Devotions, Forgiveness, Life, Mercy, PINOGAM

I need “IT”

Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”

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We all have been there.  Thinking we have our lives in control and then something never even conceived in our worst nightmare happens.  And we fall on our faces in grief and regret. We come to a place where all the fixing and repairing will not work. The only solution is mercy.

I have been there. I have experienced it.  I have panted for it.  I have never deserved it.  My own weakness, foolishness, pride, personal independence, and simple rebellion have all been efforts to run away from it.  Mercy is the “IT” of my life. My life has tasted the power of God to forgive. “IT” is only when we get away from ourselves and we find God. Mercy is the only solution and path to peace, wisdom, completeness, delight, joy, and victory.

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Lord, as my day begins, I resign my own stubbornness to simply accept your mercy.

Bible Study, Devotions, Forgiveness, Mercy, Personal, PINOGAM, Ramblings

Grace and 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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I grew up in the shadow of a military training base. My Boy Scout leader was a drill instructor.  Many of the adults in the periphery of my life were in the military. My father was in the Naval Reserve and wore his Senior Chief uniform proudly. He tried to keep my brothers and sister shipshape.  Everything had its place, and everything should be in that place. To his dismay, it was seldom as he would expect. I grew up with absolute expectations of proper behavior and most often came up short of my father’s spit and polish.

I have spent years living and breathing in the world of expectations of other people. I lived in constant threat of disappointment to 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.

I have found a new life. 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 cause me to show mercy.

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

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Assurance, Bible Study, Devotions, Motivation, Prayer, Renewal

MY BEST FUTURE

Colossians 2:13-14 “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

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The worst thing Imperial Rome could do to punish anyone was to nail him to a wooden cross. Hour after hour of extreme pain would be the far beyond the limit of cruel and inhuman punishment. So why, in the grand plan of God did Jesus have to endure it? It is an ugly picture of man’s worst.  Jesus on the cross, why? Why did God’s perfect plan include a crown of thorns? Why would a blameless and perfectly loving person have to die?

That body slain for things He had not done was for a reason. It was for me!  It was so I can have my own personal shortcomings and willful disobediences separated from me.  All that would weigh me down and slow me are rolled away. It is only at the cross that I can see the light of forgiveness and assurance.

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Lord, I am no longer living in my willful disobedience because I am living in you.  I thank you and release my past for the best future.

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Assurance, Bible, Bible Study, Devotions, Motivation, Prayer

Hope and Assurance

Titus 3:4-7 “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

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I know well that time drips by at a singular and regular pace.  Yet my perception of time changes from moment to moment. April has been a month of seemingly long duration punctuated with bursts of insane headlong manic. All the while, I have steadied myself with a revelation of the importance of assurance in my life.  How anyone can survive the ebbs and flows of life without assurance in something more baffles me. For me, I must be well-grounded in the Word of God, accept God’s promises, and walk in the light as He is in the light.  Not because of anything I have done or even deserve.  I live in the assurance of God loving me. God dwelling within me, His very presence, and the absolute knowledge of whom I belong, are what sustain me. Together are two hopes, salvation and the assurance with comes with it.

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Lord, please remind me again in my hectic sameness to focus on you.  Only You can keep me moment by moment.

Devotions

Even So Come!

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Isaiah 45:21d-22 “There is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”

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Often, I do not perceive any urgency in the Church.  Much like the religious hierarchy of the time of Jesus, there was little unction to bring others into the faith of God.  Today, social issues seem to outweigh the ethical mandate of the Bible. There should be a visceral and palpable feeling of NOW.  Why is there no panic in the church to provide to the world the only answer to every question, God? The restoration of faith in God’s solution is the solution to the ills which befall our world. God is going to return.  Is the lack of urgency because we worry He will not come and judge soon or simply because we do not think we can make a difference? Nevertheless, I will continue, to move, to write, to tell.  Even so, Lord Jesus come.

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Dear Lord, renew a sense of urgency in my daily life.  Help me to see you are the only answer.

