The Daily Dozen (Part 1)

The Daily Dozen (Part 1)

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word cheers it up. Proverbs 12:25

Robert Louis Stevenson had a “daily dozen” that comprised his personal creed. They are worth looking at today. Here are the first six:

1. Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things.

2. Make the best of your circumstances. No one has everything, and everyone has something of sorrow intermingles with the gladness of life. The trick is to make the laughter outweigh the tears.

3. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Don’t think that somehow you should be protected from misfortunes that befall others.

4. You can’t please everybody. Don’t let criticism worry you.

5. Don’t let your neighbor set your standards. Be yourself.

6. Do the things you enjoy doing, but stay out of debt.

Not bad principles for us to consider for our daily lives. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Judges 3-5; Psalm 83; Proverbs 31

Compass Pointers: Unless a man has to do more than he can do, he will not do all that he can do. Gordon Cooper

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverb 13:20-25

Anchored to the Rock: Honest dealing becomes us when we kneel in God’s pure presence. David McIntryre

Duty or Devotion

DUTY OR DEVOTION?

“But Martha was distracted with much serving…”  (Luke 10:40)

            What do your outward actions say about you?  Do they say that you are serving the Lord out of a genuine love for Him?  Martha allowed her sense of duty to get in the way of her devotion to the Lord.  We know this because Jesus had to remind her that her sister Mary had chosen the good part, which was a quiet sense of devotion and worship.

            There is a time for work and there is a time for worship.  I am not attempting to minimize the importance of work.  The Apostle James said, “…I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18).  He also said, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” (v.26).

            Martha’s problem was not laziness.  Her life did not have a shortage of activity.  Like many Christians of today she was extremely busy.  Her problem was that she was too busy.  She was so involved in working to serve Jesus, she forgot to stop and worship Him.

            Mary’s life was marked by adoration.  Martha’s life was one of frustration.  What set these two sisters apart?  Their focus!

            Martha’s preoccupation with service led to frustration.  Do you frequently feel disturbed?  Do you find yourself complaining about others and comparing what you are doing to what they are doing?  Are you easily worried or agitated?  Do you serve Christ out of necessity rather than devotion?  If you answered yes to these questions you need to pause and ask the Lord to stir the fires of your devotion to Him.

            Mary knew the value of true devotion and worship.  Worship should always precede work.  Our work should be the overflow of our worship.  Or focus should be on being not on doing.  What we do for Jesus should emerge out of who we are in Jesus.

            I have heard Dr. Stephen Olford say many times, “God is more concerned with who you are than what you do; and if you are does not please Him, then what you do is virtually useless.”

            Make devotion to Jesus a priority in your life. Dr. Roger D. Willmore will be speaking at America’s Keswick July 31- August 5, 2011

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Judges 1-2; Psalm 82: Proverbs 30

Compass Pointers: Man’s practices are the best indexes of his principles. Stephen Charnock

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverbs 13:20-25

Anchored to the Rock: When a man is on his knees before God, that he is – and nothing more. Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Don't Try Taking Shortcuts with God

Don’t Try Taking Shortcuts with God

“You earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” (Haggai 1:6)

            There is a tendency in our society to try to cut corners and take shortcuts.  Sometimes a shortcut to avoid traffic is a good idea.  But generally speaking, shortcuts have a way of backfiring on us.  This is especially true when we try to cut corners in things regarding our relationship to God.

            In our Haggai text, God is chiding His people because while they were rebuilding their own houses, they were neglecting God’s temple.  The result was that, even though they were planting crops and working hard at their respective occupations, they were not making any profit.  Earlier in the nation’s experience, the people had apparently greedily refused to allow the land to rest for its Sabbath year (see Leviticus 25).  But according to 2 Chronicles 36:21, they had been neglecting those years of rest and had been harvesting all they could.  Thus, when the nation went into the seventy year captivity, God said the Sabbaths would be made up while they were gone.

