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October/November

October 3
1 Peter 1:3-4
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you…”

When God created the world, He planted the hope of the resurrection into the very structure and make up of His creation.  Everywhere we look, when we study the cycles of life, we see the pattern repeated, in multitudes of poetic and practical ways.

Before a seed is planted into the ground, that seed must die before it can become a new life.  And then the new life that emerges isn’t what was put into the ground.  Not even close.  A tiny, bare seed is buried in the earth and becomes a life giving plant, providing beauty or nourishment or protection.  God give it a form that pleases Him and allows it to live a useful, abundant life.

You’ve often heard the analogy of the caterpillar.  Does the creature wish it could fly when it is an earthbound creature with a slug like body and tiny legs?  Does it know it has a destiny far more beautiful and adventurous than it can imagine?

One day that caterpillar crawls up the wall of a tree, exudes a little glue, and spins a chrysalis around itself, following an ancient pattern infused into its DNA.  In time the chrysalis will shake and vibrate with convulsive movements until it breaks open.  From within that cocoon, wings unfold to reveal beautiful colors or stripes.  Soon the new creature emerges as a butterfly, ready to soar in the winds, over fields and fences, free to live to its full potential.

A metamorphosis has taken place, a change of body, a change of nature.  

And that’s exactly what God does with us.  We are born again, new creatures in Christ, emerging from a long sleep to become beautiful new creatures growing in His love.  Sometimes we grow slowly, learning the lessons He longs to teach us to help us live to our full potentials.  But we will be changed, and we will grow, for “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

But apart from Jesus, this process is not possible.  It is through Him that we find hope, new life, beauty, and the love that will nourish and carry us through to the end of our days and into eternity.

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-53


October 4
2 Timothy 4:6
“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.”

"Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars."1

As the apostle Paul sat in a dark, cold, dripping Roman prison for the last time, mud and the dust that coated his body seemed the appropriate symbol of his life.  Because Paul was now a nobody.  He had been subjected to humiliation, stripped of his honors as a Roman citizen and Hebrew Pharisee.  He had become a joke to his enemies.  In their eyes, his final miseries were proof that God had abandoned him. To the world, he was beaten.

You might read this and think, well, that was the apostle Paul.  We all know he ended up a hero of the Christian faith, still read and revered centuries later.  But try to put yourself in his place at the end of his life.  Imagine yourself stripped of success, scorned by others for your failures, sick, beaten down, worn out by the world.  We will all experience disappointment, sorrow or weariness at some point in life.  We will not all retire in comfort, easing our way out to pasture playing golf or going to lunch.  Some of us will push to the end, sacrifice creature comfort, and pour out our lives until God takes us home.

Paul was human.  He suffered, just as Jesus suffered.  In fact, to explain to those he taught, how he felt, he used the vivid image of “being poured out like a drink offering,” from the Jewish custom of pouring wine at the base of the altar as part of the ritual sacrifice of a lamb (Exodus 29:40-41). The image of red wine splashing down upon the stones portrayed Paul’s life—an offering to his Lord.

From the time of his conversion, he gave everything to God—his health, his body, his brilliant mind, his passion, his reputation, his relationships, his dreams…everything! For years, the red blood of his life had been spilling for the name of Jesus, and now, at the end, all that remained ere his last breaths, his final words to his beloved church.

As he sat in that Roman prison, I believe he looked up, lifted his head above the mud and pain around him, and saw stars.  When we sellout to Jesus, that is what we will see, no matter how desperate our circumstances.  

“When I look at the stars, I see someone else. 
When I look at the stars… I feel like myself.” —Switchfoot


1. Reverend Frederick Langbridge, (1849-1922)




November 6
Fire!
Numbers 31:32
“…anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire, and then it will be clean.”

When I look at a recent picture of the San Diego wildfires racing down a hill toward Maranatha School, I thought, this is a picture of our lives:  Fires threatening to consume us, as Satan continually tries to defeat and discourage us.  But God is always there, a shield, a fortress, faithful to use the adversities of our lives for good.

When fire does hit us, God uses it to cleanse our lives. Take a forest, for example. Fire reduces the build-up of dead and decaying leaves, logs, and needles that accumulate on the forest floor. Fire reduces or eliminates the overhead forest canopy, increasing the sunlight, which stimulates new growth from seeds and roots. 

