Devotional for Friday July 11th

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “…casting all your care on Him, because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Our problems can draw us closer to God.”

 

It can be tempting to think that our problems and difficulties make it harder to do the things necessary to take proper care of our soul. A busy schedule, relationship problems, financial difficulties, failing health, can all become major distractions that keep us from spending time with God.

 

Or not.

 

Looked at from another perspective, those can be the very things that draw us to God. In fact, I believe that God sometimes allows difficulties into our lives precisely for the purpose of drawing us to Himself. Those things often cause us to recognize our need for Him and they end up being the very things that bring us to our knees. As Peter expressed in the passage above, God calls us to cast all of our cares upon Him. He wants us to do it.

 

Also, there’s absolutely no reason for us to wonder whether or not God is willing to help us, He is. Here’s how Paul explained it in Romans 8:31-32, “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare His own Son but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything?” (HCSB)

 

When it comes to making the time and doing the things necessary to take care of the soul, many times it turns out to be the problems and difficulties of life that become the catalyst which propels us into the arms of God. Make no mistake about it, God cares for you, He is willing and even eager to help you deal with the issues of life, and He even calls you to cast all your cares and worries upon Him. If the problems you are currently dealing with, and which you wish were not in your life, end up being the very thing that drives you into the arms of God, then you will end up with a stronger and healthier soul as a result.   

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Devotional for Thursday July 10th

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “Your thoughts impact the health of your soul”

 

Probably one of the most important steps we can take to improve the health of our soul is to change what we allow into our mind. The influences we allow into our mind determine what we think about, and what we think about determines what we say and what we do. The fastest way to bring about any kind of change in our lives is to refocus our minds. This is what Paul was writing about in Romans 12:2. When our mind is renewed and refashioned with new patterns of thinking, it transforms us.

 

To renew your mind you have to stop allowing negative influences in, you have to let go of old thought patterns, and you have to dispense of the old images of yourself that you have been living with and which have been holding you back. You fill your mind instead with wholesome Godly influences such as Paul writes about in Philippians 4:8. You also refuse to indulge in negative and destructive patterns of brooding. And you ask God to give you an image of the man or woman He wants you to be. It is a well-proven fact of human nature that our mind moves us in the direction of whatever we allow it to focus on. Hold an image in your mind of the man or woman you want to be, dwell on that, and the mind will naturally move you in that direction.

 

In his book “The Daniel Plan” Pastor Rick Warren recommends a book entitled “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life” by Dr. Daniel Amen. I have not personally read that book but it sounds interesting and helpful – Pastor Warren certainly seems to think it is. If thought patterns, negative influences, and destructive self-images are holding you back from becoming the man or woman you would like to be, then you might want to check out Dr. Amen’s book.

 

Soul-care brings change at the deepest level of our being. That then affects every other part of who we are. Changing your thinking by the renewing of your mind might turn out to be the most transformative thing you have ever done.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Wednesday July 9th

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

 

Our thought for today: “A healthy soul is in tune with God.”

 

Author Lance Witt writes about the psychological phenomenon that happens with young babies which psychologists refer to as “attunement”. “Attunement” is the exact moment when an infant makes eye contact with the face they’ve been seeing above the crib, and realizes for the first time that there is an emotional connection between them and that face. As the baby looks into the other set of eyes and the emotional attachment between them is established, a relationship begins to develop and grow. Smiles and giggles aren’t far behind. The baby and the face are “in tune” – they are “attuned” to each other.

 

Something similar happens between Christians and God. As we take care of our soul through the steps of spiritual formation, there often comes a moment of attunement between us and God. Spiritually, God is looking into our eyes and we are looking into His and something clicks. From that moment on the relationship grows in a completely different and much more personal way. We are in tune with each other.

 

In Numbers 6:24-26 God instructed the priests to bless the people by praying for them that God would turn His face upon them, that His face would shine upon them, and that they would experience His grace in a deep and personal way. To turn your face upon someone is to give them your complete, undivided, full attention. It is to look deeply into their eyes and connect on the soul level. That’s the kind of intimate interaction God wants with us and that is what soul-care helps to achieve. It is “attunement” with God.  Spend some time today getting in tune with God.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Tuesday July 8th

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “While He was in Bethany at the house of Simon who had a serious skin disease, as He was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of pure and expensive fragrant oil of nard. She broke the jar and poured it on His head.” Mark 14:3 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “A healthy soul is extravagant for Jesus”

 

I love this scene in Mark 14:3-9. A woman brings a container of the most expensive fragrant oil available in her day and she uses all of it at once to anoint Jesus. It was a lavish and extraordinary display of devotion. In all likelihood this was a poor young woman, the expensive nard was probably part of her dowry, and in a single shot she voluntarily uses it all to bless the Lord. We know this was a tremendous expenditure of wealth because of the reaction we see from the disciples in the following verses. They were indignant at what they considered to be an incredible waste of resources on something that wasn’t useful or practical.

