What You Need.

There is a story of a very wealthy person who wanted to purchase a Rolls-Royce and he wanted to know the horsepower of the engine. When he asked he was told, "Adequate." The wealthy man pressed and asked again. He asked several times and was told that for all the circumstances and uses he would have for the car its' horsepower was adequate. 

The apostle Paul was given a thorn in his flesh to keep him humble and he pleaded with God three times to take it away and he was told, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (II Corinthians 12:9) What was Paul's response? He declared, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (II Corinthians 12:9-10) 

You see, when I realize that it is not about me, it is about Christ's power in me, I in that sense can get out of the way of God in my life. When I realize I can not do something, then I can see that it is God at work in my life.

What is going on in your life? What hardships, insults and difficulties are you going through? The good news: God's grace is sufficient for you and me. 

Father, as we live and move and have our being, we trust in You, that Your grace would be sufficient. Pour out Your grace upon us. Praise be to You in us today!

Don't Be Deceived

Have you ever opened your e-mail only to find some message that reads, "Congratulations! You won! Open to claim your prize." Then you open it and it says, "Click to see if you qualify..." Yes, one of the wonders of the information age. Deception delivered to your personal e-mail. Deception is one of the enemies favorite tools. From Eve to you and me, we are always being confronted with information meant to lead us away from our sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 

"But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ." II Corinthians 11:3

There are a couple things we need to be reminded of in these verses. One is that there is an enemy of our souls that is actively seeking to deceive us about God, His Truth and Reality. The second is that we need to remember our devotion to Christ and keep in sincere and pure. 

Think of devotion to your favorite sports team. I am a Laker fan, born and bred. I went to college in South Carolina and at that time the Lakers and Celtics seemed to always be battling in the for the championship. There was one other Laker fan, my friend Phil, all the rest seemed to either be Celtic fans or just bitter Laker haters. Win or lose, the Lakers are my team. 

Now, our devotion to Christ must be just to Christ. Remember when you first came to know Christ. You knew it was all His righteousness because sin had devastated your life. Christ is still your righteousness...

Father, thank you for sending your Son to save us from sin and death. Thank you that you knew not only the sin we did commit but also those we would commit. Give us thankful hearts, changed by you. 

(Please feel free to leave an insight/comment below.)

Who Get's the Glory?

If your like me, you have been following the Olympics. Last night the 100 meter dash was playing. My oldest son, who ran track in High School and College said, "The shorter the race, the bigger the ego." Usain Bolt was dominant. The news today said he was not to happy about standing in line to enter the stadium to run and being asked to line up straight. Yes, you are the fastest sprinter, but, in England you must queue up like everyone else.   Before God, it doesn't matter who you are. We still all are the same before the throne of grace. 

"But, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends." II Corinthians 10:17-18

Paul was dealing with glory hogs. You know the kind, people who love the limelight, always take the credit for everything. Remember Moe from the Three Stooges, "Great idea, glad I thought of it." There seems to be at least one in every work place and in every group. When that little personal pronoun, "I", starts showing up too much, it is time to refocus on Christ. Paul's point was that God's commendation is what we are to seek, not man's. That is why in II Corinthians 11:30-31 he says, "If I must boast, I will boast of things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying." Paul said that it was God who is to be praised forever, not man. What is the point? Seek to be commended by God. The goal is that one day we will hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

Father, we look to You and Your approval. Use us today to glorify You. Praise be to You in us today!

The Way To Enter

You know there is only one way to enter the presence of God. David, the man after God's own heart said, 

"But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house;

  in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple."

It is by the great mercy of God that I can enter God's house, and I can never forget that. It's not me, it is all about Him. That is why I come with reverence and bow down. God wants us in His Presence. Think about that, God created you to know Him. So come. Come into the Presence of God. In reverence bow down toward His holy temple.

Father, by Your great mercy we come into Your Presence. Thank You.

How We Do Things

My first real job was at a super market and to this day I remember many of the things said to my by my manager. He was called "Red", because of his hair or maybe his fiery insistence on good customer service. Many times he would say, "That's not how we do things here. The customer is always right." When we consider our lives in this world as Christians and how we interact with those who are actually at war with us, we may need to become a bit warlike. Paul tells us that, 

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we  fight with aren't the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." II Corinthians 10:3-5

The reality is that we as Christians too often fight our spiritual battles on the enemies terms. When I was in High School I wrestled. One opponent I wrestled was about 6" taller than me. I wrestled him twice. He one the first time, I won the second. The difference was that the first time I tried to use leverage and that was in his favor. The second match I took away his leverage and won quiet easily despite the fact I was weakened by the flu. The point is spiritually speaking we need to battle by faith in Christ's power and trust in God's Sovereignty. If doing the right thing will put me at odds with others, so be it. I will graciously do what God says is right. 

Father, help us to trust in You and demolish the enemies strongholds in our minds, lives, families and work places. Help us to live by faith, in love. Praise be to You in us today!

Supply and increase in the Kingdom of God

Godly giving is really all about trusting God and stewardship. When I act on the truth, that God is all in all and that all things belong to Him, I must view my paycheck differently. Now, of course God wants me to provide for and bless my family but, He also wants to use me advance His kingdom. That is the sowing of Godly seeds. The encouraging word... 

"Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." II Corinthians 9:10 - 11.

God supplies the seed to sow, the increase of the harvest and why? So that we can be generous on every occasion. Now, I am going to stop and step into the reality of many of our lives. Financially, times are tough. Debt is strangling many of us. Some are struggling to find work. Some of our financial troubles are due to our own foolish choices. God knows. The parable of the widows offering in Luke 21:1-4 reminds us that it is not the amount of the offering but the heart (in a real way the relative yet actual sacrifice) that matters in our giving. The end goal is that the harvest of our righteousness increases. Our generosity is the fruit of our faith shown in action. 

Father, help us to give what we can with thankful hearts. Enlarge our harvests so that we may be generous on all occasions. For many, help us get out of debt and to live by faith as good stewards of what You have entrusted us with. Praise be to You in us today!

Give what you have and receive all that God has.

As a parent it is very rewarding to hear your children tell you they love you and especially cool when they sincerely thank you for something you did for them. That, is reaping and sowing. Our verse for the day, II Corinthians 9:6, expresses it this way, 

"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously."

There several ways I can sow with my life. I can sow my time, my energy, and as this passage deals with, my money. In verse 7 Paul reminds us to give cheerfully. Remember to live by faith in His grace, not under the law. I am going to ask myself and you these questions: 

1. What can I give and do with my time for the kingdom of God?
2. What can I give my energy to for the kingdom of God?
3. What can I give financially to and for the kingdom of God?

Verse 8 encourages to act in faith by saying, "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." I heard someone say that prosperity is having a little more than you need. Think about that and may God prosper you. 

Father, help us to cast our bread, our time, energy and money upon the waters of Your kingdom as we seek to know You and make You known. Praise be to You in us today!