Plants and animals are often forced to adapt and find new ways to survive. Both the lodge pole pine and jack pine have resin-sealed cones that stay on trees for many years. The heat of fire melts the resin and the cones pop open. Thousands of seeds then scatter to the ground and grow into new trees. Woodpeckers feast on bark beetles and other insects that colonize in newly burned trees.
In the aftermath of a fire in our lives, literal or figurative, we will see new growth, and we will be like those seeds, scattered to bring life and nourishment to a world in need of God’s love.

"Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire,
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God."
-- Amy Carmichael


November 7

Many of our devotions have revolved around the life and writings of the apostle Paul, and will do so again in the future.  But before the fires came to San Diego, and life around here was dramatically interrupted, we were working our way through 2 Timothy, drawing near to the end of Paul’s life.  Paul was getting ready to depart from this world, and he knew it. He sat in a Roman prison and described his life.  I’d like to repeat the devotion that focused on that scene, because I believe that now, for many of us, we need to be reminded that even if we lose everything, we have everything when we have Jesus.  Those words may sound glib—I don’t mean them to.  It’s not easy to know that truth, and even harder sometimes to believe it and live it, as Paul discovered:  

2 Timothy 4:6
“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering…”

"Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars."1

As the apostle Paul sat in a dark, cold, dripping Roman prison for the last time, mud and the dust that coated his body seemed the appropriate symbol of his life.  Because Paul was now a nobody.  He had been subjected to humiliation, stripped of his honors as a Roman citizen and Hebrew Pharisee.  He had become a joke to his enemies.  In their eyes, his final miseries were proof that God had abandoned him. To the world, he was beaten.

You might read this and think, well, that was the apostle Paul.  We all know he ended up a hero of the Christian faith, still read and revered centuries later.  But try to put yourself in his place at the end of his life.  Imagine yourself, at any stage in your life, stripped of success, scorned by others for your failures, sick, beaten down, worn out by the world.  We will all experience disappointment, sorrow or weariness at some point in life.  We will not all retire in comfort, easing our way out to pasture playing golf or going to lunch.  Some of us will push to the end, sacrifice creature comfort, and pour out our lives until God takes us home.

Paul was human.  He suffered, just as Jesus suffered.  In fact, to explain to those he taught, how he felt, he used the vivid image of “being poured out like a drink offering,” from the Jewish custom of pouring wine at the base of the altar as part of the ritual sacrifice of a lamb (Exodus 29:40-41). The image of red wine splashing down upon the stones portrayed Paul’s life—an offering to his Lord.

From the time of his conversion, he gave everything to God—his health, his body, his brilliant mind, his passion, his reputation, his relationships, his dreams…everything! For years, the red blood of his life had been spilling for the name of Jesus, and now, at the end, all that remained were his last breaths, and his final words to his beloved church.

As he sat in that Roman prison, I believe he looked up, lifted his head above the mud and pain around him, and saw stars.  When we sellout to Jesus, that is what we will see, no matter how desperate our circumstances.  

“When I look at the stars, I see someone else. 
When I look at the stars… I feel like myself.” —Switchfoot


1. Reverend Frederick Langbridge, (1849-1922)

November 9
2 Timothy 4: 7
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

At the end our days, if we can truthfully say those words, then we will know that we have lived the life God meant for us.  Not necessarily an easy life, nor even perhaps by worldly standards a “successful” life.  But a real life, full of meaning, purpose, sacrifice, and love.  A life worth living.

Sometimes this verse is misquoted as, ”I’ve fought a good fight.”  But this wasn’t just any fight.  This for Paul, and for all of us, is THE fight, the fight to hold onto our faith, to ward off spiritual attacks, to keep our hearts focused on the Lord, and to see the bigger picture He is overseeing.  The fight to live abundantly.  And we have been given the means to fight the good fight, as Paul taught in a letter to the Ephesians.

“Put on the full armor of God,” he said (Ephesians 6).  I pray that if you are stuggling with life, if everything feels overwhelming, the battle too great, study this armor.  Take it to heart, use it, and know that like Paul, you too can “fight the good fight” —and win.

Wear the BELT OF TRUTH.  Paul’s belt was battle worn and salt stained, like an old horse’s bridle.  The truth held him together, and gave him strength in difficult times.

His battle tarnished BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS sheathed his torso, protecting his heart. The righteousness of Jesus, not our own, is what protects our lives from the assaults of Satan.

His legs may have been tired from years of traveling, running, walking, climbing…but they were most comfortable when his feet were “fitted with the readiness that comes from the GOSPEL OF PEACE.” Paul stood his ground on several continents, always standing in the peace of Christ.  Shalom.