            I had a pastor friend in another state who frequently visited a man who had been shut in for some time.  During one of these visits, the man asked the pastor why he thought the Lord was leaving him in his condition so long.  The pastor suggested they both pray for an answer and discuss it on the next visit.  Sure enough, when the pastor entered the house on the next visit, the man had an answer.  He related how some time earlier he had been suspected of not dealing honestly with some church funds.  The man because angry and decided to leave the church and prove that he could make money without the church . Now he realized that God was leaving him in his condition until all his money was gone.  Not too long afterward the man died and the pastor had his funeral.  At the service a daughter related to the pastor that all the man’s money was gone and they were about ready to sell the house. 

            That which he thought he could enjoy without God’s people became useless to him except for surviving.  God is an excellent bookkeeper and we need to be very careful about cutting corners with Him.

Rev. Thomas D. Murray was a great mentor to many men in ministry over the years, and was a dear friend of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Joshua 22-24; Psalm 81; Proverbs 29

Compass Pointers: May the power of your love, Lord Christ, fiery and sweet as honey, so absorb our hearts as to withdraw them from all that is under heaven. Grant that we may be ready to die for love of your love, as you died for love of our love. Francis of Assisi

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverbs 13:20-25

Anchored to the Rock: There is nothing that tells the truth about us as Christians so much as our prayer life. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Ain't It a Shame, What Happened to Cain?

Ain’t It a Shame, What Happened To Cain?

“The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”  Gen 4:6-9 (ESV)

Am I my brother’s keeper? This is the first question, full of anger and seasoned with sarcasm, ever to be uttered by man. I have often thought how things might have been if Adam asked God “Why can’t I eat the fruit of this tree?” but he didn’t. Maybe it was because Adam knew better to challenge His Creator. After all, we all know what happened to Creation after the serpent crawled out from under the rock that he was hiding beneath. He began to question the authority of God to Eve. And would have God answered Adam…hmmm? Well, He doesn’t answer Cain directly but if you’re reading your Bible you can tell that God has used the entirety of His Word to give Cain and us His answer.

We all should know the story. Cain and his brother Abel bring their offerings to God. Abel’s offering is accepted because he approaches the altar as a sinner. Cain’s offering is not accepted. It could have been that because he approached the altar with a heart that may have said, “I’m in the building, I’m in the pew with my Bible open to some chapter, here’s the tithe check and can we get this over with I don’t want to miss the ball game on T.V.” attitude that God rejected his offering. And maybe you just had an “OUCH” moment with that statement or maybe you are an Abel who sits next to a brother who is huffin’-n-puffin’ this under his breath.

As we follow along in the story Cain lures his brother out to the fields and strikes him down giving us the first recorded act of murder. What we don’t get told in the story is why. Why did Cain feel the need to kill his own brother? I believe that if we look at the entirety of God’s Word we will find that the answer is throughout the Bible. It does begin with disobedience and then it branches out in many directions. Perhaps Cain’s pride of being the first born or the jealousy of a man who toils on the earth while watching someone take a nap under a tree as the sheep sorta-kinda tend to themselves. How about just the plain simple envy of someone else who has gotten that Fatherly recognition that maybe they rightly feel is theirs. In any case, I think Cain allowed himself to become offended and killed to try to get it out of his system.

Cain displayed a proud and unbelieving heart towards God. How do we recognize this?  It’s when we take a look at the beginning of chapter four in Genesis you see there in verse three, “In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground”. Doesn’t say first fruit does it? No it doesn’t. In a nutshell it says that Cain wanted to hurry up and get this offering stuff done and over with, right? Ain’t got the time to pick the best just pick something up off the ground and throw it on the altar. Maybe he was already angry that because of what Adam and Eve did in their disobedience is what had him digging in the dirt. We’ll never know…or will we? Have we looked in the mirror lately? Hmmm…

 “Am I my brother’s keeper?” In his pride Cain felt that he didn’t answer for nothing. But that doesn’t work for us does it…Brother? If you have Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior in your life you are your brother’s keeper by default. If we are alive in Him and dead to ourselves we called to go that extra mile with each other. So you might as well wear your best walking shoes because that mile may be longer than you think.  It is a shame what happened to Abel for certain but ain’t it a shame what happened to Cain? But we don’t have to carry around this same shame, do we?  That was nailed to a Cross of wood at Golgotha. We need to leave that there and live for the One that was able to bear it for us. Amen? – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular contributor to Freedom Fighter

