Deaf Devotion 11/26/2010

I will be honest. You would expect nothing less than that from any person, right? I try very hard to keep the devotions focused and that anyone can use for their personal situations. Sometimes my own feelings and thoughts collide with that and overflow so I write devotions to preach at myself too. Today is one of those.

I have been struggling with some issues in my so-called “life.” Things are not going exactly the way I would like them to go. Maybe I am experiencing my own mid-life crisis. (Don’t worry. I am not going out to buy a motorcycle!) Things are not happening the way I want them to happen nor are they happening fast enough for me. I ask God, “Why?” “Why not?” “When?” God responds with an answer that says that it’s not about what I want or what I expect to happen. It’s all focused on Him and His plan and purpose for me and the purpose for which HE created me. Still sometimes those words seem empty.

Do I need “more faith?” I thought I was faithful in quiet confidence. What is “more faith?” I pray my faith stays strong while at times it seems difficult and at other times seems not to make sense.

”All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NLT)

God's care for us extends to the smallest and most hidden details of our lives. He knows when His children hurt and longs to offer comfort “Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their suffering. (Isaiah 49:13 NLT)

The Lord's compassion is personal, continuous, and always available. We receive His comfort through the Holy Spirit, who lives within us. There is no situation or time when He is inaccessible to the believer. We can be consoled and reassured at any time, day or night.

Consider how the compassion of God was demonstrated through Jesus' life. He interacted even with the "untouchables"—people whose bodies were infected with a contagious disease. And no sickness of ours will prevent Him from caring for us.

Jesus had compassion on people with medical conditions. He not only healed them physically but also gave an even greater comfort. Each and every time He gave new life through the forgiveness of sins. And while our infirmities may remain, the Lord lovingly strengthens us to carry on into the future.

And what about the messes we get ourselves into? Peter's betrayal of Christ was met with forgiveness. Thomas' doubts were answered by Jesus Himself. Our mistakes won't stop Him from loving us. Even to His enemies, Jesus left the way open for repentance.

God's comfort and care are adequate for anything we face, whether it's declining health, insufficient finances, or family trouble. Then, once we've experienced His consolation, we are to become bearers of comfort to others. People everywhere are in great need of His compassion.

Whenever feelings of low self-worth threaten us with discouragement, we need to rely on the truth of God's Word rather than our emotions.

“But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10 NLT)

“A Chosen People” – God chose you and me to be part of His kingdom and family because He wanted us. No one who has been specially selected by almighty God can call themselves insignificant or even forgotten.

“A Royal Priesthood” – As believers, we are children of God and, therefore, part of a royal family. In other words, we are "heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:17 KJV) Just as Jesus fulfilled the roles of both king and priest, so God has also entrusted us with priestly responsibilities of worship and intercession for others.

“A Holy Nation” – The church—or body of Christ—is a group of people who are holy, which means "set apart" for God’s specific plan and purpose individually. Our lives are never meaningless, because living for the Lord is the greatest purpose one can have.

A People for “God's Own Possession” – You and I are the personal possessions of God. He so values each of us that He sent His Son to die in our place in order that we could be His.

Each of these descriptions shows the high value God places on us. Satan may whisper lies of condemnation and criticism, but he can't change who we really are. Begin today to demonstrate the truth of Scripture by remembering our real identity and living out our high calling from the Lord.

God gives to us so that we can give to others. God comforts us so that we can comfort others. The Christian life is about loving, giving, caring, comforting, etc. How can we help hurting people? How can we help one another? After all, we are to love one and bear one another’s burdens. What can we do? We don’t know what to say or how to pray or what to do.

I’m convinced that there are many people in the world who are hurting unnecessarily because they refuse to turn for the source of all compassion and comfort. Here’s the hope for the hurting this morning: when there is discouragement and hurting, and comfort is what we seek, go to the source. There’s only one source, and that is God.

He is called the Father of compassion, and the God of all comfort. God wrote the book on compassion and comfort, because He is the creator of it. That is the best self-help book one could buy.

Deaf Devotion 11/19/2010

“Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22 NLT)

God's grace has no limits. This is an easy statement to make. But do we really understand the meaning of “no limits?” Wherever we go God is already there. If we are worried about the future, God is already there. Whatever trouble we experience God is right there with us.

If we think of God in heaven, remember God is everywhere. If we think God is Wise, remember there is nothing that God does not know. Whatever problem we have God is bigger and more powerful. His name is the name above all names. The depth of His love is so great we cannot copy it here on earth.

His mercy can reach the darkest part of our hearts. What's more, the forgiveness Jesus completed on the cross stretches back to earth's first day and projects forward to its last. Christ not only erased our past, present, and future sin; He also paid for the wrongs of every generation.

When the ancient Israelites brought a goat or a lamb to the temple for a sacrifice, they placed their hands on its head and confessed their sins. The priest then killed the animal and sprinkled some of its blood on the altar of atonement. The ritual symbolized a person’s payment for sin. But that is all it was, a ritual, a habit, a tradition, or a procedure. The problem was that the lamb could not actually take on the sin and die in place of the Israelite (Heb. 10:4).

If an animal's blood could actually bring forgiveness and erase a sin-debt, you and me would still be offering those frequent sacrifices in a temple, and Jesus' death would have been unnecessary. Yet we must remember that, though the act itself had no saving power, the ritual of sacrifice was God's idea. He established such offerings as a powerful image of the seriousness and penalty of sin. The act of sacrifice also pointed to Christ's perfect sacrifice and death on the Cross for you and me and the salvation He offers.

Modern believers practice certain biblical rituals too. But God does not forgive us through prayer, Bible reading, or even the act of confession. Like the Israelites, we must also look to a lamb—the Lamb of God. When we receive Jesus' sacrifice for our sins, we are forgiven forever.

