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- Please Send Anyone Else - Please Send Anyone Else: My Bible study group is studying Exodus and in our last meeting I was asked to read a portion of Chapter 4, including the passage listed above. I have to say that these meditations included in Watchwords are, for the most part, the result of my reading other devotionals, the Bible, inspiration that I get from listening to other pastors. So equipped, I write the Meditation. We all thought it was pretty hilarious when I read oh Lord I’m not very good with words. But there’s another phrase in that passage that struck me -- O Lord, please send anyone else. Have we ever been in that position? I mean you and I are moved to respond to the nudging of your Holy Spirit and you think all kinds of ways to get out of having to act. There is nothing that God is asking us to do that requires perfection. Continue reading
- Speak, Lord, for Your Servant Is Listening - Speak, Lord, for Your Servant is Listening: How does God speak in your life? Have you heard Him in whispers and inspirations that touch you at just the right time, and the right circumstance? Or did His message come to you in the positive test for Covid-19 that required you to step out of your rushing life activities for a time? His meaning? “Take a break.” Does the voice of God sometimes come in conflict with our own wants and desires? Of course. Does it occur to you that the voice of God comes to us in Scriptures, through his son, and regardless of what the message is, every message, without exception, reflects the two Greatest Commandments, to love God and love others. Continue reading
- Put Up Your Dukes - Put Up Your Dukes: We don’t think that being a Christian will mean we will engage in battles, and yet they come our way. The fight may be in our being tempted to sin and, in effect, renounce our faith. The fight might be in the struggle you encounter when asked to donate your hard-earned cash, or time, compassion, love for your “neighbor”, as defined by God. all battles belong to the Lord. It is our job to recognize that our struggles are in the hands of God and live accordingly. With Christ on our side we are free to live like God will deliver us, like he works to protect us from harm. Continue reading
- What’s Next? - What’s Next? What’s next? In the 1999 TV series, West Wing, there are multiple episodes where the President, played by Martin Sheen, after hearing all the discussion on a topic, asks the question, ‘What’s next?’ which signals the end of one topic, now is the time to move on to the next. What’s next? For the apostles, the followers of Jesus, and members of The Way, the temple is behind them. The tongues of fire and the wind is behind. What the Master had promised, the Holy Spirit, was now within them. But, now, there on that street in Jerusalem, or there on your main street, or down the corridor, or around the corner, the question: What’s next? Where does this leave me? What’s next? For you, for me, each of us, we all have a “next”, directed by the Holy Spirit that is speaking to us. Continue reading
- Miracle Grow - Miracle Grow: Plant and flower lovers know all about Miracle Grow for their “babies”. As advertised, Miracle Grow provides essential nutrients and encourages growth and health in plants. Well, we happen to know about another “miracle grow” that touches every aspect of our lives. This miracle grow provides essential ingredients for growth in faith, hope, and love. A Life of Christian growth, based on the Word of God, has two phases that are inseparable: Loving the Lord your God with all your heart, and feed my sheep. Continue reading
- Friendship with Jesus - Friendship with Jesus: We sing, what a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear, what a privilege it is to carry, everything to God in prayer! We sing it, but do we practice it? What stops us? Pastor Allen Jackson has a good take on the love that Jesus has for us, in this recent devotional -- “Peter quotes Isaiah 53:9 to remind us that Jesus, the Messiah, was perfectly sinless. Then he says, He himself bore our sins in his body. … “He himself” is a way of adding emphasis to the person being described. Jesus didn’t ask His closest friends or family to share the burden. Continue reading
- Parable of the Trees - Parable of the Trees: Two farmers went out to plant orchards in adjacent fields, an old farmer and a young farmer. They both set out to plant five fruit bearing trees. The old farmer dug five holes for his trees, placed a sapling in each hole, covered the roots with good soil and tamped it down good, and was done. The young farmer did the same, but also built a little reservoir around each tree, and filled that with water and feed for the tree. Months later the old Farmer’s trees were thriving, with green fruit hanging off the branches. The young farmer’s trees were showing signs of stress, and the fruit sparse, small and disappointing. Like any other parable there is a moral to this. The old farmer’s trees had to send their roots deep to find water and nourishment, and in the process, they strengthened the whole tree, creating a healthy source of fruit. The young farmer had taken the need to strengthen the root system away from the trees by providing everything they needed without having to work for it. Continue reading
