All posts by ljmonson

Devotions, Mercy

Discovery

May Day 22  – A celebration of my day of birth.

2 Corinthians 4:14-16 “We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.”

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Discovery of the why of my life has not always been easy.  With examination and minute dissection, I have searched for the reason for my often tumultuous high and low existence. All my efforts to be more than myself; to show mercy, to love unconditionally, to be full of love and forgiveness to all that around me, must have but one reason.

My discovery: I do because God did. God has never given up on me.  I live in an experience of God pouring out grace to me, abundantly and without measure. That is why I write. That is why I teach.  That is why I hug my family. That is the reason for my seemingly limited life. I have a reason not to give up. The reason for my life is having an overflowing of mercy in my life because God did it first. That is why I will never stop.  That is why I will never surrender.  That is why, though my earthly life is but a fleeting moment in eternity, I will be renewed every day. 

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Thank you, Lord!

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Devotions, Mercy, Personal

UNLESS!

May 21, 2022

1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain, but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”

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It is coming.  It is roaring toward me like a train through a black and ominous tunnel.  I cannot escape.  In a day arriving soon my earthy existence and all that I have attempted to do will be over.  I am what I am.  All the preaching, writing, and effort I have expended will be over.  It evaporates.  There is nothing left unless Jesus is who he is.  Jesus the GREAT I AM. It will be little unless Jesus is raised becoming the mercy and grace-filled I AM. Nevertheless, I am who I am because Jesus is the Great I AM.  It is the grace of God with me.

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Lord remind me in every moment of this day of your life given for me.  Remind me again and again of your grace and mercy.

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Devotions, Mercy, Motivation

Mercy Me

James 2:10,12,13 “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, for judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy, mercy triumphs over judgment.”

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This quote from James is a “hard saying”.  It is not hard to understand.  It is very plain and simple.  It is hard because we all deserve justice. James is saying that, if you make your life into a world of compliance and keeping of the law but fall short in one minuscule and seeming nonessential point, you deserve and should be accountable for judgment. It doesn’t matter if you went to church every time the door opened or gave all that you had to ministry, if there is one spot, one little blemish, there will be judgment. Judgment is required. But if I show mercy, if I show love to the undeserving, if I go out of my way to be merciful, then I will be shown mercy.  My mercy is a sign of God’s mercy.  God exercises mercy with delight and His mercy rejoices and overcomes His justice.

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Lord, reveal to me today, ways to show people mercy. Restore in me my want to forgive and forget.  Let mercy begin in me.

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Culture, Devotions, Life, Ministry

All or nothing

Colossians 2:6 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.”

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It is simply wrong to think of God as a drive-in critical care service. To assume that Jesus is a kind of a heavenly nurse to go to when sin has crept into our lives and we need a quick fix. And once fixed up we can simply say “Thanks”. To think of Jesus wanting to heal and cleanse without any commitment to different actions is specious: plausible but not true.

I can’t see anywhere in the Bible that allows the cleansed to continue in their behaviors that caused the need in the first place. Jesus can save us and clean us, but for the outpouring of his grace and mercy, we have a responsibility.  A responsibility to walk with Him.  Not to go by our merry way and follow our own path.  Following, keeping close, walking as He walked, and responding to the will of our Lord are required afterward.  In the same manner I have received, so I walk in Him.

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Father, You are my Savior and my Lord. My debt to You is huge! I owe You my life and my following.

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Devotions, Theology

Measuring God

Thursday, May 19, 2022

Jeremiah 23:23-24 “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.

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We live in a world defined by measurements. I have a GPS system in my truck, and it tells me about the distance between my home and Church.  Not in a straight line but the distance driven along the path I must take to get there. We think feet, yards miles, and even hours to travel. Gas for that same truck is in gallons. Our lives are determined by measurement.

Further, in our need to define and measure everything, we cram God into our concept of space. We would containerize God. We push God to be up there somewhere. He is in a place where we can hide from Him.

God is not contained in heaven and earth as some seem to think. God in His person and His attributes fills heaven and earth exactly as the ocean fills a bucket that is submerged in the ocean depths. To assign God to a place up there is to deny God being everywhere.

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Lord, you are more than I can define.  Help me to see you in the dark places and the happy times. Thank you that you are not just in the destination and the journey and the starting place.

Devotions, Ministry, Prayer

PINOGAM: Person in need of Grace and Mercy!