Assurance, Devotions, Life, Prayer

Trust Not Adjust

Colossians 3:2-3 “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

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The world has drilled into our minds from early childhood a need for conformity. There is a “norm” to which we must conform. Our culture tells us that success and happiness depend upon how well we adjust to it.  And once we have God in our lives, this religious experience can become an add-on.

We must recognize one of the great problems in our modern Christianity: Those who come to Christ probably have their minds made up that to stay sane they must remain “adjusted” to the society around them.  We will add Jesus to our lives to the edge of our culture, but not an inch over. 

But the world does not have any idea where it is going.  Our society has never found its highest and best.  It is a life groping in the darkness dragging Jesus along the way.  All the while we are filled with puzzlement, fear, and frustration.

Thankfully, it was to this kind of world Jesus came. He died for its sin and now lives for the salvation of all who will trust and not adjust.

Assurance, Bible, Bible Study, Devotions, Life, Motivation, Ramblings

Today

Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

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Discovering and doing the will of God is the “only” way to have a consistent experience of His abundant life.  I have but one simple decision every morning as I shake the sleep from my eyes.  That decision is how I shall live my life today.  Either I will let the world affect me or I will affect the world for God.  There are thousands of alternative paths to follow if the world is my choice.  But to choose Jesus there is only one.  Today I will seek.  Today I will find.  Today I will call upon Him. Today God will have mercy. Today God will be God in my life.  Today God will freely pardon. Today I will choose to glorify Him.  Today I will be the person God has intended me to be.  I will seek Him while He may be found.  I will call upon Him while I still have breath.  It may sound trite, but I say it again: today is the first day of the rest of my life.   

Assurance, Bible, Devotions, Life, Motivation, Personal

Living in the question!

I Peter 4:12-13 “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange was happening to you. But rejoice since you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

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From these words from Peter spring two emotions.  One of fear of an impending trial of my faith, and second hope. These words tell me there is little to shadow my current joy. Yes, things happen. Yes, there will be events in my future that could well rock my belief in my fellow man. Peter tells me don’t be surprised at the inhumanity of man.  He tells me there will be events that could well steal away my personal peace and personal comfort. “It rains on the just and the unjust.” The manner in which I have become accustomed, can and will be disturbed. It will happen.  It may cause strange and disturbing thoughts and even actions. Nevertheless, when the skies seem to be falling and the enemy presses hard and heavily, I am called to reflect on the hope that never fails. I have an “inheritance incorruptible and is undefiled and will never fade.”  That is my peace.

“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in my heart. I have learned to live in the question.”

Bible Study, Culture, Devotions, Mercy, Miracles

The new normal

John 20:30-31 “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

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I am amazed at the wonder of possibilities.  As I read of the miracles of Jesus, each were dutifully written down and stored for all eternity, they exceeded all the miracles of Elijah and Elisha in the Old Covenant.  Time after time Jesus revealed himself to the world as a miracle worker.  He was a man that cared, cried, healed, created, guided, taught, revealed, prayed, loved, challenged, sent, moved, witnessed, and comforted in the Gospels.  Yet there were thousands of other miracles, acts of mercy, not included in the accounts.  John did not include them, but they happened.  They were daily occurrences that became the norm.

We seem to classify any happenstance that is out of the ordinary as miraculous and amazing. Yet, where Jesus is concerned, they are expected and normal. Today I will look for miracles in the normal. I will look for the simple kindnesses shown when they were not expected. I will look for a smile in the pain.  I will look for a sense of purpose in turmoil.  I will look for joy when things get rough.  I will look for steadfastness in a world out of control.  Small miracles will be the new norm.

Devotions, Life, Miracles, Sermon Illustration

Squirrel joy

John 8:31 “Jesus, therefore, was saying to these Jews who believed in Him, ‘If you abide in my word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you know the truth, and the truth, shall make you free.’”

I have squirrels in my backyard. In the spring they chase each other around and around the yard, each trying their best to catch the other and all the while making squirrel sounds of seeming joy. I have a few friends like these squirrels. In a long and ongoing discussion between my Christian buddies, we often talk about truth. Truth should be a constant. Truth should be the final decision point in an argument. