Read:
2 timothy 1:13,14
13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us
Whenever you have a treasure, there is always a thief. The enemy wants to destroy the word from our mind and soul that we lay down as foundation. Our mind, will, and emotions need to line up with the very Christ within us, and Satan wants nothing more than to totally stop us in our tracks as a believer. These current dark ages we are living in is bringing us to a place where we need to shine the light of Jesus to others like never before, and I feel like God wants us to beware of the enemy today in these dark ages we face. One night at work I was meditating on this scripture, and it seemed like the Lord spoke to my heart about this. He said, " Son, be very careful. Many are watching your every move, and the enemy wants to steal that treasure from you so that you won't be effective to those around you. Guard that word son with extreme caution, and don't let the enemy steal it even for one second. Keep watch!" This is what the Lord wants for you today. I don't know how much of the word you have been storing up in your mind, will, and emotions, but be very careful to guard it with all diligence. The bible also says for us to guard our heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life. Entrusted in the Greek is paratheke, and the definition is a deposit, and used of correct knowledge and pure doctrine of the gospel. Treasure in the Greek is Kalos, and the definition for treasure is beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life. As a living epistle, we need to be the reflection of Christ Jesus and make His name attractive to those who don't have that name. We need to shine forth His truth to those who need truth, and we need to shine forth the love of Christ for those who don't understand or don't know His love. We are carriers of the very attributes of God, and He has made a deposit of all of the attributes in our inner spirit where we have been born again. We are sanctified through spiritual growth, and spiritual foundation is established in our soul. I want to encourage you today to hold on to the word of God with all diligence, and be that light to a dark and deceptive world. Many need to see some of that treasure that has been entrusted to you.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will help us by the help of the Holy Spirit to guard that good treasure that has been deposited in us. Help us to renew our mind to the word, and help us to be that living epistle to those around us, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
May 24th Devotional
Read:
Nehemiah 6:9
9 They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed." But I prayed, "Now strengthen my hands."
In our Christian walk there is going to come persecution rise up against us. If we are doing anything for God, the enemy will come with everything he has got to stop us dead in our tracks in the race that God wants us to run. I have seen in my life persecution come against me from every angle. I remember getting harrassed at this one particular place, and I know it was because of my walk with the Lord. God came through however, and it worked out perfectly. It just took some patience and lots of prayer. Here in Nehemiah we see the walls getting built. Nehemiah had opposition come his way by Sanballat, Geshem, and Tobiah. They were coming at Nehemiah as strong as they could to stop the completion of the temple. Nehemiah kept on going though, and in fifty-two days the walls of the temple was completed. God does this with us. We start building some walls of our destiny as living stones, and opposition comes our way. The enemy will use people to try and stop you from reaching that place. It could be a deeper walk with the Lord, or it could be ministry, whatever it is rest assure that the enemy is right there waiting to find a soft place to paralyze us spiritually from reaching that goal. The enemy will place thoughts of fear in our thinking, and he will tell you that you are no good and you won't never make anything of yourself. I want to encourage you today to keep building. Ask God to strenghten your hands like Nehemiah did, and shake off that Tobiah and Sanballat spirit. Shake it off today and walk in that new season that God wants for you.
Prayer:
Lord, we come to you and ask that you will strengthen our hands to walk in your Spirit, fulfill our destiny here on earth, to advance your Kingdom by making disciples, walking in love with our bretheren, and staying committed to our home church. Help us to carry on with the work you have for us as soldiers of the most high, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Nehemiah 6:9
9 They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed." But I prayed, "Now strengthen my hands."
In our Christian walk there is going to come persecution rise up against us. If we are doing anything for God, the enemy will come with everything he has got to stop us dead in our tracks in the race that God wants us to run. I have seen in my life persecution come against me from every angle. I remember getting harrassed at this one particular place, and I know it was because of my walk with the Lord. God came through however, and it worked out perfectly. It just took some patience and lots of prayer. Here in Nehemiah we see the walls getting built. Nehemiah had opposition come his way by Sanballat, Geshem, and Tobiah. They were coming at Nehemiah as strong as they could to stop the completion of the temple. Nehemiah kept on going though, and in fifty-two days the walls of the temple was completed. God does this with us. We start building some walls of our destiny as living stones, and opposition comes our way. The enemy will use people to try and stop you from reaching that place. It could be a deeper walk with the Lord, or it could be ministry, whatever it is rest assure that the enemy is right there waiting to find a soft place to paralyze us spiritually from reaching that goal. The enemy will place thoughts of fear in our thinking, and he will tell you that you are no good and you won't never make anything of yourself. I want to encourage you today to keep building. Ask God to strenghten your hands like Nehemiah did, and shake off that Tobiah and Sanballat spirit. Shake it off today and walk in that new season that God wants for you.
Prayer:
Lord, we come to you and ask that you will strengthen our hands to walk in your Spirit, fulfill our destiny here on earth, to advance your Kingdom by making disciples, walking in love with our bretheren, and staying committed to our home church. Help us to carry on with the work you have for us as soldiers of the most high, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Sunday, May 23, 2010
May 23rd Devotional
Read:
Hebrews 12:2
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
There are seasons in our walk with God that He will begin to purify us and heal us of different things in our soul. It could be some trauma that we have been through, or maybe some hurts that linger deep within us. During those times we have to look "unto" Jesus in these seasons. One day I was driving down the road and meditating on this scripture. I felt like the Lord said, "Son, you have to be broken before there can be a healing. Son, when I start to heal you of hurts and other things within you, you stand up strong in the wrong way and try to be tough when you need to be broken and totally dependent upon me as you look unto me." The preposition unto in this scripture means total dependency. We need to look with total dependency upon Jesus. Sometimes we try and be so strong when we need to be so broken before Him. He is continually sanctifying us to conform to the image of Himself. Do you have hurts down deep inside of you that you can't seem to let go of? I want to encourage you today to give it to Him. Give it all to Jesus. Don't worry about where He is going to take you, but rather trust Him to get you through the rough places in the road that He takes you down. You may not be able to trace His hand, but you can trust His heart. His heart for you as a born again believer is that He loves you like a son or daughter. As we walk in the Kingdom of Christ, we can remain in that walk with Him by looking unto Jesus.
Prayer:
Lord, we come to you with a contrite and broken spirit. We need you Lord to help us trust you as you conform us in the image of your Son Christ Jesus. Let us know that you are guiding us in some way, but help us to still trust you when you don't give us that clear answer that we hope for. It's all about you Lord, and we look unto with total dependence upon you to get us to the next place you have for us.
by Keith Edwards
Hebrews 12:2
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
There are seasons in our walk with God that He will begin to purify us and heal us of different things in our soul. It could be some trauma that we have been through, or maybe some hurts that linger deep within us. During those times we have to look "unto" Jesus in these seasons. One day I was driving down the road and meditating on this scripture. I felt like the Lord said, "Son, you have to be broken before there can be a healing. Son, when I start to heal you of hurts and other things within you, you stand up strong in the wrong way and try to be tough when you need to be broken and totally dependent upon me as you look unto me." The preposition unto in this scripture means total dependency. We need to look with total dependency upon Jesus. Sometimes we try and be so strong when we need to be so broken before Him. He is continually sanctifying us to conform to the image of Himself. Do you have hurts down deep inside of you that you can't seem to let go of? I want to encourage you today to give it to Him. Give it all to Jesus. Don't worry about where He is going to take you, but rather trust Him to get you through the rough places in the road that He takes you down. You may not be able to trace His hand, but you can trust His heart. His heart for you as a born again believer is that He loves you like a son or daughter. As we walk in the Kingdom of Christ, we can remain in that walk with Him by looking unto Jesus.
Prayer:
Lord, we come to you with a contrite and broken spirit. We need you Lord to help us trust you as you conform us in the image of your Son Christ Jesus. Let us know that you are guiding us in some way, but help us to still trust you when you don't give us that clear answer that we hope for. It's all about you Lord, and we look unto with total dependence upon you to get us to the next place you have for us.
by Keith Edwards
Saturday, May 22, 2010
May 22nd Devotional
Read:
Ephesians 5:2
2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Also Read:
1 Corinthians 3:11
11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
One day while I was at work some Jehovah's witnesses came to my home. My wife was unloading her car when they approached her. They asked if they could talk with her for a while about what they believed, but my wife said, "no, I'm a Christian, but my husband would love to talk with you..lol. My wife set me up. She wanted me to convert them. She set a time for Monday, and I thought this would be a good time just to listen to what they had to say and see where they were coming from. I made some coffee and here they came right on time. He was in a wheel chair and was pulling himself up on to my porch and to my front door. I reached down to help him but he insisted that he was alright and he would make it by himself. He had a young convert with him who was probably in his early twenty's. I pulled a couple of chairs out for them, and got them something to drink while I sat there and just listened to him talk. Being in bible college I studied about all of the different types of other religions, cults etc. and was prepared. They came to my house for about a month, and after hearing him talk for that whole month, he asked me if I had any questions? As I took another sip of my coffee, I said, "Yes, I have a few questions. First of all, I want to bring to the table who Charles Taze Russell really was, and how the prophecy of 1914 which claimed that Jesus would personally establish His kingdom then never came to pass as the prophecy claimed it would. While still in his teens and without formal theological education, Russell organized a Bible class whose members eventually made him "pastor." Before 1914, the Watchtower was predicting that God's Kingdom was to be set up on earth (not in heaven) in 1914! He said, " I'll have to look that up. Any other questions? Yes! Also, why did the Jehovah's witnesses take out the word God in John 1:1 and insert "a god" in there? He couldn't answer me, and that young kid was so confused as to what to say. He looked at me with such a hurt and said, "You protestant Christians are not who you claim to be! He began to proceed by telling me how he lost his legs. He told me that when he was in his teens, he got involved in a train accident and lost both of his legs. He told me that not one Christian from his church came to visit him, but one day he heard a knock on the door and there stood the Jehovah's witnesses extending their love to him. I was deeply touched by what he said, and told him that I am so sorry that this happened. I did pray with the two of them in Jesus name, and I told him that I understand your hurt, but there are Christians out there that do extend the love of Christ to the hurting. He got upset and told his convert to pack up and get out of here. I helped him out the door. Crippled love? How many of us as Christians reach out to a hurting generation. I know that I need to do more of this, and it's a shame for us to let the hurting reach out to crippled religions because they are doing more than we are concerning this. I want to exhort us today to reach out to the hurting. They are all around, and we can find ministry in a million places if we just open our eyes.
Prayer:
Lord forgive us. As Christians we've done all but walk in love to a hurting generation. Help us to walk in love and show forth your heart to those around us. We long to be the church that you desire for us to be. Turn our crippled love to a pure love in your name we pray. Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Ephesians 5:2
2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Also Read:
1 Corinthians 3:11
11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
One day while I was at work some Jehovah's witnesses came to my home. My wife was unloading her car when they approached her. They asked if they could talk with her for a while about what they believed, but my wife said, "no, I'm a Christian, but my husband would love to talk with you..lol. My wife set me up. She wanted me to convert them. She set a time for Monday, and I thought this would be a good time just to listen to what they had to say and see where they were coming from. I made some coffee and here they came right on time. He was in a wheel chair and was pulling himself up on to my porch and to my front door. I reached down to help him but he insisted that he was alright and he would make it by himself. He had a young convert with him who was probably in his early twenty's. I pulled a couple of chairs out for them, and got them something to drink while I sat there and just listened to him talk. Being in bible college I studied about all of the different types of other religions, cults etc. and was prepared. They came to my house for about a month, and after hearing him talk for that whole month, he asked me if I had any questions? As I took another sip of my coffee, I said, "Yes, I have a few questions. First of all, I want to bring to the table who Charles Taze Russell really was, and how the prophecy of 1914 which claimed that Jesus would personally establish His kingdom then never came to pass as the prophecy claimed it would. While still in his teens and without formal theological education, Russell organized a Bible class whose members eventually made him "pastor." Before 1914, the Watchtower was predicting that God's Kingdom was to be set up on earth (not in heaven) in 1914! He said, " I'll have to look that up. Any other questions? Yes! Also, why did the Jehovah's witnesses take out the word God in John 1:1 and insert "a god" in there? He couldn't answer me, and that young kid was so confused as to what to say. He looked at me with such a hurt and said, "You protestant Christians are not who you claim to be! He began to proceed by telling me how he lost his legs. He told me that when he was in his teens, he got involved in a train accident and lost both of his legs. He told me that not one Christian from his church came to visit him, but one day he heard a knock on the door and there stood the Jehovah's witnesses extending their love to him. I was deeply touched by what he said, and told him that I am so sorry that this happened. I did pray with the two of them in Jesus name, and I told him that I understand your hurt, but there are Christians out there that do extend the love of Christ to the hurting. He got upset and told his convert to pack up and get out of here. I helped him out the door. Crippled love? How many of us as Christians reach out to a hurting generation. I know that I need to do more of this, and it's a shame for us to let the hurting reach out to crippled religions because they are doing more than we are concerning this. I want to exhort us today to reach out to the hurting. They are all around, and we can find ministry in a million places if we just open our eyes.
Prayer:
Lord forgive us. As Christians we've done all but walk in love to a hurting generation. Help us to walk in love and show forth your heart to those around us. We long to be the church that you desire for us to be. Turn our crippled love to a pure love in your name we pray. Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Friday, May 21, 2010
May 21st Devotional
Read:
Ezra 3:3
3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both the morning and evening sacrifices.
Also:
1 Corinthians 3:11
11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Have you ever faced situations in your life where you just said, "man! I don't know if I can go on?" We'll I have and still do at times. One thing that I learned through tough times is that it's not the foundation of myself that is going to get me through those hard times. It's the foundation of Christ Jesus that's going to carry me through. In Ezra 3:3 the first 50,000 Jews came back to Jerusalem after a 70year bondage in captivity. It was under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua. Zerubbabel was a great righteous governor, and Joshua was a High Priest. Then 80 years later Ezra came with another 3,000 Jews to Jerusalem in the rebuilding of the temple. Then we have Nehemiah some years later to rebuild the wall. One thing I want us to see is that when the first 50,000 Jews got to Jerusalem in Ezra 3:3, they didn't have anything built as of yet, but they had hope. All they had was an altar. They placed the altar upon the foundation when they got there, and they offered burnt offerings to the Lord. You may be at a place today where you are just tired and worn out by life, but you can say with me, "All I have is an altar!" It's more than just having an altar. We need to praise God with the realization that we have a foundation that is unshakable. It is the foundation of Christ Jesus, and Christ is the sure foundation that absolutely cannot be shaken. There are times in my life as a christian that I have to place my faith and trust upon that foundation, and when I find myself at a place of no hope, I turn my focus upon that sure foundation which is Jesus Christ. My friend, don't lose focus. If you do, you can praise and worship God now upon that beautiful foundation that is a powerful and unshakeable foundation. Many of you fight the feeling of not having things in your life complete. You may be at a place where you missed it and feel like you had to take a dead end road to nowhere. Think about this with me for a moment. The Jews felt that way. When they got there everything was in ruins, and the temple of Jerusalem was totally destroyed. All you may have is a little altar. This is enough my friend, and the altar is your heart before the Lord almighty. Look up to Him today, and trust in His foundation that absolutely cannot be shaken. Notice that the Jews didn't even have Jerusalem built as of yet, but they understood the need for restoration of worship. We need revelation upon the foundation for the situation that we are facing. In the middle of restoration in our life, whether it is financial, physical, or emotional, we can stay focused on the one and only, Christ Jesus.
prayer:
Lord we come in your precious name, the name that is above every name. We place our praise and worship today upon that powerful foundation. We know Lord that the foundation consists of your name and your blood. We appropriate you blood upon the situation we are facing today, and we look to
you in a deeper way for restoration in our lives. Holy Spirit teach us today about that great foundation. Lord we acknowledge you as we stand in all of you. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Ezra 3:3
3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both the morning and evening sacrifices.
