Devotional Archives

In our last devotional we spoke about the life side of the tomb and how it actually produced death: death of a vision, death of hope, death of the One who made promises to us. II Kings 4:12-37 tells of the Shunammite woman who, although barren, was given a word from Elisha that she would have a son. Impossible! Yet the word of the LORD was fulfilled and she had a son. After he was grown he became ill and died. The Shunammite woman became frustrated and angry with the prophet saying: “Did I desire a son of my lord? Did I deceive thee?” There are times in life when we receive a promise in an impossible situation. And as time goes by that promise seems to shatter in front of us. While the disciples saw only death, Jesus was bringing life. At the very time when His disciples were most discouraged Jesus performed His greatest work; truly taking captivity captive and opening prison doors. When we are going through our most difficult seasons in life we can easily forget that God is working behind the scenes. It is in these very times we need to remember and be encouraged by the fact that “men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him” (Isaiah 64:4 KJV).

Two Sides of the Grave Part 1

Luke 24:1-5

“Why Seek Ye the Living Among the Dead?”

With the recent celebration of Easter, our minds have been rekindled once again with the words “He is not here but He is risen.” When we look back at the tomb we see two very distinct vantage points; one being the life side of the tomb and the other being the death side. All of the followers of Jesus were on the life side of the tomb. Yet, everything but life filled their hearts. They were consumed with disappointment, despair and discouragement because all their hopes and dreams had been shattered with the death of Jesus. I believe each one of us, at one time or another (and perhaps even right now) has experienced the same feelings. We had hopes, dreams and expectations. We trusted God to do great things only to find out, at least to our understanding, that all is lost. “. . . Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” These were the words of Mary speaking to Jesus after Lazarus died. It’s at these precise moments that its critical for us to do as the Psalmist said ” I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help, my help cometh from the LORD.” Because, as we will see in our next devotional, when things seem the bleakest God is at work bringing the greatest victory.

Memorial Stones Part 3

Isaiah 64:4

“Eye has not seen or ear heard”

One of the benefits of creating memorial stones is to begin to see God’s hand in our everyday life. Because He was faithful in the distant past and because He continues to show Himself faithful now, we have confidence and assurance that He will be faithful in the future. Isaiah 64:4 tells us that God is so actively involved in our everyday life that He doesn’t wait for today to be finished before planning tomorrow. He has already prepared great and mighty things that we can’t even imagine. Ephesians 2:10 says God has created us unto good works and prepared them for us; making it very clear that He has a plan for our lives and is working it out in and for us. Life and the adversary have a way of causing us to feel overwhelmed, fearful and discouraged about what tomorrow holds. But, the Bible tells us that God is going to and fro the whole earth seeking out those whose heart is perfect toward Him to show Himself mighty to them (II Chronicles 16:9). Our lack of trust and faith can limit what God will do. If instead, we determine to remember what the LORD has done in the past and take time to recognize His hand in today we build up hope (assurance) for the future. As a card I received a long time ago said, “The future is as bright as the promises of God.”

Memorial Stones Part 2

I Samuel 14:6

“Maybe Today ….”

In our last devotional we talked about taking time to reflect on how great God has been to us in the past. As important as it is to think back into our personal history and remember what God has done, it is equally important to recognize what He is doing right now. How easy it is to overlook His intimate hand in our everyday life, from the seemingly most insignificant details to the most profound. In I Samuel 14 Jonathan said to his armour bearer “let us go…it may be that the LORD will work for us.” He was able to trust YHWH to accomplish the impossible in his current situation because he remembered His faithfulness in the most recent past (I Samuel 13: 3). Because God has given us intelligence, capability, strengths and the ability to learn from our experience, we could easily have the tendency to rely on our own natural resources and forget the omnipotence of the LORD Who is actively working on our behalf. We should ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes throughout each day to His intimate involvement in our daily lives and give us a spirit of thanksgiving and praise. What memorial stones to the monument of God’s faithfulness in your life can you add today?

Memorial Stones Part 1

“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and

today and forever” Hebrews 13:8

When the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River, God commanded Joshua to pick one man from each tribe to take a stone from the middle of the river and erect a memorial to God. This was to evoke the question from their children “What do these stones mean?” so they could tell their children and their children's children about the greatness of their God. I would like to encourage you to think about the memorial stones in your own lives: past, present and what could be in the future. We have all experienced God revealing Himself to us in very unique ways, even though at the time we may not have recognized it was His hand working on our behalf. It’s important for us to remember what God has done and continue to praise and thank Him for it. Those "stones" serve to remind us that He "is the same yesterday, today and forever"; assuring us that when we face those impossible situations we can safely trust in Him. We each have stories to tell. Stories of His protection, His provision, His blessing; even times He has disciplined us. These are all memorial stones and by their very name, things to remember about how faithful God has been to us. I encourage you during your quiet times to reflect back, write down some of those experiences and begin to share them.

