Devotional 110-My Heart, An Idol

"A good thing that becomes the primary thing immediately becomes an immoral thing."      Pulling Back the Shades      by Gresh and Slattery

Ezekiel 14: 6-8 "...Thus says the Lord God: Repent, turn away from your idols...Anyone who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart...I will set My face against that man...Then you shall know that I am the Lord."

How many times a day I break the first commandment: "You shall have no other gods before Me." Exodus 20:3. In many ways we all break this commandment.

 My heart serves me, loves me, prefers me before all others. I try to cover it up from you by serving you, loving you, preferring you; but God sees that it is still about me. I have an idol and it is me!

I am the statue of gold that I want everyone to praise and look at fondly, and say nice things about me. When I make a noticeable blunder that can not be hidden from you like speaking out of turn in a group gathering, or feeding a baby food that she is allergic to, I mope around for days.

When I mope or worry, or refuse to forgive, I am saying I am more important than God...my needs, my wishes, my will. I am separating myself from God, and God won't have it. 

He is in the business of revealing our hearts to us, our little "idol-making factory" hearts. He will do what He must to turn our hearts back to Him, because only in Him will we find our joy and safety and peace. Even if He must set His face against us, it is only that we might know Him as Lord of our hearts.

Once we recognize our "me idol" worship we must immediately repent, turn away from self and come running to Christ. His grace never fails and is freshly available moment by moment.

Timothy Keller, author and pastor, said an idol is anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God. What absorbs your heart these days? May God help us all to have no other gods before Him.

Devotional 109 "No Good Feel" Day

"David, writer of the Psalms, did not tiptoe around God out of fear that God would...hold his thoughts against him. David whined, fussed, and praised, depending on how he felt and what his circumstances were."  Tell Me Everything by Marilyn Meberg

"Unless the Lord had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, 'I am slipping!' But Your unfailing love, O Lord,supported me."  Psalm 94: 17, 18.

The month of April was busy for me, as I am sure it was for many of you. But after a few nights of restless sleep, I woke up one morning feeling drained and depressed. I am prone to higher bouts of introspection and I tend to worry more when I am tired.

Do you suppose Jesus had days like that? He was tired, John 4:6. He was hungry, Matthew 4:2. He wept, John 11:35. How did He stay focused? How did He fight fear or depression? Jesus, both fully God and fully man went to the Father often. Early in the morning while it was still dark He went alone to pray, Mark 1:35. He prayed all night, Luke 6:12. In Luke 18:1 Jesus said.."men always ought to pray and not lose heart." Hours before  His death He knelt down and prayed. Being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. What does the scripture tell us? "Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him." Luke 22:43

So on my "no good feel" day I pushed my legs out of bed, sat up, moaned, and said to myself: "I do not feel like it, I am achy, and mentally miserable, but I will spend time in Your Word, I will speak to you. I will be honest about the weights chained around my heart. With the help of Your Holy Spirit, I will, I will.  Because what you and I need on those blue days is to be strengthened and renewed by God.

We could go shopping, or watch a good movie, or have lunch with our girlfriends, or any number of things to make ourselves feel better. But what we really need is time with our Savior, Jesus, who understands our humanity and comforts as only God can do.

And comfort me He did that dreary morning in April. He has to do it for us over and over again. Yet He never grows tired or weary of giving us new perspectives, lavishing His love on us, and enabling us to accomplish His will. His mercies are new every morning.

Are you having a "no good feel" day? Go to God!

Devotional 108 God Overrules

"A person wills an action, an event is triggered by natural causes, or Satan shows his hand ---yet God overrules."     New King James Commentary regarding Proverbs 16:33.

Proverbs 16:33  "We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they will fall."

Last week  Emil de Leon won $45,000 on Wheel of Fortune. His win was so unusual that he was on the national news. Pat Sajak, the host of the show, said it was the most amazing solve in his 30 years on the show.

Emil had to solve this puzzle with only this much information:  NE_    _ _ _ _    _ _ _ _ _ . The first thing that came out of his mouth was NEW BABY BUGGY. That was it! The crowd went wild and Pat Sajak had a moment of stunned silence.

Now if you google this you will find a bunch of conversation trying to explain how he could guess this with so little information. I remember immediately thinking "God gave him the answer." And this verse came to mind in Proverbs that even the throw of the dice is controlled by God.

"Can anything happen without the Lord's permission? Is it not the Most High who helps one and harms another?" Lamentations 3: 37, 38

No one can cause an event to happen if the Lord has not already  designed to use it for good and ordained the outcome to glorify His name. Failure,  success,  marriage,  divorce, unplanned children, planned children who never come, death, disability, war, peace, presidents and dictators, on and on...in it all God still rules!

Hard to grasp! But nothing comes to pass apart from God's decree. So Emil won not so much because he was a brain with letters or pure luck, but because there is a God in heaven who rules and does His pleasure in the world.

In your life He has ordained this day for your good and His glory.

Devotional 107 Wonderful Sovereignty

"All things that come to pass in this world ultimately come about through the sovereign agency of God Himself."  R. C. Sproul  

Colossians 1:16 (Msg)"For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible,...everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him." 

In spite of illness and death in our congregation, inspite of the economy and family troubles, inspite of stress on the job or worries in the home, we are still in God's hands. His sovereign rule covers us even now.

My husband"s parents died one day apart at the age of 94. They died in their own bed with family at their side. They died God's way in His timing. But this summer a relative of mine buried their still born son. He, also, died God's way in God's timing. God is in charge. Nothing escapes Him. Nothing surprises Him. All by His hand, all with a purpose.