Also:
1 Corinthians 3:11
11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Have you ever faced situations in your life where you just said, "man! I don't know if I can go on?" We'll I have and still do at times. One thing that I learned through tough times is that it's not the foundation of myself that is going to get me through those hard times. It's the foundation of Christ Jesus that's going to carry me through. In Ezra 3:3 the first 50,000 Jews came back to Jerusalem after a 70year bondage in captivity. It was under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua. Zerubbabel was a great righteous governor, and Joshua was a High Priest. Then 80 years later Ezra came with another 3,000 Jews to Jerusalem in the rebuilding of the temple. Then we have Nehemiah some years later to rebuild the wall. One thing I want us to see is that when the first 50,000 Jews got to Jerusalem in Ezra 3:3, they didn't have anything built as of yet, but they had hope. All they had was an altar. They placed the altar upon the foundation when they got there, and they offered burnt offerings to the Lord. You may be at a place today where you are just tired and worn out by life, but you can say with me, "All I have is an altar!" It's more than just having an altar. We need to praise God with the realization that we have a foundation that is unshakable. It is the foundation of Christ Jesus, and Christ is the sure foundation that absolutely cannot be shaken. There are times in my life as a christian that I have to place my faith and trust upon that foundation, and when I find myself at a place of no hope, I turn my focus upon that sure foundation which is Jesus Christ. My friend, don't lose focus. If you do, you can praise and worship God now upon that beautiful foundation that is a powerful and unshakeable foundation. Many of you fight the feeling of not having things in your life complete. You may be at a place where you missed it and feel like you had to take a dead end road to nowhere. Think about this with me for a moment. The Jews felt that way. When they got there everything was in ruins, and the temple of Jerusalem was totally destroyed. All you may have is a little altar. This is enough my friend, and the altar is your heart before the Lord almighty. Look up to Him today, and trust in His foundation that absolutely cannot be shaken. Notice that the Jews didn't even have Jerusalem built as of yet, but they understood the need for restoration of worship. We need revelation upon the foundation for the situation that we are facing. In the middle of restoration in our life, whether it is financial, physical, or emotional, we can stay focused on the one and only, Christ Jesus.
prayer:
Lord we come in your precious name, the name that is above every name. We place our praise and worship today upon that powerful foundation. We know Lord that the foundation consists of your name and your blood. We appropriate you blood upon the situation we are facing today, and we look to
you in a deeper way for restoration in our lives. Holy Spirit teach us today about that great foundation. Lord we acknowledge you as we stand in all of you. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Thursday, May 20, 2010
May 20th Devotional
Read:
3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay.
There are times as Christians when we have to wait patiently for something to come to pass in our lives. Many believe that you can just snap your finger and boom! there it is. sometimes God does bring forth a miracle or answer right away, but sometimes it may take some time to materialize in the natural. Notice here in Habakkuk that God tells him that the vision will come at an appointed time. Habakkuk is really upset about what is going on, and he starts questioning God about why is this happening to your people? Where are you Lord? Why are the wicked prospering and we are just out there in the cold it feels like? I think that Habakkuk's' name says it all. His name means to embrace. Whatever we face in life we need to embrace Christ in the middle of the things that come our way. The greatest weapon the enemy throws our way is darts of thoughts and speculations in our thinking. I know that I have had these kind of thoughts come my way over the thirty years of knowing God. If God is really real then why does God allow evil in the world? If God really exists then why does He seem to ignore you? If God really exists then......and on and on it goes. There's nothing wrong with being real with God and asking Him questions that are in your heart, but we don't want to let the devil steal the word from our heart by speculations and questions that keeps us from embracing the cross each and every day. I want to encourage us to embrace Christ Jesus today in your devotion. Embrace the cross like never before in a world that is much like the world that Habakkuk was in the middle of. Embrace His love and His ways today, and remember, God will bring our visions and our dreams to pass at the appointed time.
Prayer:
Lord, help us today to be real with you. Help us to ask you questions from our heart, but not let the questions take over our devotion with you. Sometimes Lord we don't understand why you do the things you do the way you do them, but we worship you today with a whole heart. We wait patiently today for you to help us in every area, and we thank you for the mercy and grace in the middle of you perfecting that which concerns us, Amen.
3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay.
There are times as Christians when we have to wait patiently for something to come to pass in our lives. Many believe that you can just snap your finger and boom! there it is. sometimes God does bring forth a miracle or answer right away, but sometimes it may take some time to materialize in the natural. Notice here in Habakkuk that God tells him that the vision will come at an appointed time. Habakkuk is really upset about what is going on, and he starts questioning God about why is this happening to your people? Where are you Lord? Why are the wicked prospering and we are just out there in the cold it feels like? I think that Habakkuk's' name says it all. His name means to embrace. Whatever we face in life we need to embrace Christ in the middle of the things that come our way. The greatest weapon the enemy throws our way is darts of thoughts and speculations in our thinking. I know that I have had these kind of thoughts come my way over the thirty years of knowing God. If God is really real then why does God allow evil in the world? If God really exists then why does He seem to ignore you? If God really exists then......and on and on it goes. There's nothing wrong with being real with God and asking Him questions that are in your heart, but we don't want to let the devil steal the word from our heart by speculations and questions that keeps us from embracing the cross each and every day. I want to encourage us to embrace Christ Jesus today in your devotion. Embrace the cross like never before in a world that is much like the world that Habakkuk was in the middle of. Embrace His love and His ways today, and remember, God will bring our visions and our dreams to pass at the appointed time.
Prayer:
Lord, help us today to be real with you. Help us to ask you questions from our heart, but not let the questions take over our devotion with you. Sometimes Lord we don't understand why you do the things you do the way you do them, but we worship you today with a whole heart. We wait patiently today for you to help us in every area, and we thank you for the mercy and grace in the middle of you perfecting that which concerns us, Amen.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
May 19th Devotional
Read:
Proverbs 18:10
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run in to it and they are saved.
Imagine yourself right now standing upon a huge tower. It’s dark and you can’t see a thing. You have truly repented and turned your life over to the Lord, but now you feel like He has abandoned you. Then you feel like there is no hope when all of the sudden, God says to you, “child you are mine. I have placed you child upon this tower of my name, of my character, and who I am within you. Stand in me and let your hope so trust in the fact that my name needs to be a revelation of who you are in me and who you are standing upon.” Then as the darkness subsides, you look and see that the tower that you are standing upon starts to lean. You hear God speak to you again that He is your balance. He is your rock and your foundation. The foundation and the tower is strong and mighty. Nothing can separate us from that place in God. Then you see the tower stand in an upright position. How many times do we start losing sight of what God did for us on the cross. How many times do we feel unbalance as a Christian and we feel like God has abandoned us. It’s all about revelation. The greek definition here for name in proverbs is shem and it means the character and reputation of God. The greek word for tower here is milgda and it means to be elevated to a high place. We are elevated and lifted in His name, his character, His might. For he is Jehovah, Elohim our Creator, El Elyon most High God, Adonai our Master, Elroi God Who Sees, El Shaddai God Almighty, Jehovah Ezer the Lord our Helper, Jehovah Jireh the Lord Will Provide, Jehovah Rapha the Lord our Healer, Jehovah Roi the Lord our Shepherd. He is our banner, our peace, and His name can be trusted as we stand upon his foundation, upon His tower, and in His name has been given to us by the Spirit of His trust. His name is the very revelation that we need to have when we enter into worship, prayer, and that devotion with Him everyday, and when that revelation is mixed with the spirit of Christ in that moment of revelation is a power of the choice of our will that starts instilling foundation in our soul. It will renew our mind, heal our emotions, and set our will on course to the things of God, and when we see ourselves lean upon our own name at times, we should look to Him to straighten us in the right position of revelation of who we are in Him and who He is in us. Oh! Friend it’s a much powerful place to stand upon His name. It will tear down faulty little foundations that we might have placed in our soul, and God will take out things and put good sound doctrine within us. Then as you are standing upon that tower you hear the Lord ask you, “Is that tears in your eyes?” and you feel the Holy Spirit wrap His arms around you and comfort you. You feel healing taking place. It’s a place like no other place. As you go through each day remember to stand in His name in your Christian walk. Remember to let God hold you when you need to be held. Let’s be elevated and lifted up in His name.
Prayer:
Lord we come to you in your name. Help us to see us how you see us. Righteous by the blood of Your Son, delivered by the power of the cross, and set free by trusting in you. Help us Lord to submit to you upon that tower so that we can walk in holiness, purity, and be the salt of this earth to those that don’t know you. Give us revelation of the very rock and foundation that we have within us. Amen
Proverbs 18:10
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run in to it and they are saved.
Imagine yourself right now standing upon a huge tower. It’s dark and you can’t see a thing. You have truly repented and turned your life over to the Lord, but now you feel like He has abandoned you. Then you feel like there is no hope when all of the sudden, God says to you, “child you are mine. I have placed you child upon this tower of my name, of my character, and who I am within you. Stand in me and let your hope so trust in the fact that my name needs to be a revelation of who you are in me and who you are standing upon.” Then as the darkness subsides, you look and see that the tower that you are standing upon starts to lean. You hear God speak to you again that He is your balance. He is your rock and your foundation. The foundation and the tower is strong and mighty. Nothing can separate us from that place in God. Then you see the tower stand in an upright position. How many times do we start losing sight of what God did for us on the cross. How many times do we feel unbalance as a Christian and we feel like God has abandoned us. It’s all about revelation. The greek definition here for name in proverbs is shem and it means the character and reputation of God. The greek word for tower here is milgda and it means to be elevated to a high place. We are elevated and lifted in His name, his character, His might. For he is Jehovah, Elohim our Creator, El Elyon most High God, Adonai our Master, Elroi God Who Sees, El Shaddai God Almighty, Jehovah Ezer the Lord our Helper, Jehovah Jireh the Lord Will Provide, Jehovah Rapha the Lord our Healer, Jehovah Roi the Lord our Shepherd. He is our banner, our peace, and His name can be trusted as we stand upon his foundation, upon His tower, and in His name has been given to us by the Spirit of His trust. His name is the very revelation that we need to have when we enter into worship, prayer, and that devotion with Him everyday, and when that revelation is mixed with the spirit of Christ in that moment of revelation is a power of the choice of our will that starts instilling foundation in our soul. It will renew our mind, heal our emotions, and set our will on course to the things of God, and when we see ourselves lean upon our own name at times, we should look to Him to straighten us in the right position of revelation of who we are in Him and who He is in us. Oh! Friend it’s a much powerful place to stand upon His name. It will tear down faulty little foundations that we might have placed in our soul, and God will take out things and put good sound doctrine within us. Then as you are standing upon that tower you hear the Lord ask you, “Is that tears in your eyes?” and you feel the Holy Spirit wrap His arms around you and comfort you. You feel healing taking place. It’s a place like no other place. As you go through each day remember to stand in His name in your Christian walk. Remember to let God hold you when you need to be held. Let’s be elevated and lifted up in His name.
Prayer:
Lord we come to you in your name. Help us to see us how you see us. Righteous by the blood of Your Son, delivered by the power of the cross, and set free by trusting in you. Help us Lord to submit to you upon that tower so that we can walk in holiness, purity, and be the salt of this earth to those that don’t know you. Give us revelation of the very rock and foundation that we have within us. Amen
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
May 18th Devotional
Read:
Matthew 25:40
40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
I can remember back about ten years ago my wife and I was involved with helping the homeless. It was through our church we were members at. My wife is very good with that, and she flows in that type of ministry, but this is not really what I wanted to do I said to myself. Well, I knew the Lord was about to show me something. In this program we would minister to them, feed them, and then we would guide them to the showers that the church had there designated for the homeless. The one homeless person that I got to help had MS, so it took a while to walk him down, what I thought was the longest hallway ever. I helped him to the showers and waited on him outside the door there. I began to hear him yelling for help. I was out there just doing a little praying. I don't remember exactly what I was praying about, it might have been somewhere along the lines of "Lord I want to know your will" lol. Anyway, he still was yelling as I was in my own little world with the Lord. I then peeked in the door and saw him trying to put on his socks. I immediately ran to him and grabbed the socks. I told him that I would help him get his socks on. As I pulled one of the socks on, I heard a voice speak right through me, "You've done it to the least of these you've done it unto me." I felt the Holy Spirit so strongly in that room. I helped him get his socks and shoes on and lead him back to the cafeteria for more ministry. The Lord taught me something that Friday night. How many times do we get caught up in the hype of church things. We love the programs and the worship music. We maybe love the preaching and the teaching. There's nothing wrong with these things when our heart is right, but Sometimes we love the things of God more than the giver of those things. Oh! that we may hear the heartbeat of God today like never before. We are always praying for God's will and get frustrated because we can't seem to "hear" His voice when He specifically told us His will. James 1:27 tells us that Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Jesus wants us to have His heart and to have His heart is to be concerned for the poor, to have a heart for lost souls, and to care for the orphanage and widows. When we do this God will move us to that place that we earnestly pray for. These things will never be forgotten in God's eyes, and when judgment day comes for the righteous these things will be brought to our attention. We will have bad motives judged as well. We all have them. We need to have the heart for the very things that Jesus has a heart for. I want to challenge you today. Find a ministry to feed the poor or do something along these lines. I need to do more of this myself. When we have a heart for these things we have the very heartbeat of God. It may be helping a homeless man put his socks on, or it could be giving a meal to a homeless person, or it could be getting a glass of water to someone who is thirsty. There is ministry all around us. We just have to open our eyes.
prayer:
Lord we come to you in humbleness now. Forgive us Lord if we are doing everything but what you commanded us to do. We pray Lord that we would hear your voice concerning your heart like never before. We long to follow you Lord, and to seek your face and not just your hand. We long to stretch out our love to even the very least in the worlds eyes. Help us to open our eyes to what we need to do in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Matthew 25:40
40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
I can remember back about ten years ago my wife and I was involved with helping the homeless. It was through our church we were members at. My wife is very good with that, and she flows in that type of ministry, but this is not really what I wanted to do I said to myself. Well, I knew the Lord was about to show me something. In this program we would minister to them, feed them, and then we would guide them to the showers that the church had there designated for the homeless. The one homeless person that I got to help had MS, so it took a while to walk him down, what I thought was the longest hallway ever. I helped him to the showers and waited on him outside the door there. I began to hear him yelling for help. I was out there just doing a little praying. I don't remember exactly what I was praying about, it might have been somewhere along the lines of "Lord I want to know your will" lol. Anyway, he still was yelling as I was in my own little world with the Lord. I then peeked in the door and saw him trying to put on his socks. I immediately ran to him and grabbed the socks. I told him that I would help him get his socks on. As I pulled one of the socks on, I heard a voice speak right through me, "You've done it to the least of these you've done it unto me." I felt the Holy Spirit so strongly in that room. I helped him get his socks and shoes on and lead him back to the cafeteria for more ministry. The Lord taught me something that Friday night. How many times do we get caught up in the hype of church things. We love the programs and the worship music. We maybe love the preaching and the teaching. There's nothing wrong with these things when our heart is right, but Sometimes we love the things of God more than the giver of those things. Oh! that we may hear the heartbeat of God today like never before. We are always praying for God's will and get frustrated because we can't seem to "hear" His voice when He specifically told us His will. James 1:27 tells us that Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Jesus wants us to have His heart and to have His heart is to be concerned for the poor, to have a heart for lost souls, and to care for the orphanage and widows. When we do this God will move us to that place that we earnestly pray for. These things will never be forgotten in God's eyes, and when judgment day comes for the righteous these things will be brought to our attention. We will have bad motives judged as well. We all have them. We need to have the heart for the very things that Jesus has a heart for. I want to challenge you today. Find a ministry to feed the poor or do something along these lines. I need to do more of this myself. When we have a heart for these things we have the very heartbeat of God. It may be helping a homeless man put his socks on, or it could be giving a meal to a homeless person, or it could be getting a glass of water to someone who is thirsty. There is ministry all around us. We just have to open our eyes.
prayer:
Lord we come to you in humbleness now. Forgive us Lord if we are doing everything but what you commanded us to do. We pray Lord that we would hear your voice concerning your heart like never before. We long to follow you Lord, and to seek your face and not just your hand. We long to stretch out our love to even the very least in the worlds eyes. Help us to open our eyes to what we need to do in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Keith Edwards May 16th Devotional
Read:
Judges 7:2
"And the Lord said unto Gideon 'The people that are with thee are TOO MANY for Me to give the Midianites into their hands..."
