Tag: men devotional

New life after fire

Fire is a horrible awful thing that can be scary and devastating at the time.  We hear about homes, and land being destroyed by fires, and it breaks our hearts to see memories and beautiful full-grown trees being wiped out.  When we hear about it our thoughts are that it just doesn’t seem right that it would happen.  But as time passes things you can see that in the places where the fire has been, there is new green that shows through, and new homes are built, and things look fresh and clean and whole again.  In 1 Peter 1:6-7 CSB “ You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials, so that the proven character of your faith – more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire- may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ”. 

We each will face trials and times that just seem like we can’t bare them anymore. Sometimes the heart ache may come from close friends or family members, or from our work.  By understanding that if we have committed everything over to God and we are obeying everything He has given us, we can know that this trial is just a time in our lives that is purifying us and what will grow after this fire, will be fresh new and give new life to  us. 

Just like after a forest fire the ground is full of nutrients and new growth can grow, that’s how our lives can be if we press into the trials that we face and we seek God during those hard times.  He can bring new life from the struggle.  Even though the process of the fire is hard, and may devastate us for a time, God can bring healing and new vibrant ideas, and life from it!

Be encouraged friend, if you are facing a trial or a hard place, because through it all you CAN come through it with victory and become stronger.

Thirst has no chance here

As I was writing this devotional, I had struggled with how to start, or what exactly God wanted you, the reader, to get from the scriptures He had given me.  Between talking to my 3-year-old about his fishing skills, and writing, I looked down at my McDonalds cup and on the lid, it said, “Thirst here has no chance”.  This was what I needed to see what exactly God wanted me to get from the scriptures. 

John 2:1-11, tells us about Jesus’s first miracle of his ministry.  Jesus is at the wedding feast and while he was there, he quenched two types of thirst.  The first was the human thirst.  They were out of the wine and Jesus knew that this would embarrass the bride and groom if they had no more wine to serve their guests.  The second thirst that was addressed, was the thirst of the disciples, and their desire to know Jesus more.  The disciples believed in Jesus, but up to this point they had only heard him teach and had fellowshipped with him.  The disciples were just as human as we are and I’m sure in their hearts there was some questions on what exactly the man Jesus was going to do that was different than John the Baptist.  When Jesus turned the water into wine, this miracle was more for the disciples than for anyone else.  From the scriptures we don’t ever see where it was announced that the wine had come from a miracle.  We just read that the disciples, Mary, and the servants were the only ones who knew where it had come from.  Jesus wanted to help strengthen the belief and deepen the commitment of his disciples.

Today, if you thirst for more, know, that thirst has no chance when we go to God and ask for more.  He is willing and waiting to give us more and deepen our commitment and relationship with him.  He tells us in scripture to ask for more wisdom, strength, love, faith and the list goes on and on.  Just as the top of my cup stated thirst here (at Jesus feet) has no chance, if we just will accept and seek God and the Holy Spirit!

God has plans for YOU!

As I’m approaching my last two, 8-week classes to finish my bachelor’s degree, I’m anxious and excited all combined.  Excited to have some time back to put into other things, and anxious about finding a job that I can use my degree with.  I’ve applied and looked for jobs and yet nothing happens.  I’ve been praying about it, and thinking when it is going to happen, and a few days ago I felt God tell me, its not your time, be patient.  I was once again reminded of this when I saw something that said, “Gods got a plan for you”.  It hit me hard that day I read it.  I’m like everyone else I guess, we have heard that, told other people that, yet its sometimes hard to really believe or take in.  That day though when I read it, I knew in my heart that it was true! God does have a plan for each of us.  His plan is much greater and bigger than we could ever dream about. 

There are many scriptures that tell us about Gods plan for our lives.  Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”  Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ”.  These are just a few of the promises of God in the Bible that tells us that God has a plan for us. 

Will we still be anxious at times and wonder why Gods plan doesn’t look like ours? Of course! I know that I’ll fall back into the sin of worry at times, but I’ll also be able to look back at that day that God showed me in my heart that he has a plan for me!  It can be the same for you! You can know that God has a plan just for you that he’s working out, and you can take the scriptures and read them and when you do become anxious or worry you can turn back to those scriptures and have a promise to hold onto!

Sweet smell of Praise.

                As I walked out of the daycare, from dropping my youngest son off, a few mornings ago, there was a strong smell that hit my nostrils.  It wasn’t repulsive by any means rather, it was sweet and soft to smell.  It brought my head to attention looking for where it was coming from.  My mind immediately thought, this is like the sweet smell that God has when we praise him.  The Bible tells us in Hebrews 13:15, “Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.”  In the end of verse 16 it tells us that praise is one of the sacrifices that please God.   We don’t really think of our praise being a sacrifice, because a sacrifice is something we must give up or surrender.  Lets think for a minute though. After I smelled that beautiful aroma, and the sun was shinning on my back, and my life was “good” at that moment. It was easy for me to praise God at that moment for all he has provided and given to me and my family.  But, when times are harder and there’s rain in the sky, and creditors are pushing in on every side, and sickness is racking the body of my child, is it as easy to praise him? NO! I must CHOOSE and surrender my personal human feelings at that moment and praise God.  I have personally been guilty of being able to sing his praises when the times are so easy and things look so good, but when things get harder it’s a conscious choice I must make, to look for things to praise Him for.

Today, no matter what place your in, your praises to God, whether in song or prayer, are a sweet smell to your savior.  What better way to please him then to give him praise today!  I choose to be a sweet smell rather than a repulsive smell of grumbling and complaining!

Adjust your grip.

You are on that last mile of a half marathon, 5K, full marathon, or even the first mile you have ran in a long time, and your lungs are burning, your legs feel like Jell-O and every cell in your body is crying for you to stop, to give up.  But, you mind refuses, you think of all you have trained for, what you have dreamed about, and so you push through. You overcome the weakness in your body and you strengthen you weak knees.  Maybe you’re hanging from that pull up bar trying to achieve your personal goal of accomplishing a specific amount of pull ups.  Your natural reaction would be to drop from the bar because your hands hurt, the blisters are forming and your arms are aching.  But, you adjust your grip and you hold on and push through to accomplish your goal.

If you in a place in your life that you feel like giving up.  It feels like all the pressures are closing in on you the bible gives us some instructions.  Hebrews 12:12-13 says to take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen you weak knees.  You may ask, why does it really matter if I give up?  It only affects me right.  The next verse tells us the reason why we need to keep pushing through.  It’s because we are cutting a new path for someone else’s to come along behind us to follow.  The scripture says it’s to forge a new path that those who may be weaker than us can follow behind us and they can have victory because we did not give up.  Those watching us and following us may feel weak but when they see us prevail they will become stronger in their life and faith. 

So when you finishing that last mile of the race, and you push through those last few pull ups, those coming behind you get excited and full of the energy that you have, and they push through their own struggles and are able to have victory along with you!

HE has given us Victory!

As I reflect about Easter and all it means to us as Christians, I couldn’t help but think about the one day that is pretty much silent. Saturday there is not much said about it in the Bible, we know that it was their Sabbath so they were not able to do much at all on that day and maybe that’s why there is not anything mentioned. What we do know is in those silent days when Jesus’s friends, family, and followers were struggling with the feelings of fear, abandonment, loss, and all the other emotions that come from things not going how we picture, Jesus defeated all those things in His death and resurrection.

We think how Jesus defeated our sin on the cross and I’m so very glad He did just that, but He took it a step farther for us. He also defeated, fear, and hurt, bondage to insecurities, feelings of abandonment and loss. Jesus took all of those on him that day and when he rose he came up with glory and power over those things. He promised to send his Holy Spirit to comfort us in those times. It excites me that Easter is not just a onetime thing but that it lives on each day in ALL of our lives. Jesus was and still is the victor over everything that we face. Just like the day we asked Him to forgive us of our sin and we brought those things to the cross, we must bring to the cross the things we carry each day and let him take it from us and give us that same victory of resurrection through Him!

If you have never asked Christ into your life then today is the day! Christian, if you’re struggling with things in your life that you can’t seem to overcome, reach out to another Christian to pray for you today! Jesus conjured it all for us we just have to accept it!

Revelation 1:18 2 Corinthians 5:5