Divine Appointments - A Missed Opportunity

Growing up as a shy melancholy, I did not change very much when I first came to Christ. I still hesitated to talk to people, for fear of rejection and ridicule. Yet, I wanted to tell others about God's divine love.

An opportunity arose a few weeks later, when a school chum pulled into the gas station just outside the window of the office where I worked. I knew my boss would not like me to take time away, and I figured my friend was also very busy. 

So I just ran outside for a moment, greeted him and told him I had some good news to tell him as soon as we could get together. He was married to my boyfriend's sister, so I did not think much time would pass before we could chat.

I ran back to my desk, excited that this would be my first opportunity to share with someone about the love and mercy of Christ in my life. A smile adorned my face for the rest of the day.

That very night…my lifelong school friend…committed suicide.

When my boyfriend gave me the news, I was devastated for his wife and their families, but more distraught because the Gospel of Christ may have saved his life both physically and spiritually, if I had only taken the time to speak to him when God gave me the opportunity.

I felt such deep remorse for days. I cried out to the Lord for forgiveness of this sin of omission. At the funeral, I cried more for my failure than I did for his family. I felt bereft and condemned by Satan's shame.

The next day at work, I stared out the window, watching the cars come and go at the gas station next door. I judged myself for my failure and felt such regret that his life ended too young, and that his eternal destiny was already set.

My failure haunted me for weeks, until I stopped rebuking myself long enough to listen to the Lord. The shame of my failure left, but in its place came a dogged determination never to miss another divine appointment to share the love and grace of the Lord.

Prayer:

Father God, Your mercy and grace to forgive our sins of commission and omission humbles us and increases our love for You. I know that You had a plan for my school friend, and he chose to end his life rather than to surrender His life to You (John 3:16-18).

Thank you for the many opportunities You continually give us to share the Good News of the Gospel of Christ with everyone You bring into our life. Help us never to hesitate from fear or human reasoning, but to step out of our flesh and into Your Spirit, and to open our mouth and allow You to fill it by Your Spirit (Psalm 81:10).

Thought for the Day:

Not everyone will accept the Gospel of Christ when we share it with them; but we take them to a crossroad in their life where they have to make a choice to accept or reject the Lord. - John 3:16-18

Too Proud to Believe

 

Our human penchant for self-centeredness and rebellion stems from our pride. Pride is the downfall of every human being. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). This is what caused Adam and Eve to believe the serpent’s lie that they could be like God. Mankind still wants to be like god, and many New Age religions promote this falsehood, as if saying or believing it will make it so.

The wonderful news of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ dwells within us and gives us the nature of God, as we are led by God’s Spirit. He also gave us His Word, which is His ultimate wisdom. Over the years, hundreds of Biblical prophecies were fulfilled just as they were predicted to occur (Isaiah 42:9). This proves that the Bible is true and trustworthy. We can stake our life and our eternity on it.

God’s Word also informs us of historical and scientific facts, which it took humans years to discover using experiments and research. These scientists and historians validated the scriptures as the result of their studies and tests. Actually, the truth was in front of them all along! Even today, mankind is still finding answers to age-old questions in the pages of the Bible.

Prophecy, history, archeology and science continually prove the veracity of the Bible (Psalm 119:160). We can believe it, because its words are true (John 3:12). God, Creator of heaven and earth, gave us the answers to our origin and our destiny, which people of every generation still ponder. Archeologists uncover, almost daily, the proof of Biblical claims. Yet many are still too proud to believe.

Prayer:

Father God, there is no reason that we should allow our pride to prevent us from accepting Jesus as our Savior. We thank You for bringing us to our knees through the circumstances in our life. You humble us for our benefit, and then You bless us for our humility. You are an amazing and loving Father, and we cannot find anyone or any philosophy, which mankind invented, that fulfills us and completes us like You do (Colossians 2:10). You gave us Jesus as our sacrificial Lamb and He dwells within us by Your Spirit.

Thought for the Day:

With specific details, simple truth, and flawless precision, God's Word consistently reveals to us the origin of our past and the destination of our future.

A Place of Repentance

 

Once we hear the gospel of Christ, a deliberate rejection of God’s path of righteousness will lead to our earthly sorrow and eternal ruin. God is sovereign and He will not be mocked (Acts 4:24). We see no value in the spiritual side of life, but live only for physical and emotional pleasures.

We focus on gratifying the body and we seek to find a soul mate with which to spend our life. We end up switching partners endlessly because no one meets our expectations. We show contempt for the abundance of God’s kindness, patience and tolerance of us, when we do not realize that God’s kindness is intended to bring us to this place of repentance (Romans 2:4).

However, if we come to realize that we are wrong and we cannot save our self. We enter God’s throne room and we repair our relationship with God through godly sorrow and contrition; we reap eternal life and earthly joys, which know no bounds. God provides all of our needs according to His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19).

He is our soul mate and He sticks closer to us than a brother (Proverbs 17:17, 18:24). He does not consider us his servants, but His friends (John 15:15). He fills our hearts with His love to overflowing and we share His love with everyone He brings our way. The fruit of His Spirit replaces the negative attributes in our soul, and we live in peace and freedom.

God blesses us abundantly, so that we have whatever we need at all times (2 Corinthians 9:8). This allows us to be faithful in the work of His Kingdom. The peace of God, which defies explanation, protects us emotionally and mentally, because Christ lives within us (Philippians 4:7).

Prayer:

Father God, with Your love within us and surrounding us we can come to a place of repentance and enjoy the bounty of Your blessings. Even when negative aspects of life try to overwhelm us, You are there to pull us up. You may not deliver us from the trial, but You give us the Rock of Christ to stand upon to weather every storm. There is nothing this earth can do to separate us from Your love.

Thought for the Day:

As we rely on the direction of God’s Spirit, we live a peaceful and abundant life.

The Praise of Our Lips

The Word of Truth, which is the gospel of Christ, allows us to trust in Jesus for our salvation. Having believed, we are sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the deposit, which guarantees our inheritance (Romans 8:17). We are God’s possession, and He redeemed us to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:13-14). When Father God looks at us, He no longer sees sin; but instead, He sees the blood of Jesus, which cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7-9; Romans 8:1).

We are free from sin for eternity and accepted in God’s Beloved (Ephesians 1:6). This truth prompts us to live in praise to His name (Psalm 119:171). We have so much for which to bless Him. We speak of His unending glory and power until everyone we know understand God’s mighty deeds and glorious Kingdom. When we praise His name, the angels and creatures on earth and in the heavens join us (Revelation 5:13). If we fail to praise Him, the rocks will cry out in praise in our place (Luke 19:40).

We know that God spoke a word and created us, as well as all of creation (Hebrews 11:3; Psalm 33:6). His dominion over the earth is from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 145:10-13). Yet, we humans are too smart for our own good. We take the credit for all that we have and we deny God’s existence (Psalm 148:1-6). Yet, it is in the Lord that we should trust, rather than in our human abilities. As we seek Him before we do anything, He will show us where to go and what to do (Proverbs 3:5:7).

God showers us with His loving kindness (Psalm 147:11). He is our tower, fortress and shield. He delivers the humble when we take refuge in Him (Psalm 144:2; 147:6). Apart from Jesus we can do nothing (John 15:5). However, when we believe in, hope in and trust in Jesus, we are more than conquerors over the flesh, the devil and world (Romans 8:37). We live in His presence with contentment and joy. We mirror His image to the world around us, and He gives us victory and hope (1 Corinthians 15:57-58).

Prayer:

Father God, thanks to Jesus, Satan has no influence over our thoughts, words or deeds. The blood of Your Lamb redeemed us (1 Peter 1:19). We have a multitude of reasons to praise You. It will take a lifetime to express to You the reasons for the joy You give to us. We live each moment with Your praises on our lips. We tell everyone who will listen that You love us so much that, even while we were still sinners, you died for us (Romans 5:6-8).

Thought for the Day:

God's praise is continually on our lips. - Psalm 34:1; Hebrews 13:15

Walking in the Fullness of Christ

Read: 2 Timothy 1:9-10

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:7

Jesus established a new covenant with the world by His blood, offering forgiveness and salvation to anyone who would approach Him in faith (Matthew 26:28). He gave His body as the ultimate sacrifice, and did away with the need to sacrifice animals for our sins. The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world offered a perfect sacrifice to atone for sins for anyone who will choose to repent and believe (Revelation 13:8; 1 Peter 1:20; 1 John 2:2). Having neutralized the spiritual powers and authorities through His death, He made a public display of them, defeating them forever by the cross (Colossians 2:15).

