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- Advent - Advent: ""The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come." -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I believe that Bonhoeffer was an exceptional theologian and Pastor, and a man of great courage and depth. So much of his writings have broadened our understanding of Christianity. But his statement on Advent, well, that requires some honest, self-evaluation. Do you consider yourself poor and imperfect? I do and, may I be so bold as to assume that you do, too? I guess that makes us troubled souls. Continue reading
- If and But - If and But: Oh, those connecting words scattered throughout the scripture. Words that imply optional choice. If you love me... If you want to be perfect… I could not do that on my own, but... No one can heal a leper, but... Our Lord never insists on our obedience. He puts the emphasis very definitely on what we ought to do, but he never forces us to do it. We have a choice, we have to obey him out of a oneness of spirit with him. That's why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship he prefaced it with an ‘if’, meaning you need not do this unless you desire to do so. The power of change that Jesus can make in all of us is remarkable. If we trust Him. Continue reading
- Giving Thanks - The Love of God: Have you thought about this – Thanksgiving is an action, it is giving thanks for all that we received. It is also a testimony to generosity, sharing what we have been graced with to those who have less than we. Today's devotional is a short collection of writings on God's work within us on this a day of gratitude. Continue reading
- Cockeyed with Gratitude - Cockeyed with Gratitude: Have you ever been cockeyed with gratitude? You know, when thankfulness fills your eyes with tears, and your heart is so full that it fair will burst, and all of your words are adjectives of grace and joy. Have you ever been that cockeyed with gratitude? You know in a very real sense, I think that deep feeling of God’s presence produces all of that, so that even the smallest things in your life take on a shine, a glistening polish of newness even though it’s old, as old as you are, yet its new. Continue reading
- Maturity - Maturity: Imagine this: The first-time father stood in the hospital room cradling his newborn daughter for the first time. The feelings that flooded him were overwhelming. Then he looked at the joyful look on his wife's face, and it made him cry with some of his tears dropping on the baby in his arms. He looked down at her. Was she looking at him? Was that a smile? Overwhelming! Continue reading
- Be Still and Know - Be Still and Know: How do you cope with the constant busy-ness that is our world? How do you juggle so many things on your calendar, that it sometimes feels like something has got to change? Think what the psalmist is telling us. “Be still.” Quiet your mind, force yourself to find a corner, somewhere, away from your calendar and the demands of work or home. It is not easy to give in and do things differently, but it is easier than being upset and miserable. The creator of the universe wants a word with you and he can't talk to you if you are always on the go. Continue reading
- Philippians 4:13 - WATCHWORD: I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power. Philippians 4:13 NTL Then Job replied to the Lord: 2 “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my... Continue reading
- Second City? - Second City?: Do we really study the scripture? I'm part of a men's bible study and we dig into books of the Bible chapter by chapter verse by verse but I wonder if we understand fully the context in which God has given us His Word? For example, Isaiah chapter 26 is one of four chapters in the book of Isaiah that center around the Lord's ultimate judgment of wickedness. In Isaiah we see a contrast between two cities. One strong city, the rock eternal and salvation from God, and a second city, humbled, vulnerable, the result of pride graphically depicted along with the consequences that await those who trust in anything other than the living God. I wonder if we're entering into the second city. Continue reading
- An Invisible Presence - An Invisible Presence: In a back issue of The Evangel, a publication of the Association of Lutheran Churches, there is an article by James Hoefer, entitled The Invisible Enemy. We may immediately think of the pandemic and how it upended our lives and created changes in our usually socialized existence. It would be hard to argue about that. In his article, Dr. Hoefer speaks of the power of darkness. He makes this statement: “But a deeper dive into the Biblical portrayal brings some surprises! There we find that everything we see in the visible, physical realm is caused, provoked, or at least influenced by something in the invisible, spiritual realm.” Spirits? Humbug! Everything can be answered with science or our five senses. Everything! Really? How about, who you are? Or, science? Why are you here, reading this? Continue reading
- Truth and Grace - Truth and Grace: Okay, you and a friend are having a conversation about Heaven. Your friend thinks he will be surprised to see who is there. You reply, with a smile, that they may be more surprised to see you. That kind of the conversation is lighthearted and with much good humor. There is a degree of truth in that exchange. In the midst of that conversation someone might wonder, isn’t it strange that God would send people to hell. Oh, I have a couple of candidates to nominate for that trip. The better question might be, how could God send sinful people to Heaven? On matters of truth and grace, it occurs to me that we may not know the full definition of either one of those ideas. Continue reading
- Not as I Would, Lord - Not as I Would, Lord: This is a hard one. First, the Lord tells us that he loves us very much and calls us His children. We would all accept that, because that’s what we are. We are little children. We have our tantrums, we have our disappointments, we fret when things don’t go our way. We’ve all seen that as we’ve raised children, but now here we are one! Then the Lord goes on to tell us that if we love our mommies and our daddies more than Him we are not worthy to be His. Maybe we understand that, to a degree, but, maybe we don’t. Life goes on, and it’s not always fair. Paul, in his letter to the church in Corinth, reminds them, and us, that they we not their own. He tells us plainly but we don’t have a private life. We have to trust Him, for if we don’t, all of those things will become a stumbling block for us. Continue reading
- The Better Way - The Better Way: The writer of Psalm 25 moves between the need for help and thoughts of trust in God. The writer wants to know the right way to go. Who has not been lost or had to make a difficult decision? Or uncertain about which way to turn. We look for someone to help us make a right decision: a family member, a friend, Pastor, or a teacher. On most days our travel is familiar and as we move ahead with our lives, we’re on familiar ground. We stay on the known, the prescribed and paved road. Then there other days, when decisions were called for, where indecision was haunting us like a grey cloud. Walking the familiar trail is one thing, we can continue, but when we come to a path that leads away in a different direction, then what? Continue reading