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El Roi - Part 2

V4….. and she (Hagar) conceived, and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was lowered in her esteem. (Torah), looked with distain (An American Tradition), began to look on her mistress with scorn (Knox), she looked with contempt (RSV), no longer had respect for (The Bible in Basic English), she became very proud and arrogant toward (Living Letters).

In a sense, Hagar also took things into her own hands as we saw last week with Sarah and Abraham, when she looked down on Sarah. As we look at this scripture I believe that it is imperative to grasp the fact that “God has a plan for our lives”, as individuals. From 1995 – 1998 I taught the teen class at Petaluma Valley Baptist Church. Consistently, I shared that God has a “Divine Destiny” for each of them. A plan so amazing, that He, the magnificent architect of lives, has designed. A purpose and plan that will bring glory to God and completeness and fulfillment to us. Understanding this for our lives brings awareness, that we are stewards of that purpose.

Hagar had a purpose and plan that was designed for her, and God even allowed Sarah’s decision to help Him fulfill that purpose. Hagar was Sarah’s servant; her responsibility was to tend to the needs of her mistress. The decision of Sarah to give her to Abraham as a concubine instantly elevated her to a place of prominence in the house of Abraham. She was to give Abraham a child on behalf on Sarah, but when she became pregnant she looked down on and despised Sarah with arrogance and pride. She wanted Sarah’s place and not her own. T.D. Jakes once said, “someone can take your spot but no one can take your place”. In Hagar’s case, she was trying to take Sarah’s place but could only fill her spot. She didn’t realize that El Roi had her in His sight. He had a plan for her, but she didn’t realize it, not until she would meet Him for herself.

God has a place for each of us -- a planned place, a place of honor, a place that He, the magnificent architect of lives, has designed. We could very easily fall prey, to the same attitude of heart that Hagar did, and not be content in the place that the Master has for us. As the face of El Roi shines on us (Numbers 6:26), in the place that He has for us, may we be complete, content and encounter all God has for us.

El Roi - Part 1

Over the next few weeks we will look at El Roi, one of the names of God. The story behind this name is one that captures my heart. It is found in Genesis 16:1-16. The first part of this story gives the account of when Sarah came to the point in her life that she would not give Abraham a son because the situation looked hopeless. She, like many of us, kept looking at the situation that continually looked impossible instead of looking at the God of the promise. Years ago I received a card that was titled: “The future is as bright as the promises of God”. When God promises something He doesn’t give us the timetable and, at times, it takes GREAT FAITH to wait. Sarah decided that she would help bring the promise to fulfillment and offered Hagar her handmaiden to take her place in giving Abraham a son. Sarah makes an interesting statement in verse 2,”the Lord hath restrained me from bearing”. Though the statement was true, for the Lord did close up her womb, it was not a permanent situation. Sometimes when we are waiting on God to fulfill His promises to us, our conclusions are true for that moment but not true for the future. The end of verse 2 says, “Abraham harkened to the voice of Sarah”. The question comes to me at this point is: whose voice gave the promise? It wasn’t Sarah’s voice that said to Abraham that his descendants would be like the sands of the sea. Nor was it Sarah’s voice that spoke to him the promise that through him and his seed the whole earth would be blessed. As we all know, there are many voices that compete for our attention. Voices from the world, from the adversary, from our own hearts (that at times are filled with fear, worry and concern) and we begin to look at the situations purely from a logical point of view. The voice that spoke these promises to Abraham was none other than God almighty, the covenant maker, the One whose words are yea and amen. God continues to speak words of promise to us and we, as humans, should look to Him for the fulfillment of those promises rather than listening to other voices.

Two Sides of the Grave Part 2

Isaiah 64:4

“. . . what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him”

Two Sides of the Grave Part 1

Luke 24:1-5

“Why Seek Ye the Living Among the Dead?”

Memorial Stones Part 3

Isaiah 64:4

“Eye has not seen or ear heard”

Memorial Stones Part 2

I Samuel 14:6

“Maybe Today ….”

Memorial Stones Part 1

“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and

today and forever” Hebrews 13:8

El Roi - Part 2

El Roi - Part 1