His SHIELD must have been terrifying to his enemies, for the broken shafts of fiery arrows and charred marks revealed him to be the victor of many battles.  His SHIELD OF FAITH held strong as he clung to God’s Word, extinguishing every fiery arrow of doubt, immorality, and materialism thrown his way.

On his graying head, Paul wore a sturdy, faithful helmet, dented and marred, having survived many blows from the enemy.  But his HELMET OF SALVATION never failed him, protecting his mind and preserving his life.

Finally, his sword.  Greater than Excalibur or all the legendary swords ever imagined or described in fairy tales or history: “the SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, which is the word of God.” The ultimate offensive weapon, cutting through everything—armor, flesh, bone, marrow, even the soul.  When Paul said, “I have fought the good fight,” he knew it was because he had taken every weapon of spiritual warfare God offered him, and used them to the max.  

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,” he said, “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  

Don’t ever forget where the real battle lies—in the spiritual realm.  And where the victory is realized—through a relationship with the God who loves you.


November 10
2 Timothy 4: 7
“I have finished the race…”

The Greeks had a unique race in their Olympic games. The winner was not the runner who finished first, but the runner who finished first with his torch still lit. Paul finished his race with his torch lit. He struggled in his race—with his own weaknesses, his sometimes difficult personality, his fears, his pride.  If reading his letters reveals much about his personal battles, we can conclude that he fought anxiety (“Be anxious for nothing,” he eventually wrote), spiritual oppression, doubt, guilt…the list goes, as the human condition is revealed throughout his writings. But he kept going. I could say he didn’t give up, but in many ways he did.  He gave up trying to figure it all out on his own.  He gave up his self-sufficiency, and learned to draw his confidence and strength from the Lord “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me,” he said (Philippians 4:13).

Life is a race that God wants us to win—but we need to keep going. “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” says Hebrews 12:1.  Each of us has a unique race, a course set for just for you, or me, and no one else. You don’t have to run anyone else’s race.  You don’t have to look like them, run like them, or even keep up with them.  You just need to run your race, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

If you feel like you are falling behind, or that you are about to stumble, realize that all it takes is a mustard seed portion of faith to keep your torch lit. The finish line for most of us is still a ways off…for others, it’s drawing near.  I pray that you will keep going, knowing that God will give you the strength to carry on each day, step by step, mile by mile, because He wants you to finish well, with your light still shining and His love ablaze in your heart.

“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40.31

November 11
2 Timothy 4:7
“I have kept the faith.”

“Keep the faith, baby” said civil rights leader Adam Clayton Powell. “Keep the faith,” Bon Jovi and Michael Jackson sang.  A common expression, often used to encourage someone to carry on, to not lose faith, to hold onto your dreams.  This famous phrase was inspired by Paul’s end of life declaration, “I have kept the faith.”  

Paul kept the faith.  He kept it pure.  He preached it.  He lived it.  He died true to his convictions and his Lord.  And he knew what it meant to lose faith in just about everything around him, to despair of life itself…but to keep the faith in the One who never left him, never abandoned him, and gave him hope and the strength to carry on.  His words have encouraged and inspired generations to follow to “keep the faith.”

When I reach the end of my life, if I can say, even with just a tiny mustard seed of faith, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith,” then I know I will die a happy man, satisfied that I fulfilled God’s will for my life.

I pray for all of us, that we will hang onto to what we know to be true, and when all else fails, keep the faith.

“The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting…Faith never knows it is being led, but it love and knows the One who is leading.” —Oswald Chambers



November 12
2 Timothy 4:6
“…the time has come for my departure.”

The bottom line for most people is that we fear death.  Even if we are secure in our hope of heaven, most of us still fear the process, and the prospect of grieving those we love.

Paul saw his impending death as more of a departure. He knew his life on earth was not coming to an end.  He was merely departing!  

The word “departure” is used in Greek literature to describe the loosing of a ship from its moorings. It means a ship lifting anchor and tossing off the ropes and then rising with the tide so that the winds can carry her out to sea!

C.S Lewis describes this in story form in “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” in which Reepicheep the mouse enters eternity, and in “The Last Battle,” where Lewis explains that the children had crossed over:  “They were beginning Chapter One of he Great Story which no one on earth ha read, which goes on forever; in which every chapter is better than the one before (p. 184).”

This was the dream of Paul’s life, the destiny for which he lived. “I desire to depart [to cast off the ropes] and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:23).  If we can just remember this, for those who have gone before us, and for ourselves when the time comes.  No matter how good your life, or how long you live, to depart and be with Jesus is better!