- A Month of Thanks - A Month of Thanks: I think we underestimate the importance of the ‘thank you’. The acknowledgment of a gift given, assistance provided, support extended, or simply friendship that has no qualifications, it’s just always there, and ‘thank you’ speaks volumes. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to think back on what we have been given … and to give something in return: thanks. Actually, “thanks” seems too small a word. Gratitude may be better. Gratitude is like a personality characteristic, it just shows up nearly all the time in all that we do. Continue reading
- Jesus Touched Him! - Jesus Touched Him: One morning I had just finished reading a devotional, when I found myself thinking about a question or maybe it was the Holy Spirit challenging me. Still a question: Do we shape biblical fact to fit our comfort, or maybe our fictional life? Or, perhaps, we leave it all to the Lord? That question came out of a conversation I had with a friend explaining the storyline of one of my earlier books, A Life for Barabbas, where I used Biblical fact on which to build the fictional story. In Barabbas, a real Biblical character, who had a notorious reputation, deserved or not, was, in effect, saved from crucifixion by Jesus. The Bible does not tell us what happened to this man after he was released from prison, but I tried to imagine what might have happened if, driven by his own inner honesty, sought to find out why he was saved and why had a good man died in his place? Are you following the Lord because you think you're following the Lord, or are you following the Lord because you have given it fully and completely to Him? Continue reading
- Deliberate and Determined - Deliberate and Determined: “Pastor, you're talking about Jesus, right? The ‘He’ you quoted from the Bible, that's Jesus. This is something I simply do not understand. I don't care how many times you preach, it makes no sense. I've not been a good person, and you don’t know the half of it. You once told me about someone who called himself the ‘chief of sinners.’ Well, I can match his record. When I was a kid, I stole from the collection plate. How about that? You should see my record at school, the times that I've cursed my teacher? How could Jesus possibly know all the sins that I have committed, then waste his life in a foolish act of forgiveness? Let alone for me. Because, you know what, I just go on sinning.” “Stan, you're absolutely right. You haven't missed a thing.Let me ask this; what is the difference between sins, and sin? Of course, sins is plural of sin. No, Stan..." Continue reading
- Doing Exceptional Things? - Doing Exceptional Things?:n Discipleship is built entirely on keeping our focus on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ, that's something altogether different. Oswald Chambers tells us “Peter walked on water to go to Jesus, but he followed him at a distance on dry land”, according to Mark 14:54. If we were honest, we don't need the grace of God to withstand our personal crises, our human nature and pride are sufficient to deal with those storms. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live 24 hours of every day as a saint, going through the drudgery of living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple.As we have grown up in the faith, somewhere along the line it became ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God, but the truth is we do not. Continue reading
- KISS: Witness - KISS: Witness: Keep It Simple Saint, you have power! Witness! Read again Acts 1:8. Does that sound like sell all we have, give to the poor, and catch the first boat to a third world country? Is that what the Lord is asking his disciples to do? Is that what we're supposed to do? The rich young ruler went away sad when he was told the same thing. How about you? I don't think that's what Jesus was asking of his disciples at all. I think we need to translate into modern speak. When we are committed to Christ, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. That will change things for us, each moment of every day, Understand that and rely on the Holy Spirit. Keep It Simple Saint, you have power to witness the Lord in your living. The 'sell all' thing has to do with the idols we set up, sometime without our thinking, that distract us from the will of God. Get rid of that stuff. Continue reading
- Come to Me - Come to Me: Remember those Billy Graham Gospel rallies, held in large auditoriums, where he preached a stirring sermon and ended with an invitation to come and receive a blessing of the Lord, and the music begins, and we hear the words that seem to require us to sing along: Just as I am without one plea, O Lamb of God I come. How hard was that for some, stirred by the words of Graham, to stand from their seats and walk down in front of all those people, to stand before the stage. I think about Andrew and his brother Simon and those others, James and John, being invited by Jesus to come follow Him. Jesus was no stranger to them, they knew him well. They had been to his house many times as Jesus began his ministry. But still, when they heard those words to come and follow. They had to know that something different, more inclusive was happening, one that required a life-changing decision before they could truly follow. Continue reading
- KISS: Be Still and Know - KISS: Be Still and Know: Many people consider Psalm 46:10 to mean rest and relax in who God is. Certainly the verse encourages believers to reflect on who God is, but there is more to this Psalm than this one verse. Verse 10 is more like a wake-up call to awesome awareness of who God is, rather than a gentle call to rest. The “more” in Psalm 46 is found in verses 1-5, which set the stage for the power of God: God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. Continue reading
- Stinkin’ Thinkin’ - Stinkin’ Thinkin’: Stinkin’ thinkin’, you know what that is, it's those nasty, negative thoughts that creep into our minds and often rule our mood, and affect the decisions that we make in our life. It seems the world we're living in is all bundled up in false facts, destructive and mean speaking, and false arguments that causes us to doubt our own good sense maybe our own resolve. How much of our lives has been affected by fear and doubt that has affected our decisions, that sought another avenue around a reality that carried risk, a reality we would rather not face. I can’t help but wonder how many big things we missed in our life journey because of negative thinking, corrosive fears that caused us not to reach out, not to visit, to pass by on the other side, and failed to ‘go and do likewise’. Did we miss out on the Call of God? Continue reading
