Thought of the Day !!

Do not be like the horse or the mule,

which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.  

Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the LORD's unfailing love
surrounds the man who trusts in him.  

Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous;
sing, all you who are upright in heart!                                  
                                 Psalm 32:9-11 (NIV)

First of all, we're told to not be like those who have no understanding.  Our understanding of God's ways, His will for our lives and His plan of salvation for us can be found through reading our Bibles and praying to Him.

Secondly, David makes it clear that the wicked have many problems.  Sometimes it may seem as though the worst people are the ones with all the luck or all the stuff.  But what they don't have are the things that only God can give.  Peace...Assurance...True Joy...Eternal Life.

Lastly, we find in verse 11 that we should rejoice.  Now I don't feel like rejoicing all the time.  Sometimes I get down.  But even in my worst moments I can always know that God is with me and that He is not going to let anything come my way that will completely sink me.  And that is something to rejoice about.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
                                                                       Romans 8:35-37 (NLT)

This life is but a fleeting moment of time.  Even if it doesn’t feel that way, it’s true.  We cannot comprehend eternity, and so these sufferings that we go through seem to be much longer than they really are.

But is all life suffering?  No.  There are joyful moments even as we go through pain.  There are the sunny days in the midst of what seems like a sea of dark clouds.  And for those of us who are lucky enough to have the heart and attitude of Christ (especially attitude), we will find the joy in the midst of a hurting world; the light in the midst of a darkened world.

Why?  Because Christ Jesus loves us that much.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.  So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.  But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
                                                                              Romans 8:5-6 (NLT)

Where will our minds go today?  We will think about daily things such as what has to be done at work or what to have for lunch or supper or what’s going on with the kids.  These things are necessary as we go through our day.

But our minds will go so many places today that have nothing to do with the mundane daily stuff that has to be done.  Will we think about sinful things?  If we are controlled by our sinful (human) nature, we will.  If we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, or if Jesus rules our heart, then we will think about things that please God.

Does this mean that if we’ve accepted Jesus then we’ll never have another sinful thought again?  No.  For we fight a battle with the temptation of sin on a daily basis.  Sometimes we lose this battle.  But if we have the Holy Spirit within us, we realize that the sinful thoughts are contrary to God’s will and it bothers us.  When the Holy Spirit is in us, we want to be better people who obey Jesus and live within God’s will.  

And when the Spirit lives in us and controls our minds, we have a peace that cannot be found when we allow our sinful nature to control them.  So find peace in living in God’s will and thinking about the things of God today.  Praise Him, thank Him and walk with Him.  And your day will brighten.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

                                                                  Matthew 7:1-2 (NIV)                         

 

People judge others all the time.  We judge and are judged based on attributes such as sex, skin color, political beliefs, religious beliefs, and on and on.  If a person looks a certain way or acts a certain way or believes a certain way, then there must be something wrong with that person.  And judgments are often incorrect.  Nathanael judged a man because of where he came from..."Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?"  This judgment was not a very good one indeed.  For Jesus is the one he was talking about. 

 

When we judge others, we take on a privilege that has not been given to us.  For Jesus, the only perfect one to ever live, is the true Judge.  We may disagree.  We may argue about various things.  We may try and persuade others against a certain behavior.  But the difference in this and judging is when we start believing that we know the totality of God's will on the subject and that the other person (or group) cannot possibly be trying to listen to God.  In other words, believing something like "I know what's right and what's wrong, whereas you cannot since you disagree with me". 

 

Issues like homosexuality and abortion and the death penalty, along with environmental, economic or political issues can divide us because we believe so adamantly that we're right and the other side is wrong.  This can lead to believing that the person on the other side is a bad person.  And so we judge that person based upon his/her belief. 

 

You may be right on an issue.  And on the other hand you may be wrong.  For when two sides are so far apart from each other, one or the other side has to be wrong.  But never let the devil use these issues to convince you to break the second greatest commandment...love of neighbor. 

 

You may sense that God is calling you to stand up to support or go against a certain issue.  And if that's the case, by all means, do what God is calling you to do.  But even though you may find it your calling to make a stand for what you believe is God's will, never allow yourself to get caught up in judging someone else.  For the other person may honestly believe that they're just doing what God wants them to do as well.  And only God knows for sure what is truly right.  So let someone who's more qualified have the job of judging.  Allow Jesus to do this.  Anyway, we're supposed to be in the business of loving, not judging.

 

As for me, I ask for God's forgiveness where I have judged and will judge in the future.  And I ask that You, oh Lord, will be more lenient in judgment of me than I have been with others at times. 

 

In the love of Christ,

greg

Thought of the Day !!

I will be out of town this week due to a death in the family.  So there will be no more "Thought of the Day !!" devotions this week.  We will resume next week.  Sorry for the inconvenience. 

In the love of Christ,
greg

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

                                                                      Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

God has great plans for all of us if we will only submit to Him. 

In the love of Christ,

greg

Thought of the Day !!

Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.         
                                                                            Romans 7:6 (NLT)

We are not bound by the letter of the law and its penalties when we accept Jesus as our Savior.  He died to pay the penalty for us.

Instead we live in the Holy Spirit.  Or you might say that God’s Holy Spirit lives within us.  That’s what we mean when we say that Jesus is in our hearts.

This does not discard the law, however, because God’s moral law guides His Spirit, which in turn guides us.  This is, I believe, what Jesus meant when he said that he didn’t come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it.