What a predicament...to have too much for God to work! Most would blame not having enough for their not working; but God here blames having TOO MUCH for His not working! And that is exactly where Gideon found himself. From living in a cave to leading as a captain, Gideon had done everything right in preparation for this national deliverance God was about to work through him.
1) He had become officially right with God - 6:17-23
2) He had, in his new rightstanding, brought down his family's idol - 6:25-32
3) He had received and responded to the Holy Ghost (in an Old testament way) - 6:34
4) He had affirmed through two divine signs that this calling was truly of God - 6:36-40
But there was another event that took place between #3 and #4 that was not of Gideon's doing: people from all over Israel began to rally to his side. As Gideon had responded to the Holy Ghost by blowing a trumpet, the people responded to the trumpet and began to naturally amass an army. Now what could be wrong with that? Not a thing...except that what began by the Spirit was now being finished in the flesh!
In our zeal for the Lord, our imagination (of course under the more spiritually sounding tag of an "open vision" or the "discerning of spirits") often takes over from the Holy Ghost that which He has started; and we usually end up adding way more to the "mix" than God originally intended. We mean well! We really only wanted to help! Like Namaan, we just thought it ought to happen this way or that (II Kings 5:11).
Nevertheless, God said to Gideon "You've got too much for Me to work"!
I wonder if He might be saying that to the American Church?! I wonder if through the years of abundant "revelation", proseprity and freedom, we believers in this country have accumulated way too many "accessories" for the worship and work of the Lord?!
If we have, then before the "revival" move, we can like Gideon expect a "downsizing" move, where God whittles away at the excess add-ons of our ministries and lives until we are left with only that which He originally called us and graced us to walk with and in!
Let this word from the life of Gideon be like a spotlight on our multiple "irons in the fire" for God; and let it be a great release from the stress of trying to maintain more than we were meant to carry out! And let it finally be a great big "governor" on our zealous engines; so that we never again outrun and overshoot God in His working out of His will in our lives and thus have to carry the burden of "TOO MUCH" in our own strength.
II Kings 10:16
"And he (Jehu) said 'Come with me, and see MY zeal for the Lord..."
Our zeal usually embellishes (sprucing up the truth with extras that are "not so true") God's instructions and words. Yet, only HIS zeal (Isaiah 9:7) can perform His own will!
He started this thing - let Him finish it!
Comment by Keith Edwards:
Today I want us to take heed to this devotional and let God do His perfect work in our life, ministry, and workplace. We have accumlated much here in America and the church, and God wants us to put Him first place in everything. Let's be like Gideon and open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. Lets ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any mixture that we may have, and lets Let Him burn it out of us.
Prayer:
Lord, we desire you and only you today. We ask that you will forgive us for adding to your mighty work by letting things creep up in the body of Christ that is fleshly. We want to be like Gideon and trust you Lord as we fight the good fight of faith as we blow the trumpet in Zion, Amen.
by Joel Hawkins and Keith Edwards
Judges 7:2
"And the Lord said unto Gideon 'The people that are with thee are TOO MANY for Me to give the Midianites into their hands..."
What a predicament...to have too much for God to work! Most would blame not having enough for their not working; but God here blames having TOO MUCH for His not working! And that is exactly where Gideon found himself. From living in a cave to leading as a captain, Gideon had done everything right in preparation for this national deliverance God was about to work through him.
1) He had become officially right with God - 6:17-23
2) He had, in his new rightstanding, brought down his family's idol - 6:25-32
3) He had received and responded to the Holy Ghost (in an Old testament way) - 6:34
4) He had affirmed through two divine signs that this calling was truly of God - 6:36-40
But there was another event that took place between #3 and #4 that was not of Gideon's doing: people from all over Israel began to rally to his side. As Gideon had responded to the Holy Ghost by blowing a trumpet, the people responded to the trumpet and began to naturally amass an army. Now what could be wrong with that? Not a thing...except that what began by the Spirit was now being finished in the flesh!
In our zeal for the Lord, our imagination (of course under the more spiritually sounding tag of an "open vision" or the "discerning of spirits") often takes over from the Holy Ghost that which He has started; and we usually end up adding way more to the "mix" than God originally intended. We mean well! We really only wanted to help! Like Namaan, we just thought it ought to happen this way or that (II Kings 5:11).
Nevertheless, God said to Gideon "You've got too much for Me to work"!
I wonder if He might be saying that to the American Church?! I wonder if through the years of abundant "revelation", proseprity and freedom, we believers in this country have accumulated way too many "accessories" for the worship and work of the Lord?!
If we have, then before the "revival" move, we can like Gideon expect a "downsizing" move, where God whittles away at the excess add-ons of our ministries and lives until we are left with only that which He originally called us and graced us to walk with and in!
Let this word from the life of Gideon be like a spotlight on our multiple "irons in the fire" for God; and let it be a great release from the stress of trying to maintain more than we were meant to carry out! And let it finally be a great big "governor" on our zealous engines; so that we never again outrun and overshoot God in His working out of His will in our lives and thus have to carry the burden of "TOO MUCH" in our own strength.
II Kings 10:16
"And he (Jehu) said 'Come with me, and see MY zeal for the Lord..."
Our zeal usually embellishes (sprucing up the truth with extras that are "not so true") God's instructions and words. Yet, only HIS zeal (Isaiah 9:7) can perform His own will!
He started this thing - let Him finish it!
Comment by Keith Edwards:
Today I want us to take heed to this devotional and let God do His perfect work in our life, ministry, and workplace. We have accumlated much here in America and the church, and God wants us to put Him first place in everything. Let's be like Gideon and open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. Lets ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any mixture that we may have, and lets Let Him burn it out of us.
Prayer:
Lord, we desire you and only you today. We ask that you will forgive us for adding to your mighty work by letting things creep up in the body of Christ that is fleshly. We want to be like Gideon and trust you Lord as we fight the good fight of faith as we blow the trumpet in Zion, Amen.
by Joel Hawkins and Keith Edwards
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Equip The Body May 15th Devotional
Read:
1 Corinthians 12:27
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Also Read:
Ephesians 4:11,12
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
We are living in a time where the church as a whole has forgotten what ministry is all about. We go to church and pay money to our home church so that the pastor's and minster's in the church can be there for a particular body , and this is needful and necessary, but not the end all. It's biblical to give unto the work of the Church, but the body of Christ as a whole is one body involved in the Great commission of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. The minister's in the church is to equip or prepare the body of Christ for the work of ministry. The bible says here in verse 28 of 1 Corinthians that there are minister gifts in the body of Christ and this is very important. The minister gifts in verse 28 is to prepare and equip the whole body of Christ to advance God's Kingdom. We advance God's Kingdom by ministry. We are all called as one in the body of Christ. Many in the protestant church doesn't really understand this concept, and the pastor is doing everything in the church. We have to get out of our little shell and be a light to those in our workplace, our neighbors, or wherever we are at. You may have an administrative gift. You may have a gift to fix things. Whatever gift you have you are very special to the body of Christ. We are all called to advance God's Kingdom. My wife and I own a cleaning business, and we have a friend that got diagnosed with cancer. My wife told her and her husband that we want to use our business and clean there house for free. I'm also going to make a bunch of sandwiches and cook a big pot of spaghetti for them. We are going to keep them lifted up in prayer and believe for a good report from the doctor. This is ministry, and you can reach out to people in a unique way by just doing things like this to reach out to them. My wife and I were helping with a church years ago with a pastor from our apartment complex. I was doing some teaching and worship, and the pastor would have all of us find ministry right there in our apartment complex. Somebody from our small group baked a cake for a police officer that just had surgery on his back, and you should have seen his face when we took that cake to him. He was ministered to. There are so many things we can do as the body of Christ. Its great to come to church and get lifted up, but that's not where it ends. We are to take the message of Christ to the hurting, lost, and those in need. I want to encourage us today to be the body of Christ, whether it is baking a cake, sending someone a card, or whatever your can do to be a part of the body. What do you have to give today that maybe you never gave? You might not of understood what ministry is all about and that we are "all" called in ministry as the body.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will shed light on what our place and position is in the body of Christ. Let us know Lord that there is something we can do to be a part of your Kingdom. Help us Lord to use the gifts that we have and not only use them inside the four walls of the church, but use them also out in the world that many would come to repentance and be touched by your Spirit, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
1 Corinthians 12:27
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Also Read:
Ephesians 4:11,12
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
We are living in a time where the church as a whole has forgotten what ministry is all about. We go to church and pay money to our home church so that the pastor's and minster's in the church can be there for a particular body , and this is needful and necessary, but not the end all. It's biblical to give unto the work of the Church, but the body of Christ as a whole is one body involved in the Great commission of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. The minister's in the church is to equip or prepare the body of Christ for the work of ministry. The bible says here in verse 28 of 1 Corinthians that there are minister gifts in the body of Christ and this is very important. The minister gifts in verse 28 is to prepare and equip the whole body of Christ to advance God's Kingdom. We advance God's Kingdom by ministry. We are all called as one in the body of Christ. Many in the protestant church doesn't really understand this concept, and the pastor is doing everything in the church. We have to get out of our little shell and be a light to those in our workplace, our neighbors, or wherever we are at. You may have an administrative gift. You may have a gift to fix things. Whatever gift you have you are very special to the body of Christ. We are all called to advance God's Kingdom. My wife and I own a cleaning business, and we have a friend that got diagnosed with cancer. My wife told her and her husband that we want to use our business and clean there house for free. I'm also going to make a bunch of sandwiches and cook a big pot of spaghetti for them. We are going to keep them lifted up in prayer and believe for a good report from the doctor. This is ministry, and you can reach out to people in a unique way by just doing things like this to reach out to them. My wife and I were helping with a church years ago with a pastor from our apartment complex. I was doing some teaching and worship, and the pastor would have all of us find ministry right there in our apartment complex. Somebody from our small group baked a cake for a police officer that just had surgery on his back, and you should have seen his face when we took that cake to him. He was ministered to. There are so many things we can do as the body of Christ. Its great to come to church and get lifted up, but that's not where it ends. We are to take the message of Christ to the hurting, lost, and those in need. I want to encourage us today to be the body of Christ, whether it is baking a cake, sending someone a card, or whatever your can do to be a part of the body. What do you have to give today that maybe you never gave? You might not of understood what ministry is all about and that we are "all" called in ministry as the body.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will shed light on what our place and position is in the body of Christ. Let us know Lord that there is something we can do to be a part of your Kingdom. Help us Lord to use the gifts that we have and not only use them inside the four walls of the church, but use them also out in the world that many would come to repentance and be touched by your Spirit, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Friday, May 14, 2010
Keith Edwards may 14th Devotional
Read:
Acts 16:31
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. St. John 14:6
This word Saved comes from the Greek word Sozo, and this word is mighty, Heavenly, and presented by the Holy Ghost. Sozo is a revelation of the Healing power of Christ, for God Himself is emanating from the name of Jesus for the believer. Life and Healing are found in this wonderful name. Jesus! How lovely is His Name! Sozo gives us a glimpse into the healing virtue of the Christ. He is the Great Physician. The Greek word sozo means Deliverance, Safety, soundness, Healing, Health, Preservation, and Life. The name of Jesus is filled with this Saving, Healing, and Delivering power of God. Deliverance is flowing from the name of Jesus and it is ours as we stand upon His Word. Safety is flowing from the name of Jesus.
It surrounds us as we walk with Him. Soundness is flowing from the name of Jesus, as it strengthens us as we reach out to God in faith. Healing is flowing from the name of Jesus, as it makes us whole as we touch His Hand. It refreshes us as we believe His promises. Preservation is flowing from the name of Jesus, as it upholds us as we trust in the name of the Lord. Eternal Life is flowing from the name of Jesus. It quickens us as we look unto Him. “In Him was Life; and the Life was the light of men.” St. John 1:4.
Comment by Keith Edwards:
Lets look to the name of Jesus like never before in our walk with Him. God's name is above every name, and we have inherited that precious name to walk in victory and power. That name died upon the cross, but was raised from the dead by the power of God.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that your name that we have within us will flow to others in these days we are living in. Help us to make your name attractive as we seek to walk in your holiness, Amen.
by Drew Kaylor and Keith Edwards
Acts 16:31
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. St. John 14:6
This word Saved comes from the Greek word Sozo, and this word is mighty, Heavenly, and presented by the Holy Ghost. Sozo is a revelation of the Healing power of Christ, for God Himself is emanating from the name of Jesus for the believer. Life and Healing are found in this wonderful name. Jesus! How lovely is His Name! Sozo gives us a glimpse into the healing virtue of the Christ. He is the Great Physician. The Greek word sozo means Deliverance, Safety, soundness, Healing, Health, Preservation, and Life. The name of Jesus is filled with this Saving, Healing, and Delivering power of God. Deliverance is flowing from the name of Jesus and it is ours as we stand upon His Word. Safety is flowing from the name of Jesus.
