March 24Read I Peter 5:7
Every person has situations in life that may seem to be impossibility, but when you face impossibility, you must leave it in the hands of a specialist. Refuse to calculate. Refuse to doubt. Refuse to work it out by yourself. Refuse to worry.
Instead, say, “Lord, I’m walking in something that I can’t handle. I feel like everything around is crashing in, and I am about to suffocate. I know that I should have come to you sooner, but in my immaturity, I have tried to figure it all out on my own. I have utterly failed. I know you are willing and able, so please take it out of my hands. It is impossible for me, but it is as nothing with you.” Persevering in the face of tragedy, or just our mindless mess-ups in life, can only carry success when we are willing to place that type of confidence in Him. In spite of our adversities, all He desires is that we talk to Him, and allow Him to assist us.
Now, our problem is that we hold onto our problems. If your Swiss watch stops working, hopefully you don’t sit at home with a screwdriver working on it yourself. If I did that, there would not be a soul on earth that would be able to fix it, and God may even have to discard it and start over. Hopefully, you take it to a specialist. If you tried to work on it and then took it to a specialist, they would look at you and wonder what in the world you had done.
I am not very good with leftovers. I don’t mind eating leftovers, but if you ask me to prepare leftovers, my stomach would twist in knots. Thankfully, the Lord works wonders with leftovers because that is what we tend to give Him in most cases. We make all the mistakes, and then in our attempts to fix our mistakes, we get things tied into a million knots and then dump it in His lap and say, “Here, Lord, do something!”
In our journey of life, we do not have the luxury to make a bunch of mistakes before we cry for help from Him. We must, right from the start, let Him know that we do not possess the talents, finances, or desires to do what He wants. Then, we must allow Him to make up for that which we do not have. On two occasions the Lord spoke through the gift if tongues and interpretations to me. The first happened in a homiletics class (the study of preaching). It was an early morning class on November 16, 1989, and someone had just finished a “practice” sermon when the presence of the Lord moved in and took over. The second time was in a leadership training session on November 1, 1996. What is it about November? Anyway, the Lord spoke these words to me and the others that were present, “Do not get worried with your inabilities, short comings and inconsistencies because I will make up for those. If you will allow Me, you will even see Me add things to your ministry.” I have lived off of those words many times. When I lose track of where I am, I open the front cover of my Bible and see where I wrote those words down, and I cling to them with all of my might.
We must remember that God desires all of us to be successful in this journey to heaven. Every step and pathway we take must be ordered by God, with His strength and with His spirit leading the way.
March 25Read Romans 8:4-17
Hollywood, California. All kinds of young people from every culture, kindred, social status and income brackets have gone there. From the four corners of the earth, people have attempted to walk into that city frantically seeking success, fame and fortune. For most, however, the quest is a futile one.
Only a few have actually “made it” to the sidewalk along Hollywood boulevard, where embedded bronze symbols bear the names and faces of the famous. It appears that these men and women, in worldly terms, have mastered their destinies. And yet, upon passing that street and looking at the symbols more closely, one cannot help but be touched with a sense of irony. The same sidewalk that the coveted star has been firmly laid is cluttered with debris, splattered with mud and ground-in patches of gum.
In stark contrast, the city I look for is a city designed by the Master Creator of all time. In His architectural drawings is a promise that “I lay...a sure foundation.” God’s sidewalk will never fade away.
The reward of walking up the path toward this city that is established by the hand of God is only found in His Word. There is no journey that you could take that will provide more intrigue, adventure and thrills than the journey from here to glory. The rewards of entering that city will be so grand that our finite minds cannot begin to comprehend. There is no bronze star waiting to be laid in concrete by the hands of man and tarnished by the passage of time. Rather, the redeemed of the Lord—those whose lives have been sacrificed to God, walking up the path that God has chosen and whose lives are built upon the foundation of God shall shine forever. We will receive crowns and mansions, and more importantly, rest. We will be able to step off the transit of life and dwell with Him forevermore.
Too many people are trying to find their way based upon the monuments of worldly success, but if we are basing our successes upon worldly monuments, we are traveling the wrong paths. Will you stop for a moment? I mean right now. Before you get up from your chair and computer, even before you log out of your email. Stop, and evaluate the monuments of success that you are striving after and make sure they are the paths that God is leading you in. I can’t wait to see your “star” in the greatest city of all time and eternity, the New Jerusalem.
March 26Read Hebrews 10:24-25
Although it is intensely personal, there is nothing self-centered about genuine worship. Remember, God is seeking true worshippers. If believers are to maintain a consistent lifestyle of continuous worship, we need to be involved in weekly corporate worship. Individual and corporate worship feed off each other. The sources of most people’s problems lie in one of two things; either they are not worshipping six days a week individually or they are not worshipping once a week with an assembly. We need both.
Living in the “heavenly places” doesn’t allow for an easy-come, easy-go, casual, flippant attitude that our society carries. You can walk into all kinds of churches, in all kinds of cultures, and all kinds of denominations, and find teachings that claim that to live for God is easy and casual. I heard a saying once, and it has stuck in my spirit ever since. It goes like this, “It is easy to live for God hard, but it is hard to live for God easy.” It is obviously clear; spiritual success and life in His dimensions requires investment in our relationship with God and with others.
