# 49, 2015 Dev. I Cor. 13:4-7. The purpose of our devotionals is to grow nearer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and to grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

I Corinthians 13:4-7

“Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

I Cor. 13 is one of those chapters that encourages us and at the same time addresses what is important in our lives and in the lives of every person in the world but is often missing. The world today is as if “love has grown cold” (Mt. 24:9-14). Paul begins with the priority of love. We may have many gifts, we may have much faith, or great insight into God’s Word and many other virtues but whatever we do if we do not love it is all in vain. Love is action, a way of being that overflows into all our relationships, our conversations, and dictates our very lives.

There are other kinds of love: lust that attempts to imitate love, self love that excludes others, the love of money and of power but that kind of love has no place in Paul’s letter. The love that Paul describes is the reflection of Jesus Himself (Eph.4:18-19). There is power in Christs’ love and the “fullness of God”!

We turn to the passages we are memorizing. We begin with Pauls’ description of actions that love does not do: there is no envy, boasting, pride, rudeness, selfishness, quick anger, it does not remember wrongs, and does not delight in evil. That alone eliminates all other emotions passed off as love. The rest of Paul’s description is positive action: “Love is patient and love is kind, love rejoices in the truth, It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Paul’s description reminds us of the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5: 22-23). These passages compliment each other. I take the liberty to add v.8a “Love never fails” because it ties these passages together. The Love of Jesus always wins, the Spirit always bears fruit. That is the love that Paul describes, and it is the love we all practice by God’s grace. Praise be to God!

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# 48 2015 Devotion Matt. 6:24   The purpose of our devotionals is to grow closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and to apply His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Matthew 6: 24

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Matthew 6 is part of Jesus’ sermon on the mount (Ch.5-7). In this chapter Jesus speaks about what he dislikes and what he criticizes the hypocrites  for. When you give, when you pray and when you fast to receive praise from men you have your reward in full. But if you give, pray and fast in secret, God who sees in secret will reward you. Do we seek the praise of men? We may not realize we  seek to please men but if you look deep you will agree that we do seek the praise of men sometimes. We do things and not do things in order to receive that earthly praise.

In this chapter Jesus speaks strongly about praying with endless words. He teaches us how to pray with an economy of words and follows the Lord’s prayer with a command and admonition. Jesus says: “ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins”(v.14-15). Talk about treasure in heaven and on earth.

That is what our verse this week is indirectly talking about, laying up treasure in heaven. It is by service we lay up treasure with God, serving Him only. By pretending to serve Jesus we serve two masters and we lay up treasure on earth: by not giving what we should to the poor and by seeking and accepting the praise of men and by holding onto sweet revenge by withholding forgiveness. It quickly becomes obvious that it is not Jesus we are serving. True service to Jesus comes from the heart and is the light of the world. Shine on, light up the dark places!!

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# 47 2015 Dev. Ps 46:1. The purpose of our devotionals is to grow closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and to apply His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

This passage is in the second book of the Psalms, basically a prayer book framed by four prayers at the beginning and at the end of the book. Psalm 46 is the first of a series of three having to do with security. The need for security in today’s world is something we all identify with more and more: everywhere, in the First, Second, and Third World innocent men women and children are lost. Many are killed indiscriminately but more and more because of religious orientation, particularly Christianity. Security or the lack thereof is fast becoming the defining issue of our time and begs the question will we ever have peace and security again?

We pray for peace, we pray for protection, we wring our hands and we are fearful of the future. Psalm 46:10 has an answer: “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in all the earth”. Peace and security comes down to knowing God, knowing His love, knowing His power and putting our trust in Him.

That is what verse 1 tells us: “God is our refuge”, our hiding place, our safe place. God protects us and gives us strength. But it is more than that; He is “an ever present help in trouble”. We live in a broken world, troubles are all around and also affect us but God walks with us and when troubles come, suffers with us. Not only for today or when we call on Him, no, He is “an ever-present presence with His people. We take the liberty to quote verse 2a “Therefore, we will not fear”. Applying Psalm 46: 1, 2a,10 to our lives and by using our God given discernment, we can have peace and security!

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#45 Nov. 09, 2015

 2015 Devotional. Our goal for these weekly devotionals is to grow in humility and to grow spiritually by memorizing selected passages, putting them into context, and by applying them to our daily living. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.

 Psalm 1:1-2

 1.Blessed is the one who does not walk in the council of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the company of mockers,

2. but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

 There is much to be said about the Psalms but most of it is beyond the scope of this devotional. Suffice it say that the Psalms are divided into 5 books of which Psalm 1 and 2 is an introduction and Psalms 146 -150 are a series of Psalms beginning with and ending with “Praise the Lord” that most likely is the conclusion to the book. The Psalms are mostly a collection of hymns consisting of prayers and praise.

