A great bit of encouragement! I had posted a list of things we need for the
ministry on “freecycle” and I got some awesome response – people want to help
us! I meet with one lady tomorrow, who
says she has a praise band that would love to come out and minister with us
once we get going (as well as wanting to give us a display shelf) – she’s meeting me at the
storefront. Another guy has
most everything else we need (including a cash register, chairs, tables, etc
and etc) and we go pick that up on Monday.
My mom is in surgery today and I’ve yet to hear back as to the results –
I’m still praying for her salvation.
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| Red Rocks of Colorado Springs |
I'm still behind on my devotional readings, but I found a lot that ministered to me today:
The Dove Devotional, Friday June 21-23 2013, Three Levels of attack
The Bible says, “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Mt 4:1). This seems to be God’s standard operating
procedure. Why? Because He’s a good general; before He puts
you into battle He puts you into boot camp.
Imagine it: you’re up at dawn, running for miles with a heavy backpack,
crawling under barbed wire barriers with bullets whizzing over your head,
taking orders from authority figures you don’t know and probably don’t
like. But if you pass the test you get
to wear the uniform. On the threshold of
His ministry, God led His Son into a situation where He would face three levels
of attack. You will face them also. Let’s look at the first one:
The attack over the bread.
Did Jesus need bread? Yes, He’d
been without food for forty days. But He
knew that His greatest need was not for natural food but spiritual food. So He told Satan, “Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Mt
4:4). Only when you’re convinced God
will take care of all your material needs, will you start putting spiritual
things first in your life. Until that
happens, you’ll think you have to take care of yourself. As a result, you will walk in fear and not
faith. That’s not how God wants you to
live. “Seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Mt 6:33). When you worry, you don’t trust God. When you trust God, you don’t have to worry. The choice is yours.
The attack on the pinnacle.
Let’s look at the second temptation Jesus faced: “Then the devil took Him up into the holy
city, [and] set Him on the pinnacle of the temple.” Here you deal with the fear of failure. Satan will whisper, “You’re on the pinnacle
of success now, but you could easily fall off.”
He will bring up your past failures.
He will remind you of leaders who crashed and burned. He will say, “If people realize how little
you really know, or the issues you’re struggling with, they wouldn’t respect
you.” There are two kinds of fear:
healthy fear and unhealthy fear. Healthy
fear will keep you dependent on God; it will protect you from pride and
self-sufficiency. “Therefore let him who
thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Co 10:12). But there’s an unhealthy fear that will keep
you in the boat when Jesus is calling to you to step out and walk with Him on
the water. You say, “But Peter almost
drowned.” Sure, but he was the only one
of the disciples who experienced the joy of walking on the water! Having faith doesn’t mean you won’t experience
a sinking feeling at times. You have a
choice. You can give in to fear, or
trust the God who has called you, sustained you, and never failed to give you
the strength needed to cope with whatever you face. If your own intellect or talents are the basis
of your confidence, you have good reason to fear. But if God is the basis of your confidence,
you have nothing to fear.
The attack over the cross.
Let’s look at the third temptation Jesus faced: “The devil took Him up on an exceedingly high
mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will
give You if You will fall down and worship me’” (v8-9). Satan’s third attack was over a cross-less
life. In essence, he told Jesus, “You
don’t have to carry the cross. Just bow
to me and you can have it all.” Jesus
said, “Away with you, Satan!” (v10).
“Away” with any teaching that says God is your bellhop and He has to
wait on you! Or that He’s like a vending
machine; all you have to do is put in a few coins and out will come whatever
you want.
Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me”
(Gal 2:20). Has God promised to bless
you? Absolutely! But that doesn’t mean you’ll never get hurt,
or face lack, or battle sickness, or be betrayed and disappointed by
others. Jesus said, “Unless a grain of
wheat falls into the ground and dies [to self], it remains alone; but if it
dies [to self], it produces much” (Jn
12:24). Have you ever heard the
expression, “Dead man walking?” To do
God’s will you have to die to your own will, and do it daily. But if you’re willing to, God will take you
to a new level of blessing.
The DOVE Daily Devotional 2013
July 4 “If My people … will humble themselves, and pray … I
will hear.” 2 Chron. 7:14
In August 1984, President Ronald Reagan spoke at the
national prayer breakfast in Dallas and stated:
“We poison our society when we remove its theological
underpinnings. We court corruption when
we leave it bereft of belief. All are
free to believe or not believe; all are free to practice faith or not. But those who believe must be free to speak
of and act on their belief, to apply moral teaching to public questions. I submit to you that the tolerant society is
open to and encouraging of all religions.
And this does not weaken us; it strengthens us … without God, there is
no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material,
that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the
society. And without God, democracy will
not and cannot long endure. If we ever
forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone
under.” When Abraham prayed on behalf of
Sodom and Gomorrah, God told him that He would spare those cities if only fifty
righteous people could be found. Sadly,
ten righteous people couldn’t be found, much less fifty, so the cities were
destroyed. But there’s hope in this
story – a righteous minority can move God, bring revival, and save our
nation! “If My people who are called by
My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their
wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal
their land.”
July 5 “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” Ps. 107:2
In his first inaugural address, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
the thirty-second president of the United States, proclaimed to the nation:
“First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear
is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes
needed efforts to convert retreat into advance … In such a spirit on my part
and on yours, we face our common difficulties.
