Looking for an earlier Watchword?
- Where Are You Being Led? - Where Are You Being Led? “Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led.” I was thinking about that statement, trying to understand it, but another thought stuck its sharp elbows into the discussion – My will. How often do we resolved to follow our Lord without question, only to be side-tracked by our own desires, wishes and plans? Tell me, how willing are we to take the idol that we worship to the mountain and sacrifice it, send it up in smoke? Maybe it means seriously reordering your priorities; prayerfully considering where the Lord is leading you, and letting Him determine what is important. Continue reading
- Psalm 46 - Psalm 46: Martin Luther had a great saying about Psalm 46 when he was in great distress. He said, “Let us sing the forty-sixth psalm in concert; and then let the devil do his worst.” Look at the passage, Psalm 46, broken into four pieces, and each piece has a familiar ring to it, on its own. We probably have heard homilies or sermons on each one of those parts. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Ding a’ling, heard that before, a call for confidence and security, in the Lord. Here the poet begins with God’s provision. He looked to God for help in difficult times and found it. He will not fear, even as he faced difficulties in his life that seemed overwhelming. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. Now there is a verse that really preaches. Streams of living water making glad, even joyful, all those who worship the one true God. Continue reading
- Self-Confession - Self-Confession: Recently, in the midst of my morning readings and meditation, this thought occurred to me: how do I deepen my knowledge and understanding of Jesus? How do I get to know Him better? As I thought about this, another thought came to mind, maybe I would know Him better by knowing myself better. Maybe I would know Him at a deeper level if I were to understand better my own frailties, my own sinful nature, my own tendency not to follow His word. Continue reading
- Not My Fault! - No My Fault! Don’t let your hearts be troubled. How do I do that, that 'letting my heart be troubled' thing? Or should I say, why do I do that? It’s not always me, it’s all these things that are happening all around me, Lord. It’s these stupid politicians, or the dog, or the kids, or the weather. I can find any number of things that cause my heart to be troubled. I am not to blame. Jesus never wants us to have life without trouble. But He promised that we could have a heart that is not troubled even when trouble enters our lives. So, when he says let not your heart be troubled, he implies that we have control over our reaction to trouble. It’s not trouble that brings us down, it's our reaction to it. Continue reading
- Sign of a Christian - Sign of a Christian: Over the centuries, man has displayed all kinds of symbols to tell the world that they follow Jesus Christ, or simply, that they are Christians. I have a chain around my neck with a cross, as so many people do, and that declares that “I am a Christian!” Do you believe it? You may see cross lapel pins or ear rings. Maybe you will see the sign of a fish on the trunk of a car, another mark of following Christ. In some gatherings of followers, it is the haircut or dress that makes the statement. I guess there is nothing wrong with any of this, if that is your leanings. But, do they really say, “I am a Christian, a follower of Christ”? Is there a true universal mark or sign that tells the world whose you are? Continue reading
- Let Go! - Let Go! Accepting Christ or being born again, by its very nature, requires us to let go of our old self, our old thinking and our own way of living life. Our priorities change, realign with our faith, and we step out as a new person. In essence, we are letting go of the smaller fish, our old life, in order to embrace the bigger fish, a life in Christ. The transition that we have gone through in our commitment to Christ is much easier to describe in words, then it is to live it. Continue reading
- Talking with God - Talking with God: My daughter found this conversation with God by John Roedel and sent it on to me. It is such a good and appropriate message that I wanted to share it with you. Keep in mind, this is You and God having a conversation. A Conversation with God: Me: Hey God. God: Hello...Me: I'm falling apart. Can you put me back together? God: I would rather not.Me: Why? God: Because you aren't a puzzle. [There is more to this worth reading. Just you and God.] Continue reading
- What Is Love? - What Is Love? What is Love? That would seem to be a simple and rather obvious question, but I wonder. Have we redefined love in small and maybe even shabby ways? Seriously, have we thrown that word around for various personal, secular, and somewhat shady motives, maybe to get our way, or to forge a relationship that may or may not follow your heart? “Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.” Then John tells us what real love is: Real love was shown by Jesus when He gave up His life for us, and we ought to do the same for our brothers and sisters. Continue reading
- The Greatest of These Is Love - The Greatest of These Is Love: Wouldn’t you agree that the most common theme throughout the Bible and in all of our Lord’s teachings is love. Love in all its forms, settings, worship, family. Love. A gift, a grace, a blessing, a joy. We love our husband or wife, or that special person in our life. We love our children, and our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren, and our dog and our cat and other pets, and all our family, extended beyond blood. We love sunsets, oceans, reunions, lakes, mountains, and dreams. I love to write, to read, to travel, to love. You, too, have loves of your own. We are created to love, you and me. Continue reading
- Adversity as Grace - Adversity as Grace: I was reading a brief essay recently about the Wright brothers and their journey to conquer human flight. They never had it easy. Countless failures, money woes, being ridiculed by friends and strangers, not to mention serious injuries. Yet the brothers weren't stopped by the trials they faced. Orville Wright was quoted as saying “No bird soars in a calm.” The apostle Peter taught a similar spiritual principle to the persecuted early church. He told them, “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you” (1 Peter 4:12). This wasn't a denial of suffering's pain, because Peter knew that hope in Christ grows our trust in God. It is hard for us to see how a difficult diagnosis, or the loss of a loved one, or an accident that forces a change in the calendar, can be a positive. Continue reading