Paul said goodbye to this world, looking forward to heaven, admittedly “torn between the two.”  But he knew where he was going and faced his “departure” with joy.

November 14
Ecclesiastes 1:9
“There is nothing new under the sun,”

This startling fact – that ultimately life is a series of cycles that tend to repeat themselves—frightened Solomon. “Meaningless! Meaningless!  Utterly meaningless!” he lamented. “Everything is meaningless.  What does a man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:2,3).

He was cynical and depressed.  “Generations come and generations go,” he said, sounding more like Eyore the pessimistic donkey than a powerful king, “but the earth remains forever.  The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.  The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes….” (1:4-6).  He even called the precious wisdom, for which he was so known, just another sad vanity:  “I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this too is a chasing after the wind.  For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.”

On and on he complained, bored, dissatisfied, frustrated.

Do you find yourself asking, Man, what’s he got to be so down about?  Doesn’t he realize he has it all?

 If you’ve ever driven a new car off the lot, you’ll understand.  Remember that new car smell, and the satisfaction of knowing that every time you turn the ignition, this car will surge to power, unlike the one you just traded in that died at every stop sign?  I love driving a new car, with the latest innovations —for about six months.  Then the new models come out and suddenly yours looks a little dated, ordinary and….used.   What looked so cool last year looks a little dorky this year and leaves you feeling unsatisfied, and even a little stupid for thinking you had purchased the ultimate driving machine.

Solomon realized, to his horror, that the pleasures of life he cherished so much eventually grew old—like him.  He saw his existence through jaded eyes and ceased to enjoy the fruit of his labors.   

“There is nothing new under the sun,” he decided.  No new movies, cars, computers, houses, fashions, vacations, or other pleasures, he says.  In some way, shape or form, it’s all been done before, and none of it is fulfilling.

Solomon once tasted of the clear, crystal pure waters of heavenly love...then he settled for the murky, cloudy waters of temporary joy, and lost his source of beauty, goodness and, truth—treasures the human soul longs to posses.

If you‘ve ever read some of Solomon’s writings, especially the “Song of Solomon,” you know that he was once in love with a shepherd girl.  She was his true love, his first love.  As he reached the end of his life, he sought to remember that first love, which was pure, untarnished by greed and the cares of the world.  

It’s what Jesus wants for us as well.  “You have forsaken your first love,” He admonished His church (Revelation 2:4).  All of us, like Solomon, when we are feeling world-weary, need to return to our first love and always remember God’s love toward us:  “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine…and his desire is toward me” (Song of Solomon 6:3, 7:10).

November 19
Titus 1:2
"...a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time..."

If our faith and our knowledge rest on "the hope of eternal life," then that hope must be more than just wishful thinking. Because the words mean more than just the length of life, which is eternal. They also mean the QUALITY of life. When we talk about the elements of our lives that keep us going, that give us understanding, that motivate us to pursue our goals and get up each day to live our lives, those elements are rooted in our faith in something greater than us, and our knowledge of what we know to be true. And it all depends on this "hope of eternal life."

When the rich young ruler in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 18, came to Jesus and said, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" it was because he saw something in Jesus. The young man had lived a very religious life, so one might think he felt pretty assured of eternal life. But in Jesus he saw something besides endless years stretching into eternity. He saw light, he saw truth, he witnessed a quality in Jesus that was above and distinct from everything he had known before. He saw the living epitome of abundant life.

Eternal life would not be very promising if it was miserable. But abundant life, which Jesus promised in John 10:10 is part of the deal.

It's been said that "Faith is what one wishes to be true ...Knowledge is what one knows to be true."1 God gives us both. He asks us to believe, with faith, all that He has promised. Then He gives us knowledge to confirm our beliefs through science, nature, history, and His actions in our lives. And, He gives us a hope we rest in, because He is "God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time..."

1. Jewish site: http://www.aish.com/shmooze/faith_and_knowledge.asp

November 20
Titus 2: 2-3
“Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.”

Much has been said about the particulars of these verses, but what I would like to focus on today is the beauty and relief of maturity.  I sincerely believe that it is a beautiful thing, the way age seems to mellow us as we grow up and grow older. By the grace of God, we learn to discern what is important, what really matters.  When I was younger, I was very passionate about a lot of issues, but I did not always express myself with much grace, compassion, nor gentleness.  

“Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted,” says Galatians 6:1.  Life has a way of tenderizing us, making us more gentle and patient with others’ faults and weaknesses.