It is only through accepting Jesus Christ as Savior that our debt is paid in full and the payment was made at the Cross one time for all people.

If someone or someone we know of doubts that God has forgiven them, make it right immediately.
If someone or someone we know of needs to hear the truth of the Gospel, tell them now.
If someone or someone we know feels that they are unworthy or unable to be saved, remember that God loves us so much and thought us important and worthy enough that He sacrificed HIS OWN Son once and for all to forever erase the sin-debt we owe Him.

Right now stop and praise God for His unlimited grace and mercy. Exalt Jesus Christ the sacrificed Lamb of God who gave His life so that you and I can have eternal life. That’s forever. That means a future with no limit. And God is already there. Amen.

Deaf Devotion 11/14/2010

“Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.” (James 1:17-18 NLT)

There is a saying that says, “The more things change the more they stay the same.” We live in a changing society. A society that says:
If you don’t like yourself, change.
If you don’t like your job, change.
If you don’t like your wife or husband, change.
If you don’t like your church, change.
If you don’t like your God, change.

But, Praise God James says GOD DOES NOT CHANGE

God's character is often distorted and changed by the world. To those who do not know God, or those who say there is no God, He can appear as a harsh ruler who is quick to condemn any act of disobedience. Or He is some mysterious being who holds out salvation as a prize only to be taken away or lost the next time we make a mistake. Somehow that false view has infected our churches as well. There are believers who approach the Lord as if He were a stingy old man who gives out bits of love, grace, and forgiveness when things are good and then turns His back and disappears when things go wrong. But spiritual poverty is not the Father's plan for His children!

At salvation, God gives and we receive every good gift that God intends to give us: forgiveness, redemption, righteousness, a place in His family, and a room in His house, access to His richness and wisdom, and so much more. There is a mistaken notion among some believers that the Lord's grace to us increases as our faith matures. If that were accurate, we would be earning His blessing though works. The truth is that spiritual growth makes us better able to recognize and enjoy His grace in our lives.

Sadly, plenty of people feel unworthy to enjoy the Lord's blessings. Thankfully, we do not have to earn His goodness, because none of us would be able to do so. In fact, Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV underscores the fact that God operates on the basis of His grace rather than our works. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Think of how big, wide, deep and limitless is God’s love. We are His masterpiece. His best work. He honors, blesses, and showers us with grace because He wants to, not because He must, and not because we earn it.

Our heavenly Father is so generous. He opens His hand wide to pour out grace upon us. Instead of sampling meager bites of His Word and His presence on Sunday, we ought to devour whole "meals" every day. Follow the psalmist's advice to "taste and see that the LORD is good." (Psalm 34:8)

Praise and thanksgiving be to the Lord our God for all His countless gifts and blessings. Amen.

Deaf Devotion 11/02/2010

“O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things you do.” (Psalm 71:17 NLT)

Today is Election Day around the country. Have you noticed? Does it stir your heart to do something? Have you voted? If not, why not? If not, get up and go. Many people are saying this will be an Election Day to change history. It seems to be the same thing they say every two years. Some people say, “Well I am one person and my vote will not matter.” “I don’t have time.” “Why vote? Nothing will change anyways.” These excuses are sad, but people have actually said them.

Satan wants us to forget one simple truth. One thing is missing. We tend to forget that many men and women have given their lives so you and I can have the freedom and the right to vote. To not vote is to say all these heroes have died and their families sacrificed for nothing.

One of the things Brenda and I dislike about voting is the group of people who stand outside handing out papers and stuff about their candidate. You must go through them to get in to vote. Today was different. There was a group of people there representing several different candidates. None of them tried to hand us a pencil, a pin, or even a piece of paper with someone’s name on it. What happened is that when we were going in and coming out someone in this group shouted simply, “Thanks for coming out to vote!” That impressed me.

Understand when we do not vote because we do not feel like it or because we don’t think our vote matters or makes a difference actually dishonors God. God established government in the post-flood era with the family of Noah. They messed it up then, and because we are all sinners, it is still not a perfect system today. But in the end it belongs to God. The only perfect system of government is that which God lays out in His Word.

We need to understand that voting is a way for God to show Himself mighty and powerful through the votes HIS people cast on Election Day. Only God through HIS people can bring about the change HE wants to see.

Understand that Satan is on a killing spree. He wants to kill our memory and wants us to become forgetful, so that we will not remember our Christian heritage as a nation. Tragically, he’s aiming his artillery at our children, and particularly in the place where they used to grow, mature and become the future leaders of this country: The Schools.

Prayer is out. Police are in.
Bibles are out. Political correctness and tolerance is in.
The Ten Commandments are out. Social programs and trusting the government for everything is in.
Creation is out. Evolution is in.
History is out. Rewriting history to match a political agenda or “revisionism” is in.

God says we need to remember the generation to come. That is our children. Do we want children to not care about the future or think that the government will take care of it? No, the answer lies in today’s verse. “O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things you do.”

The universe as we know it and everything in it, leaders and followers, time, space, the past, the present, and the future are all in God’s hands. That includes voting and the right to vote. Let’s think about God as we vote. How would He view our choices? Would our choices show what God has taught since our birth? This is not an easy question. It does not have an easy answer. It requires prayer. It requires seeking God’s wisdom in voting, and not the wisdom of a newspaper writer, or a person on CNN or Fox.

I do not support politicians going into a church and speaking anything other than God’s Word. I will not use this devotion as anything other than that for which God wants it used. Today when we vote, let God lead our hands as we mark the ballot. “O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things you do.” Let our votes show what God has taught us.