 

But Jesus didn’t see it that way at all. Instead He rebuked the disciples for their small-mindedness and for their tightwad hearts; and He commended the woman for her beautiful act of devotion. Jesus was deeply pleased with what she did, to the point that He said it would be recorded and celebrated by people in all generations to come.

 

This was an act of submission and surrender on her part. It was a vivid demonstration of where her heart was really at. This thing that seemed important and valuable by worldly standards was immaterial to her. Blessing the heart of Jesus, bringing a smile to His face, and receiving His approval – that was what mattered to her.

 

A healthy soul will be eagerly extravagant for Jesus. A healthy soul will pour out its very best, in full measure, and without hesitation or worry, for Jesus. Maybe that will involve bringing some worldly treasure and offering it for His use as this woman did, or it could involve any of a number of other things such as an act of mercy and compassion to a person in need, or a renewed commitment to ministry, or kneeling at the altar and rededicating your life. 

 

When the soul is healthy the focus is on pleasing the Lord; earthly treasures and earthly pleasures pale by comparison.  I encourage all of us to consider if we’re really giving our best, and in full measure, to the Lord.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Monday July 7th

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Here I am today, 85 years old. I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then.” Joshua 14:10-11 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “What kind of old person do you want to be?”

 

It’s a good question, really – “What kind of old person do you want to be?” Although unfortunately not everyone has the privilege of growing old because some people die young, statistically most of us will grow old. So, what kind of old person do you want to be?

 

I know what kind I do not want to be – I don’t want to be a grumpy old man. I don’t want to be the guy who is sour and petulant, always complaining about the younger generation and constantly going on and on about his health problems, and what medicines he’s on, and how much his gout is bothering him today, and so on. I don’t want to be Mr. Wilson from the Dennis the Menace comic strip.

 

I want to be like Dallas Willard who, the older he got the more peaceful, joyful, and serene he became. I want to be like Dick DeGrow, a retired pastor who at 75 years old joyfully cleaned the restrooms at church every week simply because he loved being useful in the house of the Lord. I want to be like former President George H.W. Bush, 90 years old and still jumping out of airplanes. And I want to be like Caleb (see Joshua 14:10-11 above), 85 years old and still ready to storm the gates of hell with a water pistol.

 

But here’s the thing – none of those men woke up on the morning of their 75th birthday to discover they had suddenly, magically, become the men they now were in their old age. No, they became those men slowly, progressively, over the course of many years. Here’s an important truth to consider and embrace – “In order to be the person you want to be then, you must be in the process of becoming that person now.” Think about that: “In order to be the person you want to be then, you must be in the process of becoming that person now.”

 

This is the business of spiritual formation. This is what soul-care is all about. It’s about the process of slowly but progressively – over decades of transformation, becoming the man or woman God wants you to be. Ideally, after walking closely with Jesus for decades, and by paying careful attention to the health of your soul, you should be at your very best spiritually in your twilight years. The twilight years should be the highlight years. Physically you might be in decline but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually you should be a champion prize fighter. But that will only be true if the growth and transformation is taking place now.

 

It really is true that in order to be the person you want to be then, you must be in the process of becoming that person now. That happens when you do the things necessary, on a daily basis, to take care of your soul.  What kind of old person will you be?

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Saturday and Sunday July 5-6

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Work may be done for six days, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, dedicated to the Lord.” Exodus 31:15 (HCSB)

 

Our thought for today: “The soul needs the Sabbath”

 

This year the fourth of July fell on a Friday and therefore many people get to enjoy an extended weekend. That’s good because most of us can use the rest. Just start thinking about a three day weekend and you can feel the stress and strain begin to melt away – just the thought of it causes your body to begin to relax. Why is that? Because we need regular extended down times just to rest and relax. Our body needs it and our soul needs it too.

 

This was one of the two reasons God established the requirement of Sabbath. First, it’s a day when His people are to gather together for worship and to focus especially and specifically on Him. But it’s also intended to be a day of rest. It’s a day when our labor is to stop, we are to put all the busyness on hold, and we are to be intentional about resting in the Lord – physically resting but also spiritually resting. This is a time for renewal and refreshing.