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Joshua 19-21; Psalm 80; Proverbs 28

Compass Pointers: “In all ages there have been two sorts of worshippers, such as Cain and Abel; namely, proud, hardened despisers of the gospel method of salvation, who attempt to please God in ways of their own devising; and humble believers, who draw near to Him in the way He has revealed. Cain indulged malignant anger against Abel. He harboured an evil spirit of discontent and rebellion against God. God notices all our sinful passions and discontents. There is not an angry, envious, or fretful look that escapes His observing eye.”  Matthew Henry Concise

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverbs 13:2-25

Anchored to the Rock: There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him. William Law

Psalm 145 -- A Paraphrase

Psalm 145 – A Paraphrase

Here is a great paraphrase of Psalm 145 from Leslie Brandt’s book, Psalms Now, which I hope will prepare your heart for worship:

God is here – let’s celebrate!
Let us enlist our lives in perpetual celebration
   over God’s goodness and greatness.
Let us announce to the world God’s presence and
   proclaim His loving concern for all men.

How compassionate He is over all He has created,
   how tender toward His failure-fraught creatures!
He will not cop out on His promises to us,
His blessings are not reserved only for those
   who fit obediently in His design for them.
He is just – He is forgiving!
He gently picks up those who have fallen
   and restores them to sonship and servanthood.
He sustains those who are wavering in weakness
   and grants them His grace and strength.
He reaches into the void of empty lives,
   and enriches and fulfills their hungry hearts.
He is near enough to hear our every cry,
   to sense our every need,
   to grant us whatever is necessary,
   to make us happy and productive
   as we seek to follow and to serve Him.
How incomparably glorious is our great God!
May our mouths articulate and our lives demonstrate
   His ever-present love for all His creatures!
Let us celebrate the eternal mercy and goodness of our God.

Today is all about HIM! Celebrate Him – He is here! – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Joshua 16-18; Psalm 79; Proverbs 27

Compass Pointers: Late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved you! You were within me, and I was outside; and I sought you outside and in my loneliness fell upon those lovely things that you have made. You were with me, but I was not with you.... You called me and cried to me and broke open my deafness; you sent forth your beams and shone upon me and chased away my blindness; you breathed your fragrance upon me, and I drew in my breath and now I pant for you; I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst for you; you touched me, and I burn for your peace. Augustine

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverbs 13:20-25

Anchored to the Rock: No can pray well but that he lives well. Thomas Fuller

Learning from Your Mistakes

Learning From Your Mistakes

What did Paul learn while standing on Mar’s Hill

            Speaking to the folk gathered there?

Why did they not turn to his Savior

And suddenly become men of prayer?

They said that Paul had interesting thoughts

            And that, perhaps, they might hear more.

But an Unknown God could not be known

            They were no better than they were before.

He left Mar’s Hill for the harbor

            To the church he had long ago started.

But what he found when he got there

            Were divided people. He became broken hearted.

No eloquent words left his lips.

            No miracles marked his speech then.

If they would follow his Savior

            It would not be because of Him.

 It would be because of the Savior’s Cross

            Which would never lose its power.

Only the cross can change a heart

            And it will to this very hour.

January 30,2011 – Written by Pastor George Van Sandt. Pastor Van will serve as Campus Pastor again this summer at America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Joshua 12-15; Psalm 78:40-72; Proverbs 26

Compass Pointers: “I keep trying to find a life, on my own apart from You. I am the king of excuses, I’ve got one for every selfish thing I do. What’s going on inside of me? I despise my own behavior. This only serves to confirm my suspicions that I’m still a man in need of a savior.…..O Lord be my Light and my Salvation. The disease of the self runs through my blood, like cancer fatal to the soul. Every attempt on my behalf has failed, to keep the sickness under control…Lord be my Light and be my salvation.” Charlie Peacock, “In the Light”

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 12:25; Level 2: Proverbs 12:17-22

Anchored to the Rock: Pray, and then start answering your prayer. Deane Edwards

Divine Indwelling

DIVINE INDWELLING

“At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” (John 14:20)

            Jesus had been addressing the request of Philip, “Lord, show us the Father.”  In His response Jesus had given statements concerning His deity and the interrelationship of the members of the Godhead.  He then applies this to what was in store for the disciples and ultimately for us.  He speaks of a day in which He would depart, but that He would send another Helper who would be of the very same essence as He.  This was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to indwell the disciples.  The One who had been with them would now be in them.