The list of issues that needed to be dealt with in the book of Titus, in the early church, included anger, immorality, immaturity in life and doctrine, a lack of reverence, slander, meanness, crudeness, dishonesty, frivolousness, disobedience, backtalk, stealing…and more.

That is because the Church is made up of fallen humanity that is being “re-parented” and re-taught how to love and live.  Our true humanity, the people we are meant to be, is being restored through the work of the Holy Spirit. “…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

This letter to Titus affirms the importance of community leadership from mature men and women to younger men and women.  When this kind of discipleship is multiplied and modeled by the instructions of godly men and women throughout the Church, then the entire body is nurtured by the healing influence of these spiritual mothers and fathers.

Be gentle with one another.  Be patient.  Let God do the work through His Holy Spirit. You can trust Him to get the job done.

November 22
Happy Thanksgiving!
Psalm 141: 1-2
"O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you. May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice."

One way that I know I am moving closer to God and an intimate relationship with Him, is the presence of an ever-increasing sense of gratitude in my life. We know that we are being wooed and won over to the heart of God when we experience a deep sense of thankfulness for all the benefits and blessings in our lives, despite that fact that we live in a fallen world, burdened with hurt and disappointment, and populated by fallen, flawed people (including myself!).

The Psalmist describes the act of calling upon the Lord, of praying to Him, as incense. Revelation 5:8 describes the "prayers of the saints" as "golden bowls full of incense." Incense is a pungent and overpowering scent, searing your sense of smell and invading your sense of taste. The aroma of incense is meant to bring beauty and awareness to the atmosphere. Our prayers to God bring Him great pleasure and fill the heavens with a powerful sense of beauty.

"May the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice," wrote the psalmist, David. Lifting our hands before the Lord is the sweet release of surrender. All of us wrestle with the weight and worries of cares and burdens and anxieties. Until we realize we are carrying a burden we are not meant to bear. If we "cast our cares upon Him," and release those worries, we can transfer the weight and responsibility of fixing them by ourselves to the place they belong. From our shoulders, to the broad shoulders of our Savior and God. Oh what burdens are lifted, stress relieved, and hearts lightened when we learn to give our cares to the Lord. For that, we can give thanks and praise Him!

Whatever your interpretation of America's history, remember, there was a moment in time, when warring factors, when men of different persuasions, when Native Americans and pilgrims, both struggling to survive in this land, found moments of camaraderie, of desiring to live together in peace. There was a moment when we declared, it is time to give thanks. When it is time to send prayers like incense to the heavens, and thank God who loves us, for all our blessings.


November 26
Psalm 148:8
"Fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word..."

Everything in creation obeys God's laws of nature—except us. We are the one part of creation to whom He gave a free will, which we stubbornly exercise with alarming persistence.

Obedience! No one likes that word. And we act out that dislike from the time we are young. When the consequences of disobedience thrust themselves into our lives, we feel unfairly treated and whine and complain. As kids, we struggled against our parents' authority, then later, against others' like teachers, coaches, bosses—whoever stood in our way.

What after all, did these people expect from us? Obedience? Sometimes human expectations are unfair, no doubt about it. But when God is the One asking for our obedience, it's different. The attitude we bring towards God's commandments and God's will for our lives, can be the difference between enjoying life to its fullest or merely enduring it.

Think of the vastness of the universe. We've been told that it is billions and billions of light years wide, with billions of giant galaxies, inside of which are zillions of stars and solar systems. Inside one particular galaxy is a tiny speck of a star with a handful of planets orbiting around it. There is one tiny blue and white planet with some tiny creatures upon it—who happen to be made in the image and likeness of God Almighty, the Creator of this vast universe. And as far as we know, in all of God's creation, we are the only specks who are disobedient to His laws.

"This is love for God: to obey His commands," wrote the apostle John. "And His commands are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3).

God is not weighing us down with a heavy burden of laws we cannot keep. He is giving us principles for a victorious life! We are not disobeying some big potentate in the sky. This is our heavenly Father, who loves and desires an abundant life for each of His children.


"When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,

What a glory He sheds on our way! 

While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
 and with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."
—John H. Sammis, 1887, from the hymn, "Trust and Obey"


November 27
Psalm 119:103
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

When I see other people go through times of spiritual drought, or when I have experienced this myself, God seems far away and we feel even farther.  It’s as if we are the children of Israel, once again wandering in the wilderness, trying to find our way.  That’s when I cling to the belief that we are being strengthened and matured.

