28 JUL 23 Friday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 28 JUL 23 Friday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“I waited patiently on the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and mire.  He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.  He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.” Psalm 40:1-3a

How many times in your life do you feel lost, trapped, or down? The reality is, in this life, there will be trials and difficulties.  Life is hard and we have times of dryness in our souls.  What do we do? Is the answer within us or outside of us? David shows us that the answer is outside of us in the person of God.  Building that relationship and learning to trust in Him will help us through all life’s situations.

God knows the difficulties, stresses, suffering, and pain that you personally have faced and will face in the future.  God manifests himself in a special way in those periods of life so that we experience his love and presenece.  We are shaped by our suffering in that God gives us peace, purpose, and even joy during our darkest days.  Like David, sometimes we have to wait patiently.  Isaiah said the same thing, “they that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength”. 

 In the waiting, we find God present and listening.  Job who lost all his kids and wealth overnight was devastated and in the fog of grief had a moment of clarity.  Instead of hating God for what was happening to him, he said, “should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never any bad?” He blessed God. David found joy as he saw the hand of God in all of the challenges he faced and was given a song of praise to sing.  Sometimes we are not delivered from the pain, but delivered straight into the arms of Jesus.

Are you standing on solid rock or sinking sand?

Reading Plan: Psalm 40, 54; 1 Sam. 31:1-13; Acts 15:12-21;  Mark 5:21-43

27 JUL 23 Thursday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 27 JUL 23 Thursday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“For you refuse my discipline and treat my words like trash.  Repent, all of you who forget me, or I will tear you apart, and no one will help you.  But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me.  If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God.” Psalm 50:17, 22-23

Have you been offended before? That’s a funny question today since everyone seems to be offended about something.  We know what it is like and how that feels.  It is not pleasant and we desire apologies, satisfaction, or straight-up revenge if we are honest.  The offended party must learn to have thick skin and have some patience.  The offender must learn to keep accounts short by correcting wrongs they have done quickly rather than letting them fester.

As we look at social media and the news, we see the root causes of the problems in our culture. (USA) We sin. We do evil. It affects the people around us.  Most people don’t see what they do as evil or bad, it is merely preference and freedom being exercised.  The moral compass of our society is broken and we lack love for our neighbor.  There is One that is offended by how we live our lives and the condition of our hearts.

God hates all sin and evil that we do.  It is actually a sin against God first, even though we sin against our neighbor.  He has written his law on our hearts and we know what is right and wrong.  He has given us his word in the Bible too, but we treat them like trash and do the offensive thing.  God calls all people to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus for salvation.  Without Jesus, you will perish in your sins and suffer in hell.  Nobody wants that! You need to check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Are you ignoring God’s claim on your life? Do you treat his word with contempt?

Reading Plan: Psalm 50; 1 Sam. 28:3-20; Acts 15:1-11;  Mark 5:1-20

26 JUL 23 Wednesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 26 JUL 23 Wednesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, where they strengthened the believers.  They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that they must suffer many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” Acts 14:21-22

The brutal facts of life need to be reflected on from time to time.  The Lord himself said that ‘in this life, there will be trials”.   Life in general is hard and even more so for the Christian.  Didn’t sign up for that, did you? Jesus in his paradoxical sermon on the mount, gave the Beatitudes in order to tell us how to be blessed or happy.  That happiness is in the midst of suffering, persecution, and even death for being one of his kids.

Paul demonstrated his willingness to suffer in verse nineteen of the same passage.  He is dragged out, stoned, and left for dead.  What did Paul do? The man got up and went back to town.  He was dealt vicious blows at the hands of those who rejected the message and the messenger.  Paul was not there for the people who reject him, he is there for the people who receive him.  Paul took his licks and stayed focused.  

He went and preached the Good News and made “many” disciples.  Here this! No matter where you go in this world there will be opposition, but there will always be “some, few, or many” that will receive the Lord and become disciples.  Jesus commanded us to go out and do the work of reaching the lost and developing the faithful.  We grow as we go.  Share the message and let it be the filter.  People are like a traffic light, they are either red, yellow, or green.  Don’t waste your time on the red lights because there are too many yellows and greens that are ready to receive the good news or be developed.  

Are you facing opposition and suffering as a Christian? 

Reading Plan: Psalm 119:49-72; 1 Sam. 25:23-44; Acts 14:19-28;  Mark 4:35-41

25 JUL 23 Tuesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 25 JUL 23 Tuesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“Then Jesus asked them, “Would anyone light a lamp and then put it under a basket or under a bed? Of course not! A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light will shine.  For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light.” Mark 4:21-22

Whenever I read this passage, it makes me reflect on my life.  How am I doing? Am I light to those around me? Am I illuminating and revealing Jesus to others? Or am I hiding my testimony and my relationship with Jesus? As we enter the election season and candidates position themselves for victory, people choose who they want to lead.  Then people get involved to the level they desire.

Some people will start by putting a bumper sticker on their car or a sign in their yard.  They plant their flag and show in a subtle yet direct way, their hope.  Others begin to chat around the water cooler at work or the coffee shop.  Some become activists and go door to door passing out information and forming groups to get the word out.  Some don’t do anything and just vote when the time comes or don’t vote at all.

As Christians, we have been given a great gift and serve an eternal King that will bring about lasting change, a new earth, and a new heaven.  He will bring real solutions to sin, evil, and peace.  Politicians and philosophies will never bring about a solution.  They will always leave us wanting and bring in more sin, evil, and division.   If the people of God would do half of what people do for elections, there would be a lot of light in the world and people coming to faith.

What are you doing with the light that has been given to you?

Reading Plan: Psalm 45; 1 Sam. 25:1-22; Acts 14:1-18;  Mark 4:21-34

23 JUL 23 Sunday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 23 JUL 23 Sunday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least it could have gotten some interest on it.’  Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 25: 26-27, 30

One of the more shocking stories in the New Testament is the Parable of the three servants.  Jesus uses these parables, hard sayings, and sonship teachings to filter out those who are not His and a wake-up call.  God had given the Jews a task they were responsible for, but they did not do it.  The expectation that God has is that we are faithful to what he has given us and obey all that he has commanded.

Sometimes we believe we think that we are responsible for the fruit and the quantity.  We see two of the servants double their investment and see the numbers.  We also read that Jesus commands us to be fruitful and bear much fruit.  We think we need to keep track of those numbers so we can show Jesus his return on investment.  The actual numbers and fruitfulness are not within our control.  That is not what Jesus looks at.

Jesus looks at our faithfulness and our heart.  If we are faithful, we will be fruitful.  The problem in the passage is with the person that decides to bury the gift that was entrusted to him rather than use it for what it was intended.  This person did not bear fruit. He was unfaithful and useless to the Master.  This is an issue with people in the church today.  We are disobedient and refuse to use the gift of life purchased for us to live for God.  We still live for ourselves and our desires.  In reality, we have wasted our life! Let this passage make you reflect on your life.  

When Jesus returns, will he find you faithful and fruitful or useless?

Reading Plan: Psalm 63:1-8, 98; 1 Sam. 23:7-18; Rom. 11:33-12:2;  Matt. 25:14-30