20 JAN 23 Friday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 20 JAN 23 Friday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“Slaves obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear.  Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all of your heart.  Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than people.  Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.” Ephesians 6:5-8

In the last three years, our nation and much of the world have looked back on history with today’s shifting virtues and values in disgust.  They condemn the current generation for the way their forefathers held or traded slaves.  The history of every nation on earth has had slavery and is not unique to the USA.  God knew from before creation how sin would affect our treatment of one another.  

God also created the plan to solve the issue of our brokenness and sin.  At the same time, God has placed people into the nation we live in, the body we have, and our position in the socio-economic strata.  What we do with that depends on our relationship to God.  His children are instructed how to live no matter where we are or our situation.  Whether rich or poor, slave or free, we can live to glorify God and have a joyful life.

Suffering, persecution, and even death is to be expected if you are God’s child because the world hates God and therefore by extension hates you. There is joy now in the midst of this struggle and hope for the future for God’s children.  God gives a future in his presence and a new heaven and earth to live in.  God will deal with the children of wrath, their future is secure in the lake of fire.  

Are you complaining about life and others or rejoicing into eternity?

Reading Plan: Psalm 31; Isa. 45:18-25; Eph. 6:1-9; Mark 4:35-41

Daily Office Year 1

19 JAN 23 Thursday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 19 JAN 23 Thursday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator.  Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, “Stop, you’re doing it wrong!” Psalm 45:9

From time to time, we get so focused on ourselves: me, myself, and I.  We are focused on our personal goals, desires, and future.  We get upset when things do go our way or see the inequalities around us.  We get bent out of shape about it and complain.  We forget that we are the creature and not the creator.

We are made in the image of God and have great value.  We have been gifted specifically by God and given a purpose for life.  We are created to do God’s will and to bring him glory.  The rub is that we are not here for selfish and sinful reasons, but for God.  Even those that are not chosen by God to be his children have been made for a purpose.

The potter makes from the same lump of clay one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use. (Rm 9:21)  As children of God, we have been shown mercy and grace to be vessels of honor to the Lord.  Learning to embrace and understand our role within God’s will is a lifelong adventure in the faith that builds contentment and happiness.

Are you wrestling with God over your position in life?

Reading Plan: Psalm 37:1-18; Isa. 45:5-17; Eph. 5:15-33; Mark 4:21-34

Daily Office Year 1

18 JAN 23 Wednesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 18 JAN 23 Wednesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord.  So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” Ephesians 5:8-9

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because thou art with me.” Believers know well that we are in a war and there will be days that will be dark.  Our struggles become real as they say.  Pain, suffering, and being overwhelmed emotionally is the lot for the children of God too.  We are not exempt, but it is different for us.

It is a temporary event that God can use to shape and develop us like precious metals.  The heat and pressure purifies the believer and brings glory to God in the process.  At the end of our lives in this mortal body, we move on to be in the fullness of God himself in an eternal body that experiences no pain, suffering, or death.  Whereas the lost face eternal suffering.

Paul gives plain instruction in chapter five to stay in alignment with God and to live a life that burns through the darkest places of our lives.  Imitate God, embrace a life of love, and to live in the light which produces the good, right, and true things that make you strong and is a pleasing aroma to God.  We were once evil and darkness, now we are light.  We can expose self-inflicted darkness which is our sins or external foes that wish to kill and destroy us.

Are you fully living in the light or still dabbling in darkness?

Reading Plan: Psalm 38; Isa. 44:24-45:7; Eph. 5:1-14; Mark 4:1-20

Daily Office Year 1

17 JAN 23 Tuesday -A Closer Walk Devotional

17 JAN 23 Tuesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“How foolish are those who manufacture idols.  These prized objects are really worthless.  The people who worship idols don’t know this, so they are all put to shame.” Isaiah 44:9

Both the Isaiah and the Ephesians passage, God gives us insight into the mind of people that are not believers.  All of us were in a state of confusion, full of darkness, and our minds closed to God.  Funny that today our opponents and the enemies of God, tell us that we are closed or narrow minded toward their views.  They project their self-righteous virtues in order to cast themselves as good.

God explains that they are spiritually dead to God and blind to his way of life.  They don’t even realize that their prized objects of worship are worthless.  They are self deceived and ignorant to the things of God.  Today we look to education as an end to various social problems.  It is now worshiped and so are the people who dispense it.  They count themselves wise, when in fact God calls them fools.

God tells us not to buy into their ways because they are wicked and offensive to him.  We were chosen to be his people and to live to glorify him, not ourselves or others.  Renew your mind and attitudes with the Spirit.  Put on the new nature given to you so that God can make you into the person you were made to be.

 Are you living in your old nature or the new?

Reading Plan: Psalm 26, 28; Isa. 44:9-20; Eph. 4:17-32; Mark 3:19b-35

Daily Office Year 1

16 JAN 23 Monday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 16 JAN 23 Monday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.  Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11

It is interesting that we have made changes over the centuries to what was intended in being the church and how it is to function.  The old saying, form follows function rings true and explains the frustration of many in the church.  Pastors wonder why the people are not embracing the “doing” side of the church and the people wonder why they are not getting the entertainment value from their tithing dollars.  We are off the mark in a big way.

The form of church actually produces the very problem that everyone is complaining about.  Pastors and teachers have become pushers of information and motivational speech entertainment.  The people have become consumers and self focused.  Paul states that everyone is to grow healthy and mature, being able to live the life Christ expects.

The leaders of the church are supposed to be trainers, not orators or entertainers.  The people are to be developed into practitioners to do the work of ministry both in the church and reaching the lost for Christ.  All of us have roles and responsibilities that serve to fulfill the mission we were commissioned to complete.  If the church is not fulfilling the mission, producing mature people, and multiplying disciples, it is not a church.  It’s a country club.

Are you being developed into a practitioner or a consumer?

Reading Plan: Psalm 25; Isa. 44:6-8, 21-23; Eph. 4:1-16; Mark 3:7-19 

Daily Office Year 1