31 OCT 23 Tuesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 31 OCT 23 Tuesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat.  Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore.  He told many stories in the form of parables.” Matthew 13:2-3a

Think about how many people you interact with on a daily basis.  You take the kids to school, go to the store, to the gym, to work, and a variety of other places.  If you were to guess how many people that would be, what do you think? 20, 30, 50? That number will differ for each of us, but God will use our interactions to change the world around us, often one person at a time.

Jesus spent a great deal of time traveling through towns and villages to share the good news, to heal, and to deliver people from demonic bondage.   As news traveled, the crowds began to come to him as well.  He used those interactions strategically, looking for people to become disciples.  In order to do that, he had to filter people out of the crowds who would follow him.

Jesus used parables among other ways to get to the people he desired while conveying spiritual truth to all.  The use of parables was a fulfillment of a prophecy from Isaiah that states that people will not believe when they hear it.  They will be revealed as spiritually dull unless the Holy Spirit opens their understanding.  The parable acts as a filter in the crowd reducing the number of people who get it thereby finding the needle in the haystack.

As you go through your daily life, you will encounter many people who will not receive the good news that you share or the hospitality you give.  That’s okay because God is using the gospel as a filter so that you will be investing in the few he desires for you to have.  That may only be one person and that may be just the right amount for now.  You can only invest deeply in a few, not a large crowd.

Is God revealing a few people in your life to invest in?

Reading Plan: Psalm 45; Ezra 5:1-17; Rev. 4:1-11; Matt. 13:1-9

30 OCT 23 Monday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 30 OCT 23 Monday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“Jesus asked, Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? Then he pointed to his disciples and said, Look, these are my mother and brothers.  Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” Matt. 12: 48-50

In many conversations, I hear how there are broken or dysfunctional families.  Some family members don’t speak to one another and others that bicker and fight.  The family system has its negatives when it has broken people in it.  There is no perfect family even though there are many healthy families who don’t experience the same trials as others do.  God’s plan for the family from the beginning has structure and strength when it is connected fully to him.

Jesus had a good upbringing with a mother and father in the home as well as brothers and sisters.  His parents were dedicated to God and submitted to his plan for their lives.  Their love and training helped in the development of the children into adults.  Jesus intended to create a family for God, one that would be a royal priesthood of saints.  You would know his kids by their love for one another and their devotion to God and his will.

While Jesus was teaching, his family members came looking for him to meet with him.  The crowd knew who they were and called out to Jesus to let him know they had arrived.  Jesus used this as an object lesson on who belongs to his family.  The statement that was made did not insult Mary and his brothers, it was an expansion of who the family is.  “Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”  Are you doing his will?

You become a family member of God when you submit to his Lordship and surrender your life not because you were born on this earth.  That is a beautiful thing and we will ultimately become a strong family system that has no sin which leads to brokenness, no pain or suffering, and be in perfect love and unity.  We can learn to strive for that even now, but it takes courage, mutual submission, commitment to truth, to really love each other, and devotion to Jesus.

Are you a part of the family of God?

Reading Plan: Psalm 41, 52; Zech. 1:7-17; Rev. 1:4-20; Matt. 12:43-50

29 OCT 23 Sunday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 29 OCT 23 Sunday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor.  And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses.” Haggai 1: 9

Do you ever get your priorities out of wack? You can get so focused on things that don’t matter and can miss the truly important stuff.  God’s people focused on building wealth, establishing themselves, building their fancy homes, and forgetting God.  In and of themselves wealth and property are not an issue.  If we make those things our complete focus then they become idols that take up our time, talent, and energy.

In Haggai, the people were sent back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple and the city's walls.  The favor of God was shown by influencing kings to give them the ability to restore the central part of their culture and lives.  Because they didn’t prioritize the things of the Lord, he ruined the harvest thereby damaging their economy and expectations.  God got their attention and told them his intentions both in punishment and in stating his expectations.

Where does that leave us? As the church, locally, nationally, and globally, we need to ask ourselves if we are keeping the main thing the main thing.  Are we prioritizing the work of the Lord and his mission or are our efforts and labor on our desires? How do you know? Take a look at your bank account and your calendar.  

How much do you spend on the spread of the gospel or support of the local church? How much time are you intentionally spending sharing the gospel, serving others, praying for the lost, and building up the church? Be honest with yourself and the Lord.  Don’t be surprised if God gets your attention through unpleasant measures.  Stop delaying and start doing what he says.

Are you focused on God’s priorities?

Reading Plan: Psalm 63:1-8, 98; Haggai 1:1-2, 9; Acts 18:24-19:7; Luke 10:25-37

28 OCT 23 Saturday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 28 OCT 23 Saturday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt.  I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’  And you forgave me!  All my guilt is gone.” Psalm 32: 5

We carry a lot of baggage in our hearts and minds that can really weigh us down.  We still lug it around and it shows on our faces.  One of my fellow chaplains did a little skit where he had a backpack that was empty and a table full of bricks.  Each brick had a different emotion, sin, problem, and stressor written on it.  The volunteer put the empty backpack on and then began adding the bricks to the backpack.

Before long, the volunteer was visibly getting weaker and struggling to keep his balance.  Eventually, it became too heavy to carry and he fell.  In the story, Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian is carrying all his burdens in a backpack hoping to be able to unload them to someone.  He was told that if he reached the narrow gate there would be a person to take his burdens.  We are all like that, carrying around burdens that can be unloaded, but we just keep adding bricks.

Why? The psalmist experiences this and acknowledges that he refused to deal with the problems he had and his body began to waste away and he groaned all day long. (v. 3)  It got to the point that he needed help from the only person who could lift his burdens from him, God.  When he confessed “all” his sins and revealed all the bricks he had been carrying, the Lord responded by forgiving him and taking his guilt away.  

God can deal with any sin, frustration, addiction, depression, illness, ideation, demonic influence, or possession.  He can forgive you, give you perspective, and purpose, and take away the guilt and shame.  So what are you waiting for? Why do you still rebel?

Are you being crushed under the weight of your burdens?

Reading Plan: Psalm 30, 32; Ezra 4:7, 11-24; Philemon 1:1-25; Matt. 12:33-42

27 OCT 23 Friday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 27 OCT 23 Friday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple’s foundation.  The others, however, were shouting for joy.  The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance.” Ezra 3:12-13

The older I get the more I laugh when I get together with my friends and we get to talking about the good old days.  Not that today is worse, it’s actually better in my estimation.  We talk about things with a high gloss on them and sometimes we can make them out to be better than they were.  We can have such fond memories of something that we cannot bear to think of something new or start to poo poo the new thing.

In Ezra, you have the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and you have two groups of people, the old and the young.  The older generation remembers what the original Temple looked like in all of its glory.  The ark of the covenant was there, heavenly fire, mercy seat, shechinah glory, and the size and majesty of it all.  This new one would be small in comparison to the new one. These old guys had probably seen its destruction so this was a very emotional event.

Their emotions were discouraging to the younger generation who were excited to be a part of restoring the Temple and Jerusalem.  The worship that broke out was filled with mixed emotions for joy and sorrow which ultimately would cause problems.  God was doing something significant in that moment that the old guys were missing and becoming bling to what God was going to do.  Jesus himself would walk in this Temple preaching, teaching, healing, and issues in the Kingdom.  That didn’t happen in the first Temple.  

Let’s not get so caught up in the glory days that we miss what God is doing right now in our day.  Young or old we can be guilty of this and become hardened to the move of God.

Are you looking back when you should be looking at right now?

Reading Plan: Psalm 31; Ezra 3:1-13; 1 Cor. 16:10-24; Matt. 12:22-32