            At the time of the Spirit’s indwelling them, the disciples would have a new level of understanding concerning the indwelling relationship of Jesus to the Father, the believer to Jesus, and Jesus to the believer.  Check out Colossians 2:9-10 in this regard.  It is of interest to note that the word for know goes beyond the theoretical type of knowledge.  It involves experience.  Jesus is saying that the Holy Spirit, as He indwells the believer, will cause him to know in experience the reality of the mutual indwelling of Christ and the Christian.  As the child of God abides in Christ, it is the job of the Spirit to form the character of Jesus in Him.  This is illustrated in John 15:1-11.  Being in Christ, His very life flows into him producing the fruit which he is to bear.

            Because Jesus dwells in us, all of the resources of His life and power are resident in us and available to be appropriated by faith.  This truth can be personalized as Paul did in Galatians 2:20.  Essential truths expressed there are: I died with Him, my life is no longer mine, He lives in me, and I live now by faith in the One who died for me and rose again.

            It should be our daily delight to be reminded that the Lord Jesus Christ, the all-sufficient One, lives in us.  He lives in us to be our sufficiency to meet every need. Pastor William A. Raws was the grandson of our founder and served for 50+ years at America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Joshua 9-11; Psalm 78:1-39; Proverbs 25

Compass Pointers: If my interest in the work of others is cool; if I think in terms of my own special work; if the burdens of others are not my burdens too, and their joys mine, then I know nothing of Calvary love. Amy Carmichael

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 12:25; Level 2: Proverbs 12:17-22

Anchored to the Rock: Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer. John Bunyan

The Burning Heart

The Burning Heart

“Did not our heart burn within us …?” Luke 24:32

Here is another thought-provoking devotional written by Oswald Chambers. It is from the March 22^nd reading from My Utmost for His Highest …

We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visions; but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart— a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart— unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.

Much of the distress we experience as Christians comes not as the result of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the only test we should use to determine whether or not to allow a particular emotion to run its course in our lives is to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will be.

Think it through to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something that God would condemn, put a stop to it immediately. But if it is an emotion that has been kindled by the Spirit of God and you don’t allow it to have its way in your life, it will cause a reaction on a lower level than God intended. That is the way unrealistic and overly emotional people are made. And the higher the emotion, the deeper the level of corruption, if it is not exercised on its intended level.

If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many of your decisions as possible irrevocable, and let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay forever on the “mount of transfiguration,” basking in the light of our mountaintop experience (see Mark 9:1-9). But we must obey the light we received there; we must put it into action. When God gives us a vision, we must transact business with Him at that point, no matter what the cost.

We cannot kindle when we will The fire which in the heart resides, The spirit bloweth and is still, In mystery our soul abides; But tasks in hours of insight willed Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.

The question I am asking my heart is this: Is my heart burning with the right things today? Is there something in my life that God is directing me to condemn in MY life? Good questions to think about and ponder. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Joshua 5-8; Psalm 77; Proverbs 24

Compass Pointers: Though I know intellectually how vulnerable I am to pride and power, I am the last one to know when I succumb to their seduction. That's why spiritual Lone Rangers are so dangerous - and why we must depend on trusted brothers and sisters who love us enough to tell us the truth. Charles (Chuck) Colson

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 12:25; Level 2: Proverbs 12:17-22

Anchored to the Rock: if you would have God hear you when you pray, you must heart him when He speaks. Thomas Brooks

Indentified or Simply Interested?

Identified or Simply Interested?

“I have been crucified with Christ …”  Galatians 2:20

Today’s devotion is from the pen of Oswald Chambers. It is the Keswick message and a powerful teaching from Chamber’s devotional, My Utmost for His Highest:

The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself.

Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ . . . .” He did not say, “I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ,” or, “I will really make an effort to follow Him”-but-”I have been identified with Him in His death.” Once I reach this moral decision and act on it, all that Christ accomplished for me on the Cross is accomplished in me. My unrestrained commitment of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.