- Hypocrisy - Hypocrisy: So, when someone brings up the matter of hypocrisy, our mind wanders to our acquaintances, maybe we look around the congregation, or perhaps we recall an incident where there was tension and conflict and maybe the subject of all that tension was a difference of opinion – they were wrong and you were right. Or were you? We look around and maybe in our prideful mind we conclude that there are so many where that label fits. Yes, we look around, but dare we look in the mirror? I think we’re good at deceiving ourselves, salving our conscience. But we are still stuck with this simple question: “How do my rationalizations square with all of those influences and beliefs that brought us to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior?” Continue reading
- All About Paul - All About Paul: What do we know about the apostle Paul? We know that he was born in Tarsus, which is modern-day turkey. That he was brought by his family to Jerusalem and enrolled him in the rabbinical school. We know he became a Pharisee at an unusually young age, probably 24, and was a rigorous defender of Judaism to the point where he established a reputation for persecuting those who were following the fledgling Christianity. We are most familiar with his travel to Damascus to find Christians there and bring them bound to Jerusalem, when he had an encounter with Jesus the Christ, a year after the crucifixion, which Paul had witnessed. Following this encounter, Paul spent some three years in the Arabian wilderness. Continue reading
- Priorities and Contentment - Priorities and Contentment: Priorities and contentment? Is contentment a priority for us? Or, are our priorities preventing us from experiencing contentment? What is contentment, anyway? Why should we make it a priority in our lives? One definition tells us that contentment is a state of happiness and satisfaction. For some, the accumulation of wealth leads to contentment. In Paul’s letter to Timothy he cites contentment paired with godliness as “great wealth”. Continue reading
- Unanswered Prayers? - Unanswered prayers? Nonsense! Never happen. You must not be paying attention! One of my favorite Country and Western ballads is a song by Garth Brooks, entitled “Unanswered Prayers.” In that story-song we learn that earlier the young man did not get his prayer answered when he asked, but later learns the prayer was answered in far better way than he hoped. For me, that is a picture of us. Can we accept the fact that God answers all prayers in the best way, every time, not just some time. Do we trust that? Does our lack of patience interfere with our faith and belief? The things that Jesus taught about prayer are supernatural truths He reveals to us. Continue reading
- Short, Sweet and True - Short, Sweet and True: Wait, or rely, upon the Lord. Do not rush to your own actions or panic when seasons of life take a turn for the worse. Seek the Lord, and wait on him. He is good and awesome and for us. Those times when things seem to be turning “for the worse” may last a few days, or they may last many years. Whatever hand you are dealt, know that God knows and is prepared for whatever may come. Let Him be your refuge and your rock, for he is ever faithful. Continue reading
- Favorite Passages - Favorite Passages: Favorite Bible passages. Most of us have them. Maybe it was a passage that we memorized when we were a child and it stuck with us, taking on real meaning when we became adults and we drew closer to our Lord. The Proverbs passage was a favorite of Glenn Hawkins, a long-time member of Men in Mission, the men’s Bible Study group at our church. He spoke of how meaningful it was to him at an especially difficult moment in his life. That testimony had an impact on my life and the lives of others. Philippians 4:13 is a passage that touched the lives of so many of my friends and loved ones over the years when strength to overcome difficulty was needed. That passage had power to calm and to bring courage in the face of overwhelming odds. So, what is your favorite passage? What is there about that passage that has drawn you? Does it bring you closer to God? Continue reading
- Practice, Practice, Practice - Practice, Practice, Practice: I occasionally get devotionals from Allen Jackson Ministries, and the one I received recently came at a time when I was working on a meditation on the subject of Giving. Jackson deals with an aspect of our generosity, or lack thereof, that, I believe, we all experience, if we were honest. We weigh our giving against an imaginary sense of our security, as if we are the source of that security. How wrong we are! Continue reading
