#20 2016 Devotional Eph. 3:20-21. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Ephesians 3:20-21

²⁰ “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen”.

These two verses are part of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, this is the second prayer, the first in Ch. 1:15-21. Both prayers point back to what Paul says before and they end the chapter. What Paul is talking about before this second prayer is “God’s Marvelous Plan for the Gentiles”. Paul was jailed at the time he wrote this letter. What is God’s plan? Paul is revealing the mystery of God’s grace to not only Israel but to all people of the world. That always was God’s plan as he revealed to Abraham, that his offspring would be a blessing to all the families of the earth (Gal. 3:8). Through faith in Jesus we who follow Jesus are the children of Abraham. Now, according to Paul God works through the church of Jesus Christ to redeem the world. Verse 11 sums up God’s grace to all people: “according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence”. Every obstacle both real and imagined are removed! Praise be to God!

This is the heart of Paul’s prayer: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,” (v. 17b-18). May we who follow Jesus understand the depth of God’s grace and pray this prayer whenever we think about those whom the Spirit is moving closer to Christ.

We move to the verses of the week. These verses make up the benediction: to proclaim God’s blessings and/or to pray for a blessing on the people this letter is written to. This benediction is not only a blessing proclaimed, it is an encouragement to them and to us.  “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”. Think about that statement! With the reality of a world broken pressing in on us daily we tend to forget that God is in control and can do what is impossible for us to do even more than we can imagine.  He does it in the power that is at work in us, His Holy Spirit to glorify the church in Christ because we are His Body in the world not only for today but forever and ever reaching back into eternity. What marvelous blessings we have!

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# 19 2016 Dev. Prov. 31:10-11 The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.

^[b]”A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.”

In Ch. 1 Proverbs begins with a “Purpose and Theme which we read in the first 6 verses: 1. “The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:² for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight;³ for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair;⁴ for giving prudence to those who are simple,^[a] knowledge and discretion to the young—⁵ let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance—⁶ for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise”. The writer of Proverbs lays out the purpose and theme that keeps us on track when reading proverbs.

Verse seven is an antithetical (directly opposed or contrasted; mutually incompatible) statement that gives us the perspective and the basis for wisdom:  ^7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools^[c] despise wisdom and instruction.”

 The Psalmist continues with a prologue: an extensive antithetical introduction for the book beginning in Ch. 1:8 -19. Take note that the main body of the book begins with a father exhorting his son on the moral benefits of seeking wisdom. Ch. 31 ends the book with a mother exhorting her son, the king ending it with a very Christ like statement, verses (Prov. 31: 1-9).

 The Psalmist ends the book with an epilogue, a summary (v.19-31) praising the noble wife and mother. He gives women an awsome example of dedication as an equal partner in marriage.

 The verses for the week (10-11) come from the epilogue which is an amazing description of a woman that serves the Lord and is written as an acrostic: twenty-two verses, each beginning with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  A wise choice for a a son is to find a woman of noble character. Nothing is said about appearance or about erotic attraction. She is valuable, much more than possessions, more than gold and silver.

A husband is blessed by her, she supports him, he trusts her, he depends on her. Because of her he lacks nothing, his wealth is increased, his status is enhanced. Verses 30-31 sum up the epilogue: “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.³¹ Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate”. Thank God for our mothers and wives, they deserve our praise and our support, we thank God for them.

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#18 2016 Devotional Eph. 2:10. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.

 Ephesians 2:10

 ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Chapter 2 is about being “made alive in Christ”. It fallows on what we may call the foundation of the church both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Chapter one sets the justification of God’s grace alone: God, “who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight (v 3b,4). The love of God in Christ Jesus is the foundation of the church (Ch. 1:5-7). Therefore, we build on the foundation of Jesus to be the church, His Body in the world today!

Chapter 2 also is about “made alive in Christ” as Jews and Gentiles. Today, Jew and Gentile is not an issue but the truth that God’s grace is extended to all people of the world is an issue in many denominations.  For followers of Jesus it is easy to look at that decedent amoral person at work or in the neighborhood as not redeemable. Humanly speaking that is a comfortable place but it flies in the face of the purpose of the church. Evangelism is not the only purpose of the church; we are to praise God with songs of worship, fellowship and love for fellow church members, draw closer to God by His Word and living for Christ in our personal family life. The comprehensive purpose of the church dictates that as followers of Jesus, all of life is worship (Ch.2: 19-22). The verse we pick for this week makes that very clear.