“. . . it is no longer I who live . . . .” My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed.

“. . . and the life which I now live in the flesh,” not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh-the life which others can see, “I live by faith in the Son of God . . . .” This faith was not Paul’s own faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith the Son God had given to him (see Ephesians 2:8). It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits-a faith that comes only from the Son of God.

Wow! My question is this: are you indentified or our you just simply interested? Only you can answer that question. Think about it. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

God’s Positioning System: Joshua 1-4; Psalm 76; Proverbs 23

Compass Pointers:  God’s Positioning System: An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.  A. W. Tozer

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 12:25; Level 2: Proverbs 12:17-22

Anchored to the Rock: Prayer is humbling work. It abases intellect and pride, crucifies vainglory and signs our spiritual bankruptcy, and all these are hard for the flesh and blood to bear. E. M. Bounds

Seven Hindrances to Prayer

.Seven Hindrances To Prayer – R. A. Torrey

From How To Pray

We are in the midst of our staff enrichment retreat and we are spending much time as a staff in prayer. In my preparation for the prayer times, I came across this outline written by Dr. R. A. Torrey on the various hindrances to prayer:

11.    Asking with wrong motives.  James 4:3.  “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”  Sometimes we can be praying for something that is more a selfish want 

than it is God’s will.

2.     Unrepented sin. Isaiah 59:1-2.  “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”  If we ask God to search our hearts and show us where there is sin, He will.

3.     Idolatry. Ezekiel 14:3.  “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity.  Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?”  It was once said that if there is something that consumes you or excites you more than God, that is idolatry.

4.     Ignoring the poor.  Proverbs 21:13.  “Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard.”  Sowing and reaping go hand in hand and the poor are always close to God’s heart.

5.     Unforgiveness. Mark 11:25.  “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”   There is no allowance for bitter roots within the temple of God.

6.     A wrong relation to a husband or wife.  1 Peter 3:7.  “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”  The wife too should obey the Word and respect her husband; most likely disobedience would hinder prayer as well.

7.     Unbelief. James 1:5-7.  “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.”  Belief and trust can be demonstrated through action and word.

This is a good time to take inventory – personal inventory of your life. Are you finding that your prayers are not being answered? Maybe you need to take a look at this list and do some business with your Heavenly Father. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Deuteronomy 32-34; Psalm 75; Proverbs 22

Compass Pointers: There are always uncertainties ahead, but there is always one certainty--God's will is good. Vernon Paterson

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 12:25; Level 2: Proverbs 12:17-22

Anchored to the Rock: Prayer and a holy life are one. They mutually act and react. Neither can survive alone. The absence of one is the absence of the other. E. M. Bounds

Systematic Navigation: Clarity

Systematic Navigation: Clarity  

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”  Deut 6:6-7 (ESV) 

At the end of chapter 6 in the book titled “Systematic Theology” (Wayne Grudem) there are some questions that are asked for personal application. The one question that just sticks out the most among the 7 asked is the first one. “If the doctrine of the clarity of Scripture is true, why does there seem to be so much disagreement among Christians about the teaching of the Bible? Observing the diversity of interpretations of Scripture, some conclude, “People can make the Bible say anything they want.” How do you think Jesus would respond to this statement?”  

I have to admit that there are some parts of Scripture that don’t really pop out at the moment I read them. Like when early in my walk, I was told that I could open the Bible at any moment and find what I needed for the day’s struggle. Well, what am I supposed to think if I open up to the Book of Leviticus 12:8? If you look there it will be clear to you that this part of Scripture has to do with what is necessary for the purification of women after childbirth during the time that the nation of Israel wandered in the wilderness. So if I am having a bad day, and it compares to childbirth, and I don’t have a lamb, I need to bring two turtledoves or pigeons to the priest for atonement? I wouldn’t have understood it then. I’m thinking that I just don’t physically go through child birth…sorry ladies. 