It surrounds us as we walk with Him. Soundness is flowing from the name of Jesus, as it strengthens us as we reach out to God in faith. Healing is flowing from the name of Jesus, as it makes us whole as we touch His Hand. It refreshes us as we believe His promises. Preservation is flowing from the name of Jesus, as it upholds us as we trust in the name of the Lord. Eternal Life is flowing from the name of Jesus. It quickens us as we look unto Him. “In Him was Life; and the Life was the light of men.” St. John 1:4.
Comment by Keith Edwards:
Lets look to the name of Jesus like never before in our walk with Him. God's name is above every name, and we have inherited that precious name to walk in victory and power. That name died upon the cross, but was raised from the dead by the power of God.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that your name that we have within us will flow to others in these days we are living in. Help us to make your name attractive as we seek to walk in your holiness, Amen.
by Drew Kaylor and Keith Edwards
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Coming and Going May 13th Devotional by Joel Hawkins and Keith Edwards
I Corinthians 14:26 - How is it then, brethren? When you come together...
Philippians 2:24 - But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly...
Hebrews 4:16 - Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace...
Whether it is saints with saints, saints with ministers or saints with their God, the word "coming" seems primarily to be associated in the New Testament with saints. We are (and should be) always coming together with one another!
Contrast now the word used between saints and sinners:
Matthew 28:19 - GO ye therefore and teach all nations...
Mark 16:15 - GO ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel...
Luke 14:23 - GO out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in...
There are many saints that are severely handicapped in their spiritual health, not because of poor preaching but because of no fellowship - they will not COME together with God or other saints.
There are even more whose handicap is even more severe...because they ONLY COME together with saints and they NEVER GO to sinners!
Our Christian DNA is divinely designed with both a "COME YE" and a "GO YE". These two concepts are innate in every born-again person - they come up naturally and spontaneously from the regenerated heart without outside suggestion or manipulation. It is totally inherent and instinctive for believers to seek out both saints and sinners, one for communion and the other for conversion.
How is your spiritual health today? Have you been avoiding, neglecting or just outright resisting your DNA as a child of God? You'll feel alot better if you will just come out of your cave of solitude, plead the Blood of Jesus Christ for victory over the fear of being hurt, and seek out fellowship with believers and friendship with sinners (for the opportunity to testify)!
When the Lord returns or calls us home, may He always find us COMING AND GOING!
Comment by Keith Edwards:
The greatest thing that we can do as a believer is getting connected in our home church and outward ministry outside of the church, to reach out to sinners, make disciples, and do the works of Christ. As we become more and more faithful with our coming and going, so shall our destiny here on earth as a Christian unfold before us. We will find our placement in the body of Christ, and we will feel fulfilled as a child of God.
Prayer:
Lord, help us to plug in to our home church like never before in this time we are living in. Help us to do what you called us to do as your children, Amen.
by Joel Hawkins and Keith Edwards
Philippians 2:24 - But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly...
Hebrews 4:16 - Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace...
Whether it is saints with saints, saints with ministers or saints with their God, the word "coming" seems primarily to be associated in the New Testament with saints. We are (and should be) always coming together with one another!
Contrast now the word used between saints and sinners:
Matthew 28:19 - GO ye therefore and teach all nations...
Mark 16:15 - GO ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel...
Luke 14:23 - GO out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in...
There are many saints that are severely handicapped in their spiritual health, not because of poor preaching but because of no fellowship - they will not COME together with God or other saints.
There are even more whose handicap is even more severe...because they ONLY COME together with saints and they NEVER GO to sinners!
Our Christian DNA is divinely designed with both a "COME YE" and a "GO YE". These two concepts are innate in every born-again person - they come up naturally and spontaneously from the regenerated heart without outside suggestion or manipulation. It is totally inherent and instinctive for believers to seek out both saints and sinners, one for communion and the other for conversion.
How is your spiritual health today? Have you been avoiding, neglecting or just outright resisting your DNA as a child of God? You'll feel alot better if you will just come out of your cave of solitude, plead the Blood of Jesus Christ for victory over the fear of being hurt, and seek out fellowship with believers and friendship with sinners (for the opportunity to testify)!
When the Lord returns or calls us home, may He always find us COMING AND GOING!
Comment by Keith Edwards:
The greatest thing that we can do as a believer is getting connected in our home church and outward ministry outside of the church, to reach out to sinners, make disciples, and do the works of Christ. As we become more and more faithful with our coming and going, so shall our destiny here on earth as a Christian unfold before us. We will find our placement in the body of Christ, and we will feel fulfilled as a child of God.
Prayer:
Lord, help us to plug in to our home church like never before in this time we are living in. Help us to do what you called us to do as your children, Amen.
by Joel Hawkins and Keith Edwards
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Keith Edwards May 12th Devotional
Read:
Matthew 14:14 - "Jesus...saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick"
Luke 7:13,14 - "And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her...and he said...'Arise'"
John 4:35 - "Look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."
If I have heard it once, I have heard it a thousand times - "Where's the power of God today". Believers all over the country are flocking to seminars and conferences on how to retrieve the old-time power back in our churches and ministries. Dozens of formulas have been presented that explain the loss of power as a lack of faith, a lack of prayer or maybe a lack of praise and worship. Then, upon getting these areas back on track, healing and delivering power are guaranteed to come back into your hands when you touch the sick.
However, according to the above Scriptures, the reason for the absence of power is not just a lack of faith or a lack of prayer but a LACK OF CARE! It was compassion that proceeded the above mentioned miracles - enough compassion, in fact, to MOVE the Lord! THE POWER IN HIS HANDS STARTED WITH THE BREAKING OF HIS HEART! I'm not so sure if many would come to a seminar for power today if they knew that they would have to "hurt" before they could "help"!
Sometimes, we have to use several extension cords to connect a power source to a power need. In these two accounts in Matthew and Luke, there were TWO cords from the One who had the power to the one who had the need...and this second cord of heart-moving compassion for many today in our fast-paced culture has come unplugged! We don't really mind praying for the sick - we just don't want to get so involved!
And the first cord before compassion is simply "LOOK"! I think that cord has not only been unplugged but wrapped up and hidden somewhere! Oh how quickly we change the TV channel when the hungry-children commercials come on! We dare not tarry and LOOK at someone troubled in a hospital waiting room, lest we become moved and get involved! But Jesus LOOKED! He opened His eyes and His heart to the full intensity of the need in front of Him.
In John's Gospel, Jesus tells us to look at something else...the harvest. He was actually talking about the Samaritan woman and her neighbors that were about to experience salvation (in an Old Covenant way), and He was calling them a "harvest". He looked beyond their ethnicity and viewed them spiritually, as God sees them - the harvest! We are to stop overlooking people (ignoring them as though we didn't know they were there) and we are certainly to stop "under looking" people or looking at them as something less than they are.
Exodus 2:11 - "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and LOOKED on their burdens..."
Yes, Moses was willing to look and willing to get involved...but only with his own view and his own feelings. His well-intentioned efforts ended up in murder and him running for his life. God then had to hide him away for 40 years in order to show him the bigger picture - how GOD saw things, how GOD felt about them and what GOD intended to do. God saw more than just one Hebrew being abused. He saw a nation that needed to answer their calling, as well as other nations (Egypt and the nations of Canaan) that needed to answer for their idolatry. Moses' passion was not deep enough or wide enough to cover these other parts of the whole. With God, it is always bigger than just the immediate need in the particular individual in front of us! As Moses took on God's will in his fresh "look" at the situation (Exodus 3), then and only then was Moses ready to have divine power!
So where's the power? Its all in the look!
Comment by Keith Edwards
I want to encourage you today to "look" at what is around you. Ministry is all around us, but so many times we turn the other way. This devotion from Joel Hawkins really compels me to pay attention to ministry that is around me. It may be baking a cake for someone who is sick, reaching out to the downcast, whatever it may be, there are hurting people all around us that need that compassion of Jesus stretched there way.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will forgive us for not looking at ministry in our day to day routine. We want to be used by you Lord, but we don't want to get our hands dirty at times. We don't' want to reach out the that homeless man that needs a touch, that mother that is trying to support her child, or that orphan that needs a hug. Help us to see ministry around us, Amen.
by Joel Hawkins and Keith Edwards
Matthew 14:14 - "Jesus...saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick"
Luke 7:13,14 - "And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her...and he said...'Arise'"
John 4:35 - "Look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."
If I have heard it once, I have heard it a thousand times - "Where's the power of God today". Believers all over the country are flocking to seminars and conferences on how to retrieve the old-time power back in our churches and ministries. Dozens of formulas have been presented that explain the loss of power as a lack of faith, a lack of prayer or maybe a lack of praise and worship. Then, upon getting these areas back on track, healing and delivering power are guaranteed to come back into your hands when you touch the sick.
However, according to the above Scriptures, the reason for the absence of power is not just a lack of faith or a lack of prayer but a LACK OF CARE! It was compassion that proceeded the above mentioned miracles - enough compassion, in fact, to MOVE the Lord! THE POWER IN HIS HANDS STARTED WITH THE BREAKING OF HIS HEART! I'm not so sure if many would come to a seminar for power today if they knew that they would have to "hurt" before they could "help"!
Sometimes, we have to use several extension cords to connect a power source to a power need. In these two accounts in Matthew and Luke, there were TWO cords from the One who had the power to the one who had the need...and this second cord of heart-moving compassion for many today in our fast-paced culture has come unplugged! We don't really mind praying for the sick - we just don't want to get so involved!
And the first cord before compassion is simply "LOOK"! I think that cord has not only been unplugged but wrapped up and hidden somewhere! Oh how quickly we change the TV channel when the hungry-children commercials come on! We dare not tarry and LOOK at someone troubled in a hospital waiting room, lest we become moved and get involved! But Jesus LOOKED! He opened His eyes and His heart to the full intensity of the need in front of Him.
In John's Gospel, Jesus tells us to look at something else...the harvest. He was actually talking about the Samaritan woman and her neighbors that were about to experience salvation (in an Old Covenant way), and He was calling them a "harvest". He looked beyond their ethnicity and viewed them spiritually, as God sees them - the harvest! We are to stop overlooking people (ignoring them as though we didn't know they were there) and we are certainly to stop "under looking" people or looking at them as something less than they are.
Exodus 2:11 - "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and LOOKED on their burdens..."
Yes, Moses was willing to look and willing to get involved...but only with his own view and his own feelings. His well-intentioned efforts ended up in murder and him running for his life. God then had to hide him away for 40 years in order to show him the bigger picture - how GOD saw things, how GOD felt about them and what GOD intended to do. God saw more than just one Hebrew being abused. He saw a nation that needed to answer their calling, as well as other nations (Egypt and the nations of Canaan) that needed to answer for their idolatry. Moses' passion was not deep enough or wide enough to cover these other parts of the whole. With God, it is always bigger than just the immediate need in the particular individual in front of us! As Moses took on God's will in his fresh "look" at the situation (Exodus 3), then and only then was Moses ready to have divine power!
So where's the power? Its all in the look!
Comment by Keith Edwards
I want to encourage you today to "look" at what is around you. Ministry is all around us, but so many times we turn the other way. This devotion from Joel Hawkins really compels me to pay attention to ministry that is around me. It may be baking a cake for someone who is sick, reaching out to the downcast, whatever it may be, there are hurting people all around us that need that compassion of Jesus stretched there way.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will forgive us for not looking at ministry in our day to day routine. We want to be used by you Lord, but we don't want to get our hands dirty at times. We don't' want to reach out the that homeless man that needs a touch, that mother that is trying to support her child, or that orphan that needs a hug. Help us to see ministry around us, Amen.
by Joel Hawkins and Keith Edwards
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
May 11th Devotional
Read:
Philippians 2:5
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Also Read:
1 Corinthians 11:1
1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ
We are living in a generation that has lost the importance and revelation of how God builds and the model of the cross that we should follow. The church has taken in paradigms that are not godly but rather humanistic and gnostic. We have lost the paradigm of the cross of Jesus Christ, and how we should follow Christ as He laid down His life. Like the Gnostic's, we have a revelation of Christ living within us, but it is more of a concept and teaching rather than knowing Him and the power of His resurrection. Within us is often a collection of teachings and our dedication to them, rather than to our risen Lord Who lives in us. The New Testament paradigm of the Cross and the risen Lord should be the focus of our devotion everyday. I find myself loving the idea of God at times, rather than keeping that pure devotion with Him, and then I have to repent and return to that first love with Him. The teachings that many minister's hold to and "defend" can be totally orthodox, but they lose the paradigm of love that Jesus portrayed, the sacrifice that He gave, and the ministry that He poured out to many. It seems to me that many minister's try and add to the gospel, and the paradigm for us to follow is so clear, yet we make it difficult. We can't build a paradigm upon a paradigm, and we can't change the gospel to make it fit our own agenda and what we think is right. Many churches have lowered the standard of what there church is to follow, and they make it an easy gospel. A paradigm is an example and model to follow, and the very foundation that was laid for us by the apostles, prophets, and Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone is the very foundation that we need to follow today. I have minister friends over seas that are powerful minister's of God, and I see a vast difference between some minister's here in the United States and those from overseas. I think that the biggest reason for this is that they haven't been tainted by other paradigms, but understood right off the bat that ministry is just following what Christ Jesus did. I think that one of the major errors we have gotten into, including me, is defending the gospel with the wrong approach. Sometimes we get so caught up with what we think is right, and we lose sight to what needs to be done to transform our nation, change our community, and make disciples. It is very important to defend the gospel and to flow in our gifts and callings. I'm just saying that we need to get our priorities in order as the church and understand that the new testament model for the church is to minister to our community and have outward ministry. It is extending our hands outside the four walls of the building and winning souls, feeding the poor, and making disciples, but yet done with love. It is following the paradigm of the cross. We've done all but make disciples. We have our programs, agenda's, and other things, but our focus needs to be on the Kingdom of God. I want us today to have a fresh insight as to what God has for us, and to ask God today to place us where we need to be as we play our part in following the cross.
Prayer:
Lord, we repent for any other paradigms that we have allowed in our lives, if any. Show us Lord if there is any way in us besides your way, and give us a fresh revelation of the only paradigm and foundation that we need to follow today, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Philippians 2:5
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Also Read:
1 Corinthians 11:1
1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ
We are living in a generation that has lost the importance and revelation of how God builds and the model of the cross that we should follow. The church has taken in paradigms that are not godly but rather humanistic and gnostic. We have lost the paradigm of the cross of Jesus Christ, and how we should follow Christ as He laid down His life. Like the Gnostic's, we have a revelation of Christ living within us, but it is more of a concept and teaching rather than knowing Him and the power of His resurrection. Within us is often a collection of teachings and our dedication to them, rather than to our risen Lord Who lives in us. The New Testament paradigm of the Cross and the risen Lord should be the focus of our devotion everyday. I find myself loving the idea of God at times, rather than keeping that pure devotion with Him, and then I have to repent and return to that first love with Him. The teachings that many minister's hold to and "defend" can be totally orthodox, but they lose the paradigm of love that Jesus portrayed, the sacrifice that He gave, and the ministry that He poured out to many. It seems to me that many minister's try and add to the gospel, and the paradigm for us to follow is so clear, yet we make it difficult. We can't build a paradigm upon a paradigm, and we can't change the gospel to make it fit our own agenda and what we think is right. Many churches have lowered the standard of what there church is to follow, and they make it an easy gospel. A paradigm is an example and model to follow, and the very foundation that was laid for us by the apostles, prophets, and Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone is the very foundation that we need to follow today. I have minister friends over seas that are powerful minister's of God, and I see a vast difference between some minister's here in the United States and those from overseas. I think that the biggest reason for this is that they haven't been tainted by other paradigms, but understood right off the bat that ministry is just following what Christ Jesus did. I think that one of the major errors we have gotten into, including me, is defending the gospel with the wrong approach. Sometimes we get so caught up with what we think is right, and we lose sight to what needs to be done to transform our nation, change our community, and make disciples. It is very important to defend the gospel and to flow in our gifts and callings. I'm just saying that we need to get our priorities in order as the church and understand that the new testament model for the church is to minister to our community and have outward ministry. It is extending our hands outside the four walls of the building and winning souls, feeding the poor, and making disciples, but yet done with love. It is following the paradigm of the cross. We've done all but make disciples. We have our programs, agenda's, and other things, but our focus needs to be on the Kingdom of God. I want us today to have a fresh insight as to what God has for us, and to ask God today to place us where we need to be as we play our part in following the cross.
Prayer:
Lord, we repent for any other paradigms that we have allowed in our lives, if any. Show us Lord if there is any way in us besides your way, and give us a fresh revelation of the only paradigm and foundation that we need to follow today, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Monday, May 10, 2010
The Mercy Seat May 10th Devotional
Read:
Romans 3:25
25 Whom God put forward before the eyes of all as a mercy seat and propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former sins without punishment.
The greatest thing that a Christian can learn in his or her walk with the Lord is having a deeper revelation everyday of Christ, and His death, burial, and resurrection. What we focus on through prayer and worship is very important how deep will can enter into the holy of holies. The bible says that because of Jesus shedding His blood upon the mercy seat of God, it appeased the wrath of God upon man. God now sees us as righteous by the blood of His son Jesus Christ. The Greek word for propitiation is hilastarion, and it means mercy seat for our sins. The secret for walking in the spirit is by first submitting to what God has already done for us. We need to walk in that which we have recieved. In the old testament the priest would take the blood of animals and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat upon the ark of the covenant. This would not take away the sins completely, but it would cover their sins temporarily. The priests would have to do this periodically for the sins of Israel. Christ was the ultimate sacrifice, and through our faith in this revelation will come a deeper revelation of how God really sees us through our worship and prayer. Christ' death and resurrection caused us to be a child of God now. I want us to focus on how much God really loves us today. He loved us so much that he allowed His very Son to die upon a cross for us. Christ' blood satisfied God, and now we are righteous by that ultimate sacrifice. Another thing that the propitiation of the blood upon the mercy seat did is cause the Holy spirit to come and indwell within us as believers, which Jesus told His disciples would come after He was crucified. When Jesus blood satisfied God it brought forth the anointing.
prayer:
Lord, we enter in your holy of holies by that precious blood. It's only by that blood Lord that we can enter, and your blood heals us, delivers us, and saves us. Thank you for that blood you shed Jesus, and as we offer up incense of worship to you today let your glory so fall upon us as your children and priests of your holy throne, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Romans 3:25
25 Whom God put forward before the eyes of all as a mercy seat and propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former sins without punishment.
The greatest thing that a Christian can learn in his or her walk with the Lord is having a deeper revelation everyday of Christ, and His death, burial, and resurrection. What we focus on through prayer and worship is very important how deep will can enter into the holy of holies. The bible says that because of Jesus shedding His blood upon the mercy seat of God, it appeased the wrath of God upon man. God now sees us as righteous by the blood of His son Jesus Christ. The Greek word for propitiation is hilastarion, and it means mercy seat for our sins. The secret for walking in the spirit is by first submitting to what God has already done for us. We need to walk in that which we have recieved. In the old testament the priest would take the blood of animals and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat upon the ark of the covenant. This would not take away the sins completely, but it would cover their sins temporarily. The priests would have to do this periodically for the sins of Israel. Christ was the ultimate sacrifice, and through our faith in this revelation will come a deeper revelation of how God really sees us through our worship and prayer. Christ' death and resurrection caused us to be a child of God now. I want us to focus on how much God really loves us today. He loved us so much that he allowed His very Son to die upon a cross for us. Christ' blood satisfied God, and now we are righteous by that ultimate sacrifice. Another thing that the propitiation of the blood upon the mercy seat did is cause the Holy spirit to come and indwell within us as believers, which Jesus told His disciples would come after He was crucified. When Jesus blood satisfied God it brought forth the anointing.
prayer:
Lord, we enter in your holy of holies by that precious blood. It's only by that blood Lord that we can enter, and your blood heals us, delivers us, and saves us. Thank you for that blood you shed Jesus, and as we offer up incense of worship to you today let your glory so fall upon us as your children and priests of your holy throne, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Keith Edwards May 8th Devotional
Read:
Luke 22:20
20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
The seven redemptive names of Jehovah reveal the fullness of the gospel blessing. All that the New Testament provides for the believer is found in these seven covenant names, and that blessing that is represented by each name has all been provided by the shedding of Jesus' blood. This is the revelation of the Blood Covenant. The Lord is Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is present, Jehovah Raah, the Lord our Shepherd, Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our victory, Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace, Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah Tireh, the Lord our provider, and the Lord Rophe, the Lord our healer. Let us appropriate these blessings by faith, and they shall become ours in power. The seven redemptive names of Jehovah give us a special revelation of Almighty God, and they reveal the covenant. They describe for us the redemptive nature of God, and when we meditate on these facts, they will be our strength in time of need. The bible is Gods' revelation of Himself to the believer.
Comment by Keith Edwards:
Today I want us to focus on Gods' name in a deep and powerful way. The bible says that the name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous run into it and they are saved. The Hebrew word for name is Shem, and it means the nature and character of God. The Hebrew word for tower is Megdawl, and it means to elevate one to a high place. We are elevated to a high place in God's name, and His name is food for our soul, and it gives us that desire to walk in His Spirit.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will elevate us to a high place in your name today. We desire Lord to get a deep revelation of who you are in us by that blood covenant, Amen.
by Drew Kaylor and Keith Edwards
Luke 22:20
20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
The seven redemptive names of Jehovah reveal the fullness of the gospel blessing. All that the New Testament provides for the believer is found in these seven covenant names, and that blessing that is represented by each name has all been provided by the shedding of Jesus' blood. This is the revelation of the Blood Covenant. The Lord is Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is present, Jehovah Raah, the Lord our Shepherd, Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our victory, Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace, Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah Tireh, the Lord our provider, and the Lord Rophe, the Lord our healer. Let us appropriate these blessings by faith, and they shall become ours in power. The seven redemptive names of Jehovah give us a special revelation of Almighty God, and they reveal the covenant. They describe for us the redemptive nature of God, and when we meditate on these facts, they will be our strength in time of need. The bible is Gods' revelation of Himself to the believer.
Comment by Keith Edwards:
Today I want us to focus on Gods' name in a deep and powerful way. The bible says that the name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous run into it and they are saved. The Hebrew word for name is Shem, and it means the nature and character of God. The Hebrew word for tower is Megdawl, and it means to elevate one to a high place. We are elevated to a high place in God's name, and His name is food for our soul, and it gives us that desire to walk in His Spirit.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will elevate us to a high place in your name today. We desire Lord to get a deep revelation of who you are in us by that blood covenant, Amen.
by Drew Kaylor and Keith Edwards
Friday, May 7, 2010
Carnal Christians May 7th Devotional
Read:
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
In our Christian walk we are going to face challenging times as a believer. None of us our exempt from trials and proper growth in the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 3 we see that Paul was talking to Christians who had strife and other things in the church. He exhorts them to repent and to be the temple of God. In the last part of the chapter He talks about the judgment seat of Christ and how God is going to judge us according to our motives and things we have done in our body while here on earth. The judgment seat of Christ is for believers, and the Great White Throne judgment is for unbelievers. The judgment seat of Christ has nothing to do with heaven or hell like the Great White Throne judgment will be about, but it is about what we as Christians have built upon the foundation of Christ, and what we built that was not pure. We are all going to have bad and good motives judged. The Greek word for carnal here in verse one is adelphos, and the definition is a fellow believer, united to another by the bond of affection, an associate in employment or office; Christians, as those who are exalted to the same heavenly place. I have heard minister's teach that a carnal Christian is an unbeliever, but this is not scriptural. I'm not teaching in this devotion that you can sin and do anything you want to without any repentance, I'm just saying that we all have things we deal with, and if we don't let the Holy Spirit shine down upon that sin, we will not be fit for the Kingdom of God here on earth. It also says in verse one that carnal Christians are babes in Christ. I don't know how more relevant that can be to let us know that we can walk in the flesh and not be walking in the Spirit by His Grace. We will fall from God's grace when we start looking to the law to be made right. To fall from God's grace is to start looking to the law and our own self works to be made right with Christ, and when we fall from grace we will be a carnal Christian condemned and not free in His truth. It will make us feel unworthy and our joy will go down the tubes. This tells us that we can be a babe in Christ, but God wants us to grow in love towards fellow believers. God wants us to allow His Spirit to sanctify us and make His name attractive by walking in holiness. If we continue to have a mixture of carnality in our walk with the Lord, the Lord will discipline and chasten us to produce fruit, and those spankings from the Lord doesn't feel good at all. He has a way of dealing with us as His children. I want to encourage us as the temple of God to walk in the spirit and put aside our carnal ways. Lets grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and lets be a reflection of the one who saved us by His grace.
Prayer:
Lord, heal us today by your mercy and grace to put aside every weight and sin that so easily weighs us down, causing us to walk in carnality and not producing fruit as a true believer. We repent Lord for not walking in the Spirit as your disciples. Give us a fresh revelation that we are your temple, and that we need to shine the light for those in darkness, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
In our Christian walk we are going to face challenging times as a believer. None of us our exempt from trials and proper growth in the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 3 we see that Paul was talking to Christians who had strife and other things in the church. He exhorts them to repent and to be the temple of God. In the last part of the chapter He talks about the judgment seat of Christ and how God is going to judge us according to our motives and things we have done in our body while here on earth. The judgment seat of Christ is for believers, and the Great White Throne judgment is for unbelievers. The judgment seat of Christ has nothing to do with heaven or hell like the Great White Throne judgment will be about, but it is about what we as Christians have built upon the foundation of Christ, and what we built that was not pure. We are all going to have bad and good motives judged. The Greek word for carnal here in verse one is adelphos, and the definition is a fellow believer, united to another by the bond of affection, an associate in employment or office; Christians, as those who are exalted to the same heavenly place. I have heard minister's teach that a carnal Christian is an unbeliever, but this is not scriptural. I'm not teaching in this devotion that you can sin and do anything you want to without any repentance, I'm just saying that we all have things we deal with, and if we don't let the Holy Spirit shine down upon that sin, we will not be fit for the Kingdom of God here on earth. It also says in verse one that carnal Christians are babes in Christ. I don't know how more relevant that can be to let us know that we can walk in the flesh and not be walking in the Spirit by His Grace. We will fall from God's grace when we start looking to the law to be made right. To fall from God's grace is to start looking to the law and our own self works to be made right with Christ, and when we fall from grace we will be a carnal Christian condemned and not free in His truth. It will make us feel unworthy and our joy will go down the tubes. This tells us that we can be a babe in Christ, but God wants us to grow in love towards fellow believers. God wants us to allow His Spirit to sanctify us and make His name attractive by walking in holiness. If we continue to have a mixture of carnality in our walk with the Lord, the Lord will discipline and chasten us to produce fruit, and those spankings from the Lord doesn't feel good at all. He has a way of dealing with us as His children. I want to encourage us as the temple of God to walk in the spirit and put aside our carnal ways. Lets grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and lets be a reflection of the one who saved us by His grace.
Prayer:
Lord, heal us today by your mercy and grace to put aside every weight and sin that so easily weighs us down, causing us to walk in carnality and not producing fruit as a true believer. We repent Lord for not walking in the Spirit as your disciples. Give us a fresh revelation that we are your temple, and that we need to shine the light for those in darkness, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Thursday, May 6, 2010
by Mel Montgomery and Keith Edwards May 6th Devotional
Read:
11 Corinthians 4:4
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
As the last days wind down, with the Unrighteous drawing closer to Satan and to the Anti-Christ in their thinking and affections, what little light they do have grows darker and darker. Every sort of wickedness, lewdness, and dishonesty that used to seem to them to be objectionable, now for some reason, no longer seem so bad. Darkness is becoming normal to them. While darkness is enveloping the Wicked, the exact opposite is occurring with the Righteous. For us also, the Last days are winding down to their ultimate conclusion. We too are going through a metamorphosis. We are cocooned in the person of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit surrounds us and is fulfilling scripture by leading into all truth, teaching us all things, and bringing to our minds all that Christ commanded us (John 14:26) We are not being conformed to the image of this world, but are being transformed by the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2). We are going from glory to glory (11Cor. 3:18). Light is normal to us, and we welcome it. We love the one who is the Truth; so naturally, we want to know the truth in all situations. One day, we also shall emerge from our cocoons, but not to give ourselves over totally to evil and rebellion against God as shall the Wicked. When we hear the Last Trumpet, our bodies will be transformed into glorious bodies, and we shall rise to meet the Lord in the air, and ever shall we be with Him (1 Thess. 4:16). In the meantime, as we prepare to receive our King, the light, the truth, holiness, purity, righteousness and all of the other attributes of Christ become more precious and normal to us. There is a deep desire in our hearts to meet our Lord soon, and to be the Church without spot, or blemish, or any such thing, that He desires us to be (Eph. 5:27). He is holy; therefore, we desire to be holy.
Comment by Keith Edwards:
I want to encourage us today to realize that we are cocooned in the person of Christ Jesus. We are enveloped within Him and He within us, and we will one day be totally transformed into a glorious body in Heaven. We are living in a time where the enemy is trying to thwart the gospel and bring the gospel down lower and lower. The bar of Christianity is no longer set where it once was, and the very tactic the enemy uses in these last days is the weapon of doubt and lack of revelation of who we are in Christ. If he can steal that revelation of us being cocooned in His power, then he can stop the flow of hope that we cling on to in these wicked times.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will bring us back to the level we need to be at in You. Help us Lord to reflect Your nature. We desire to know you more as we seek you, Amen.
by Mel Montgomery and Keith Edwards
11 Corinthians 4:4
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
As the last days wind down, with the Unrighteous drawing closer to Satan and to the Anti-Christ in their thinking and affections, what little light they do have grows darker and darker. Every sort of wickedness, lewdness, and dishonesty that used to seem to them to be objectionable, now for some reason, no longer seem so bad. Darkness is becoming normal to them. While darkness is enveloping the Wicked, the exact opposite is occurring with the Righteous. For us also, the Last days are winding down to their ultimate conclusion. We too are going through a metamorphosis. We are cocooned in the person of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit surrounds us and is fulfilling scripture by leading into all truth, teaching us all things, and bringing to our minds all that Christ commanded us (John 14:26) We are not being conformed to the image of this world, but are being transformed by the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2). We are going from glory to glory (11Cor. 3:18). Light is normal to us, and we welcome it. We love the one who is the Truth; so naturally, we want to know the truth in all situations. One day, we also shall emerge from our cocoons, but not to give ourselves over totally to evil and rebellion against God as shall the Wicked. When we hear the Last Trumpet, our bodies will be transformed into glorious bodies, and we shall rise to meet the Lord in the air, and ever shall we be with Him (1 Thess. 4:16). In the meantime, as we prepare to receive our King, the light, the truth, holiness, purity, righteousness and all of the other attributes of Christ become more precious and normal to us. There is a deep desire in our hearts to meet our Lord soon, and to be the Church without spot, or blemish, or any such thing, that He desires us to be (Eph. 5:27). He is holy; therefore, we desire to be holy.
Comment by Keith Edwards:
I want to encourage us today to realize that we are cocooned in the person of Christ Jesus. We are enveloped within Him and He within us, and we will one day be totally transformed into a glorious body in Heaven. We are living in a time where the enemy is trying to thwart the gospel and bring the gospel down lower and lower. The bar of Christianity is no longer set where it once was, and the very tactic the enemy uses in these last days is the weapon of doubt and lack of revelation of who we are in Christ. If he can steal that revelation of us being cocooned in His power, then he can stop the flow of hope that we cling on to in these wicked times.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will bring us back to the level we need to be at in You. Help us Lord to reflect Your nature. We desire to know you more as we seek you, Amen.
by Mel Montgomery and Keith Edwards
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Our God Delights In Us May 5th Devotional by Sandy Groom
Read:
Psalm 18: 16-19
“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”
Wow! Our God delights in us.
No matter how difficult the situation, Our Lord is here, ready to reach down and pull us out of the overwhelming pits of life. He takes hold of our hands and carries us to safety. He cares for us in love and kindness, because he delights in who we are. We find shame in this world in so many places. Messages that we are not okay, not worthy, don’t belong… These negative messages are often instilled in our minds from an early age. This is especially true in homes where abuse and addictions work to destroy the family. Our view of others, ourselves and the world, changes when we are hurt by others. We may view the world as a dangerous place, or we may see ourselves as incapable of handling difficult situations. Often times we begin thinking that God is angry and displeased with us; that he thinks of us as unworthy of his love. We may believe that God will be disappointed and turn his back on us for feeling low, depressed or anxious. Yet in those moments of great need, when we’re hurting and feeling desperate, our powerful, loving God gently holds and supports us. Even when others confront us with harsh words, telling us that we are wrong, or mistaken, or unworthy, our Lord adores us and is ready to rescue and protect us. He smiles on us with delight. During times of depression in my own life, I felt that God must be ashamed of me for feeling down, anxious and afraid. I saw depression and anxiety as terrible sins, and thought the Lord would punish me in hurtful ways. Learning that God feels my pain, loves and delights in me even when I am hurting, was a big part of my own healing. I wanted to draw close to the God who looks at me, feeling my pain, with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.
comment by Keith Edwards
There are times in our Christian walk when we need to just open our heart to Father God and let Him wrap His loving arms around us. God knows our struggles and pains, and He knows exactly what we need to pull us through. Faith is not always on the mountain top. It can be in the valley, and in those valleys the blood of Jesus is powerful enough to get us through. Reach out today in whatever you are facing, and let God love us and guide us through it all.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for delighting in who I am. Thank you for being a kind, loving, heavenly father, who forgives me and rescues me when I call out to you. Lord, I call out to you now with my need, knowing that you hear my cry and take joy in helping me.
by Sandy Groom
Psalm 18: 16-19
“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”
Wow! Our God delights in us.
No matter how difficult the situation, Our Lord is here, ready to reach down and pull us out of the overwhelming pits of life. He takes hold of our hands and carries us to safety. He cares for us in love and kindness, because he delights in who we are. We find shame in this world in so many places. Messages that we are not okay, not worthy, don’t belong… These negative messages are often instilled in our minds from an early age. This is especially true in homes where abuse and addictions work to destroy the family. Our view of others, ourselves and the world, changes when we are hurt by others. We may view the world as a dangerous place, or we may see ourselves as incapable of handling difficult situations. Often times we begin thinking that God is angry and displeased with us; that he thinks of us as unworthy of his love. We may believe that God will be disappointed and turn his back on us for feeling low, depressed or anxious. Yet in those moments of great need, when we’re hurting and feeling desperate, our powerful, loving God gently holds and supports us. Even when others confront us with harsh words, telling us that we are wrong, or mistaken, or unworthy, our Lord adores us and is ready to rescue and protect us. He smiles on us with delight. During times of depression in my own life, I felt that God must be ashamed of me for feeling down, anxious and afraid. I saw depression and anxiety as terrible sins, and thought the Lord would punish me in hurtful ways. Learning that God feels my pain, loves and delights in me even when I am hurting, was a big part of my own healing. I wanted to draw close to the God who looks at me, feeling my pain, with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.
comment by Keith Edwards
There are times in our Christian walk when we need to just open our heart to Father God and let Him wrap His loving arms around us. God knows our struggles and pains, and He knows exactly what we need to pull us through. Faith is not always on the mountain top. It can be in the valley, and in those valleys the blood of Jesus is powerful enough to get us through. Reach out today in whatever you are facing, and let God love us and guide us through it all.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for delighting in who I am. Thank you for being a kind, loving, heavenly father, who forgives me and rescues me when I call out to you. Lord, I call out to you now with my need, knowing that you hear my cry and take joy in helping me.
by Sandy Groom
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
May 3rd Devotional
Read:
Jude 1;3
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
A writer said one time: "That the apostasy of the early church came as a result of a greater desire to see the spread of its power and rule than to see new natures given to its individual members. The moment we covet a large following and rejoice in the crowd that is attracted by our presentation that we considered truth, and have not a great desire to see the nature of individuals changed according to the divine plan, we start to travel the same road to apostasy that leads to Rome and her daughters." This is so true for how the church can fall from God's first love and how she can be more concerned with power rather than concern for lost souls. We see this in some of the prophetic and apostolic movement. They are more concerned with the gifts' of God versus the giver of those gifts. A minister said one time that, "You know that God is in the midst when miracles and great things happen." Although this can be true, the greatest way you can tell a true revival is the repentant hearts of the people concerning our next generation, our nation, and concern for God's heart. If we put this as first priority then the gifts and power of God will be pure. We need to contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints and stay true as the bride of Christ. I want to encourage us today to keep Christ the center of our life in every area, and let Him bring forth the glory in His way and His timing.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will forgive us for loving the power more than loving you and what you are concerned with. Help us to keep our hearts fixed upon you in such a great way, and give us your heart for your temple, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Jude 1;3
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
A writer said one time: "That the apostasy of the early church came as a result of a greater desire to see the spread of its power and rule than to see new natures given to its individual members. The moment we covet a large following and rejoice in the crowd that is attracted by our presentation that we considered truth, and have not a great desire to see the nature of individuals changed according to the divine plan, we start to travel the same road to apostasy that leads to Rome and her daughters." This is so true for how the church can fall from God's first love and how she can be more concerned with power rather than concern for lost souls. We see this in some of the prophetic and apostolic movement. They are more concerned with the gifts' of God versus the giver of those gifts. A minister said one time that, "You know that God is in the midst when miracles and great things happen." Although this can be true, the greatest way you can tell a true revival is the repentant hearts of the people concerning our next generation, our nation, and concern for God's heart. If we put this as first priority then the gifts and power of God will be pure. We need to contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints and stay true as the bride of Christ. I want to encourage us today to keep Christ the center of our life in every area, and let Him bring forth the glory in His way and His timing.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will forgive us for loving the power more than loving you and what you are concerned with. Help us to keep our hearts fixed upon you in such a great way, and give us your heart for your temple, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Anguish Of My Soul May 2nd Devotional by Sandy Groom & Keith Edwards
Read:
Psalm 31: 9-10, 14-16
“Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak…. But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God. My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me. Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.’”
Have you ever felt so much pain there were no words to describe how you felt? You may even be feeling this way right now. There are times when the distress and hurting seem too great to bear; when we grasp for words to describe the depth of our pain. David used the word “anguish” in Psalm 31 to describe the pain he was experiencing. He described his strength failing, his body and soul weakening, and anguish consuming his entire being.
David is considered a great pillar in the Bible, the “Greatest of the Kings of Israel,” and “A Man after God’s Own Heart.” Yet he experienced times of deep pain, distress and agony. David had many troubles throughout his life. King Saul sought to kill him; his daughter was raped by her brother, Ammon, who was later killed by another son, Absalom. Later, Absalom conspired to take over the kingdom, causing a brief yet deadly civil war, and another son died as a young infant. No wonder David described himself as broken pottery.
David describes emotional flooding when he states "My life is consumed with anguish." When our emotions flood with sadness, grief, anger, anxiety or fear, we become paralyzed, unable to think clearly, make decisions,or take positive steps to change difficult situations. But we can interrupt the flooding by holding on to the fact that our Lord knows our pain and hears our cries for help. David states, “In my alarm I said, ‘I am cut off from your sight!’ yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help” (31: 22). As David change his focus from his own pain, to the Lord’s love, protection and deliverance, he was able to remind others of God’s faithfulness. He states, "But I trust in you, O Lord, I say, 'You are my God.' My times are in your hand...(31:14-15a). David cried out to the Lord for help, yet he also held on to the knowledge that the Lord "saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul" (31:7).
When we cannot find the words to describe our pain, the Lord knows exactly how we feel. When we do not know how to pray, the Lord prays for us. Romans 8:26 tells us that “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Our Lord knows exactly what we need, and prays for us, even when we cannot find the words.
comment by Keith Edwards
As Sandy mentioned here in today's devotional, when we cannot find the words to say, God in His infinite mercy and love can reach out to you today and fill you with strength. Sometimes we just need to not say anything at all. It's alright to just close our eyes and meditate on His character and power. It's alright to be honest with the Lord and tell Him, "I have no strength left in my soul Lord." Bring all of your needs to Him today for He is willing and able to help you.
Prayer:
Jesus,I cry out to you for help. I am hurting Lord, and sometimes my emotion floods my soul. Yet you are God and I choose to trust in you. You know my needs completely and take joy in delivering me. My times are in your hands Lord. Please lead and guide me. Thank you for your kindness and protection. I can rest in your unfailing love, knowing that you have heard my cry and delight to help me.
Psalm 31: 9-10, 14-16
“Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak…. But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God. My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me. Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.’”
Have you ever felt so much pain there were no words to describe how you felt? You may even be feeling this way right now. There are times when the distress and hurting seem too great to bear; when we grasp for words to describe the depth of our pain. David used the word “anguish” in Psalm 31 to describe the pain he was experiencing. He described his strength failing, his body and soul weakening, and anguish consuming his entire being.
David is considered a great pillar in the Bible, the “Greatest of the Kings of Israel,” and “A Man after God’s Own Heart.” Yet he experienced times of deep pain, distress and agony. David had many troubles throughout his life. King Saul sought to kill him; his daughter was raped by her brother, Ammon, who was later killed by another son, Absalom. Later, Absalom conspired to take over the kingdom, causing a brief yet deadly civil war, and another son died as a young infant. No wonder David described himself as broken pottery.
David describes emotional flooding when he states "My life is consumed with anguish." When our emotions flood with sadness, grief, anger, anxiety or fear, we become paralyzed, unable to think clearly, make decisions,or take positive steps to change difficult situations. But we can interrupt the flooding by holding on to the fact that our Lord knows our pain and hears our cries for help. David states, “In my alarm I said, ‘I am cut off from your sight!’ yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help” (31: 22). As David change his focus from his own pain, to the Lord’s love, protection and deliverance, he was able to remind others of God’s faithfulness. He states, "But I trust in you, O Lord, I say, 'You are my God.' My times are in your hand...(31:14-15a). David cried out to the Lord for help, yet he also held on to the knowledge that the Lord "saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul" (31:7).
When we cannot find the words to describe our pain, the Lord knows exactly how we feel. When we do not know how to pray, the Lord prays for us. Romans 8:26 tells us that “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Our Lord knows exactly what we need, and prays for us, even when we cannot find the words.
comment by Keith Edwards
As Sandy mentioned here in today's devotional, when we cannot find the words to say, God in His infinite mercy and love can reach out to you today and fill you with strength. Sometimes we just need to not say anything at all. It's alright to just close our eyes and meditate on His character and power. It's alright to be honest with the Lord and tell Him, "I have no strength left in my soul Lord." Bring all of your needs to Him today for He is willing and able to help you.
Prayer:
Jesus,I cry out to you for help. I am hurting Lord, and sometimes my emotion floods my soul. Yet you are God and I choose to trust in you. You know my needs completely and take joy in delivering me. My times are in your hands Lord. Please lead and guide me. Thank you for your kindness and protection. I can rest in your unfailing love, knowing that you have heard my cry and delight to help me.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Jesus Knows Our Struggles May 1st Devotional by Sandy Groom and Keith
Read:
Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Jesus knows our struggles. “He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering.” He knows exactly what we are going through today, what we experienced in the past, and everything we will experience in the future. He walks with us through the dark and miserable times as well as the beautiful times. Jesus holds us in his hands with love and empathy; but he does not stop there. He died an agonizing death to set us free from the horrible consequences of sin, to cleanse us, heal us, and make us whole. He bore all of our pain, distress and sin on the cross.
Why is it so important that we be clean and holy? Because we cannot have fellowship with him without being completely righteous. He is pure and holy, and we must be holy and pure to enjoy friendship with him. Our wrongdoings separate us from the Lord. Isaiah 59:2 explains that our sins have separated us from God. Yet Jesus is our righteousness if we believe and ask him into our lives. 2Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
It is amazing! Our Lord longed to have fellowship with us. He desired to pour his love and life into us and be with us forever. He wanted to have an intimate relationship with us so much, that he was tortured on the cross to set us free from sin. Isaiah 53 describes Jesus as being pierced, crushed, wounded, oppressed, afflicted, stricken, and a guilt offering for all mankind. He did all this so we can be in his presence. He took upon himself all of our infirmities and sorrows, so we can experience his amazing love and healing.
We can feel unworthy and undeserving during times of anxiety, depression, physical limitations and chronic pain. Traumatic experiences, such as child abuse and domestic violence, often cause us to feel dirty and ashamed. Yet God thought us worthwhile enough to give his life for us, and to live in us with all his righteousness and healing power.
Are you hurting today? Do you feel unworthy of love, or ashamed of who you are or have become? Let Jesus come inside, wash you white as snow, and heal you. Let him fill you with his love. Sometimes he heals us quickly, sometimes healing comes as a journey, and occasionally it comes through endurance and long perseverance. Yet no matter how the healing comes, Jesus walks with us and fills us with his strength and comfort each step of the way. He draws close to us, smiling upon us in love, yet always feeling our suffering.
Comment by Keith Edwards:
I want to encourage you today to take the words from Sandy seriously and remember, God loves you so much. I also want to encourage you today to let the Holy Spirit touch you and heal you completely. There is no problem to big God can not solve it. There is no mountain too tall God cannot move it. There is no storm cloud to rough God cannot calm it. There is no "heartache" too deep God cannot heal it. Friend, if He carried the weight of the world upon His shoulder, I know that He can carry you today.
Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Jesus knows our struggles. “He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering.” He knows exactly what we are going through today, what we experienced in the past, and everything we will experience in the future. He walks with us through the dark and miserable times as well as the beautiful times. Jesus holds us in his hands with love and empathy; but he does not stop there. He died an agonizing death to set us free from the horrible consequences of sin, to cleanse us, heal us, and make us whole. He bore all of our pain, distress and sin on the cross.
Why is it so important that we be clean and holy? Because we cannot have fellowship with him without being completely righteous. He is pure and holy, and we must be holy and pure to enjoy friendship with him. Our wrongdoings separate us from the Lord. Isaiah 59:2 explains that our sins have separated us from God. Yet Jesus is our righteousness if we believe and ask him into our lives. 2Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
It is amazing! Our Lord longed to have fellowship with us. He desired to pour his love and life into us and be with us forever. He wanted to have an intimate relationship with us so much, that he was tortured on the cross to set us free from sin. Isaiah 53 describes Jesus as being pierced, crushed, wounded, oppressed, afflicted, stricken, and a guilt offering for all mankind. He did all this so we can be in his presence. He took upon himself all of our infirmities and sorrows, so we can experience his amazing love and healing.
We can feel unworthy and undeserving during times of anxiety, depression, physical limitations and chronic pain. Traumatic experiences, such as child abuse and domestic violence, often cause us to feel dirty and ashamed. Yet God thought us worthwhile enough to give his life for us, and to live in us with all his righteousness and healing power.
Are you hurting today? Do you feel unworthy of love, or ashamed of who you are or have become? Let Jesus come inside, wash you white as snow, and heal you. Let him fill you with his love. Sometimes he heals us quickly, sometimes healing comes as a journey, and occasionally it comes through endurance and long perseverance. Yet no matter how the healing comes, Jesus walks with us and fills us with his strength and comfort each step of the way. He draws close to us, smiling upon us in love, yet always feeling our suffering.
Comment by Keith Edwards:
I want to encourage you today to take the words from Sandy seriously and remember, God loves you so much. I also want to encourage you today to let the Holy Spirit touch you and heal you completely. There is no problem to big God can not solve it. There is no mountain too tall God cannot move it. There is no storm cloud to rough God cannot calm it. There is no "heartache" too deep God cannot heal it. Friend, if He carried the weight of the world upon His shoulder, I know that He can carry you today.
Friday, April 30, 2010
April 30th Devotional
Read:
As I was meditating on the powerful words from great leaders of our United States of America, I couldn't help to feel a great great pain within me. I began to shed tears from reading the words I believe was straight from the heart of our Father God. Today I want us to read about the leaders of our country who had some guts to stand up for America. I think we need the voice of Abraham Lincoln screaming out to our nation today, "Keep The National Day Of Prayer!" I don't know how long God is going to tolerate this nation under whatever it is under, but I don't believe that God wants us to give up just yet. Lets not put away our bible in hoplessness, and just look up to the heavens alone and wait on the Lord to return. We need to have a desire for Christ to come back for His church, but we still have a bit of work to do yet. I believe that God is wanting us to reflect today on great men who couldn't have spoken prophetically any clearer for what we need today. I feel the pain in me as I am writing this devotion. I beg you church to kneel with me right now in prayer for our nation, and after this prayer I'm about to write below this devotion, I want you to look and reflect on some great words our leaders have spoken for America. Let's pray.
Prayer:
Lord, we come to you in your precious name for America. Forgive us Lord. Forgive us Lord for not be concerned for our next generation. Forgive us Lord for being complacent in the church and not reaching out to the community as a whole. We repent Father God for where we have gotten to, and ask that if there is any glimmer of hope left for this nation to reach down with your mighty hand and touch this nation. Help us to have a backbone to speak truth in your mighty name. We do pray for our president of the United States, and we ask that you plot new Christian leaders in Congress to stand up for God in America. Amen
From George Washington's "Inaugural Speech to Both Houses of Congress," April 30, 1789:
"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes....No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. . . . We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps finally, staked on the experiment, not to mention Abraham Lincoln honoring the national day of prayer, Warren Harding speaking of his conviction that the fundamental trouble with the people of the United States is they have gotten too far AWAY FROM GOD. Dewight D. Eisenhower spoke that the purpose of the United people was set forth in the pages of the BIBLE, and the bible continues to inspire us.
by Keith Edwards
As I was meditating on the powerful words from great leaders of our United States of America, I couldn't help to feel a great great pain within me. I began to shed tears from reading the words I believe was straight from the heart of our Father God. Today I want us to read about the leaders of our country who had some guts to stand up for America. I think we need the voice of Abraham Lincoln screaming out to our nation today, "Keep The National Day Of Prayer!" I don't know how long God is going to tolerate this nation under whatever it is under, but I don't believe that God wants us to give up just yet. Lets not put away our bible in hoplessness, and just look up to the heavens alone and wait on the Lord to return. We need to have a desire for Christ to come back for His church, but we still have a bit of work to do yet. I believe that God is wanting us to reflect today on great men who couldn't have spoken prophetically any clearer for what we need today. I feel the pain in me as I am writing this devotion. I beg you church to kneel with me right now in prayer for our nation, and after this prayer I'm about to write below this devotion, I want you to look and reflect on some great words our leaders have spoken for America. Let's pray.
Prayer:
Lord, we come to you in your precious name for America. Forgive us Lord. Forgive us Lord for not be concerned for our next generation. Forgive us Lord for being complacent in the church and not reaching out to the community as a whole. We repent Father God for where we have gotten to, and ask that if there is any glimmer of hope left for this nation to reach down with your mighty hand and touch this nation. Help us to have a backbone to speak truth in your mighty name. We do pray for our president of the United States, and we ask that you plot new Christian leaders in Congress to stand up for God in America. Amen
From George Washington's "Inaugural Speech to Both Houses of Congress," April 30, 1789:
"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes....No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. . . . We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps finally, staked on the experiment, not to mention Abraham Lincoln honoring the national day of prayer, Warren Harding speaking of his conviction that the fundamental trouble with the people of the United States is they have gotten too far AWAY FROM GOD. Dewight D. Eisenhower spoke that the purpose of the United people was set forth in the pages of the BIBLE, and the bible continues to inspire us.
by Keith Edwards
Thursday, April 29, 2010
April 29th Devotional
Read:
Proverbs 4:26
26 Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established.
One day I was walking my two kids down some trails behind our house. We have a large amount of woods, and my kids love to take walks with the dog. We walked about twenty minutes, and when we got to the other side we ended up at a house just a few houses from our house. I told my kids to turn around and lets go back down the trail we came from because it was getting dark. On the way, my little boy tripped over some branches, lost his shoe, and got stuck with some thorns. My little girl was tripping over some branches as well. As we got down the trail a little ways, my little boy looked up at me with those big brown eyes and said, " I love you so much daddy!" My heart just melted, and in return I told him that I love him also very much. Immediately I began to think about how we as Christians take detours and it takes much longer to get to a certain place that God wants for us. It may be a character growth in our walk, placement in the body of Christ, or sin in our life that needs to be dealt with by the Holy Spirit. How many times does Daddy God have to take us by the hand and walk us down that same path time after time? Many times it is our own will wanting to take control, and our own will will cause thorns, unnecessary trips along the way, and heartaches. I want to encourage you today to walk down the road with God, and guard your heart as you walk with Him. There are trials of thorns, trips etc. that happens in our walk with Him, but the unnecessary pains can cause such a delay in the destination God has got for us here on earth. Many times we find ourselves getting tired and weary, and we find it got so dark down that long trail. We can't find our way back down that road God paved for us because we paved other roads on our own. The enemy wants to steal that word from our soul down those side roads. He wants us to walk down that same trail over and over again tripping over branches of life not bearing fruit for the Lord. I also want to encourage you today to realize that God still loves us even when we are on a detour. He loves us so much that He gave His life for us on the cross. Look up to Daddy God today and tell Him you love Him. I know you'll hear His voice speak back to you if you will just open your heart to Him.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will hold our hand in the middle of those detours that we might walk down. Help us to listen to your direction by crucifying our own will. We ask Lord that you will give us a revelation of who you really are
by Keith Edwards
Proverbs 4:26
26 Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established.
One day I was walking my two kids down some trails behind our house. We have a large amount of woods, and my kids love to take walks with the dog. We walked about twenty minutes, and when we got to the other side we ended up at a house just a few houses from our house. I told my kids to turn around and lets go back down the trail we came from because it was getting dark. On the way, my little boy tripped over some branches, lost his shoe, and got stuck with some thorns. My little girl was tripping over some branches as well. As we got down the trail a little ways, my little boy looked up at me with those big brown eyes and said, " I love you so much daddy!" My heart just melted, and in return I told him that I love him also very much. Immediately I began to think about how we as Christians take detours and it takes much longer to get to a certain place that God wants for us. It may be a character growth in our walk, placement in the body of Christ, or sin in our life that needs to be dealt with by the Holy Spirit. How many times does Daddy God have to take us by the hand and walk us down that same path time after time? Many times it is our own will wanting to take control, and our own will will cause thorns, unnecessary trips along the way, and heartaches. I want to encourage you today to walk down the road with God, and guard your heart as you walk with Him. There are trials of thorns, trips etc. that happens in our walk with Him, but the unnecessary pains can cause such a delay in the destination God has got for us here on earth. Many times we find ourselves getting tired and weary, and we find it got so dark down that long trail. We can't find our way back down that road God paved for us because we paved other roads on our own. The enemy wants to steal that word from our soul down those side roads. He wants us to walk down that same trail over and over again tripping over branches of life not bearing fruit for the Lord. I also want to encourage you today to realize that God still loves us even when we are on a detour. He loves us so much that He gave His life for us on the cross. Look up to Daddy God today and tell Him you love Him. I know you'll hear His voice speak back to you if you will just open your heart to Him.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will hold our hand in the middle of those detours that we might walk down. Help us to listen to your direction by crucifying our own will. We ask Lord that you will give us a revelation of who you really are
by Keith Edwards
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
April 28th Devotional
Read:
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
I can see Peter's heart drop when Jesus spoke these words. One moment Jesus is telling Peter that he is a rock, the next moment he is rebuking him. Peter struggles time after time with his own flesh and the thoughts that the enemy comes at us with. It is all with good attentions of course. After all, Peter was just concerned with Jesus not dying a horrible death. We see Peter pulling Jesus aside and trying to persuade Him not to go the way of God. We do this. We may not do this in a church setting, but we do this at times in our walk with the Lord. We pull Jesus aside and say, "Lord, I can't die to this flesh." Lord, I don't think that I should go through this trial the way I am going through this trial." The greatest stumbling block is our self. It is our mind, and I want to encourage us today to keep our mind fixed upon Christ Jesus. Lets keep our mind on the things of God instead of the things of men. It's amazing to see how God would wrap His loving arms around Peter even though he knew that Peter would deny him, rebuke him, and do other things that would cause us to think, "Jesus would never forgive this thing." God sees potential in us, and we need to let Christ do that perfect work in us. Lets let God do things His way in our life today, and lets remember that we need to carry the cross of Jesus in our walk with Him.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you shed light upon our hearts concerning your work in us as Christians. Help us to have a healthy repentance in our day to day walk, and help us to lay down this flesh when it starts to rise up against your work in us. We need you Lord today, and we ask this in you name, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
I can see Peter's heart drop when Jesus spoke these words. One moment Jesus is telling Peter that he is a rock, the next moment he is rebuking him. Peter struggles time after time with his own flesh and the thoughts that the enemy comes at us with. It is all with good attentions of course. After all, Peter was just concerned with Jesus not dying a horrible death. We see Peter pulling Jesus aside and trying to persuade Him not to go the way of God. We do this. We may not do this in a church setting, but we do this at times in our walk with the Lord. We pull Jesus aside and say, "Lord, I can't die to this flesh." Lord, I don't think that I should go through this trial the way I am going through this trial." The greatest stumbling block is our self. It is our mind, and I want to encourage us today to keep our mind fixed upon Christ Jesus. Lets keep our mind on the things of God instead of the things of men. It's amazing to see how God would wrap His loving arms around Peter even though he knew that Peter would deny him, rebuke him, and do other things that would cause us to think, "Jesus would never forgive this thing." God sees potential in us, and we need to let Christ do that perfect work in us. Lets let God do things His way in our life today, and lets remember that we need to carry the cross of Jesus in our walk with Him.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you shed light upon our hearts concerning your work in us as Christians. Help us to have a healthy repentance in our day to day walk, and help us to lay down this flesh when it starts to rise up against your work in us. We need you Lord today, and we ask this in you name, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
April 27th Devotional
Read:
Ephesians 2:21
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
So many in the church today doesn't understand what the church is really all about. They think it's going maybe a few times a year for certain functions. It seems like it's all about programs and shows in most churches today. The church was never supposed to be like an organization. It is a people who have been washed in the blood of Jesus and going forth to make disciples, be a temple that is built upon the foundation of Christ, and going forward outside the four walls of the church. The four no more! It's time that we get outside the four walls of the church and touch our community in a great way. It's time that we use what we have been taught in the church, and do the works of Jesus in this hour. The church is not a building or steeple. It is a people going forward to make new converts and grow in Him. Scripture teaches us that the minister's in the church equips the body of Christ to go out and do the very works of Jesus. Unfortunately, the pastor in some churches is doing everything and the sheep are just sitting in there little pew getting spiritually fat. Maybe you have been caught in a complacent spot today. You go to church, but you feel like you are not part of the body of Christ. I want to encourage you today to get connected like never before. Find that place in the body of Christ. If you haven't been born again you can today so that you can be a part of the body of Christ. It doesn't stop though with salvation. We should be a living epistle as a part of a local body going forward and advancing God's kingdom in a mighty way. It's surprising to me how many churches don't see outside there little church. They have there own agenda, and God is wanting His temple to shine outside those four walls. He wants us to extend our love for God to a hurting generation. The four no more.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you help us to see outside the four walls of the church. Help us Lord to be a true follower of you, and help us to see what you really called us to, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Ephesians 2:21
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
So many in the church today doesn't understand what the church is really all about. They think it's going maybe a few times a year for certain functions. It seems like it's all about programs and shows in most churches today. The church was never supposed to be like an organization. It is a people who have been washed in the blood of Jesus and going forth to make disciples, be a temple that is built upon the foundation of Christ, and going forward outside the four walls of the church. The four no more! It's time that we get outside the four walls of the church and touch our community in a great way. It's time that we use what we have been taught in the church, and do the works of Jesus in this hour. The church is not a building or steeple. It is a people going forward to make new converts and grow in Him. Scripture teaches us that the minister's in the church equips the body of Christ to go out and do the very works of Jesus. Unfortunately, the pastor in some churches is doing everything and the sheep are just sitting in there little pew getting spiritually fat. Maybe you have been caught in a complacent spot today. You go to church, but you feel like you are not part of the body of Christ. I want to encourage you today to get connected like never before. Find that place in the body of Christ. If you haven't been born again you can today so that you can be a part of the body of Christ. It doesn't stop though with salvation. We should be a living epistle as a part of a local body going forward and advancing God's kingdom in a mighty way. It's surprising to me how many churches don't see outside there little church. They have there own agenda, and God is wanting His temple to shine outside those four walls. He wants us to extend our love for God to a hurting generation. The four no more.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you help us to see outside the four walls of the church. Help us Lord to be a true follower of you, and help us to see what you really called us to, Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Monday, April 26, 2010