The wind is His. It blows where He tells it to. The clouds float by in the exact numbers He directs. The sun gives its light on cloudy days as well as cloudless, by His decree.

When Romans 11:36  states that "of Him and through Him and to Him are all things" it is confirming that there is not one subatomic particle barreling through space but by the design and purpose of God. God created it, caused it, and sustains it. That tiny particle has a purpose. And so do you! This day for you has been planned by the God of love.

 As R.C. Sproul put it in his commentary on Romans. "We need to embrace this because the great joy of the Christian is to know that all things are in God's hands and are being used by Him for His purposes, regardless of the causal means He uses to bring about whatsoever He pleases."

"Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are His riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His methods!"  Romans 11: 33 NLT

Devotional 106 Passionate Gaze

"God smiles when we love Him supremely, trust Him completely, obey Him wholeheartedly, and praise and thank Him continually."    Rick Warren    The Purpose Driven Life

"Whom have I in heaven but You? I desire You more than anything on earth."  Psalm 73:25

So the conversation went like this with the three year old who observed the large number of presents under my tree.

"Where's mine?" She stood staring at the big and little shapes of colored bows and sparkly paper.

"I gave yours to you today. Remember? We played together with it. You know, the little dogs." I replied.

She gave me no eye contact but continued to peruse the gifts under the tree.

"Where's mine under there?" she repeated.

"There isn't one for you. These are for husband, son, daughter, grand-daughter, and me. I already gave you yours."

With single minded passion, drowning out all the other voices, she finally turned to me with pleading eyes and said, "But, Auntie, where's mine?"

Chuckling, her Dad said to me, "She's not listening to a word you are saying."

Her gaze was on the gift and everything else dimmed in importance around her.

That's the way we want our new year to start...with our eyes on the great gift. the treasure supreme..JESUS! So wonderful His love sparkles in our life. He brings color to our darkness, purpose to our dullness. Let us place our gaze on our beautiful Savior.

Whom have we in heaven or earth but Jesus! Look to Jesus! Love Him! Thank Him! Be still and know God. Have a passionate gaze that stirs your heart and lifts you up, that fills the emptiness, that brings you hope and joy...JESUS!

Devotional 105 Pride and Anxiety

TO BE ANXIOUS IS TO BE PROUD

"Faith admits the need for help. Pride won't. Faith banks on God to give help. Pride won't. Faith casts anxieties on God. Pride won't."  Battling Unbelief    John Piper

Isaiah 51: 12-13 "I am He who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man... and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth..."

I've had many things on my mind lately....troubled marriages close to home, illnesses of loved ones, my responsibilities in church and community. One night I woke up at 3:30 a.m. with a worrisome thought, another day I realized I had a nagging headache, yesterday my neck muscles were sore. I know you've been there, too, because scripture tells me that we all are tempted to be anxious.

Scripture also tells me not to worry. Matthew 6:25 "So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life..."  Philippians 4: 6,7 "Don't worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for what He has done." Anxiety is disobedience to God and pride.

How is an anxious heart like pride?

 Because it is trying to rely on self to get a certain result instead of God. Living as if it is all up to me is a proud spirit. When we think it is all up to us we worry about our failure to get the job done.

So what do we do?

 When I woke up in the wee hours of the morning I recognized I was worrying and confessed my sin of worry to God. I thanked Him for His sovereignty and control, His goodness and justice, His ability to work all things out for His glory. I told Him I trusted Him to do what was best for me and my loved ones no matter how dire the situation might get. And then His peace came.

In 1Peter 5: 6-7 It indicates that the way to humble yourself under God's mighty hand is to cast all our burdens on Him. I gladly do that today.

How about you?

Devotional 104 - Witness

 "Backing down or being afraid of speaking out about Christ is like treating the defeated challenger as the champion. Everyone around you has a message, a philosophy, or an input, and so should you."   In the Backyard of Jesus  by Steven N. Khoury

1 Peter 3:15 "You must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it."

The two ladies were conversing at the table next to mine. It was Monday and my husband and I were studying our Bibles at a coffee shop. My ears perked up when I heard the two ladies mention their church. I glanced at Rhett but he was absorbed in his reading.

Lady 1: "I just love our church. They never talk about hell or sin. I come away feeling so happy."

Lady 2: "Oh that's nice. What time is your service. I need a happy church."

I felt a nudge to speak.

"But, Lord, they do not know me. I have not been invited into this conversation."

I felt the nudge again.

 "Yes, Lord, I know I have the truth, but they might get angry if I tell them hell and sin are Biblical and that You spoke about it openly and often."

The nudge again.

"Alright Lord. Let me write down my thoughts first and then I can give them the paper."

So while they continued to converse, I busied myself with looking up scriptures to introduce them to the Living God. And then I stalled. The scriptures were written and I sat staring at the paper. The struggle began. You know the struggle. The one that is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6: 12)

As my hands gripped the Words of Life, they rose from their chairs, paid the bill and left.

I had not shared. I felt empty and sorry. I did not love my Savior enough that day to risk. 1 Peter 3 says as I worship Christ as my Lord I will have a joyful hope to share with the world. Those ladies may not have asked for the reason of my hope, but my Lord had asked it of me.

It boiled down to I cared more about my own comfort than their eternal destiny.

I love what Steven Khoury wrote in the quote above. Everyone else has an opinion and so should we! We should be engaging the culture with the marvelous truth of scripture. Don't give ground to the devil. Resist his schemes to thwart the spread of the precious news of the love of Christ for man.

I am sure God will give me another chance to share the reason for the hope within. And He will give you another one. Be ready! Be obedient!