As our family took a look at John 15 recently, my wife and I made the statement on how important it was to bear fruit if we claim to be in Christ. Our son agreed but our daughter took it to different level. She wanted us to understand why she thinks it is important for her to allow God to not only cut out bad branches to bear good fruit but how she thinks it is necessary it be allowed for her to branch out. For good fruit to grow it needs room and therefore needs a couple of branches to do that. Now I clearly see the need to be pruned by the Father if I am not bearing good fruit but Karen saw the need for pruning for the bearing an abundance of good fruit. Same verse’s read by us but spoken to the two of us differently. As her earthly father should I disagree with her? I do not think I should and I haven’t. I believe that God’s Word needs to be spoken to us in the way God intends.  

What is clear to me is that we need to approach God’s Word PRAYERFULLY! This will most certainly give the doctrine of clarity an anchor. If you need God’s Word to speak to you when you go to it, then you need to speak to Him first. A simple “Lord may your word speak to my heart today” before you open the Book can go a long way. In my reading of the Bible I have found that the same written verse read one day for application has come up for a different application another. God’s Word cannot be fenced in so that it can only be applied the way we want or need it to. So maybe that passage from Leviticus really should be seen as my need to make some kind of sacrifice if I have given birth to something that is not good for my walk.  

We have to admit, that no matter what, Bible reading Christians will always dialogue differently on the interpretation of Scripture. Even after Paul spoke out against this in his first letter to the Corinthian Church we still have those who say, I am of Calvin, I am of Luther or I am of the Daystar Channel. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus repeats to listeners, “You have heard it said…But I say to you” numerous times. This tells me that if I have the heart of the “Rabboni” Himself, then His response to the reading of His Father’s Word will make my reading as clear as “blue mud”. I hope you are prayerfully finding clarity in your navigation of God’s Word in your life today Brother’s (and sister’s). -- Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular Freedom Fighter contributor

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Deuteronomy 30-31; Psalm 74; Proverbs 21

Compass Pointers: “Jesus knew that telling stories would be a profound way of connecting with an audience, illuminating truth, and building relationships. And so He told stories…parables. Even the religious leaders were spellbound by the simple power of Jesus’ approach. Others reported that Jesus “taught them as one having authority” (Mark 1:22). For some, the paradox of “simple” stories and “authoritative” command was irreconcilable. But Jesus did exactly that.” What’s in the Bible  R.C. Sproul & Robert Wolgemuth

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 12:25; Level 2: Proverbs 12:17-22

Anchored to the Rock: A holy mouth is made by praying. E. M. Bounds

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

Happy Lord’s Day to you, my brothers. I trust your heart is eager, prepared and ready to worship HIM today.

I didn’t grow up in a church that sang from the Psalter, but I have been enjoying reading through a number of hymnals that contain hymns written from the Psalms. Singing from the Psalms is a biblical part of worship (so why don’t we do it – hmmmm! J)

John Calvin wrote much about the singing of Psalms. In his day, they would post on the doors of the church in advance the Psalms that they would be singing on the Lord’s day. It was so much a part of the fabric of their worship that someone from each family would be instructed to go to the church to check the numbers posted so that the entire family could practice the psalms before each service! Wow!

Today’s hymn was written my preacher-hymnwriter Isaac Watts back in the early 1700’s and is based on 

Psalm 103:

O bless the Lord, my soul!

Let all within me join

And aid my tongue to bless His name,

Whose favors are divine.

Oh bless the Lord, my soul,

Nor let His mercies lie

Forgotten in unthankfulness,

And without praises die.

‘Tis He forgives thy sins;

‘Tis He relieves thy pain;

‘Tis He that heals thy sickness

And makes thee young again.

He crowns thy life with love,

When ransomed from the grace;

He that redeemed my soul from hell

Hath sovereign power to save.

He fills the poor with good,

He gives the sufferers rest;

The Lord hath judgment for the proud.

And justice for the oppressed.

His wondrous works and ways

He made by Moses known;

But sent the world His truth and grace

By His beloved Son. – Isaac Watts – 1719

Grab your Bible and read Psalm 103 and then take some time to bless His holy name. Maybe you can even sing it back to Him! – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Deuteronomy 28-29; Psalm 73; Proverbs 20

Compass Pointers: A faith that's challenged by adversity or tough questions or contemplation is often a stronger faith in the end. Lynn Anderson

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 12:25; Level 2: Proverbs 12:17-22

Anchored to the Rock: We cannot be expect to live defectively and pray effectively. John Blanchard

Praise

PRAISE

“Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
        And for His wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psalm 107:8)

            Before reading further, open your Bible to Psalm 107 and read the entire psalm.  You will find verse 8 repeated in verses 15, 21 and 31.  Get the message?  That is what the psalmist wants us to do.  “Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!”  Do you need your spirit lifted in praise?  Jehoshaphat did.  Note where it all began in 2 Chronicles 19:3.  