As a divine metal smith, God removes the dross in our life through His refining fire, and He gives us a new life (Proverbs 27:21; 2 Corinthians 5:17). We are given the fullness of Christ, which makes us complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). Our Heavenly Father gave us His grace before the beginning of time, and is now revealed to us through Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 1:9-10). Through His grace we have the privilege of confidently approaching God’s throne at any time of need (Hebrew 4:16). Because of His grace, we are entrusted with the secret things of God, so that we can prove our faithfulness in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone we come in contact with (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).

The more time and intimacy we invest in our relationship with God, the closer we come to being conformed to the image of Christ. He uses our trials to instruct us, mold us and to develop the perseverance of our faith (James 1:3). He constructs a pliable heart of flesh out of our hardened heart of stone (Romans 2:29; Ezekiel 36:26). God fashions us into a replica of His Son (Romans 8:29). Then He puts His desires in our heart as we delight our self in Him (Psalm 37:4). The rewards we receive from following God’s desires for our life far outweigh any fulfillment we receive from pursuing our own carnal, earthly desires.

We do well to adopt Jesus’ attitude in life. His sole desire was to only do the work that would glorify His Father (John 17:4). As Job did, we can delight in the Almighty and lift up our face to God (Job 22:26). When anxiety overwhelms us, God’s consolation brings joy to our soul (Psalm 94:19). Out of our love for Him we walk in His ways, even when we feel incapable of fulfilling His calling on our life (Ephesians 2:10). Our Sovereign Lord gives us everything we need to perform the ministry, which He calls us to do (1 Corinthians 4:7).

We gain an understanding of God’s Word through daily reading and weekly Bible study. Worshipping with fellow Believers gives us accountability and strengthens our walk. Our faithfulness goes beyond our beliefs into our walk and our works. If we say one thing and do another, we are no better than the Pharisees, whom Jesus referred to as hypocrites (Matthew 23:27) The hypocrite’s eternal destination is full of weeping and great pain (Matthew 24:51). On the other hand, Jesus promises to share Paradise with authentic Believers for all of eternity (Luke 23:43).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, God in all of His fullness is pleased to live in You. Through You, God reconciled us to Himself along with all things whether here on earth or in heaven. He made peace through Your blood, which You shed for all of us on the cross (Colossians 1:19-20). Even though we have not seen You, we love You and believe in You. You fill us with an inexpressible and glorious joy (1 Peter 1:8). Thank You for allowing us to experience Your love, although it is too great to fully comprehend. Thank You for making us complete in You, with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God (Ephesians 3:19).

Thought for the Day:

According to the riches of God’s glory, He strengthens us through His Spirit with power in our inner man. - Ephesians 3:16

Difference Makers

At times, people come into our life and endeavor to influence us to compromise our values and to walk less than holy before the Lord. Some may entice us to turn away from God all together (Deuteronomy 11:16). They attempt to deflect our devotion from God to worldly pursuits. This happened to the Israelites when they crossed the Jordan River into the land of Canaan. They fell into sin and walked away from God (Deuteronomy 6:25).

Even our family members or our own fleshly desires may pose a threat to our spirituality in some cases. These people and issues create a spiritual hazard for us; but also a possible danger to our physical well-being, if we use illegal drugs, alcohol, sexual promiscuity or if we gamble and get into debt.

God told Israel to drive out the unrighteous nations from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1-2), and He wants no less from us. He is worthy of all of our love and devotion. God wants our love for Him to take precedence over our love for people and the world, because He wants His best for us on this earth and for all eternity. He sent His Son to take away our sinful nature and to give us His righteousness in exchange. God calls us to a holy walk, not entirely for His benefit, but for ours as well (Luke 14:26). We come to God though faith in Christ (Romans 3:22). Then, He provides us with a fulfilling life of freedom, peace and rest.