 “For we are God’s handiwork”, We have nothing to do with who we are. It is God’s grace and the power of the Spirit in us that gives us the faith to believe and thereby being who God makes us to be. Many of us want to shrink back from that truth; what about our short comings and down right sinfulness? The amazing thing is that God makes us who we are but He also allows us to make choices. We are not robots, we have a free will, Jesus wants us to choose for Him; in a mysterious way not humanly understood God’s choosing (Ch.1:4) works together with our choosing Him.

The verse goes on with: “created in Christ Jesus”. God’s creation was perfect, in peaceful harmony before the fall, now we are recreated in our spirit (heart) to bring us back to God in harmony and peace. Re creation is a process, on going, “I am making everything new!” (Rev. 21:5).

The verse continues with “to do good works”. As followers of Jesus what are good works? Good works are whatever we do in the name of Jesus, we do them out of gratitude not out of obligation or to work for our salvation. We cannot earn credit with God in this life, our faith in Jesus is our credit and is our guaranty of salvation. Yet, going back to our verse “which God prepared in advance for us to do,” that takes us back to God choosing us before creation. There is a much larger purpose, God wants to take all his people back to Himself. God has chosen us to be a part of that purpose.  We are blessed and God is glorified!

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#17 2016 Devotional Prov.16:3. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Proverbs 16:9

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

Proverbs 16 is part of a large section of individual two line proverbs not always connected one to the other, often the thoughts expressed are antithetical. It is a large section starting at Ch. 10 through Chapter 22.  Chapter 16 is about the inability of man to control his destiny and the control of God in the affairs of men. The chapter is framed in two verses v.1 and v. 33, God gives the answer to man’s inner thoughts and He directs the visible attempts to find one’s way.

 The first 9 verses are about the Lord working out the courses of our lives. For those who follow Jesus we trust the leading of the Holy Spirit, we make decisions informed by our faith.

 Verses 10-15 form a unit, the King here seems to be in the place of the Lord. The proverbs are connected and are about the acceptable actions of men; practice justice, honesty and righteousness. The King speaks words to the wise.

 Verses 16-32 continue with the values the King commands: wisdom, guard your way, be humble, trust in God, and speak gracious words of healing.

At verse 27-30 there is antitheses: plotting evil, causing conflict, promoting violence and perversity. Verse 31-32 brings us back to the values of the King: righteousness and patience.

 We turn to the verse for the week, verse 9. People have dreams and desires, we plan, we work hard towards goals and benchmarks. We all want to be successful but often our success is measured by, or at the very least influenced by the values of the world. As followers of Jesus what should be our course in this life? How should we measure success? Scripture teaches that all meaningful and honest work done in the name of Jesus is acceptable to God. It becomes successful when done in the Spirit intentionally and obviously not financially successful, not quantitative but measured spiritually.

 The second part of the verse is about God’s guidance, His will is done in our lives. There is is a delicate balance in our lives where God’s will and our dreams and desirers informed by our faith coalesce. What a blessing when we are in God’s will, it is as verse 20 teaches: “Whoever gives heed to instruction, prospers, and blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.” Praise be to God!

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#16 2016 Devotional Hebrews11:1. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

In the first ten chapters the author of Hebrews glorifies Christ and explains why He is the Saviour of God’s people foreshadowed in the Old Testament beginning in Gen. 3:15. Hebrews 11 is an introduction to chapters 12-13 and is a definition of the gift of faith as it is exemplified by those who the author of Hebrews calls: “a great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12 :1-3). These are the heroes of faith in Scripture; men and women who practiced the gift of faith. They believed God and the promises of God but did not fully understand the promise until fulfilled in Christ.  They are made perfect along with us (Heb. 11:39-40) because Christ’s Salvation reaches back into eternity. Hebrews 12:1-3 hinges on chapter 11 and encourages us to practice the faith of the Old Testament church. We are encouraged to deal with sin, to persevere in the task Jesus had given us and to keep our eyes on Jesus so that we are not discouraged and not give up.   