A pastor went to see a man who didn’t attend church faithfully. The man was sitting before a fire, watching the warm glow of the coals. It was a cold winter day, but the coals were red hot, and the fire was warm. The pastor pleaded with the man to come to church, but the man didn’t seem to get the message.
So the pastor took the tongs from beside the fire and opened the screen. He casually began to pull the coals apart so that they were not touching the others. In a matter of minutes the coals were very cold. “That’s what happening in your life,” he told the man, “As soon as you isolate yourself from God’s people, the fire goes out.” The man got the message.
It is on the ascent to heaven that we must remind ourselves that the church is not made of brick and mortar, but in whom God dwells. There is a song that says, “I need you, you need me, we are a part of God’s family.” He dwells in the worship of His people. It is only through close contact with His people that the fires of the Holy Ghost are able to burn. Worship made in the church leads to worship in the individual, and that will make the experiences of heaven all that it should be.
March 27 My family recently went through a major transition in life. We left a secular job to go full time in the ministry. I love it. I had dreamed about it for years, and everything is going great. One thing that I have had to do now though to plan, in detail, my future finances. When I was with the postal service, it was easy to plan for retirement because you just put a certain amount of money into a prescribed plan that was taken care of on your behalf. Now, I am dealing with the brokers that are planning my life insurance and health insurance and retirement savings. I have had to ask, what will I leave my wife and son if God would happen to call me home? I know that sounds morbid, and most people do not like to talk about that part of their futures, but it is something that all of us must take into consideration.
Have you ever thought about what you are going to leave behind after you die? Most people think in terms of possessions—money, property, stocks and bonds. While all that is well and fine, and necessary, what about the intangible things? What type of spiritual principles will you have placed in the people you love the most so that when you are gone and they are looking for help, your investments into them can be drawn upon?
You may think that it is impossible to leave something of a spiritual nature in the hands of others. You may think that they have to grasp it on their own. I admit that you cannot give your experience to someone else, but you can hand down your faith. You can leave your sense of moral values, your understanding of the principles of scripture. You can leave the principles in scripture that assisted you in your walk with God.
If you are a godly parent, look at what you have to give your children. You may not be able to leave them even a small amount of money but if you have loved God and practiced scripture, and you have loved them unendingly, you will leave them a faith that will sustain them in difficult times. It will keep them during every heartache and in every trial of life. If you are not a parent there are people everywhere that you can invest something in that will allow them to find the right path in life.
I remember when my grandmother passed away. I never received any money from her passing. I received a porcelain train that I always loved and a neat painting that she had. I love those things, but what she gave me was greater than all the riches this lifetime could hold. She was the one that bugged my father when he was away from the church playing hockey, to get me to Sunday school. It was a faithfulness I saw in her through years and years of teaching the nursery class. It was her strength in the face of crisis that I remember vividly. When I get to heaven, I will be able to thank many people that paved the way for me, but it will be my grandmother Cele that will have invested the most and left me with a legacy that I am now instilling in her great grandsons. I cannot wait to take them by the hand and walk over to her mansion and introduce them for the first time. What she left me lives on still today.
Most people do not tie the handing down of these things as worship, but it is true worship. Worship is allowing what God has put into your heart to flow into someone else. My grandmother was a true worshipper.
March 28 I remember the excitement that had built up. Excitement with a hint of anxiety. Today was going to be the birth of my child. My son turns 6 years old today. I cannot believe time has gone that fast. It seems like just yesterday.
My wife and I were not supposed to have children. We had resigned ourselves to that fact, and began looking at other options. We received a phone call one day from someone in Virginia that would like for us to adopt a baby. It would be an open adoption that would only cost us the court costs of paper work instead of the tens of thousands of dollars that was asked when we looked at adoption agencies. It was going to be a quick turn around. From the time we received the call to when we were supposed to pick the baby up was just a matter of days. We would fly to Virginia and bring our new baby home. We went and bought baby items so when we returned our home would be ready. We even pick out a name. Donevan. It was a mix of my father-in-laws first and middle name.
I remember vividly, the phone call we received shortly after the first one. Devastation, heartache and misery washed over our home. Donevan’s birth mother had fallen and he didn’t survive. Even now, years later, I get a little emotional about it. My wife and I were heartbroken. We thought God was working everything out, and suddenly we were back at zero. I even had an aunt that offered to give me the money to go through an adoption, but our hearts were unsettled.
Until father’s day, 2002. I normally did not enjoy father’s day. I loved all my “kids”, our young people through the years, but it wasn’t the same thing. It was on that father’s day, at the Gregory Hills Church of God Holiness gymnasium, where we were holding our services, that Pastor asked to pray over Tricia and me. He said he felt that God was going to bless us with a child. We were excited and yet, understandably, very wary. However, God came through. We found out in August of that year that indeed, we were pregnant.
I remember the day we shared it with The Life Church. They all had been praying for so long, and we knew they desired for us to have children, almost as much as we did. The church broke out in worship. It is vividly etched in my mind.