Jehoshaphat had “set his heart to seek the Lord,” and then, the bottom fell out.  The sides collapsed.  The top caved in.  The enemy had come on the scene.  What was he to do?

            Jehoshaphat had just come on the scene from a beautiful experience of dedication and consecration, to a battlefield of struggle.  Wisely, he prayed.  Strong leaders always do.  Read his entire prayer in chapter 20, verses 3-13.  Now I point you to one part of that prayer that will touch  you deeply.  “O our God, will you not judge them?  For we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon you “ (2 Chronicles 20:12).  Let’s claim this prayer for our own.

            First of all, note that Jehoshaphat had a spiritual awareness of the situation.  Second, he prayed.  Third, he acknowledged that he was weak and powerless.  Fourth, he didn’t know what to do.  And fifth, his eyes were on God.

            Did God hear Jeshoshaphat’s humble but powerful prayer?  You better believe He did.  In the verses 14-30, God reveals His power through the might of praise.

The weakest saint may Satan rout, who meets him with a joyful shout,

For, Satan trembles when he sees, the weakest saint upon his knees.

            What praise will do (all found in 2 Chronicles 20:1-30): confuses the enemy; brings deliverance; blesses you; blesses others; blesses God; reaps benefits; brings joy, rest and peace; and more!  Praise is an external expression of an internal possession! Art Yohner is a contributor to the Keswick Devotional, Real Victory For Real Life. Art has been a faithful partner, missionary statesman, and now battling health issues. Thanks Art, for investing in my life.

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Deuteronomy 24-27; Psalm 72; Proverbs 19

Compass Pointers: If there is not at least a yearning in our hearts to live a holy life pleasing to God, we need to seriously question whether our faith in Christ is genuine. Jerry Bridges

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 11:19; Level 2: Proverbs 11:8-13

God's Will

GOD’S WILL

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, with is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”  (Romans 12:1-2)

            Chuck faces a big decision. “Lord, I just don’t know if I should go on the mission trip this summer. I really need to work to make sure I have the funds for college next year. God, I want to do your will, but what is it?”

            Carol is in her room crying. “God I thought he was the one. Now he wants to break up. I want to do your will, but what is it?”

            Chris is struggling in prayer. “Lord you know how attractive this new job is to me. Yet it may be risky to leave the security of my present position. I want to do your will, but what is it?”

            Sound familiar? You have undoubtedly struggled with determining God’s will in the tough decisions of life. How often have you prayed, “God I want to do your will, but what is it?”

            It is interesting how we tend to see “God’s will” as something we must discover. Actually, the will of God is revealed in His Word. Verses many of us have memorized from Romans 12 tell us how we can “prove” (literally, approve) God’s revealed will.

            Instead of looking for God’s will, we should live in His will. Three important steps insure that we are living in God’s will.

            1. Salvation.  “I beseech you therefore, brethren….” The Apostle Paul is writing to those who have experienced saving faith in Christ. Salvation is God’s will. “God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

            2. Submission.  “… that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice….”  God wants us to be fully committed to Him. The problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar. Repeatedly, we need to insure that we are open to anything God desires. This is His will.

            3. Separation. “… and be not conformed to this world….” J. B. Phillips caught the significance of this statement when he wrote, “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.” The world system must not have control over us. We must be ready to stand strong in the trials and temptations of life.

            If I am saved by God’s grace, submitted totally to the Lord, and separated from the world system, I am in the will of God. What we commonly call the “will of God” will be the natural and inevitable result of living in the real will of God. God is big enough to insure that I end up where He wants me doing what He wants me to do if I abide in His good, and acceptable, and perfect will.

            Decisions are still necessary, but living in God’s revealed will insures that we make the right decisions. He will direct us in every step.