 

When we observe a weekly Sabbath it helps to establish a healthy rhythm to life. It causes us to be intentional about unplugging from life and allowing the body and soul to rest. And as the term “rhythm” implies, once we have it down to a regular and consistent habit, it becomes part of the natural flow of our life. This is when we’re at our best. We humans are creatures of habit. We’re at our best when we’re in the groove and we’ve become conditioned to smooth and regular cycles in life. Faithfully observing the Sabbath keeps us in that groove; it establishes that smooth and healthy rhythm.

 

And once we have that healthy rhythm of life in place on a weekly scale, we can shrink the pattern down to fit our daily routine. As part of our daily rhythm of life we also need a regular time of rest and renewal. We often call this “quiet time” but it is in effect a daily Sabbath.

 

The soul needs Sabbath, weekly and daily. I encourage you to observe yours this week, and then every day.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Friday July 4th

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

Our Bible verse for today: “Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.” Psalm 61:1-3 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “God calls us to higher ground”

Have you ever stood at the bottom of a high mountain and contemplated what it must be like up on the peak? You imagine that it would be a great adventure to get there and that the view at the top would be spectacular, but you also imagine that the space at the top would be small and limited, so-much-so that you might even be in danger of falling off. But then once you make it to the top you’re surprised to discover that what appeared to be a tiny peak from the bottom, actually turned out to be a wide plateau at the top and that if you wanted to you could actually have spread out, set up a tent, and safely camped out.

Higher spiritual ground is like that too. When the Lord is calling us to join Him at a higher spiritual place it can seem like a great adventure, and we can anticipate the prospect of a spiritual mountaintop experience, but we also often envision it as being constricted and limited. Surely the spiritual discipline required to get to that height with the Lord is not something we can or would want to try to maintain. We’re not cloistered monks after all.

But lo and behold, once we get there we discover that just like the physical mountaintop I described earlier, this new and higher spiritual ground also turns out to be a vast plateau where we can easily and comfortably spread out and live a full life with the Lord. The difference is that we are now at a new and better place with the Lord. This higher ground with the Lord is a better and safer place to live than where we were before. The predators that live and thrive in the lower lying regions of life aren’t such a threat in this new higher place. Oh, sometimes they may still manage to make it there where we are, but they’re out of their element and we are in a stronger place of refuge with the Lord.

Spiritual formation, and the associated soul-care, helps to bring us to new higher ground with the Lord and when we get there, we discover it’s a much better, and a much safer place to live. I encourage you to move up to higher ground with the Lord today.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Thursday July 3rd

Good Morning Everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

Our Bible verse for today: “God has made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.” Ecclesiastes 7:29 TEV

Our thought for today: “We need a simpler lifestyle”

One of the books I was reading while on vacation was called “Replenish” by Lance Witt. The subtitle is “Leading from a Healthy Soul”. It was written primarily for pastors but the lessons apply to all of us. In one chapter Lance told a story that I and every other pastor can immediately identify with. It was about the phone call that comes at 3:00 AM regarding an emergency someone is going through. Lance told the story on himself but I’ve been guilty of this identical thing. The caller begins with “Pastor, I’m sorry to wake you but …” And I interrupted with, “That’s ok, I wasn’t sleeping”.

That, of course, was a lie. I was sleeping. I was sound asleep and I was enjoying it. So why did I say I wasn’t? Let me be clear that I did not intentionally lie to the person. The words were out of my mouth before I even realized I was saying them. However after thinking about it I realized I made that statement for two reasons. One was that I didn’t want the person to feel bad about waking me up, so I told them I wasn’t asleep anyway. But the second reason was I realized that I kind of liked projecting the image that I’m Super Pastor, I don’t sleep. Even at 3:00 AM I’m awake and I’m praying for you.

Many of us, me included, wear our busyness like a badge of honor. We think it makes us look important. People need us, we have responsibilities, things won’t get done (or get done right) without my involvement. However by living like that, over time we develop a hurried spirit. Even in those rare moments when the body is still, the mind is racing and the soul is unsettled. This is toxic. It damages the soul.

Lance tells the story of how when white men first started to come to Africa the Swahili invented a unique term to describe them – “mazungu”, or “one who spins around.” Many of you reading this, and the one writing it, could fairly be called “mazungus” – we spend much of our time spinning like tops.

In the NIV Psalm 46:10 only contains eight words, twenty four letters, but it is profoundly convicting, “BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.”

