Even the Faintest Call
By Charles Spurgeon
I ran across this devotion today and it held a special meaning for me. If you are dealing with some difficult issues in your life, whether due to health, financial, emotional, or spiritual, this devotion from Charles Spurgeon will certainly help you to recenter your focus on where to go for help. God is never late, nor is He ever wrong, but He is always "there" right where you are! You simply need to turn to Him.
"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shalt be delivered" (Joel 12:32).
Why do I not call on His name? Why do I run to this neighbor and that when God is so near and will hear my faintest call? Why do I sit down and devise schemes and invent plans! Why not at once roll myself and my burden upon the LORD? Straightforward is the best runner -- why do I not run at once to the living God? In vain shall I look for deliverance anywhere else; but with God I shall find it; for here I have His royal "shall" to make it sure.
I need not ask whether I may call on Him or not, for that word "whosoever" is a very wide and comprehensive one. "Whosoever" means me, for it means anybody and everybody who calls upon God. I will therefore follow the leading of the text and at once call upon the glorious LORD who has made so large a promise.
My case is urgent, and I do not see how I am to be delivered; but this is no business of mine. He who makes the promise will find out ways and means of keeping it. It is mine to obey His commands; it is not mine to direct His counsels. I am His servant, not His solicitor. I call upon Him, and He will deliver me.
Untangling Life's Knots
by Max Lucado
It’s your best friend’s wedding. “I’ll take care of the reception,”you’d volunteered. You planned the best party possible. You hired the band, rented the hall, catered the meal, decorated the room, and asked your Aunt Bertha to bake the cake.
Now the band is playing and the guests are milling, but Aunt Bertha is nowhere to be seen. Everything is here but the cake. You sneak over to the pay phone and dial her number. She’s been taking a nap. She thought the wedding was next week.
Oh boy! Now what do you do? Talk about a problem! Everything is here but the cake …
Sound familiar?
It might. It’s exactly the dilemma Jesus’ mother, Mary, was facing. Back then, wine was to a wedding what cake is to a wedding today.
What Mary faced was a social problem. No need to call 911, but no way to sweep the embarrassment under the rug, either.
When you think about it, most of the problems we face are of the same caliber. We’re late for a meeting. We leave something at the office. A coworker forgets a report. Mail gets lost. Traffic gets snarled. The waves rocking our lives are not life threatening yet. But they can be. A poor response to a simple problem can light a fuse.
For that reason you might want to note how Mary reacted. Her solution poses a practical plan for untangling life’s knots. “They have no more wine,” she told Jesus (John 2:3). That’s it. That’s all she said. She didn’t go ballistic. She simply assessed the problem and gave it to Christ.
It’s so easy to focus on everything but the solution. Mary didn’t do that. She simply looked at the knot, assessed it, and took it to the right person. “I’ve got one here I can’t untie, Jesus.”
“When all the wine was gone Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine’” (John 2:3).
Please note, she took the problem to Jesus before she took it to anyone else. A friend told me about a tense deacons’ meeting he attended. Apparently there was more agitation than agreement, and after a lengthy discussion, someone suggested, “Why don’t we pray about it?” to which another questioned, “Has it come to that?”
What causes us to think of prayer as the last option rather than the first?
From A Gentle Thunder
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2006) Max Lucado
Remember to Forget
By Pastor Greg Laurie
Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!
—Micah 7:19
Have you ever done anything that you are ashamed of? Have you ever done things you wished you had not done? If you have repented of those sins and have turned your back on them, the Bible clearly teaches that you are forgiven.
There is something in us that wants to keep dredging up our sins. Maybe we feel that by doing so, we are somehow making amends for the wrong that we have done. Maybe by punishing ourselves, we think we are somehow appeasing God. But this is wrong and thoroughly unscriptural.
Acts 13:38–39 says, “ ‘Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is declared right with God—something the law of Moses could never do.’ ”
Speaking of our sins, God said, “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins” (Hebrews 8:12). And Micah 7:18–19 says,
Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love. Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!
Have you ever lost anything in a lake or in the ocean? It is pretty much a lost cause. Once it goes down, it goes way down. God has taken your sin and has thrown it into the deepest part of the ocean. Simply put, it is gone. Therefore, we should not choose to remember what God has chosen to forget.
The Controller
By Pastor Barry L. Cameron
One of the worst airline accidents ever happened in April of 1977 in the Canary Islands. At the small airport in Tenerife, two 747 jets collided, killing hundreds. The main airport at Las Palmas had been closed due to a bombing, causing the Tenerife airport to be unusually crowded. As a result, the 747 jets had to taxi on the runway rather than on the taxiway.
Due to fog, pilots of the two jumbo jets couldn’t see each other. And, for some unexplainable reason, the Dutch pilot began his takeoff without clearance from the control tower. He believed he was doing the right thing. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. The other jet was in the way and there was nothing he could do to avoid hitting it. The result? 575 people died tragically and unnecessarily.