- What If…? Again - What If…? Again: A recent meditation was built around the rather frivolous idea of What If…, a kind of fantasy which oftentimes provides the basis of story or other forms of narrative. If we incorporate reality into the what if…, it leads us to What’s next…? Think about it, what if dinosaurs returned and they were friendly as golden retrievers and did our bidding? I know that’s a ridiculous assumption but, what if… and what, in your imagination, would follow next? Over these nearly five years of Watchwords, the devotionals were written with careful intent to avoid commenting on politics, in anyway. However, sometimes it is not possible to totally avoid a political slant when the Lord is nudging us in that direction. Think about it. In the book of Micah we read, “What does the Lord require of us? To act justly, Love mercy, and walk humbly with God.” Walk humbly with God?” Continue reading
- What If… - What If… Have you read anything by Charles Martin? Martin is an author of Christian fiction and nonfiction, devotionals and engaging storylines. One of his books that I have truly enjoyed is entitled What If It's True? He makes a persuasive argument that God meant what he said when he said some of the things that may cause us to question. The whole process of writing story is often based on what if… as a device that authors use to put together interesting and creative stories. I believe we have all played a game of what if... Continue reading
- Wisdom and Sense - Wisdom and Sense: Sometimes when we read the Message version of the Bible we hardly recognize the…well, message. Sometimes, however, it speaks to us more clearly than, say, King James, even though it is James! The truth is, it doesn’t matter which version we prefer, it is His Word we are to meditate on each moment of our lives. So, the subject of the passage is wisdom and its related cousin, common sense. Not surprisingly, many sophisticated and intelligent people lack wisdom and common sense. Wisdom and common sense are closely related, wisdom being a gift from God, while common sense is the way we mortals apply God’s gift. Continue reading
- Search Me! - Search Me! That opening verse in Psalm 139, you have examined my heart and know everything about me, is a powerful statement telling us that nothing in our lives is lost on our Lord. Do we believe that, do we trust that? Think about it; the Lord has examined my heart and the creator God knows everything about me. Everything! That should bring us up short. If you've ever read the whole of Psalm 139, I commend it to you. It will open an expanded awareness that God knows everything about me. Regardless of where I am, regardless of how I hide, regardless of how I might avoid being seen or heard or understood, God knows it all. Continue reading
- Do Not Fear - Do Not Fear : In times like these, it is easy to let fear grip our hearts and occupy our minds. What we heard last night in the latest news, garners even more fear, if we let it. You know, much of it is fear of the unknown. That kind of fear fills our mind, too much of the time. We need to remember these important truths: God is with us, God is for us, God is in charge and God loves us. His voice continues to instruct us: do not be afraid. Brothers and sisters, we are not alone. When the storm rages all around us, and darkness seems to close in, he offers us peace and refuge in the midst of it. He promises us hope and strength. Proverbs 3:5 is a true watchword: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Continue reading
- Change of Plans - Change of Plans: The Lord Speaks: Today I want you to take a deep breath and consider a better way. My Word will give you the answers you need. Realize that a spirit of quietness and confidence only comes when you stop and focus on Me. A change of plans or a new normal! Too often that phrase seems to apply to things changing in your life, often from good to bad, like a medical diagnosis or loss of loved one. Or, perhaps the change is from good to better! You know, like marriage or new babies (especially the first one), or a promotion. Sometimes that ‘New Normal’ is a choice, a decision that one makes because of new information provided. Sometimes God speaks to us and it makes a difference. Continue reading
- Relive the Pain? - Relive the Pain: In a younger version of me, I had aspirations of being an actor. In my early years at college I looked forward to rehearsals because they were fun and I learned a lot of things, some of which are not worthy of being detailed here. Rehearsing bad experiences, or rehashing troubles is not helpful, and results in experiencing discomfort and pains many times over. We are meant to go through the pain of trouble only one time, when it actually occurs and there is no point in multiplying our suffering. Our Lord tells us to “come to me” and to relax in his peace. He tells us that it will strengthen us and prepare us for this day, taking away our fear and turning it into confident trust. Continue reading
- Shepherd of My Soul - Shepherd of My Soul: Psalm 23 may be the best known, a passage more people have memorized in the entire Bible. It’s probably a passage that has more power and more content then we know. More sermons preached and more books have been written on this simple prayer of David. Why? I think that is because we can relate to it. We can translate the simple words into meaning for us, we can relate to phrases like ‘quiet waters’ and we know the ‘right path’ the Lord wants us to travel. The darkness of the valley does not cause us to fear because we know the lord there with us, and that gives us peace. Nevertheless, take a deeper dive, one section at a time. Continue reading
- I Do Not Know That Man! - I Do Not Know That Man! Have you ever said that? You know, denying that you know someone. Maybe you made that denial for reasons that later you regretted? How about this, you're asked a certain question and maybe you don't respond directly to it, but you evade it or you duck it, whatever you did you didn't answer it. Maybe the question was, ‘Do you believe in life after death and why’ and you didn’t feel prepared to respond to the 'why' part of that query. I do not know that man, was Peter begging off of the accusation that he was with Jesus. Poor Peter, he was neither prepared, nor equipped under those circumstances to defend the truth that he was a follower of Jesus. He had much to learn and to regret, before he could accept the love of Christ. Continue reading
- Imagine - Imagine: have said many times that a good round of golf, sets me up for disappointment for the next round. That makes sense, doesn’t it. We get our expectations pretty high at times, and that sets us up for a bit of disappointment when those expectations aren’t met. But dreams, and goals, and expectations are good. We draw a lot from the “way it was” when life was good, the kids were great, the sun was shining, God was in His Heaven and all was right with the world. Right? So, there is your touch point, there is that image of what you wish to experience now. Does that set us up for disappointment? Impatient for the “way it was”? Yes, it probably does. Continue reading