We turn to the verse for the week. We can see two parts: first “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for…” Is faith the same as hope? Yes, and No. Hope springs up from our hearts, from our imperfect desires, yet, one cannot live without hope. We hope for something better, we hope for healing if ill, we hope for reconciliation in conflict, and as followers of Jesus we hope in Christ. On the other hand, hope is as faith does, we have confidence of the guiding of the Holy Spirit, we expect His leading and trust His leading; leading that informs our hope and builds our faith!

Second: “…and assurance about what we do not see.” Faith is about what we do not see and about what we cannot see. The author gives us an example: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” (verse 3 Ch. 11) We lack faith when we do not see what is obvious even when we can’t see it. To me it it obvious that the Holy Spirit is working at Acre Bible School. Are we afraid to see it, are we blinded by preconceptions, or blinded by an ill perceived level of difficulty of working in that part of the world? It seems to be all of the above!  It is human to question the creation of the world as God presents it to us because there is physical evidence that the world is older and has gone through major changes not mentioned in Scripture. The Bible is not a science book, but faith dictates that we believe God created it (Ex nihilo) out of nothing. Do we understand it all? No! Do we understand how the Holy Spirit works? No!

That is what this verse is all about, faith informs hope, unwavering confidence, and absolute assurance that God will accomplice His purposes and that by His Grace He equips and empowers us as is exemplified by God’s people in Hebrews chapter 11. Love drives out fear, may God increase our faith! Amen and Amen.

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#15 2016 Devotional Psalm 42:8. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Ps. 42:8

By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

Psalm 42 is the first of Book II of the Psalms. Psalm 42and 43 go together and is found that way in some translations. Ps. 42-45 form a unit and 42-43 seem to bracket Book II with Ps. 69-72. but we look only at Ps. 42 and only at verse 8. Before we do that we need to look at Ps. 42 as a whole. The Ps. is a liturgical song (see title) and a prayer for deliverance and restoration as well as praise, it is in the first person. It appears to be a leader, the King perhaps, pleading for the community that feels abandoned physically and spiritually. The Psalm divides at verses 6 and 7. Verses 1-6 the Psalmist feels abandonment and longs for God’s presence.

Verses 7- 11 the Psalmist expresses his complete helplessness and is overwhelmed, verse 7, but verse 8 expresses his faith in God. The rest of the Psalm is an argument with himself and he comes down on the side of faith he has already expressed:” Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God”.

Following verse 7 verse 8 is a wonderful confession of faith. The psalmist acknowledges God’s love for him. We all must practice faith in what every situation we find ourselves whether in want, danger, or overwhelmed with the task. Faith develops around God’s love for us his followers. His love dictates His care and His pouring out of the Holy Spirit in obvious ways when we need it while serving him. “at night his song is with me” we fall asleep pondering God’s love for His people and awake with His love song on our lips         (Jn. 3:16-18). Our Nigerian Christian friends start every day thanking God for waking up in this life. We all need to again and again express our hope in Jesus in this life. Verse 8 is not only a call to develop our faith and to hold onto our hope we have now but it is “a prayer to the God of my life”. As followers of Jesus our lives are completely wrapped up in God who sustains us, forgives us, saves us and gives us life forever with Him. Is Jesus the God of your life? Praise be to Him!

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#14 2016 Devotional Mt. 5: 14-15. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Matthew 5:14-15

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. “

Matthew 5 is the first chapter of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount Ch. 5-7. This sermon is revolutionary and turned the perception of people in His day upside down. The sermon still does that today. These three chapters tell us what Jesus wants us to do if we follow Him. Further, Jesus tells us what not to do. The introduction to the sermon are the eight beatitudes. They set the stage for Jesus ministry. Jesus is humble, He put others first, He is compassionate, He loves the poor and the disenfranchised, He practices righteousness, He is merciful, His love is from the heart, He is forgiving, Jesus is a peace maker reconciling us to the Father. Jesus ends His sermon with the parable of the wise and foolish builders. It is about listening to the words of Jesus. Those who hear but do not practice what Jesus is telling us is like the foolish builder in the parable, he/she is building on the sand. Those who practice what Jesus tells us build on the rock which is Jesus Christ.

