Life is a Journey
Thoughts on LifeArchive for April, 2008
April 22 Reading: 1 Sam 25-26; Ps 63; Matt 9
Scripture: Psalms 63:7 (NIV) 7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
Observations: How many times does the Scripture talk about God being our help? Ever present, the one we run to, our place of protection, our refuge in time of trouble, our strong tower… Because of His protection we can sing in times of trouble – not because we like trouble, but because in the battle He is our shelter & strength. A song in my heart while under attack – that’s it!
Application: I need to continually run to my shelter. I must abide in the shelter & shadow of His wings! He is my shelter – strength & my song. I will run to Him daily, especially in times of trouble.
Prayer: Father, help me always run to you! Help me seek your shelter. I can’t fight this on my own. I can’t keep a song in my heart on my own. I will rest in this shelter, Lord. Amen!
April 21 Reading: 1 Samuel 24; 1 Chr 8; Ps 57-58; Mt 8
I confess that I really wanted to write on Psalm 57:1 or 57:4, but it seems God spoke from this passage more – and wanted me thinking in this direction…
Scripture: Matthew 8:21-22 (NIV) 21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Observations: Wow! Jesus needed to read “How To Win Friends and Influence People.” Someone needs to tell Him that he can be gentle and challenge people. That’s cold. Let the dead bury dead. It seems that Jesus didn’t fear challenging people to follow Him with abandon. Are you in or are you out? Decide. Are you serious about following Jesus or is it a convenience issue?
I find myself challenging people to take the next step toward becoming that fully devoted follower of Christ. Sure a journey begins with one step, but is my challenge weak? I know, I’m not Jesus, so I should be careful. But still, the verse strikes me today.
Application: First, it occurs to me that I need to be sure that I am following Jesus with abandon. Am I completely His? Second, I need to be sure I’m not watering down the cost of discipleship. Following Jesus is supposed to COST! God forbid that I paint something else.
Prayer: Father, help me continually check my level of surrender. Am I sold out to you? Also, help me challenge people to a complete surrender to you. May I never soft sell being a disciple! Amen.
April 17-19 posts to come next week…
I’m sorry to say that this week developed into something that left me without time & heart to post my journal entries. I hope to catch them up next week. Thanks for your patience.
April 16 reading: 1 Samuel 18; 1 Chron. 6; Psalm 11; Matthew 3
Scripture: 1 Samuel 18:14 (NIV) 14 In everything he did he had great success, because the LORD was with him.
Observations: David’s success was directly connected to God’s presences. In verse 12 we saw that Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with David, but had left Saul. John 15 reminds us that apart from Him we can do nothing. At least nothing of significance. It could be that we often do many things in life apart from the empowering presence of God. In the Christian life we can be guilty of living, operating in our own strength – apart from the empowering, enabling presence of God. Sure, He never leaves me, but am I always living in His presence? Am I walking in the fullness of His Spirit?
Application: I must seek to live & walk in the fullness of His Spirit. I need to seek to be aware of His presence. I need to practice the presence of my Lord in everything I do. I am utterly dependent on Him for real success – eternal success!
Prayer: Father, help me seek your presence & fullness moment by moment! I want to intentionally walk with you. I want you to give me your success in all that I do. Not my success, but yours. Amen.
April 15 reading: 1 Samuel 17; Psalm 9; Matthew 2
Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:47 (NIV) 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
Observations: Victory, strength & ability are from the Lord! David is a small and certainly not a warrior – it’s not by his ability that Goliath will be defeated. God uses the weak to confound the strong! When God uses the unlikely to accomplish the seemingly impossible – He gets the glory! Not by power or by strength – but by my Spirit says the Lord…
Application: I must live by the reality that the battle is the Lord’s! Victory comes from Him! To attempt any of this (life, work, family, serving, calling, etc.) apart from this reality is to fail. I must walk with Him & seek His way & help!
Prayer: Father, help me walk with you & seek your help. I want your victory. I want your strength & ability! Amen.
April 14 reading: 1 Samuel 15-16; 1 Chronicles 5; Matthew 1
Sorry, I’ve missed a couple of days of posting my Bible reading journal entries. So, two days posting today…
Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:22 (NIV) 22 But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
Observations: Worship, giving, sacrifice and other religious practices, even when they are biblical and commanded by God – are incomplete and even unaccepted when obedience is missing. They decided they knew best, that some of the plunder was too good to surrender to the Lord. Partial obedience with rationalization is not obedience. All of our church activity is useless if we aren’t seeking to obey God.
Application: I must be ruthless about obedience! I every area – without rationalizing or compromising. To lead, preach, worship and live in partial obedience is foolish. I must obey in everything!
Prayer: Father, help me listen for your voice and obey as I hear! Help me be aware of the enemy’s schemes & lies. It does matter! Amen.
1 Samuel 13; 1 Chronicles 2-3; 2 Corinthians 12
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV) 7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Observations: God does not answer all prayer the way we would like. This flies in the face of the name it & claim it gospel. His power is made perfect in weakness. When I am weak I am more likely to reach out and depend on Him. My Lord desires that I live in a state of dependency. Delight/Rejoice in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions & difficulties? That was Paul’s attitude. When I am weak – I run to Him and He is strong. When I am strong, everything is going great, I believe that I am in control and all is well, then I am self-confident rather than dependant.
Application: While I know from experience that some of my most difficult days are some of my best days, because they drive me to my knees and to my Lord – I still have not mastered this passage. I need the Lord’s help to delight in those things. I need to daily see my weaknesses and my problems as an opportunity to rejoice in my Lord’s strength and provision. I need Paul’s attitude.
Prayer: Father, help me with this. I sometimes whine at those things Paul listed. I want to know why, and how long when I deal with difficulties. I want to know when it’s going to get easier. Help me rejoice as I run to You. You are my strength when I am weak… Amen
1 Samuel 11-12; 1 Chronicles 1; 2 Corinthians 11
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 11:2 (NIV) 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.
Observations: Paul speaks to the Corinthian believers telling them that he promised them to Christ (as in marriage) so that he could present a pure virgin. As believers we are married to Christ. The Bride of Christ. With that in mind we should remember that He expect a pure bride. He expects us to keep Him as our love, our first and only affection. Satan desires to draw our affections away from our Lord. The day we took that step of faith – we willingly become promised to Jesus as His bride. This must impact our lifestyle & decisions!
Application: I must live my life aware that I am His bride. I must keep myself spotless and pure. I need to be aware of Satan’s interest in drawing my heart away. I must keep my passion single and focused. Nothing can take my allegience from my Lord.
Prayer: Father, help me keep my heart and devotion committed only to Jesus! Help me see this journey as being married to Christ. I want your strength to be fully and only devoted to Jesus my Lord! Amen.
1 Samuel 8-10; 2 Corinthians 10
Ok, I have a bit of a delimma. Today’s reading in 1 Samuel is about that time when Israel asks God for a king, like all the other nations have. God grants thier wish, but warns them of the consequesnces. He also explains to Samuel that the problem is that they don’t want God as their King. It is a rich passage that has much to teach us – but I find that the verse/passage that speaks to me more than any other today is again from the NT.
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 (NIV) 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
Observations: It occurs to me that the implications of this passage could be far reaching. I fear that we who follow Jesus Christ often forget this truth. We live in a world that uses certain methods/weapons to accomplish things. We often use things like politics, money, influence, intimidation, power and force. But, though we live in this world, we have a new King. We live by different standards and different rules. So, do we change the world, impact lives and become more like Jesus by those things? The alternative? Ephesians 6:17-18 suggests that the Word of God & Prayer are two key weapons. If we as individual believers, as communities of believers in our churches, as denominations and christians as a whole spend as much energy and time on the Word & prayer we will accomplish much more than if we invest ourselves in these other methods. Politics will not change our world. The Word, Prayer and the Spirit of God will change our world. Our world will be changed one life at a time by the power of God and prayer. Do we believe that? On those things we are most concerned about, most burdened over, most interested in changing – are we willing to seek solutions through the Word and through Prayer?
Application: I must walk in the power of His Spirit. I must live in His Word and Prayer. The Word of God and Prayer must be my weapons – not force, politics, money or any other of the world’s weapons. I want divine power, not the world’s power! I need to be daily sensitive to seeking God’s ways to accomplish God’s work.
Prayer: Father, help me trust your ways, your strength, your weapons. I want your strength, I want your way. Help me fight your way. Amen
1 Samuel 6-7; Psalm 72; 2 Cor. 9
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 9:13 (NIV) Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
Observation: Interesting phrases: “service by which you proved yourselves” and “obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ.” The specific “service” & “obedience” that he refers to here is financial giving. So specifically this is about a demonstration of my faith & obedience to my Lord by giving. Does that mean that an unwillingness or failure to give financially demonstrates the opposite? It would seem to me that one should not avoid or ignore the specific context of this passage; however I think that it would be appropriate to also consider a wider application. It is a reasonable thing to prove myself through service & demonstrate my confession of Christ with obedience. An absence of service and obedience would seem to suggest at best a superficial faith and at worst lack of faith.
Application: I must seek to be faithfully giving as the Scripture commands and as God leads. One should not be independent of the other. I must also seek to live in such a way that my service to God and my obedience to God demonstrate a genuine faith.
Prayer: Father, remind me daily that you are worthy of all my service, all my obedience and all my giving. May my life be a living example. May I live in such a way to prove myself. Amen