A Night With God April 26th Devotional by Ravi Kapoor & comment by Keith Edwards
Read:
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
I was on my way home on my Kinetic Honda after visiting my friend’s house late in the night. The air was cool; the road was narrow and stretching long. As usual my gearless scooter was puttering along the tar road. A while later I felt something wrong. I felt the scooter dragging. It felt like the tire was going flat and sure it was! My scooter tire was punctured. I got off my scooter and started pushing and I knew right there I had to push it all the way home in the dusty dark night. It was a lonely road. There were no houses around. The place wore a deserted look. I knew I was very far away from my house. I could not imagine I had to push my vehicle now all the way home. I managed pushing it some distance but pretty soon I was feeling very tired. My muscles were aching. My body was sweating. I could not push any further. I knew I could easily let frustration mess my mind at this point as I had no other way except to keep pushing. But something within me said, “God is with you”. I was at peace. I felt God was with me in the dark, lonely and tiring road. I felt an inward peace though externally I was tired. I thanked the Lord for whatever purpose he was allowing this for. It was not going to be easy as I was going to discover soon. Many times when we are alone, tired and suddenly find ourselves in a troubling situation we often tend to think it’s an attack from the evil one. We panic. We get scared. We start binding the evil in the name of Jesus. We easily give into the idea that every tough, hard situation is somehow orchestrated by the devil. But that is so far from the truth. God does allow situations in our life to prove his power on our behalf. We who are children of God are drawn in his palm. Over the years I have gone through so many experiences that overtime I have learnt to be at rest in Him. We can rest in the knowledge that God is our loving heavenly daddy! I have experienced His pattern of working in my life. Now, strengthened with my Lord’s presence I began to push my vehicle with greater confidence. It’s not easy pushing a vehicle when the tires are flat. It was exhausting as I kept pushing the scooter but I was thanking the Lord and kept talking to him. I was whispering to the Lord, “Lord, it’s ok, yes, I am tired, but it’s ok. You do what you want in this situation. Just give me some extra strength to keep moving” And on I went with my dialogue in my head with the Lord. After pushing for a while no one stopped to help me. When God has his way, he often does things in different ways which is beyond our knowledge. He has a greater plan to accomplish and the temporary inconveniences work for a greater good. My inner strength surged along with a deep assurance and for a while I forgot my tiredness. I was joyously breaking into a song as sweat drifted off my face. I sang, “No, never alone, no never alone, He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.” I finally pushed to a place where I saw a hotel apartment and my heart leaped in joy. I pushed my scooter towards the gate and asked the security guard if I could park for the night and pick it up next day. But he was rude and not cooperative. I kept calm. I did not react. I again requested him to see if I could speak to the manager. Hesitantly he agreed and got the manager out. The young looking manager came towards me. He saw me helpless, tired and worn out. The sweat had my shirt stick to my body. I asked him if I could park my punctured scooter for the night. He looked at me and said, “Ok, you can park your vehicle for the night but you have to pick it up next morning.” I felt God had prepared this manager to help me. I did not know why. I felt God was in this. I asked him his name and he said, Joseph. With tears in my eyes I said, “Joseph, I am a man of God and I just want to tell you that the Lord is so pleased by your kindness and help. He will surely bless you.” He smiled. After parking the scooter I started walking back home. I could not get any bus or any means of transportation and I kept walking. A few walks later, God intervened to stop a moving van and the driver offered to give me a ride home. I got home and I was so bone tired I wanted to hit the bed. Deep down my heard I felt a great rest. I felt calm and a delight surround my soul. In the midst of a hassled night and was rest assured God had worked his plan, dozing off to a peaceful sleep. The next morning, I went to the hotel and picked up my vehicle. Before heading home I left behind a New Year greeting card with a message for the kind manager Joseph. After the day’s ministry when I came back home I checked my emails and lo and behold I saw a mail pop up from Joseph, the manager who helped me park my vehicle. Joseph wrote: “Pastor, you thought your scooter got punctured by accident. No, God had a plan. He brought you to me and that’s why you had to go through that hard experience in the night. I have been in deep pain and agony. I was in tears. I had nobody to share. I have been weeping and asking God for help. I was at the end of the road and the Lord saw my tears and sent you to me. Your coming was an answer to my prayers.” Joseph went on express his problems and I prayed with him. The situation turned into a huge blessing for Joseph ministering to him through prayers. I was profoundly moved by this experience. It made me realize that my scooter incident was a huge plan in God’s mind. He had allowed it to minister to another child of his in problem. The Lord saw that Joseph was in tough situation and needed help. He sent me there. Oh, what a privilege it is to be in the plan of God and to be used by him. Had I had called my other friends for help on the night of my scooter getting punctured I would have missed ministering to a child of God in a desperate need. Sometimes we have to go through hard situations for the Lord to accomplish his plan in our lives. Being in the work of God is not an easy thing. There is a price to pay. It is the way of the cross. Without a cross there is no crown. We should always be available to God for his use, and His eyes are searching to and fro throughout the earth looking for people who are available for him to use. There are many people who are in tears, broken, hurting and wounded in body and soul. We need to be the hands of God to reach out and touch them with the love of God.
comment by Keith Edwards:
There are times in our life that we can't figure out why in the world is God allowing me to go through this mess in my life. I have found also in my life that sometimes God allows us to experience side roads to help others in need. Jesus was always doing this. He was always reaching out to the hurting and to the broken. I want to encourage us to let the Lord take us on this journey with Him, and to hear His guiding voice, even if it is on a dark night with God.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you use us in a great way by hearing your voice. Guide us and direct us by your spirit, and allow us to extend your love to the hurting and those in need, Amen.
by Ravi Kapoor
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
I was on my way home on my Kinetic Honda after visiting my friend’s house late in the night. The air was cool; the road was narrow and stretching long. As usual my gearless scooter was puttering along the tar road. A while later I felt something wrong. I felt the scooter dragging. It felt like the tire was going flat and sure it was! My scooter tire was punctured. I got off my scooter and started pushing and I knew right there I had to push it all the way home in the dusty dark night. It was a lonely road. There were no houses around. The place wore a deserted look. I knew I was very far away from my house. I could not imagine I had to push my vehicle now all the way home. I managed pushing it some distance but pretty soon I was feeling very tired. My muscles were aching. My body was sweating. I could not push any further. I knew I could easily let frustration mess my mind at this point as I had no other way except to keep pushing. But something within me said, “God is with you”. I was at peace. I felt God was with me in the dark, lonely and tiring road. I felt an inward peace though externally I was tired. I thanked the Lord for whatever purpose he was allowing this for. It was not going to be easy as I was going to discover soon. Many times when we are alone, tired and suddenly find ourselves in a troubling situation we often tend to think it’s an attack from the evil one. We panic. We get scared. We start binding the evil in the name of Jesus. We easily give into the idea that every tough, hard situation is somehow orchestrated by the devil. But that is so far from the truth. God does allow situations in our life to prove his power on our behalf. We who are children of God are drawn in his palm. Over the years I have gone through so many experiences that overtime I have learnt to be at rest in Him. We can rest in the knowledge that God is our loving heavenly daddy! I have experienced His pattern of working in my life. Now, strengthened with my Lord’s presence I began to push my vehicle with greater confidence. It’s not easy pushing a vehicle when the tires are flat. It was exhausting as I kept pushing the scooter but I was thanking the Lord and kept talking to him. I was whispering to the Lord, “Lord, it’s ok, yes, I am tired, but it’s ok. You do what you want in this situation. Just give me some extra strength to keep moving” And on I went with my dialogue in my head with the Lord. After pushing for a while no one stopped to help me. When God has his way, he often does things in different ways which is beyond our knowledge. He has a greater plan to accomplish and the temporary inconveniences work for a greater good. My inner strength surged along with a deep assurance and for a while I forgot my tiredness. I was joyously breaking into a song as sweat drifted off my face. I sang, “No, never alone, no never alone, He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.” I finally pushed to a place where I saw a hotel apartment and my heart leaped in joy. I pushed my scooter towards the gate and asked the security guard if I could park for the night and pick it up next day. But he was rude and not cooperative. I kept calm. I did not react. I again requested him to see if I could speak to the manager. Hesitantly he agreed and got the manager out. The young looking manager came towards me. He saw me helpless, tired and worn out. The sweat had my shirt stick to my body. I asked him if I could park my punctured scooter for the night. He looked at me and said, “Ok, you can park your vehicle for the night but you have to pick it up next morning.” I felt God had prepared this manager to help me. I did not know why. I felt God was in this. I asked him his name and he said, Joseph. With tears in my eyes I said, “Joseph, I am a man of God and I just want to tell you that the Lord is so pleased by your kindness and help. He will surely bless you.” He smiled. After parking the scooter I started walking back home. I could not get any bus or any means of transportation and I kept walking. A few walks later, God intervened to stop a moving van and the driver offered to give me a ride home. I got home and I was so bone tired I wanted to hit the bed. Deep down my heard I felt a great rest. I felt calm and a delight surround my soul. In the midst of a hassled night and was rest assured God had worked his plan, dozing off to a peaceful sleep. The next morning, I went to the hotel and picked up my vehicle. Before heading home I left behind a New Year greeting card with a message for the kind manager Joseph. After the day’s ministry when I came back home I checked my emails and lo and behold I saw a mail pop up from Joseph, the manager who helped me park my vehicle. Joseph wrote: “Pastor, you thought your scooter got punctured by accident. No, God had a plan. He brought you to me and that’s why you had to go through that hard experience in the night. I have been in deep pain and agony. I was in tears. I had nobody to share. I have been weeping and asking God for help. I was at the end of the road and the Lord saw my tears and sent you to me. Your coming was an answer to my prayers.” Joseph went on express his problems and I prayed with him. The situation turned into a huge blessing for Joseph ministering to him through prayers. I was profoundly moved by this experience. It made me realize that my scooter incident was a huge plan in God’s mind. He had allowed it to minister to another child of his in problem. The Lord saw that Joseph was in tough situation and needed help. He sent me there. Oh, what a privilege it is to be in the plan of God and to be used by him. Had I had called my other friends for help on the night of my scooter getting punctured I would have missed ministering to a child of God in a desperate need. Sometimes we have to go through hard situations for the Lord to accomplish his plan in our lives. Being in the work of God is not an easy thing. There is a price to pay. It is the way of the cross. Without a cross there is no crown. We should always be available to God for his use, and His eyes are searching to and fro throughout the earth looking for people who are available for him to use. There are many people who are in tears, broken, hurting and wounded in body and soul. We need to be the hands of God to reach out and touch them with the love of God.
comment by Keith Edwards:
There are times in our life that we can't figure out why in the world is God allowing me to go through this mess in my life. I have found also in my life that sometimes God allows us to experience side roads to help others in need. Jesus was always doing this. He was always reaching out to the hurting and to the broken. I want to encourage us to let the Lord take us on this journey with Him, and to hear His guiding voice, even if it is on a dark night with God.
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you use us in a great way by hearing your voice. Guide us and direct us by your spirit, and allow us to extend your love to the hurting and those in need, Amen.
by Ravi Kapoor
Sunday, April 25, 2010
April 25th Devotional
Read:
Zechariah 4:6,7
6 So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty. 7 "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!' "
Have you ever gotten to a place in your life where you said, "I have no strength left to continue on." You've done great things for the Lord, and there has been unbelievable things happen in your life, but you feel you can't continue with what God has got for you. You are tired and exhausted by the hammer of life, and every swing of that hammer just brought you to your knees in complacency. Zerubbabel is feeling this here in the rebuilding of Jerusalem. They have laid the foundation, and there has been a fifteen year delay in the reconstruction and they are tired. Zechariah is a prophet of God that sees a vision and is awaken by the angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord tells Zechariah to tell Zerubbabel that the work of the temple will go forth and will be completed. The mountain in verse seven was symbolic to Darius I who made a decree that the work on the temple should cease. Zechariah spoke to Zerubbabel that this mountain will become plain and that the chief capstone, which refers to the chief top stone or the crowning of the building, will be laid by the builders with shouting of grace. Is there a Darius in your life. I feel like the greatest Darius that is in our life is our own will and sin in our life. It is our flesh that screams out, No! It is our own desire to do things contrary to what God wants. If you have gotten to a place in your life where you don't feel like you can go on, I want you to shout grace in your mountain. I want you to scream to the Darius in your life, whatever that Darius or mountain in your life may be. Hear the words of Zechariah the prophet today in the growth of your temple corporately and individually, and realize that God is almighty and more powerful than any King, any situation, or any devestating decree. You may have had words decreed over you that has paralyzed you spiritually from walking in the Spirit and doing the things of God. The decree for you today as a Christian is, "Begin To build again!"
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will breathe a fresh breath of your spirit upon us to build and grow in you as your temple. We need your grace to speak grace Lord, and we need your power to speak to the Darius in our life. Let your power be with us as we put the capstone that is engraved with the words, "return to that first love." Amen.
by Keith Edwards
Zechariah 4:6,7
6 So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty. 7 "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!' "
Have you ever gotten to a place in your life where you said, "I have no strength left to continue on." You've done great things for the Lord, and there has been unbelievable things happen in your life, but you feel you can't continue with what God has got for you. You are tired and exhausted by the hammer of life, and every swing of that hammer just brought you to your knees in complacency. Zerubbabel is feeling this here in the rebuilding of Jerusalem. They have laid the foundation, and there has been a fifteen year delay in the reconstruction and they are tired. Zechariah is a prophet of God that sees a vision and is awaken by the angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord tells Zechariah to tell Zerubbabel that the work of the temple will go forth and will be completed. The mountain in verse seven was symbolic to Darius I who made a decree that the work on the temple should cease. Zechariah spoke to Zerubbabel that this mountain will become plain and that the chief capstone, which refers to the chief top stone or the crowning of the building, will be laid by the builders with shouting of grace. Is there a Darius in your life. I feel like the greatest Darius that is in our life is our own will and sin in our life. It is our flesh that screams out, No! It is our own desire to do things contrary to what God wants. If you have gotten to a place in your life where you don't feel like you can go on, I want you to shout grace in your mountain. I want you to scream to the Darius in your life, whatever that Darius or mountain in your life may be. Hear the words of Zechariah the prophet today in the growth of your temple corporately and individually, and realize that God is almighty and more powerful than any King, any situation, or any devestating decree. You may have had words decreed over you that has paralyzed you spiritually from walking in the Spirit and doing the things of God. The decree for you today as a Christian is, "Begin To build again!"
Prayer:
Lord, we ask that you will breathe a fresh breath of your spirit upon us to build and grow in you as your temple. We need your grace to speak grace Lord, and we need your power to speak to the Darius in our life. Let your power be with us as we put the capstone that is engraved with the words, "return to that first love." Amen.
by Keith Edwards
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