            He will guide us through the precepts of His Word, the peace of Christ, and the persuasion of the Holy Spirit. He will use providential circumstances, perceptive counsel of our friends and colleagues, and personal interests and gifts. There are many signposts to give us His direction. If we live in His revealed will, we can rest assured that He will help us heed the signposts He places on our path.

            Let’s ask that God give us the joyous experience of living in His will and watch Him work in us and through us in a fresh new way. Dr. Ron Blue serves as Dallas Theological Seminary and is a popular conference speaker at America’s Keswick

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Deuteronomy 21-23; Psalm 71; Proverbs 18

Compass Pointers: Every Christian, whether man or woman, boy or girl, rich or poor, workman or peasant, writer or priest, judge or official, doctor or lawyer, teacher or pupil, Government official or missionary, is only a Christian on condition that he witnesses for his Lord....all Christians, wherever they are, have the opportunity of witnessing for their Master. They can do this by their upright life, their blameless character, by the integrity of their behaviour and their sincerity in speech, by their enthusiasm for their religion and their love for their Master, using every possible opportunity of telling others about Jesus Christ. Sadhu Sundar Singh

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 11:19; Level 2: Proverbs 11:8-13

Anchored to the Rock: The prayer that is faithless is fruitless. Thomas Watson

Hold On As Loose As You Can

Hold On as Loose As You Can

Over the last few weeks our church has gone through some difficult times. Like any church where God is working, Satan works all the harder to oppose His work. I am sure that if you have been in a church that preaches the Word of God, you have experienced something like this.

This Sunday we started a 10 week series in another local church on God’s Economy. Neither of these two events is that terribly unusual in themselves, but what was unusual to me, was how one connected with the other.

Since it was the first week in the God’s Economy study, we taught the first principle of living by God’s Economy. This is a basic understanding that God owns everything. Many passages in the Bible remind us of this fundamental truth, but if you need a quick refresher, meditate on 1 Chronicles 29:11-12. God owns everything; we are simply stewards or managers. (1 Corinthians 4:1-2)

Part of understanding that God owns our money is holding it with an open hand. When we hold our money too tightly we quickly lose sight that it is God’s and He has the right to do with it what He desires. This may include removing it from us.

But what really hit me this weekend, is that the principles of God’s Economy apply to more than just money. They apply to all areas of my life. My relationship with people in my church may change. God may even remove some of these relationships, but just like money, I must be willing to let them go and hold them loosely. They are God’s, not mine. I manage them and care about them, but just like money, I am simply the manager.

Once we recognize that God is the owner of everything (not just money) it really does become incredibly freeing. Our role as stewards or managers expands and also becomes much clearer.   We are not the person in charge, but merely the steward of all that we have been given to manage. This includes our relationships, our time, our talents and so much more than just money.

Our desire to control our relationships, our money and our time, becomes secondary to God’s leading and ultimate control in these areas. As things change we must accept these changes and embrace the new opportunities God has presented to us. Our job is simply to be the best steward of what God has placed in our lives.

Once we have developed total trust in the One who is the owner and we are totally committed to being the best manager we can be, our journey though life becomes so much easier. Things will change but our responsibility to be a faithful steward of what has been entrusted to us does not change.

I need to understand and apply this lesson into my life and expand it to cover more than just money. I must learn to hold on tight to the relationship with the Owner and not the things and relationships that He has given me to manage. He will change those relationships and things, but I can rest assured that He has my well being and best interests in mind as He makes those changes.

It is hard for me to hold not only my money; but my relationship with my loved ones, my church, and my time with a loose grip. God is owner and I am just the manager. He may change what I am to manage, but what a blessing it is to know that God’s plans include welfare and not calamity and a future of hope for His children. Jeremiah 29:11-14 – George Hutchison is an instructor with Crown Financial Ministries and serves on the Board of America’s Keswick. You can follow his blog: Stewardship Insights

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Deuteronomy 17-20; Psalm 70; Proverbs 17

Compass Pointers: Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread. D. T. Niles

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 11:19; Level 2: Proverbs 11:8-13

Anchored to the Rock: Lifeless prayer is no more prayer than the picture of a man is a man. Thomas Watson