At the beginning of training for every pilot, the same basic lesson is taught: in an air traffic control zone - don’t do what seems best to you, do what the control tower tells you to do. This fundamental rule for pilots is always true. But even more so when visibility is compromised by weather - like fog.
The reason for the rule is very simple and one would think obvious. The person in the control tower has a perspective you can’t possibly have, sees things you can’t possibly see and knows things you can’t possibly know.
Far too often, like pilots, we’re prone to act on our own - without God. The result? Usually disaster. Solomon wisely counsels us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Next time you find yourself fogged in by the circumstances of life just remember . . .
. . . that’s no time to takeoff.
© 2006. Barry L. Cameron
Restore Us
A couple of weeks ago I received a devotion from Heartlight that I believe is both timely and worthy of our consideration. As a church we have been listening to a series on Why? Why is the Bible the Truth? Why is Christianity the Only Way? Why Worship? Why Do We Do What We Don't Want to Do? There are a couple more topics in the series that will continue to force us to answer the question Why? But right now, ask yourselves this question as you reflect on what has already been answered and as you listen to what is in store the next couple of weeks, "Lord, what do you want me to achieve by knowing the answers to these questions?"
I believe the answer is quite simple and can actually be summed up in one word, "Restore"! Read what Heartlight has to say to your heart and then let it change you from the inside out. Heartlight gives a verse, a thought, and then a prayer. I hope it blesses your life.
Verse:
Restore us, O God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. Ps. 80:7
Thought:
This passage makes me want to cry out to God: "Please restore us God! Restore us, your people, O God, who have lost their sense of wonder! Restore our withered hearts to their innocence. Restore our lives to their unsoiled perfection and intention. Restore us to Yourself, O God Almighty!" While not every Christian has lost his or her sense of wonder and while not every one of us has an old withered heart, we all need God's presence to shine upon us and renew us!
Prayer:
O God, the maker of new things, sometimes I feel so old and worn; my soul is weary from the fight. I need your presence and strength to restore me. Please restore me to your side and make your grace alive in me. Please restore me to your love and share it with others through me. Please restore me to your righteousness so others can see your character in me. Please restore me, and not just me, please restore all those who call on your mighty name so that the world may see you in us and come to know your saving grace. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen
Time For a Turnaround
by Pastor Barry L. Cameron
Ever wondered why rags to riches, worst-to-first stories are so popular year after year? Everybody loves them - because everybody loves a winner. Don’t believe me? Check out your local movie theater. Three of the top movies this holiday season dealt with the theme of losers turning into winners.
The first one was The Pursuit of Happiness, starring Will Smith. Based on the true story of Chris Gardner, a down on his luck salesman who dumps his life savings into an inventory of medical devices called “bone density scanners,” which he can’t sell. Consequently, he loses everything, including his wife. All he has left is his son and a belief he can turn things around, which he does after taking a risk that he can ace an internship at Dean Witter and land a full-time job. In the end, Chris Gardner wound up a multi-millionaire in the movie and in real life, too! It’s a great story.
The second was Rocky Balboa, starring Sylvester Stallone. The sixth and final installment in the Rocky series, the movie picks up the fictional story of Rocky in his 50’s, mourning the loss of his wife, Adrian, while running a small restaurant where he relives the glory days telling tales to customers of the way things used to be. A computer simulated fight suggests Rocky, in his prime, would’ve beaten the current heavyweight champ, which leads to an actual exhibition fight between the champ, Mason “The Line” Dixon and Rocky. Hearing Bill Conti’s signature song as Rocky trains, pounds away at slabs of frozen beef, drinks a glass of raw eggs and, of course, runs up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art is worth your ticket. Sure, the story is fictional. But the real story is how Sylvester Stallone has once again won our hearts and, no doubt, will win big at the box office as well.
The third was We Are Marshall, starring Matthew McConaughey, the dramatic account of the untimely and tragic death of virtually the entire Marshall University football team, on November 14, 1970, in a horrific plane accident. The movie documents how a coach rebuilt a team and a town by simply getting them to believe they could be winners again. Not only is it a true story - it’s also a terrific one.
What most people forget is the majority of winners, at one time or another, were losers. But they weren’t content to stay that way. They decided to turn things around. How about you? Could you use a turnaround in your life? Your finances? Your physical body? Your spiritual life? Your family? Your attitude? Your business? Your relationships?
Scientist, Willis R. Whitney said, “Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.” David Schwartz, author of The Magic of Thinking Big said, “When you believe something is impossible, your mind goes to work for you to prove why. But, when you believe, really believe, something can be done, your mind goes to work for you and helps you to find the ways to do it.”
Edgar Guest wrote these lines called, “Equipment.”
”Figure it out for yourself, my lad. You’ve all that the greatest of men have had,
Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes, and a brain to use if you would be wise.
With this equipment they all began. So start for the top and say, ‘I can!’”
Listen again to these simple yet spectacular words from the pen of the Apostle Paul. “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 NKJV). Why? Because with God’s help, you and I can turn anything around.
As the New Year, 2007, begins . . . don’t you think it’s time?
© 2006. Barry L. Cameron