 We memorize the first two verses but Ps. 1 is best read as a whole. The Psalm is a stark contrast of the two ways of the world; one of righteousness and one of wickedness already obvious in the first two verses. The first verse is a negative, progression, one who does not, in that if one walks in the council of the wicked long enough you will stop in the way of sinners and if you stop long enough you will also sit down. The way of the wicked is like that, it takes over your whole life.

 In contrast is the positive way of righteousness, one who does delight in the law of the Lord, more so, one who meditates on God’s law (God’s will) day and night. This person is one who does what is right in God’s sight. The way of righteousness has taken over his/her whole life.

 There is more, verse 1 begins with “blessed is the one”; that person is blessed, v.3 like a tree planted near a clear and pure stream(God’s will). There is nothing like a healthy well watered mango tree for fruit, and for shade, something we appreciate here in the Sahel. That person is also blessed in that all he/she does prospers.

 These two verses will be offensive to some I expect because there is no alternative, there is no middle way. There is the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked; in God’s economy one walks in one or the other. Do what is right and be blessed!

                                                                                                         

© 2015 cgvw all rights reserved.

#43 Oct. 26, 2015

2015 Devotional. Our goal for these weekly devotionals is to grow in humility and to grow spiritually by memorizing selected passages, putting them into context, and by applying them to our daily living. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.

I Chronicles 28:20

²⁰ David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.

King David wanted to build a house for God; (I Chr. 28) he laid his plans and gathered all the material. But God did not allow him to build the temple because he was a man of war. God designated Solomon, David’s son to build it. Yet God gave David the plan for the house and the plan for all the tables, bowls, instruments, lamp stands, alters, and the Ark, following some of what God had given to Moses for the Tabernacle.

Those of us in ministry and those who follow Jesus have come to know what David had to come to grips with: “God’s plans are not our plans, His thoughts are not our thoughts.” Yet we all have a role to play in the work of the Kingdom. “The Lord has assigned each his task” (I Cor 3:5-7). We recognize that truth in this passage but it goes deeper and confronts us as fellow servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. David, though disappointed, shows us a better way to deal with what God has assigned us when we would rather be doing something different. David is an encourager and by encouraging others he is himself encouraged.

Verse 20 encourages Solomon and is an encouragement for us. “Be strong and courageous and do the work”: whatever it is God gives us to do. Know there is always opposition and that strength and courage is a requirement for the work.

“Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you.” I remember when we committed to New Community Church with 11 people after the former pastor left with the rest; we could not find a church that would sponsor us, we felt alone and rejected. We did not get a lot of help until we started to grow a little. God is good! “He (God) will not fail you or forsake you until all the work”; whatever the work may be “is finished”. This is true for all those who follow Jesus. Remember verse 20, remember to encourage others, you will be encouraged. Praise the Lord!                                                                                                         

© 2015 cgvw all rights reserved.

#42 Oct. 19, 2015

2015 Devotional. Our goal for these weekly devotionals is to grow in humility and to grow spiritually by memorizing selected passages, putting them into context, and by applying them to our daily living. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.

Matthew 22:37-38

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment.

This Old Testament command (Deut. 6:4-9) is quoted in the New Testament by Jesus in Matthew and Mark but in Luke, an expert in law asking Jesus about eternal live quotes this verse in response to Jesus answering his question with a question: “How do you Read the Law? Jesus here is using the Jewish way of teaching by asking multiple questions and in that way arriving at the answer. The expert answers correctly. Jesus responds: “do this and you will live”.

The book “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” does not ask us to memorize the whole quote. I see this as an oversight because the whole passage goes together although Jesus quotes two different passages from the Old Testament. As noted above, this first law is from Deut. 6:5 but the corresponding second law is quoted from Lev. 19: 18 but it comes from a set of 10 verses commanding the correct way to treat each other (Lev.19: 9-19). We therefore think that these two commands go together and should not be separated but memorized as Jesus quotes them.

It seems to us that loving God with everything we have, while difficult, may not be as difficult as loving our neighbors as ourselves. God loves us blesses us and draws close when we draw close, but loving our neighbor takes God’s grace and His love in our lives. It is therefore that loving God while not loving our neighbor is not the love that God asks of us. These commands hang on each other just as all of Scripture, Jesus says, hangs on these two commands! Praise be to God.                                                                                                           

© 2015 cgvw all rights reserved.