us. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Focus on Him and not on your circumstances. This is especially important when the circumstances look a lot like that big storm that was raging all around Peter, the one with the dark clouds, the howling wind, the huge waves, and the pouring rain. Sometimes our circumstances look a lot like that. Keep your eyes on Jesus and trust Him to keep you from sinking.

 

Hebrews 12:1-2 encourages us “… let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith …”

 

I encourage you today to keep your eyes on Jesus and just keep walking forward.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Pushing through adversity”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:5-8 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Just make a decision and get moving.”

 

In James 1:5-8 James described a situation that many Christians suffer from – the inability to make a decision and the inability to stick with it once the decision has been made. He calls such a person “indecisive and unstable”. They spend their life being tossed back and forth like a piece of debris floating on the waves. This is especially true when faced with adversity. The person hems and haws, wrings their hands and moans and groans. If they finally do make a decision, they quickly doubt themselves and they change their mind – usually multiple times. That’s not of God.

 

One of the marks of every great man or woman of God is decisiveness – the ability to make a decision and to stick with it. A truly wise man or woman knows to be patient and to wait on God, but when the time comes to make a decision and to move forward, then the wisdom of Proverbs 3:5-6 comes into play:

 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (NIV)

 

That’s God-inspired decisiveness. You bring your situation to the Lord in prayer, you check Scripture for guidance, you rely on the counsel of other mature Christians, then you make the best decision you can, trusting that God will guide you. Now get moving. Don’t procrastinate any longer. Stop making excuses. And stop changing your mind. This is a God-informed decision you just made. Now trust Him. Don’t doubt and don’t change your mind. If it turns out that God wants you to stop or to change direction He can make that clear to you – and He will. There will be no doubt in your mind that He has stopped you or changed your direction. But short of that clear and undeniable intervention on His part, just keep moving. Stop doubting. Just do it.

 

Prayerfully seeks God’s direction, search the Scriptures, get counsel from mature Christian friends but then, when the time for decision and action has arrived, bring it before the Lord, make the best decision you can make, and get busy moving forward, trusting that God is guiding you.

 

God has more invested in your life than you do, and He wants you to be in the middle of His will even more than you want to be there. But He is not going to dictate every step of life to you word-for-word. The old saying is true “God gave you a mind, and He doesn’t mind if you use it.” So just make a decision, get moving, and trust God.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Pushing through adversity”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless. Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:29-31 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Depend on the Lord to get you through”

 

Those who have walked with the Lord for a long time know from personal experience the truth expressed in Isaiah 40:29-31. When you’re going through a tough time God will lift you up, strengthen you, and even carry you through it if you will just come to Him and ask for His help. I have witnessed it time after time – faithful Christians, faced with seemingly impossible situations, are able to not only endure it, but to push through it with courage and strength, with dignity and grace. They brought it to the Lord and then relied on Him to get them through it.

 

This is so true that it’s often during the most difficult times of life that non-believers will come to faith in Christ. It’s also when straying Christians will commonly come back to Him. Everybody knows that God helps us through such times. So it’s a common scene to see a person who is enduring major struggles to show up at church in search of God. And when they find Him, they discover the truth of Isaiah 40:29-31.

 

It’s unfortunate that people have to get into situations like that before they come searching for God, but that is often what it takes. Sometimes God has to let us get to the lowest point in life so that we will come to Him. I wonder how many of those low points in life could have been avoided if we had just stayed right there with Him to begin with.

 

There’s an old military saying that goes “There are no atheists in foxholes.” That means that when the bullets are flying and your life is on the line your thoughts naturally turn to God for help and protection. Many professions of faith and many promises of a transformed life have been made in foxholes with bullets whizzing overhead. But once the danger has passed, the promises to God are often forgotten – until the next time.

 

This is true in the lives of Christians too. As was already stated, many people come to faith in Christ once they’ve hit the lowest point in life. Many wayward Christians come back to Him when they are faced with trials and struggles. But then when everything is okay again they get lazy and much less committed – until the next time.

 

If you’re going through a tough time in life the smartest thing to do is to bring your situation to God and claim the promise of Isaiah 40:29-31. You can count on Him to lift you up, to strengthen you, and to carry you through it. But once He has done that, don’t wander away from Him! Stay right there in the safety of His embrace, drawing strength from Him and being carried by Him in both the bad times and in the good.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Pushing through adversity”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Consider it great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “There is something to be learned from this.”

 

My first thought when I read the words of James in verse two above is “You have got to be kidding!” I’m supposed to consider it “great joy” when I experience adversity in life? It reminds me of the silly television commercial about goofy people who get weird satisfaction from bad things happening to them. One guy laughs when he bangs his head; another lady guzzles spoiled milk and likes it; another is laughing hysterically because his arm is caught in a vending machine. Considering such things to be “great joy” is dumb!

 

But James was actually teaching an important spiritual truth about how God uses the trials and tribulations of our lives to mold us and shape us into better and stronger people.

 

Michelangelo was one of the greatest painters who ever lived. His most famous work is the murals he painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But in addition to being a great painter, Michelangelo is also known for his beautiful sculptures. He was an expert at working in marble and his most famous statue is of King David. It is so detailed that it is lifelike.

 

As his statue of David was nearing completion, a man was in Michelangelo’s studio watching him as he carefully chipped away pieces of marble. The man was amazed that Michelangelo seemed to intuitively know what marble to remove and what to leave in order to achieve the exact image he was after. When the man asked him how he knew what to chip away and what to leave Michelangelo replied, “I just chip away everything that isn’t David.”

 

That’s the lesson James was teaching. That’s how God uses our times of adversity and trials. He is a sculptor molding us and shaping us into the men and women He wants us to be. As we face the adversities of life God teaches us lessons, makes us stronger, and essentially chips away all that is not the “us” (the finished product) that He has in mind.

 

James’ point was that as you push through your adversity you are learning and growing and becoming stronger. Through this time of trial God is changing you, growing you, making you better. And for that, you should be glad.

 

We can probably agree that there is little joy to be had from having your arm stuck in the vending machines of life – except that you have now learned not to stick your arm into vending machines! So James would tell you to rejoice and be glad that you’ve just learned an important and helpful lesson!

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim