Heavenhigh

A Pure Heart!

# 49 2019 Devotion, 2 Tim. 2:1-2. A Pure Heart! Read verses 14-28. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”

Paul continues his urgent letter to Timothy by warning him of the controversies that have been introduced to the church. At this time Gnosticism was beginning to raise its ugly head. Paul mentions two leaders of this movement that deny the bodily resurrection because according to them that had already happened, a spiritual resurrection is what was left for Followers of Jesus. The physical was rejected only the spiritual had value. This led to a decedent lifestyle with a pretense of holiness. Paul encourages Timothy by the solid foundation of the church in his time: “God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” Paul further urges Timothy and us today: “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

Paul here is talking about making choices: so often people see their place in the world conditioned by events, biases, rejections, poverty and condemnations that are beyond their control. I suppose that a world view like that makes it easier to deal with many disappointments in their lives. However, as Paul points out in his metaphor of articles in a big house, God has given people different stations in life but “those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” The issue of stations in life comes down to making choices. We chose for righteousness and God makes us holy and useful to Him.

Today the firm foundation of the church is undercut by churches that make political correct choices that are contrary to the Word of the Lord. But the true followers of Jesus make righteous choices making us useful and holy by God’s grace. Holiness is kind of a catch 21 that we do not understand completely because our human thinking and actions are not divine thinking and actions: we are pure in heart, making righteous choices by the gift of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. After all is said and done our righteous choices are a gift. We thank Jesus for His work making us useful for the work of Kingdom. What a blessing and a comfort, thank you Lord Jesus!

Thanksgiving!

# 48 2019 Dev. Philippians 4:4-8. Thanksgiving! Read verses 4-8. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Philippians 4: “⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Paul wrote the Philippians to express his thankfulness to God and to the Philippians for the support they gave Paul, partnering with him to promote the Gospel of Jesus. He also wanted to update his situation, he is in prison, yet he seeks to encourage them. Also, he is preparing them for the coming persecution and warn them about the adulteration of the true gospel by the Judaizers.

Today we are faced with the complete adulteration of Christian holidays. Shopping on Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, it is all about stuff, the more the better and it is all about food and drink. We all like a sweet deal and good food but what is our emphasis for giving thanks? To be fair there are people and organizations giving food and support to the disadvantaged during this time of year. However, secular societies’ emphasis of Thanksgiving is being thankful for more stuff and that makes it difficult to be thankful at the lean times of life. If you are thankful when you have everything, what are you when you have nothing? Probably angry.

Paul is giving us a different emphasis in our passage: ⁴“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ⁸Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things”. The Word of the Lord.

Rejoice always! Repeated for emphasis. Always means we are to rejoice at all times and in all situations. How do we do that?

#1 be gentle and know that God is with us.

#2 Do not be anxious, be concerned but don’t go overboard with worry.

#3 “But in every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God.”.

There is a promise that goes along with being thankful: “The peace of God that transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” The peace of God gets us through the hard times and God’s peace is with us at the good times. God’s peace is for Christians, even in good times, non Christians do not have God’s peace. Like Paul says, it is difficult to get our heads around God’s peace, we don’t understand it but it is a quietness inside that overwhelms the discord and uncertainty in our lives. We need to allow God’s peace to move from our minds and descend into our hearts. True thanksgiving is a function of the Holy Spirt in our hearts overflowing into our lives. Amen!

So what are we to be thankful for? I want to mention five thanksgivings, with #5 being the most important.

#1. We are thankful for creation, God’s glory and power is all around us,

# 2. We are thankful for good health and for family; God brings our families to us, children are God’s blessings to us, and friends are God’s gift,

#3. We are thankful for food, there is so much of it here compared to other communities. We give thanks for good harvests and for all the necessities God blesses us with, education, jobs, housing, and transportation.

#4. We are thankful for God’s Word, proclaimed in God’s church and proclaimed by our lives.

#5. We are thankful for God’s gift of love and the gift of salvation and that by God’s grace we are called to live out our salvation while in this life.

Therefore, Paul says: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” May the peace of God dwell in us today and every day!

God’s Care

# 47 2019 Dev. Psalm 76:8-9. God’s Care! Read all of Ps.76. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Ps. 76: 8,9 “From heaven you pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet—⁹when you, God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land.

Psalm 76 carries the themes of reassurance and God’s care for his people, God’s care for the oppressed. The themes are in the context of praise for God. The Psalm opens with vs.1-3 “God is renowned in Judah”, God’s mighty power is acknowledged. The Psalm is closed by vs. 11-12 “Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them”, the Psalmist encourages us to fear God in the sense of worship.

The main body of the Psalm vs.4-10 is addressed directly to God; “You are radiant with light”. The personal pronoun “you” and “your” is used eight times attributing this stanza completely to praising God for His care. This Psalm may be praising God for many events in Israel’s history; from the crossing of the Red Sea to the rout of the Assyrian Sennacherib and every major battle in which God intervened.

This is the back story of God’s care for us. Do we need that kind of God intervention today? Yes, we do! “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour”. 1 Pe. 5:8. Today, whatever side of the political aisle you are on, we all may have the wrong perception of who the real enemy is!

Today is a good time to reflect on Psalm 76; God is in control! “God is radiant with light”, the truth! “It is you alone who is to be feared”, worshiped! “From heaven you pronounced judgment”. You O, God “save all the afflicted of the land” (earth).

Today, the Holy Spirit lives in us and among us, it is His job to promote Jesus, to restrain the evil of mankind and it is His job to empower the followers of Jesus to live our salvation in the face of a world desperate for peace and reconciliation. Let us all continue to worship God and pray daily for our churches, for each other, for our country, and for world we live in.

Thank you Lord Jesus for your care, even in our short comings. Thank you for loving us and for judging us righteous in your sight. We Praise You!

Urgency

# 47 2019 Devotion, 2 Tim. 2:1-2. Urgency! Read all of chapter 2:1-13. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

2 Timothy 2:1,2 “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ²And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others”.

Paul writes chapter two with a sense of urgency. Paul is chained in a prison dungeon; he knows his time is limited. Paul puts his trust in God and His Word: “But God’s Word is not chained.” God’s Word and the proper interpretation is what is at stake in this chapter.

Timothy, you have the true Gospel, teach other responsible people who are capable of teaching others. That was the urgency in Paul’s time for two reasons: first, God’s agenda to reconcile all creation back to Himself and second, that the gospel was beginning to be adulterated by those claiming to be true teachers of the Gospel of Christ.

These two issues are still among us. There is a lack of urgency about promoting God’s agenda for all of mankind. Ask yourself a few questions: “What is the impact of your church in the place God placed her?” Second, “When was the last time you talked to a non Christian about the possibility of salvation?” The first issue is being held up by the second, a lack of urgency to promote the integrity of the Gospel, Jesus preached a radical Gospel, Paul preached a radical Gospel and both were killed because of it. The Gospel has been tamed down and sanitized by political correctness and by the world, what the world says is right has become the truth of the gospel in many churches and for many people.

Paul gives us a different path: “Here is a trustworthy saying” it is an early confession. “If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”

This confession urges us to die to ourselves and to live for Jesus. It is time to get back the urgency of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ! We thank God! Jesus is always faithful and will always extend His grace to all who turn to Him.

God Says!

# 45 2019 Dev. Psalm 75:2,3. God Says! Read all of Ps.75. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Ps. 75:2,3 “You say, “I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge with equity.
³When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.”

Psalm 75 is the third Psalm of a series of five introductory Psalms to book three of the Psalter. The themes are: rededication, God’s care for his people, and this Psalm, reassurance. It is a song of two stanzas bracketed with thanksgiving, v. 1 and vs. 9,10. The first stanzas, vs 2-5 is God speaking: God is in control of time, He is the judge, He holds the world in his hands, He warns the arrogant and the wicked, “do not speak so defiantly.”

Today we are experiencing the defiance of the arrogant. What is happening today borders on a serious attempt to brainwash our country into unrealistic environmental programs and social programs that limit our choices.

The second stanzas, vs 6-8 is Israel confirming God’s control of the world and its people. We are not to exalt each other, “it is God who judges”, He is the one who “brings one down, He exalts another.” His hand is against the wicked of the earth.

As good as our economy is and as low the unemployment is there is still much to be concerned about politically. We were at a church service the other day where the pastor blamed the divisions in our county partly on the church and on Christians: “The church has not stood up for the values of Scripture and Christians have not always lived them.” We tend to agree judging by what we see published on social media. We all need to go back to practicing what we preach and open our ears, our minds and hearts to the Word of God: “I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge with equity. When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.” Thanks be to God; He is still in control and like the Psalmist we thank Him and praise Him, He will judge the wicked and commend the righteous.

Discouragement!

# 44 2019 Devotion, 2 Tim. 1. Discouragement! Read all of chapter 1. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

2 Timothy 1:8 “^So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God”.

Paul begins his 2^nd. letter to Timothy with a blessing and a prayer of thanksgiving. Paul is writing Timothy while being imprisoned in Rome for the second time, now ruled by Nero. Persecution of followers of Jesus, Paul’s imprisonment and his desire to communicate with Timothy and with the people where Timothy was ministering are the reasons for his letter. This time Paul was not restricted to his rented house but he was in a dungeon. He is discouraged and has been rejected by those who supported him in the past.

Paul addresses Timothy as “my dear son, night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.” Paul commends his faith that Paul also saw in Timothy’s mother and grand mother. “For this reason,” pointing to Timothy’s faith, “fan into flame the gift of God”. “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” Besides the encouragement, Paul gives Timothy and us a description of salvation in Christ Jesus. We are “called to a Holy life”, salvation has nothing to do with what we have done, but only by “grace given us in Christ Jesus who “brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

What does Paul say to us in our time? Paul’s world was broken and we live in a broken world as well. The difference of life style of believers and unbelievers could not be more extreme in that time and in our time. Followers of Jesus want to do good out of gratitude and by imitating Jesus. As a result, we are tempted to see ourselves in a more positive light. But Paul says no, what we do has nothing to do with salvation, it is a gift of God’s grace in Christ from before time. However, Paul reminds Timothy and us “to fan into flame the gift of God”. Paul is talking about the gift of the Holy Spirit displayed by the gift of faith. Christ is life and “brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”. The Gospel is simple: see Jn.3:16-18.

Paul is discouraged; he is in jail, he is near to the end of his life, he has been rejected. He writes: “everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me.”

We are discouraged today, traditional churches are in decline, for the the most insignificant reasons people leave the places where God has placed them. There is a lack of excitement about the Gospel; the Gospel is in our heads but do we experience it in our lives as if the Gospel is in our hearts? We know that the church belongs to Jesus Christ and Paul encourages us as well: “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” Followers of Jesus, our work is not in vain! Praise be to God!

Rededicate!

# 43 2019 Dev. Psalm 74:12. Rededicate! Read all of Ps.74. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Ps. 74:12 “But God is my King from long ago; he brings salvation on the earth.”

Ps. 74 is the second Psalm in this series of prayers. “Maskil”, in the title may indicate religious instruction and or Divine knowledge. The prayer. seems to have been composed during the time of the exile; it has two parts vs. 1-11 asks why Lord? If they reflected on the state of the nation at the time, they did not need to ask that question. At that time the thinking was: this is God’s nation, the “apple of His eye”. In spite of our sins, He would not allow our enemies to over take them. But we know that God raised up a nation for the very purpose of punishing His people.

Fast forward to today, consider the destructive weather we see almost every day. Could that be the result of our lack of earth keeping as God had commanded? Consider our political situation: could that be the result of throwing God out of our schools, out of our public life and out of our legal system? Consider our Churches; the decline in almost every major denomination. Could that be the result of a lack of outreach to the people around us, the lack of compassion and the pervasive condemnation of our country, our leaders, and every person holding a different view of life? I am just asking.

Vs. 13-23, the second part of the prayer recalls God’s miraculous acts on behalf of His people; His wonderful creative acts creating the world. And the prayer reminds God of the enemies that oppose Him and His people.

Today, as I sit here under the canapé of God’s colorful creation I can’t help but praise Him for His power, for His grace, for His care for His people, the woods right now scream God’s beauty! We also need to remember that we live in a broken world; today, it is difficult to comprehend the scale of suffering inflicted on people and on followers of Jesus.

But there is hope; the center of this prayer brings our thoughts back to God’s sovereignty: “But God is my King from long ago; he brings salvation on the earth.” The Psalmist knows that when the norms of his life are being destroyed, that is the time to affirm trust, to confirm faith, and rededicate His life back to God.

Where is our hope today, followers of Jesus? Is this the time to affirm trust, build up our faith and rededicate every part of our lives back to God? I am just asking.

Faith!