The verse we are looking at is what the sermon is all about. When you do the things Jesus asks us to do you are a light that lights up this dark world.  Jesus came to light up all the dark places. Now that Jesus left us to be His body in this world we are to be that light on a hill for everyone to see. Jesus is the light of life and if we follow Jesus then you, and me are the light that guide people on the path of life and the path to life. There is no other way, people try every other thing to find peace and fill that empty place we all have in our hearts. People seek power, money, sex, drink and food but nothings fills our need, only serving Jesus fills that empty place and gives us meaning in this life and the assurance of eternal life. We are concerned about this life, but it is only temporary, short and preparation for our eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. However, while we are in this life we are to help others find the way back to Jesus. That is why Jesus calls us and equips us and promises to be with us. What we often don’t think about are the blessings that come along with serving Jesus. It is not easily explained but it is easily experienced. Praise Him!

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#13 2016 Devotional Psalm 90:17. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 90:17

May the favor^[a] of the Lord our God rest on us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.

The Psalm 90 begins book 4 and is part of a section of 11 Psalms that begin with a prayer that end with the praise of Psalm 100. Psalm 90 is a prayer of praise and intercessory prayer, the prayer begins praising God for His everlasting faithfulness; He is our refuge, our hiding place, the only place we run to for protection. God is also a just God holding his people to account. Moses, the author, experienced that many times during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. You, O Lord “have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence”. Moses interceded for the people on numerous occasions and he does so in this Psalm asking for compassion and mercy. Moses here is a type of Christ “relent, O Lord how long will it be?” reminding God of His splendor and unfailing love.  At one-point in Moses’ time God repented of choosing the Israelites and had decided to destroy them but Moses offered himself instead. (Ex.32:7-14) (see v. 31)

We face God’s wrath as well, our iniquities and secret sins are before the Lord day and night. Praise be to God, Jesus intercedes for us and died in our place so that we may be forgiven when we “call on the name of the Lord” and live!

We turn to the verse we are looking at; it is obviously a benediction (Num.6: 24-26).  Moses asks for God’s favor to be upon them, or to go with them and to “establish the work of our hands for us”. Moses makes this personal and also practical. The work of his hands came close to being completely destroyed several times, only God establishes what man kind does. For us today this is a meaningful and important prayer. God establishes our work when done in the name of Jesus. Not many followers of Jesus are missionaries, pastors or evangelists. Therefore, I do mean all work that we do and that is done in Jesus name is work that will last for ever, follow us to heaven and become the building blocks for the New Heaven and the Earth. May God establish the work of our hands!

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# 12 2016 Devotional Gal. 6:9. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.

 Gal. 6:9

⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good,

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

The purpose of the letter to the Galatian Church was to expose legalistic and Old Testament ceremonial practices being taught by Judaizers as necessary for salvation. Chapter 6 is the end of Paul’s arguments for salvation by faith and by God’s grace alone. He encourages the Galatians and us to do good to all, restore those gone astray gently, do not think more of yourself than you should, and help each other especially fellow followers of Jesus.  Secondly, he puts to rest the fallacy of salvation by works by appealing to the new covenant recreating us in Jesus Christ. The old is become new!   

The verse we are looking at is part of Paul’s encouragement to the Galatians and to us to become new in Christ Jesus. To be new in Jesus means that we not only change from what we are and how we live but that we live in opposition to the way the world lives. “Let us not become weary”, Paul tells us. Helping others, walking along side someone to work through sin in order bring healing, and carrying each others burdens is hard work.From my experience as a church planter, the power of the Spirit cultivated in prayer keeps one from burn out.  

Don’t tire of “doing good”, Paul adds. As followers of Jesus what is “doing good”? Paul makes it very clear it means building up the Kingdom of God. He starts with the brokenness of this world. “Restore sinners gently” not condemnation, not a better than thou attitude so many project, not isolation but love. The love of Jesus!  We must begin with ourselves, our own attitudes, failures and short comings before we attempt to help others. It has been my experience that as we walk along side people with God’s Word He builds both persons spiritually and we are drawn closer to each other and Jesus. That is one example of doing good but it translates to all situations in our lives. In Christ all of life becomes worship pleasing to God.

Paul continues with: “for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”. Church planters plant churches but mostly we plant seeds. Sometimes there is a harvest but only after a lot of watering and cultivating and time. Sometimes the seeds lay dormant until such time as the Holy Spirit moves that person or persons to seek Jesus’ love and forgiveness. Let us who follow Jesus not give up planting the seed of life in people God places on our path, by our actions, our words and our love for them. There will be a great harvest indeed but only if we keep on planting!

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