Got 90: Dining with God

Here is today's video encouraging word with Pastor Joel: 

Blessings,

Got 90 #3 - Storage Unit

I recently started a video devotional series on YouTube and wanted to share it with my devotional readers. So in addition to a written monthly devotional, there will also be some video devotionals posted here. Here is the most recent:

Path to Miricle

I recently read this devotional by Pastor Rick Warren on the path to a miracle and found it helpful in my own situation. We all go through challenges and we need a miracle at times. This week I wanted to share this devotional with you and hope it blesses you as it has me.

Pastor Joel

 

Path to Miracle: Goes Through Uncomfortable Territory
by Rick Warren

“Then the LORD spoke his word to Elijah, ‘Go to Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I have commanded a widow there to take care of you.’ So Elijah went to Zarephath.” (1 Kings 17:8-10a NCV)

When you’re scared to death and vulnerable, you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t know how long it’s going to take, and you don’t know what’s going to happen when you get there, what do you do?

You remember that the path to a miracle is always through uncomfortable territory.

The Bible gives an illustration in 1 Kings 17:8-10: “Then the LORD spoke his word to Elijah, ‘Go to Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I have commanded a widow there to take care of you.’ So Elijah went to Zarephath” (NCV).

God told Elijah to walk more than 100 miles during a drought through dangerous territory, where everyone knew who he was, and everyone knew King Ahab had a price on Elijah’s head. When Elijah finally made it to Zarephath, he met a poor widow who was going to feed him, but how could she help defend or protect him from a pagan town full of people who wouldn’t hesitate to kill him?

Miracles don’t happen when things are comfortable. Miracles happen when things are uncomfortable. Elijah didn’t say, “God, there are three things wrong with this plan. One, you’re sending me in the wrong direction. Two, you’re sending me to the wrong location. And three, you’re sending me to the wrong protection.”

Elijah just obeyed.

The path to a miracle is always through uncomfortable territory.

For instance —

• When Moses led the Israelites out of slavery to the Promised Land, they had to go through the Red Sea first.
• Before David could slay Goliath, he had to walk onto the battlefield.
• God told Jehoshaphat to put the choir before the army, and he’d win the victory. How much faith do you think that took?

Miracles never happen in your comfort zone, when everything’s great and convenient. You don’t need a miracle when everything is settled in your life. You only need a miracle when you’re on the edge, when you’re scared to death, when you’re insecure, when you can get hit at any angle.

Are you at a place right now in your life where things are a little uncomfortable — financially, emotionally, relationally, or physically? You’re a little nervous, a little on the edge, a little insecure. Congratulations. You’re on the path to a miracle!

Just like Elijah, God wants you to obey, so you can see his miracle at the end of the road.

Talk It Over

• What is God asking you to do that makes you uncomfortable?
• What do you want God to do in your life? How have you expressed your anticipation of his miracle in your life?

Who are the people who can encourage you on the uncomfortable road you may be walking right now?

Blessings,

 

Distracted?

“…I am doing a great work and cannot come down…” Nehemiah 6:3 KJV

Have you felt like you are riding a wave and everything is going great and then life happens! Yikes!! Everything gets twisted, lopsided, jilted and so on. We find ourselves beginning to lose focus and getting caught in the riptide of events and our purpose becomes clouded. Stuff happens and we must learn to stay true to who we are and what we are called to be and do! Easier said than done. I find myself in that battle daily and I can only share with you what I am learning.

The story of Nehemiah is a great model considering he was in the middle of a major battle and still had responsibility to accomplish his purpose. Nehemiah was in charge of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. His enemies had tried many methods to stop the work and then they realized that it all hinged on Nehemiah and invited him to the valley of “Oh No” to assassinate him, thinking that would end the progress. Unexpected events and answers came from Nehemiah.

Nehemiah responded with “I am doing a great thing and I can’t come down…”

In our lives the message is: Don’t get so distracted with stuff; don’t come off the wall.

We are doing a great work--please realize this and we cannot come down.

If Nehemiah had come off the wall he would have been killed. If we don’t give attention to the wall in our lives then it could destroy us. We have no idea of the result of our building, of being focused, of doing the great work and not coming down--in our families, in our church and in our workplace.  We are doing a great thing. Coming down can compromise and halt the great work God is doing in our life and those around us.

God is doing a great thing in and through us in spite of the circumstance please believe that. We are positioned by God in our life for such a time as this (Ester 4:4). God will be provide the strength, persistence and hope. We are called to know God, make Him known, and to demonstrate the reality of His love, grace and hope.

What is calling us to come down off the wall? What is distracting us from the great things? What strategies is the enemy using to pull us away from our purpose?

ACTION STEPS:

Mend the holes.

Invest in the priorities.

Lean into God’s will for our life and build the wall. Don’t give time to things that destroy our focus.

Let’s keep our eyes on God (Hebrews 12:2) and His will! We will be amazed at where God may take us.

Blessings,

 

In Faith we can expect God's Best

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Psalm 3:5-6 NIV)

God doesn’t promise to make our life perfect and problem-free. Instead, he promises to give us the life we are meant to have, and even that seems to come through difficult circumstances. Only God can make something good of what appears to be difficult and seemingly impossible.

This week, we’ve been looking at happiness and what that really represents. For many us we have made happiness an emotion when really it is a state of being. Blessed is a position we stand in, and being blessed is not just having good things happening all the time. There are and will be difficult moments. But we can stand and say we are blessed because our God‘s hand is upon us, surrounds us, protects us, and holds us from being overtaken. Part of having faith in God is expecting Him to bless our life. If we step back and take a deep breathe we can see the blessing of God’s hand all around us. He has a plan for us. He wants to make our life all it’s meant to be — not all we want it to be, but all he wants it to be. He always has our best interests in mind. Sometimes our trust will be challenged but we need hang onto what we know and let truth prevails. Honestly speaking there are moments I have not seen God respond the way I have wanted and even asked, but I choose to put my shoulders back and tell myself I am blessed. My wife is blessed by our God and He is with us every step. So in spite of what we may see HE prevails and then so do we!!

When we understand what we can be in God, walk on the path He sets for us, and do what He is asking, that’s when Satan typically reminds us of all we have to give up in order to obey. The lie does have some validity—you will have to give up a defeated life, a negative way to think and dark outlook on life and you don’t hear what will replace all this.

Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!” (NLT). That’s great news! When I trust in God—or take refuge in him—He brings joy, hope, peace and even love. Instead of thinking of what we have to give up when we trust and obey God, the Lord wants us to remember the joy we’ll find when we obey.

I was remembering years ago my wife and I were able to spend time with our granddaughter. We can really see this truth in the lives of little people. One time, she was swimming in her little pool in our backyard. Every time she’d get out of the pool and shiver and say grandma I am cold, her grandmother would dry her off. So she would walk back to her pool jump in just to get wet, and walk back to grandma to get dried off again. That’s a smart girl. She knows where her needs are going to be met. She went back to grandma because she expected grandma to dry her off again. And grandma did—every time!

That’s the kind of relationship God wants with us. It’s what faith is all about—expecting God to act on our behalf even if it’s not your way HE is acting on your behalf. Please choose to believe it!

You might think, “God hasn’t always come through for me. He hasn’t always done what I expected of him.” How could he? God is so much greater than we are. There is so much we don’t understand about God. But I know I can trust him to love me no matter what. God will be here for me from now to eternity. Faith is expecting that even in the midst of what you’re facing now, God will keep loving you and keep being faithful. He’ll keep his plan all the way through eternity.

Psalm 42:11 says, “Oh, my soul, don't be discouraged. Don't be upset. Expect God to act!” (TLB). I've not always gotten what I wanted, but I can say without a shadow of a doubt that God has never let me down. He's never failed to act on my behalf when that’s what I’ve needed. 

Expect Him to act. He won’t let you down.

Faith and Trust

Psalm 91:1–2 NIV—He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.” 

Every day we are bombarded with news of conflicts, natural disasters, and diseases all with seemingly no solutions. Our relationships are filled with chaos and confusion, and we have the feeling that it never ends! We get to a place of being overwhelmed and just wonder if circumstances will ever improve. We ask ourselves what we are doing wrong, and take on a defensive position. In that place we begin to question everything and our head begins to spin. With the battle going on in our mind, the events of the day become larger and less manageable. And we ask ourselves, “Is there a place where I can take a break from my world that has gone mad?”

Yes, there is! It is not just what we’ve heard and read, but what we have experienced in the last six months with Terri‘s battle with cancer. We have been tossed around with different unexpected disappointing reports, confused, afraid, and left wondering what God really has planned. BUT we have also been comforted, directed, protected, and hope has been breathed back into us at the right moments. It has not been easy!! To trust that God foresaw all these things and He has promised in His Word a place of protection and shelter from every evil known to man. More than just words—fact! Truth. His promise.

The lesson that we learned is that instead of asking why, we should ask God to change our perspective of what is going on and teach us more about Him. “If you brag, brag of this and this only: That you understand and know me. I’m God, and I act in loyal love. I do what’s right and set things right and fair, and delight in those who do the same things. These are my trademarks.” (Jeremiah 9:24, The Message) Rather than just quoting promises like magic words, God wants us to really know him, his heart and his character—what is at the heart of those promises. God already has won the battles. He wants us to grow through them and be the victor not the victim in life!! 1 Corinthians 15:57 NIV—But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

God thank you for being my refuge and showing me truth in the middle of the storm that you stand with us and never leave. There is no trap set by the devil that our Father cannot deliver us from, if we trust in Him and take Him as our refuge. That is His promise in Psalm 91. 

This song portrays this devotional: Hawk Nelson Faithful http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJWzEDj3qIM

Blessings,