# 42 2019 Devotion, 1 Tim. 6:11,12. Faith! Read all of chapter 6 The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

1 Timothy 6:11,12 “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith.”

Paul ends this chapter with a warning about false teachers and a final charge to Timothy. Apparently there were unscrupulous persons trying to exploit the new Christians for financial gain. “⁴they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions”.

Unfortunately, since the beginning of Christianity, well meaning people have had “an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions”, all in the name of orthodoxy. Over the years, religious controversies have caused much pain and major disruption of relationships to the point that today, we have close to thirty thousand different denominations in our world. The only upside of this dark side of religion is that many more people are attracted to churches that cater to their beliefs.

Paul gives us a different motivation: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” The answer to all this disruption is the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives if in fact we listen to His guidance. Paul says: “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith.” This advice is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22,23).

Therefore, trust Jesus as the “King of kings”, do not put your “hope in wealth”, but “be rich in good deeds”, “be generous and willing to share”, “so that they (we) may take hold of life that is truly life”.

The bottom line for followers of Jesus: “guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, ²¹which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith.”

“Grace be with you all.”

Comfort!

# 41 2019 Dev. Psalm 73:.23-24. Comfort! Read all of Ps.73. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Ps. 73: 23,24 “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory”

Book III of the Psalms begins with a series of six Psalms by Asaph, one of Israel’s song leaders. Ps 73 is about faith, faith affirmed. challenged, questioned and restored.

V.1 affirms God’s care for “those who are pure in heart.”

Vs. 2-12 challenges faith: “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. The say, ‘How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?’”

Vs. 13-16 questions faith: “surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence.”

V. 17 puts the Psalmist back into reality: “it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God: then I understood their final destiny.”

Vs. 18-20 describes the result of living without God: “Surely you place them on a slippery ground”.

Vs. 21-22 the Psalmist admits his shortcoming due to lack of faith. He was “grieved” and “embittered”.

Vs. 23- 26 the Psalmist reaffirms his faith and God’s faithfulness to his people. “God is the strength of my heart”.

Vs. 27-28 draws the contrast of being far from God “but as for me, it is good to be near to God.”

We identify with the struggle of the Psalmist; things do not always go the way we planned or prayed for. With disappointment and discouragement, we tend to look at people around us who all seem to be doing well. But the truth is that everyone struggles at one time or another. The comfort for followers of Jesus is that our faith brings us back to God’s faithfulness. This Psalm is personal for me: my father immigrated at age 40 with the purpose of making a better life for us and to be able to own his own farm. He accomplished that in twelve years but later in life, with the early and tragic death of my brother he lost his dream of passing the farm on to family. Like the Psalmist “he was grieved and embittered” but before he passed away his faith brought him back. This is what we put on his grave stone: “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.” Life is meaningful with faith in God!

Welfare!

# 40 2019 Devotion, 1 Tim. 5,6:1-2. Welfare! Read all of chapter 5,6:1-2. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

1 Timothy 5:8 “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

In Chapter 5 Paul sends Timothy instruction on doing good deeds: taking care of widows, treating all people with respect and how to deal with church leaders.

From the beginning of his instruction, Paul gives Timothy excellent pastoral advice: “Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers,²older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.” Next Paul moves to taking care of widows, an important topic given that at that time, widows with no children or family quickly become destitute. Right from the beginning followers of Jesus took on the responsibility of taking care of people in need:

Acts 4:32-37 “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. ³³With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all ³⁴that there were no needy persons among them.” These verses are hard to believe, however followers of Jesus still give today but we have lost much of the power, the wonder of the resurrection and the amazement of the salvation extended by Jesus.

In Acts 6 we read about the problems in the food distribution to widows, and is addressed by choosing deacons: “Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. “Today we have social services but deacons are still needed. Paul also addresses followers of Jesus who were slaves, today we apply that to all those who work for bosses, that covers a lot of people.

Today we are blessed to have help available from social services but what Paul writes in v. 8 still applies to us. We are responsible for our relatives and families.

Sometimes the cost for care is prohibitive or care needs to be professional but there are other physical and emotional care that may be necessary. Paul is very hard on those who reject their relatives or families, he writes: He or she “has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” I know from personal experience that when that “care” responsibility is rejected it causes much emotional and physical pain. We thank God for Biblical instruction. Amen!