That led us to March 28, 2003. My Dad and Mom’s anniversary (they celebrated at Everett’s in Lee’s Summit after the birth). When the doctor placed that little child into my hands was one of the greatest moments of my life. A miracle was born.
Thank you for letting me share this day with you. I would like to remind you that God sees where you are at and what you desire. Hold to your desires because you never know when God will perform the miracle that will change your life forever.
Oh, by the way, I love Father’s Day now!
March 29 Do you hunger for Jesus Christ? Do you desire to spend time alone with Him in prayer? Is He the most important person in your life? Do you eagerly turn to the scripture to learn more about Him?
To discern where you really are with the Lord, recall what has saddened you recently. Was it the realization that you don’t love the Lord enough? That you can’t honestly say that the greatest thing that ever happened in your life was when you first met Him? Was it a conviction that you have failed to worship Him with your full heart? Is it a lack of desire to serve Him? Is it the momentary slip of the tongue that has hurt someone?
Or have you been saddened and depressed over a lack of human respect, criticism from an authority figure, financial problems, lack of friends, your bulging waistline? Have you entered the arena of self pity because no one seems to care about you? Are you depressed because your children will not listen, and it seems that you have lost control?
On the other hand, what has gladdened you? Is it reflection on your acceptance by God into His arms? The afternoon you were able to get away with the Bible as your only companion? Maybe it was the thrilling awareness that God loves you unconditionally just as you are and not as you should be? Could it have been the simple blooming of the flower that made you realize that God was in control? Was it the little note left in the almost illegible handwriting of your 5 year old?
Our thoughts will dictate our emotions. Our perception will dictate our thoughts. Our surroundings will dictate our perceptions. What are your surroundings? Maybe you need to just take a drive into the country for a little while and look on God’s creation. It is at those times of high stress and anxiety that we need to step away and readjust our perception so that our thoughts will be adjusted and then our emotions will follow along. When our lives are governed not by a network of laws and circumstances, but by the fire of the Spirit that burns within….when we respond to His call, which is not, “Come to the party,” but rather, “Come to ME.” When we are able to get to the point where this takes place the limitless power of the Holy Ghost will be unleashed with astonishing force.
March 30 In the view from the mountain top experiences, we will see God in all of His power and might. We see His power in a whole new light. We see His power in the creation of the universe and the creation of mankind. He created the heavens and the earth instantly, out of nothing, without tools, just a word. View the power that scattered the stars and the planets that are spread out in space for billions of light-years. Consider the power that creates the human body in a mother’s womb. Then think of the power that holds matter together, the power that sustains the universe, in preserving His creatures and in answering our prayers.
We see His power like never before in floods, fires, earthquakes, storms and wind. We see it in the salvation of the sinner, the healing of sickness and in all other forms of miracles. We see it in the faithfulness of the elder, seemingly too tired to lift their hands in worship, do so one more time. We see it in the spring time of life when all the leaves turn green and the flowers begin to bloom. We see it in the eyes of your child when they say, “I love daddy.” We see it in the tear stained faces of a family that has been reunited. We see it in the embrace of two friends.
Our hearts will be filled with awe and worship when we see His omnipotence from our mountain top experiences. Everything else looks so small and insignificant. The things that were overwhelming us seem like a flea. The waves of the sea of life that almost overturned your ship look like a ripple left behind by a thrown pebble. The giant that was standing in our view appears to be the size of Tom Thumb. It is amazing to see that God can do anything, and that He has no problems, but that He is still able to cope with all of our problems.
The interesting thing about the view from the mountain top is that we can see all around us. We can see all of the things that we have come through in our climb, and we also can see the things that we sacrificed are all of a sudden at our disposal. When we sacrifice to God, there is a promise that He will give back to us, and it is when we get to the top that we see how He has given back. It is also at the top that we see a picture of the dream that He wants us to have. It is amazing what we can accomplish when we see the “big picture”. Enjoy the mountain top, and remember it so that when you descend back into the valley, your vision and perception do not change.
March 31Read John 13:15
“When you come, bring a towel.” The title to this message still stands out to me after 17 years. An instructor where I attended Bible College was preaching on the washing of the disciples’ feet by Jesus, when she turned and said those words. I cannot tell you what those words meant at that time, but today, they mean everything.
Not long before His death, Jesus gathered His disciples together for some last minute instructions. To begin the lesson, He used a teaching aid (which my instructor so appropriately used that evening). To illustrate the extent to which the Son of God would serve mankind, Jesus wrapped a towel about His waist, bent down, and cleaned the filthy feet of His friends.
Are you a member of the towel brigade? Do your children see you stoop to wash – with an attitude of love? Is your husband or wife a recipient of your servant’s heart?
In everything that I have done in my life, I am reminded of watching my parents’ minister in a local assembly. They epitomized servant hood. They were always available to assist in helping people become all that they were designed to be in Jesus Christ.
I am trying, and not always succeeding, in trying to live after my parent’s example, the example of my Savior, and those words spoken by the preacher, “When you come, bring a towel”. Try to think of someone that you can spend some time serving today and then wrap a “towel” about your waist and see how it feels to walk in the footprints of the man from Galilee.