- Great Experiment - Great Experiment: As was explained in a previous Watchword, I was part of a gathering of church members, in a program of five supported disciplines which we called The Great Experiment. Each member of the group was committed to practicing the disciplines, which included: Meeting each week to pray and share. Give two hours each week to God. Tithe 10% of your earnings. Spend 30 minutes each morning, privately, in prayer and meditation, 10 minutes of the time reserved for journaling the work and blessings of God in our lives. Witness our faith experience to others, outside of our group and church. Although they appear to be simple and within the reach of any person, these disciplines contain the greatest concentration of power in changing of a human life. The key elements of each discipline are summarized in this Watchword. Continue reading
- Are You Brave Enough? - Are You Brave Enough? Have you heard of a program of Christian disciplines entitled “Wanted: 10 Brave Christians”? The program originated in 1963 in a Methodist Church in Florida. I believe that since that time thousands of lives in churches across the country have been enhanced by the power of this simple set of five disciplines. The five disciplines are simple and understandable. Just stating the disciplines doesn’t really tell the story. There is so much more to each of the five disciplines, so, over the next three Watchwords, I will elaborate on each of disciplines. I urge you to prayerfully consider each one, but be careful, commit to this experiment and your life may never be the same! Continue reading
- No Christ? Know Christ! - Know Christ: I’ve heard from some good friends of Watchwords, that questioned a statement I made in yesterday’s Watchword meditation, entitled ‘Elephant in the Room’. Here are the introductory sentences that caused the question to be raised, appropriately so: “As Christians, we know that we should not be afraid to share our experience of faith and the gospel. People will not know about Christ by how we live our lives. It is important that we talk and proclaim the good news.” If we don’t talk about the role that Christ plays in the conduct of our lives, then the whole cause and effect is lost. Christ is the cause for the way we live our lives, but if that is hidden by our own shyness or unwillingness to speak it, the moment is lost. Continue reading
- Elephant in the Room - Elephant in the Room: As Christians, we know that we should not be afraid to share our experience of faith and the gospel. People will not know about Christ by how we live our lives. It is important that we talk and proclaim the good news. We don’t always have the right words in any given circumstance. There are times when we know that what we know is going to lift that person beyond the cares and concerns they are experience. That is where our faith must carry us. We need to be God’s workers on earth and help bring people to the truth. Maybe God has put you in that same position in the past, or perhaps he will be leading you into a similar conversation. Continue reading
- A Heart of Joy - A Heart of Joy: Ever have your heart so full of joy that it seems you can’t stop singing, or humming or even dancing? You want to shout, “I feel goooood!” You can say that you were happy, but it’s more than that, far more than that.The Psalmist tells us to sing to the Lord a new song. The level of joy you experience is completely and totally up to you. It is not dependent on anyone else -- what they do or don’t do, how they behave or don’t behave. We can’t make joy happen by our puny actions. Joy is not dependent on the sadness or suffering or grief or other difficulties that you may endure. Not to belabor the point, but I believe that the amount of joy that you experience at any given time, in any given day, is the exact amount that you chose to experience. Continue reading
- Bread from Heaven - Bread from Heaven: Lisa Samara has a meditation in Our Daily Bread entitled Food from Heaven, where she tells about an unusual happening in August 2020. “Residents of Olten, Switzerland, were startled to find that it was snowing chocolate! A malfunction in the ventilation system of the local chocolate factory had caused chocolate particles to be diffused into the air. As a result, a dusting of edible chocolate flakes covered cars and streets and made the whole town smell like a candy store!” That event may cause you to think of God providing manna to the Israelites. I call your attention to another bread event, this time with Jesus on the hillside, outside of Bethsaida Syria. You know the story, a crowd had gathered for a number of days and now they were hungry, and they were out of options. Jesus miraculously provided real bread for the large crowd. Continue reading