When God sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem, after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, He gave the church power to walk in His will (Acts 1:8). He gave us this power as well, so that we can live as His ambassadors and share the knowledge of His saving grace in the world in which we live (2 Corinthians 3:6; 2 Corinthians 5:20). This fight is not a fight against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the heavenly realm, against mighty powers in this evil world, and against demonic spirits (Ephesians 6:12). The battle is not ours, however, but God’s (2 Chronicles 20:15). He has legions of angels doing battle in our favor (Matthew 26:53). We only need to submit to God, put on His armor, resist the devil, follow the leading of God’s Spirit and stand firm (James 4:7; Ephesians 6:13).

Depending on our focus, ministry can be either rewarding or frustrating. If we look for results in our timetable and standards, we will grow discouraged. If we minister as unto the Lord, with Him as our focus, we will stand at the post where He calls us, and do our job for His glory (Habakkuk 2:1). God is the One who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, He will provide and increase our resources, as well as produce a great harvest from our efforts (2 Corinthians 9:10). God approves us and He entrusted us with the Gospel. We are not trying to please anyone but Him. We are not looking for people to praise us, but only praise from God (1 Thessalonians 2:4,6).

God calls us to be difference makers in our mission field. Our family, neighborhood and workplace give us plenty of opportunities to share the Good News with others (John 4:35). We can also thank God for, and pray for the missionaries abroad, many who risk their lives on a daily basis to share the Gospel with their neighbors. As we put God first in our life, our light so shines that men will see our good works and give glory to our Heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16). Then when we stand in His presence at the judgment seat, we can look forward to His words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” It is at that time that we will fully realize the far reaching effects of our faithful obedience.

Prayer:

Father God, although our efforts are futile at times, or slow going or bungled at best, we are approved by You because we speak as Your messengers. You entrusted us with the Good News of the Gospel of Christ. Help us to take every opportunity to share Your saving grace with everyone You bring our way. Remind us that our purpose is to please You, not other people. You alone examine the motives of our hearts (1 Thessalonians 2:4).

Thought for the Day:
Offering to pray and sharing our testimony of God's faithfulness to us in times of trial can renew hope and prepare the soil in the heart of a friend or relative to receive the seed of the saving gospel of Christ.

Drifting from God

Read: Hebrews 10:35-36 

“So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.” - Hebrews 2:1

God gave us His Spirit in order to enable us to do things for His Kingdom, which we could never do on our own. However, most of the time we look for seminary degrees and worldly credentials to help us accomplish what only the Spirit can do. We use the totality of our will power and endless hours of energy to try to achieve what is impossible to do without God authoring it. Then we get discouraged when we fail.

At times people feel like God is telling them to end their ministry in some area. The problem is that they take a leave of absence from ministry all together and sit back and do nothing. Then they eventually drift away from church and then from God all together. They fail to go on to the next area of service God has for them. Satan takes advantage of the situation and distracts them from God’s purpose in their lives. Then, they just quit serving God and totally neglect their spiritual life. They get caught up in the world and pursue carnal pleasures and activities, which do nothing for them or the Kingdom of God.

According to His power working within us, God is able to do immeasurably more through us than anything we could ever ask or even imagine (Ephesians 3:20). God takes the least in His Kingdom to accomplish the most. At times, He even chooses to reduce our resources in order for Him to get the glory. He makes something beautiful, even out of the ashes of our life (Isaiah 61:3). Jesus said that His food was to do the will of His Father (John 4:34; 5:30). That should be our attitude as well. We find abiding joy and peace only as we serve our Living Lord.

If we continue to believe the Truth of the Word of God and stand firmly in it, we will not drift away from the assurance we received at our Salvation. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and God appointed us as His servants to proclaim it to all who will hear the gospel and be saved (Colossian 1:23). We can remain confident in the Lord’s faithfulness, which brings with it great rewards. Patient endurance is what we need now, so that we will continue to do God's will. Then we will receive all that He has promised us (Hebrews 10:35-36). 

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, do not allow us to drift toward evil or to take part in any acts of wickedness or the flesh. Do not allow us to share in the deceit of those who do drift away from Your Truth (Psalm 141:4). Teach us to walk in the power of Your Spirit moment by moment throughout the day and help us to bring You the glory and honor due your name.

Thought for the Day:

"For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay.” – Hebrews 10:37