Psalm 23:6  “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

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The 23rd  Psalm has been called the Psalm of faith, and certainly with great reason. Each line captures a sense of serene and happy confidence undisturbed by a single doubt. Included in these words of King David, are pictures of punishing rods and staffs, enemies, and foreboding valleys. Yet, each is coupled with mercy. Every possible fear is covered over by a faithful prospect of mercy and grace. 

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Dear Lord, my prayer this morning for those who are struggling, those who would simply give up, will be strengthened with a new resolve to find the true, sure, and available in every situation. Please, Lord, help us keep our eyes on you and not our problems.

Devotions, Motivation, Personal

The reason for Mercy

Ephesians 2:4-5 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

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The world seems not to have changed from the days I was growing up in a town next door to a military training base. My father was in the Naval reserve and so our home was to be shipshape.  Everything had its place, and everything should be in that place. I grew up with an expectation of proper behavior.

I have spent years living and breathing in the world of expectations of other people. Living in constant threat of disappointment of the socially acceptable norm.  My ingrained nature is one of trying to live up to someone else’s imposed expectation.  I failed a lot. Trying as I might, I could not be what the world expected because their expectations never included mercy. Now I live in mercy. I have experienced it.  I have cultivated it.  I have a great need for it. I cannot exist without it. And when it becomes a part of me my life finds truth, purity, holiness, peace wisdom, completeness, delight, joy, and victory. My years of living in this great mercy causes me to show mercy.

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Lord, remind me again and again that in your mercy I need to show mercy.

Devotions, Life, Motivation

I have decided!

Romans 8:35, 37-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.:

Paul decided.  Facing persecution, arrest, deprivation, and worldly uncertainty, he decided not one of the things in his life that would destroy him would separate him.  He decided there was nothing that would be a valid reason for separation.  He was convinced.  Yet, there are many Christians walking around like the walking wounded.  Head held low, hoping against hope that the day ends without calamity. Living as if hell is greater than heaven.  Sure, the world tries to separate. But for me, I refuse to live like a zombie crying and growling, stepping through life without hope. I refuse because I have decided. I stand up, put on a smile, and am well assured. I decide to open the gates of hope and assurance. I choose to make a fundamental decision to accept God at his word.

Lord, I have decided that you are able to keep to that which I have committed to you. I will walk in that assurance.

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Assurance, Devotions, Personal, Prayer

Devotion for April 20, 2022

Romans 8:1-3 “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.”

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Discouragement is that palpable thing that seems to sour all that it touches. Discouragement so easily comes to us in a whisper or even in a small task. There are times I raise my hands in surrender and shout to all that would hear, “It is simply too much.” “Forgiveness of my enemies is more than I can do.” “I cannot write one more line.” All my efforts frustrate me. Each morning I rise to a haunting thought of my words making no difference. Discouragement comes in so many flavors. Yet there is only one solution. There is now no condemnation, no discouragement, no reduction, no ill, no sin, no sliding back for me. The Spirit gives me life. And that is good enough for now.

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LORD, today is a new day for a reflection of your grace. I will not stop. Help me to see the right reason for doing it. I will keep on keeping on.

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Devotions, Life, Personal, Ramblings, Theology

I Can’t do it!

Titus 3:7 “When the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

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I can’t do it. If I depended upon my own merits, I would never make it. It just is not enough to overcome the negative ledger of my life. Fixing myself, again and again, to straighten my soul out, will never be sufficient. I must resign to the failure of every effort to measure up.

Jesus told the story of two men in the temple. One said, “God, here I am—all fixed up. Every hair is in place!” The other said, “Oh God, I just crawled in off skid row. Have mercy on me!” God forgave the skid row bum, but sent the other man away, hardened, unrepentant, and unforgiven.

When I come to God, I must know that all that is provided is out of God’s mercy.  It is not my work.  It is not a clever well-turned phrase that earns my mercy. It is not my effort to work out my own salvation. I come to Him just as I am in humble repentance.  When the human spirit comes to God knowing that anything it receives will be out of God’s mercy, then repentance has done its proper work! God promises to forgive and forget and to take that man into His heart and teach him that all of God’s kindnesses are due to His mercy. What more can a sinner ask?

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Dear Lord, You know me as I really am, yet You extended Your great mercy toward me. Thank You for Your divine love and forgiveness. I come to Jesus as I am!