Quiet time with the Lord helps to remind us that we don’t have to be productive all the time, we don’t have to always be doing things. In truth, we would actually end up being more productive and more effective if we would just spend a little more time doing nothing except sitting quietly with the Lord. We would then be refreshed and refocused and reenergized.

God has made us plain and simple, and that’s the way He wants us. We’re the ones who have made ourselves so darn complicated.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Devotional for Wednesday July 2nd

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.” Revelation 2:4 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “Our soul must return to it’s first love.”

 

Do you remember what it was like shortly after you placed your faith in Jesus? Do you remember how enthused you were, how eager to learn and grow in the Lord? I do. I felt like I had wasted the first thirty-five years of my life and I wanted to make up for all that I had missed. So I read the Bible cover-to-cover twice in my first year as a Christian; I memorized Scripture; I listened only to Christian music; I was in church virtually any time the doors were open. And I’ll bet your post-conversion story is similar.

 

It’s a common story, this passionate pursuit of God shortly after conversion. Our soul is thirsty for God and our growth comes in leaps and bounds. Unfortunately somewhere along the journey many people begin to lose touch with what’s going on inside them. The practice of the Christian faith becomes routine and even dull, our passion for the Lord ebbs, and in time we become lukewarm spiritually. And we know how Jesus feels about that. In Revelation 3:14-16 He says lukewarm spirituality is repulsive to Him to the point that He wants to spit it out of His mouth. 

 

Being mindful of the condition of our soul, and intentionally engaging in soul-care, is essential. Our world is filled with pressures and demands which draw our attention away from the interior life. We are surrounded by seductive distractions which combine to desensitize us spiritually. Further, we’re fooled into believing that a little outward religious activity, such as being relatively faithful to attending a one hour service on Sunday, will suffice in keeping the soul healthy. It just isn’t so. Spiritual health is an inside-out job. It doesn’t happen as a result in engaging in a little outward religious ritual. It occurs only when we intentionally invest the time to be with God in solitude so He can change us on the inside. It will then manifest itself in outward things like corporate worship and acts of service, but it starts on the inside and works its way out.

 

But here’s the thing: Once we begin experiencing God like that – really experiencing Him – we discover the joy and enthusiasm is returning. That love and passion for the Lord that we had at first – that first love – begins to come back. In that respect our relationship with God is no different than our relationship with any other person. The more you love them, the more time you will want to spend with them. And the more time you spend with them, the more you will learn to love them.

 

Many of us have lost our first love for the Lord. Oh, the love is still there, sort of. But not like it used to be. We need to return to our first love and we do that by simply spending time with Him.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim
 

Devotional for Tuesday July 1st

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.” Psalm 23:1-3 (NIV)

 

Our thought for today: “The soul needs times of renewal”

 

As I write this I’m nearing the end of a short time of vacation. The year that just passed was unusual in the amount of stress and pressure and difficult problems it included. Also, the sheer pace of life and the amount of daily busyness was intense. And so I was physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually running on fumes. It was time to shut down for a while. My soul needed rest.

 

But I know my life is really no different from yours. Many of you live at an even faster pace and your pressures are greater. You need soul-care just as much as I do, even if that doesn’t involve an actual vacation at the moment. That’s why I’ve decided to continue our study of taking care of the soul for an additional month. Writing the devotionals on this topic has been helpful and therapeutic for me personally, and many of you have said they have been helpful for you as well. That’s also why I’ve used this passage from Psalm 23 again – because it so beautifully describes what the Lord calls us to, and what He does for us. He calls us to stop with Him, to rest, and to be restored.

 

We live in a world today that presents special challenges to those of us committed to taking care of our souls. The pace of life, the constant pressures and demands, the noise and distractions, can all have a detrimental effect on the interior landscape of the soul. We have to be careful. We have to be intentional. We have to guard our soul.

 

This is not just true for pastors. Yes, a healthy church will need to have a healthy pastor. But a healthy church must also have healthy church members. Those who study church life in the USA are becoming increasingly aware of the truth that the central and most important issue for a church is not growth but health. While it’s true that numerical growth will often be an outgrowth of spiritual health, it’s truer still that having a small number of spiritually healthy people is more important and more meaningful than a large number of spiritually sick people. A large church full of spiritually sick people is just that – a large church full of spiritually sick people. Health is what matters most.

 

The soul needs times of renewal. And so together we’ll spend an additional month devotionally exploring ways to help us all achieve a healthy and well cared for soul.

 

God Bless,
Pastor Jim