How we survive the wilderness experiences of our lives depends on our attitude towards God’s Word. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, and I get such a kick out of reading it because King David got so excited writing about, of all things, the laws of God!  And, he sang about them.  He put statutes of the law to music! He positively exulted in them.

In 119:14 he compared God’s testimonies to riches.  In verse 15 he declared, “I will meditate on our precepts.” Verse 24 says, “Your testimonies are my delight and my counselors.

David was on to something.  He loved God’s Word and he knew that the secret to enjoying life, even in the wilderness, was to turn to God’s Word with joy, expectations, and delight.

As children we struggle to mature under our parents’ authority.  When we are spiritually born again into the family of God, we become children again, re-parented by our heavenly Father, as we grow toward maturity and learning to trust Him.  Allow His Word to light your way, and the wilderness will not seem so daunting.  Let His Word guide your feet, and you will not ever get lost.
One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God, read it, and believe it. Then the rest of us will be embarrassed. --Leonard Ravenhill

Sink the Bible to the bottom of the ocean, and still man's obligations to God would be unchanged. He would have the same path to tread, only his lamp and guide would be gone; the same voyage to make, but his chart and compass would be overboard! --Henry Ward Beecher

Another century and there will not be a Bible on earth! --Voltaire

Voltaire expected that within fifty years of his lifetime there would not be one Bible in the world. His house is now a distribution center for Bibles in many languages. --Corrie Ten Boom

November 28
Psalm 119:28
"My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to Your Word."

How wonderful it is to go to God, your heavenly Father, and just lay it out there. "I'm tired, weary with sorrow. I'm having trouble carrying on. But please, strengthen me according to Your Word."

As we mature in the Lord, we know that God's Word is foundation for our strength. That whatever boost of faith and energy He gives us is promised in His Word, and He will not use means that contradict His Word. But He will be there.

I am so relieved, as I mature in the Lord, to have discovered how honest I can be with God! I finally learned at some point that it's foolish to be dishonest with Him. Have you ever gone into prayer praising and thanking God, and pretending to love everybody—because you know we're supposed to? I have!

Praise and thanks are good if those are the sincere expressions of your heart. But if reality is that you're uptight, and you feel like punching someone—then you need to be honest with the Lord!

David prayed for his enemies. Remember those prayers? "God, smite them...break them...." Now God may not answer those prayers the way you want, but at least you're being honest and opening up your heart to Him. Then when you've calmed down, you can ask Him to help you, and allow Him to change your heart.

When God does a genuine, heart-changing work in your life, you can stop striving to be something you're not. You can stop feeling condemned and frustrated. The results will be lasting and real.

Maturing in the Lord will bring a level of honesty into our lives that will bring change and answered prayers.

"The self-sufficient do not pray, the self-satisfied will not pray, the self-righteous cannot pray. No man is greater than his prayer life." —Leonard Ravenhill


November 29
Matthew 4:4
"Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Jesus hadn't eaten in forty days – can you imagine? His very human side was starving, and Satan slithers up to Him in the desert wilderness, knowing Jesus' condition, and tempts him. "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

Jesus knew what Satan was up to. He knew that His enemy wanted to see Him cave spiritually and forsake His mission. So He relied upon what He knew to be true—God's Word. He quoted God's Word, from the ancient book of Deuteronomy: "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."

God surprised the children of Israel in the way He took care of them. They had never known manna before, and it saved their lives. But more importantly, they learned the power of God's Word.

When you grow in God's Word, you also delight in obeying Him. A true measuring stick of maturity is when I enjoy doing the will of God and take pleasure in the fruit of obedience.

Conversely, sin brings ruin and regret. When we disobey God,we lose confidence in Him. Then disobedience leads to dishonesty and we become con artists, fakes, and hypocrites. Then our lack of trust and dishonesty cause us to turn away from the very thing we need the most: the Word of God. It is no coincidence that those in rebellion stay away from fellowship and church, and run from the Word. Like Jonah did.

Compare his behavior to Jacob, another Old Testament figure. Jacob loved Rachel so much, that when he first kissed her he "turned up his voice and wept" for joy (Genesis 29). But her father, Laban, required Jacob to work seven years for the privilege of marrying her. The seven years seemed "but a few days to him because of the love he had for her." The Laban tricked Jacob and forced him to work another seven years to claim his bride, which Jacob did, because he loved her so much.

Ask yourself, are you a Jacob or a Jonah? Are you running from God's Word or are you embracing it, motivated by love?

Let the love of God be the compelling force in your life, so that God's Word becomes a delight to your heart and your submission to His will becomes joyful. Let yourself experience the abundant life!