They concern, thank God, only material things … Practices of the
unscrupulous moneychangers who stand indicated in the court of public opinion,
rejected by the hearts and minds of men … who know only the rules of a
generation of self seekers. They have no
vision, and ‘where there is no vision the people perish’ Prov. 29:18. The moneychangers have fled from their high
seats in the temple of our civilization.
We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths … We face the
arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of national unity; with
clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values … In this
dedication of a nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us! May He guide me in the days to come.” The Bible says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” Let us refuse to allow political correctness
or the fear of ridicule to silence us, or tempt us to hid our convictions. Let us remember that, both personally and as
a nation, every benefit and bounty we enjoy is given to us by God. And neither we nor our children must ever
forget that.
The DOVE Daily Devotional July 6-9, 2013
There are four kinds of givers noted in the Bible. For the next few days let’s look at
each. Bag People. In the days of Haggai the prophet, the
Israelites were so busy making money that they had no time for God. Sound familiar? So He said to them: “Is it time for you
yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins? …
Consider your ways! You have sown much,
and bring in little … and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag
with holes … You looked for much, but indeed it came to little, and when you
brought it home, I blew it away.’
Why? Says the Lord of Hosts. ‘Because of My house that is in ruins, while
every one of you runs to his own house.’” (Hag. 1:4-9). If you want God to be interested in your
house, be interested in His house. If
you want God to bless your house, begin to bless His house. If you want God to provide for your house,
start providing for His house. You say,
“How much should I give?” God sets the
baseline at one-tenth of your income (See Mal 3:10). Whatever you give beyond that will be
determined by three things: a) Your ability, “Every man shall give as he is
able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you”
(Deut. 16:17). b) Your desire to
reap. God will “multiply the seed that
you have sown” (2 Col 9:10). c) Your
love. “You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt 22:37).
Bin people. In the
middle of a devastating famine God sent the prophet Elijah to Zarephath, saying
he’d meet a widow there who would feed him.
Why did God not send Elijah to a wealthy family? Because they didn’t need a miracle, she did! When Elijah asked this woman for something to
eat she told him that she’d “only a handful of flour in a bin” (1Kings 17:12. She had just enough for one more meal, then
she and her son would die. Perhaps
you’re thinking, “Typical preacher!
They’ll take the last bite out of your mouth and the last penny out of
your pocket.” No, this was the best day
of her life! She was about to step into
miracle territory. But first she had to
overcome the fear of giving. “Elijah
said to her, “Do not fear … make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to
me … For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used
up … until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’” (1 Kings 17: 13-14. How does this story turn out? “So she went away and did according to the
word of Elijah; and … the bin of flour was not used up” (v15-16). Day after day, without fail, she reached into
the bin and found more flour. She
discovered that when you obey God’s Word He will meet your every need. Are you a bin person? Are you afraid of letting go of what you have
in case you don’t have enough? Don’t be. You will never out-give God! Whatever you give to Him, He has promised to
give back ‘good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over”
(Luke 6:38).
Basket people. A boy
gave his lunch to Jesus and He used it to feed five thousand people. Afterward, “They took up twelve baskets full
of the fragments” (Mark 6:43). Basket people find a need greater than their
own and say, “Lord, here’s what I have; take it, bless it and use it.” What a contrast this boy was to the
disciples. Notice: 1) They tried to escape the problem. “Send them away, that they may go … and buy
themselves bread” (Mark 6:36). Your
faith only grows by facing your problems and looking to God for answers. Indeed, when you solve the problem your
position yourself to receive what God has in store for you next. 2) They didn’t know what they had. Jesus said, “How many loaves do you
have? Go and see” (v 38). Moses had a rod, but it parted the Red
Sea. David had a slingshot, but it
brought down a giant. You may not know
it, but God has given you the answer. He’s given you something capable of
multiplying once you put it into His hands.
The key is, “Go and see.” 3) They
despised the day of small things. “There
is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they
among so many?” (John 6:9). Instead of looking at your lack, look at
God’s abundance and His willingness to work on your behalf. “Do not despise this small beginning, for the
eyes of the Lord rejoice to see the work begin.” (Zech 4:10).
Factor God into the equation. The
formula for success is you – plus God!
Barn people. God used
Joseph to feed the nations during a time of worldwide famine. When Pharaoh’s advisors couldn’t interpret
his dream, Joseph did (Gen. 41:56). He
actually gave Pharaoh a plan that would not only feed Egypt during seven years
of famine, but also feed the world and cause Pharaoh to come out of this crisis
a richer man. When you serve God He can
give you information about the future.
He can give you not only the wisdom to survive, but thrive when you’re
in a recession. But you can’t build such
a relationship with God overnight!
Joseph’s journey to the throne of Egypt led him through years of delay,
detours and discouragement. He
experienced betrayal at the hands of his family, temptation and slander at the
hands of his employer’s wife, false imprisonment, years of waiting and
wondering when God would fulfill His promise to make him a leader. But he never doubted God. And you must not either! If God can take an ex-con like Joseph and
make him the prime minster of Egypt, no obstacle and no enemy can keep Him from
fulfilling His purpose to you.
So, if you’re a bag person, “consider your ways,” and start
putting God first in your finances. If
you’re a bin person, “be not afraid,” give, and God will give back to you. If you’re a basket person, place what you’ve
got into God’s hands and watch Him multiply.
If you’re a barn person with a heart that longs to meet the needs of a
hurting world, nothing your enemies do will stop you.
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