Category: devotional

Taking Chances

 

OVER LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas — Airmen from the 346th and 342nd Training Squadrons perform a high-altitude, low-opening parachute jump onto the base’s parade grounds below Feb. 21. The proficiency training exercise had combat controllers and pararescuemen exiting the aircraft at 9,500 feet, traveling at 130 knots, and landing on a precise target at the drop zone. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Lance S. Cheung)

I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.

Ecclesiastes 9:11, NLT

Consider the following:
  • The verse tips us off to the unfair injuries and surprising twists that life gives us. The effort of a talented slave can give him precedence over a powerful king. This is indeed long anticipated news for those of us on the ‘margins’ of society.
  • Your life is not a series of random events; rather, God is sovereign. All things are shaped to do His will and carry out His holy  purposes.  He is very creatively working for you. We know that He loves us and we trust in this.
  • The logical is hardly a sure bet. Those with an ‘advanced sense of victory’ are often passed by the weak and ungifted. Talent is not proof of triumph. Your gifting doesn’t validate any success whatsoever.

 Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.

Ecclesiastes 11:5, NLT

  • This verse wants to do something to the reader. It emphasizes God’s creative power, and it humbles both the greatest king and  the lowest slave.
  • None  of us cannot fathom the ‘effort of God.’  A summa cum laude with a doctorate in Biology still  can’t achieve in their lab the creation of a child.  They can’t read God’s blueprints.
  • I believe that this verse is evidence of the sacredness of life and our response. The Father knitted you in secret. You are special. The world system disagrees. It loathes you. This cannot be overstated.
  • Full understanding of God is not possible. He lavishes ‘portions’ of Himself to our hearts and then hides them from others.  This is how He conducts himself.  We dare not find fault with Him in this.
  • There is no ‘God app’ to download that explains the full essence of the Almighty. Enough said.

As a broken believer I discover that  God’s kindnesses are piled high all around me.  My mental illness, my ‘on-again, off-again’ discipleship are within His grace parameters (they’re endless, or so I’ve been told).

These verses invite me to boldly live my life as a redeemed believer. I can jump out into promises of God with passionate gusto, and find He has been waiting for me all the time.

Just some random thoughts, which I know are woefully incomplete.

I’m almost embarrassed by the general shabbiness of this post on this blog. My apologies. But it is what it is.

 

Training Your Spirit

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“Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.”

2 Corinthians 4:10, NLT

“Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.”

Hebrews 2:18

No book, no tutor will give us the education we need.  We must patiently go through seasons of difficulty and temptation before we can understand what our brother or sister is facing.  Furthermore, we must advance through different levels;  sickness, injury, loss and discouragement.  On top of this, we must be tutored in the language of affliction, till we speak it without an accent.

This is a ‘strange’ school.  We’re watched and observed very closely to see what we will do.  “Will he give $5 to the homeless man, or will he turn away like usual?” There are billions of these scenarios that we get placed in.  And often there are multiple layers of these ‘programs’ running simultaneously.

And yet we are always being evaluated in love.

It is very advantageous for you to pass this way, because it lets you speak the dialect of suffering, with its mixture of pain and joy.  Believers now have a common tongue which in we communicate.

When Lynn and I lost our daughter Elizabeth, it was a deep, dark valley.  But I came to see (understand) that in some obscure way now able to speak into the hearts of those who were lost in pain.  Death has a way of touching us deeply.

There are so many different classes in God’s ‘strange’ university.  You may be enrolled in Compassion 101, or Mercy 410.  Oh, and by the way there is a school counselor available to all students that request Him (the Holy Spirit).

Also, we will do remarkably better if we will befriend others who are also enrolled.  Worshipping and the Word are quite critical as we must keep our spirits clean and right.

“He suffered and endured every test and temptation, so that he can help us every time we pass through the ordeals of life.”

Hebrews 2:18, TPT

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A Bit of Homespun

I’m Still Learning

I’ve learned — 1
that you cannot make someone love you.
All you can do is be someone who can be loved.
The rest is up to them.

I’ve learned — 2
that no matter how much I care,
some people just don’t care back.

I’ve learned — 3
that it takes years to build up trust,
and only seconds to destroy it.

I’ve learned — 4
that it’s not what you have in your life
but who you have in your life that counts.

I’ve learned — 5
that you can get by on charm
for about fifteen minutes.
After that, you’d better know something.

I’ve learned — 6
that you shouldn’t compare
yourself to the best others can do
but to the best you can do.

I’ve learned — 7
that it’s not what happens to people
that’s important. It’s what they do about it.

I’ve learned — 8
that you can do something in an instant
that will give you heartache for life.

I’ve learned — 9
that no matter how thin you slice it,
there are always two sides.

I’ve learned — 10
that it’s taking me a long time
to become the person I want to be.

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“But Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those people God has called—Jews and Greeks.”

1 Corinthians  1:24, NCV

I’m not sure who wrote this, I can’t remember even where or how I found this.   I’m obviously not the author. But it is an excellent piece of thought, I really hope it blesses you– making you see your life through some simple wisdom.

I do know that I have a Savior who is within me, living His life through me. Today, I choose to rest in His unfailing love for me.

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Recalibrate Our Senses

“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. “

Matt. 3:8, NIV

Do the things that show you really have changed your hearts and lives.

When we evaluate change, the Biblical definition is crisp and solid.  It has everything understood in results (or fruit) and less to with my posturing.  Just simple words or emotions aren’t enough when we consider authentic transformation.  We can’t relate to feelings, they need actions to become visible. You may feel ‘warm and fuzzy’ when you think about Jesus, and  yet somehow that’s not enough. Especially if you’re beating your wife.

Actions do matter.  Your actions will define what you believe about God.  What you decide to do, will delineate what is really real. Jesus made it clear to his congregation that their definition of repentance needed adjusting.

I struggle with many things, I seem to be a magnet for all things dark and lost.  So this proper way of evaluating reality will become a tremendous blessing those of us with ‘mood disorders.’  My feelings are definitely mercurial.  I really can’t trust them. So I won’t.

Thomas Merton once said that we’re so motivated to climb the ladder of success that when we finally get to the top we discover it’s leaning against the wrong wall all along! To waste your life to climb one more rung is incredibly tragic.

And yet, down deep, I do understand.  I don’t like it, but it truthfully seems oddly rational and real.  It seems to be something God would do to lovingly correct us. If I place my bets on what I think God wants, and behold, I discover am completely mistaken. He delights in confusing the proud in heart.

We need a basis on what is real, and important.  It may shake us, but the result is being able to realize what is the truth.  Our feelings, and idealistic ideas are like a bucket with many holes.  What we receive from Him can’t be maintained–it runs out almost as fast as it collects.

We must recalibrate our senses.  We need to rearrange many things, and completely reevaluate our momentum and focus.  These seem to be abstract and vague ways of making determinations like this, but if we get honest we realize that these things are critical.

“No one can sum up all God is able to accomplish through one solitary life, wholly yielded, adjusted, and obedient to Him.“

–D.L.Moody