If Jesus lives within us through the Holy Spirit, can we simply disregard God’s moral laws, such as the ones found in the Ten Commandments?  I don’t think we can.  We may not always remain faithful to keeping the moral law, or what’s right in God’s eyes.  But when we fail, we feel bad.  We are not penalized like in the Old Testament.  We are forgiven.  But we know we’ve done something wrong and don’t want to continue.  This is living in the Spirit.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. "Lord," he said, "if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean." Jesus reached out and touched him. "I am willing," he said. "Be healed!" And instantly the leprosy disappeared.
                                                                               Luke 5:12-13 (NLT)

Notice that before Jesus heals this leper that he touches him.  Max Lucado, in his book Just Like Jesus has this great line that goes "Unworthy of the touch of man, but worthy of the touch of God."  I love that line.  It's so true about the leper and even about many people today. 

The fact is that we are all lepers before God.  We’re so far from being holy and worthy of even approaching Him. But Jesus seeks the unworthy.  He calls out to you and to me.  And through His own doing, He (not us) makes us worthy of a touch from God.

I speak quite often about how we are supposed to do this or that.  How we should be acting this way or that way if we are following Christ.  The fact is though, if we’re truly in love with the Healer, we don’t have to be told all this.

Instead of worrying about if you have to act a certain way or do a certain number of things, you should set your mind…and your heart…to truly getting in touch with Jesus. Those who are saved are changed.  If you haven’t changed by being in the presence of Christ, have you truly experienced Christ?

Our words should be the same words of the leper.  “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”  For his response will always be, “I am willing”.  It is then that we’ll be so sold out to Christ that not doing His will won’t even be an option.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.
                                                            Revelation 3:20 (NLT)

I've used this verse before when giving talks at spiritual retreats.  I'll knock on the podium and tell people that Jesus is knocking on the door of their hearts.  If we'll but open the door and let Him in, we will be complete.

Of course this verse was written not for people to invite Christ into their lives and be saved.  In its original context, these words were written to the Church of Laodicea in Asia Minor.  They had become a lukewarm church who had become indifferent to Jesus and his message.  And Jesus speaks these words to Christians, asking them to open the door and let Him back in.

Unlike other major religions like Islam and Hinduism and Buddhism, we Christians not only seek God, but also have a God that continuously seeks us.  Jesus seeks to be in relationship with the unsaved.  But He also seeks us when we become complacent or stray away from Him. 

If you've become complacent, indifferent, lukewarm, etc., Jesus is at the door of your heart.  And He's knocking.  All you have to do is open the door (again).  He's waiting to come in because He loves you.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism.  And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. 
                                                                       Romans 6:4 (NLT)

Paul says that through baptism we go through a death.  I take this to mean that it's death to this world and its control over us. 

He also tells us that just as Christ was raised from the dead, so can we be raised.  We can have new lives.  These are changed lives that matter.  These are second chances.  And these new lives are gifts to each of us. 

Being born again with Christ is an opportunity to live life in a better way and to find unseen joys in Christ that we never thought possible before.  This gift is available to all and enjoyed by many. 

The problem is that when we accept Christ into our lives, we can squander this gift by still trying to find our joy and peace in how the world brings it to us.  And so before long our new lives look not unlike our old ones. 

I encourage you to think about this gift that you received when you were baptized (or when you accepted Jesus and were born again).  Are you living a new life with all its possibilities?  Or has the old life crept back in?

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "— and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
                                                                                       Psalm 32:5 (NIV)

They say that confession is good for the soul.  And whoever they are, they're right.  But in most cases I would presume that people are talking about a mental or emotional well-being.  In other words, when we confess to one another, it can make us feel good.  

But confession to God is good for the eternal soul as well.  God knows what we've done.  He doesn't need us to tell Him.  But when we confess we take the first step of repentance and we humble ourselves before God.  

So confess before God and God will forgive you when you do so with the right attitude of humility and repentance.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
                                                                 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)

Have you ever thought about the message of the cross?  I mean today we speak of Jesus and God the Father, even the Holy Spirit.  We wear crosses around our necks.  We place them in important places in our homes, have pictures of them on our walls.  But how often do we look at them and wonder about the message that it has for us.

When Paul spoke to the Corinthians about the message of the cross being foolish to those perishing, he was meaning that the idea of a condemned criminal (which Jesus was in earthly terms) dying so that the world could be saved was ludicrous.  And all who believed this idea to be a crazy made up fairy tale would perish, never knowing the Truth.

The message of the cross is all about how Jesus, the Son of God, gave up the greatness of Heaven to come to this earth and die for our sins to give us a way out of our imprisoned lives.  But it doesn't end there.  For you cannot have the cross without the resurrection, at least not if there is a powerful God.  The cross showed the love of God in sending His Son.  The Resurrection showed the power of God over death. 

Has the message of the cross (and subsequent resurrection) changed you?  It is easy to say that it has saved us.  We can claim Jesus as Lord and Savior and say that because of the cross we are saved.  But has it changed us?  You see, when the Holy Spirit enters in and Jesus truly lives within us, it's not just that we believe that we must be morally better people.  The presence of God in us changes us.  Have you been changed?  If you are the same person you were before, or if you've reverted back to the same person you were after an emotional high, then God is not in you.  For the message of the cross so powerful and the love of Christ is so intense that once we have it tattooed on our hearts, we are forever changed.

In the love of Christ,
greg

Thought of the Day !!

Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

                                                                        Psalm 9:10 (NIV)

Seek God in your life and He will be there in any circumstance.  His promise is to never forsake you.  So no matter how bad things seem to get, seek His face, His love, His peace, His encouragement, His strength...His grace in all places.  He may speak to you in your innermost being or through something outside such as a friend or an occurrence.  Just seek Him, for He's there for those who know His name and trust in Him.  

In the love of Christ,

greg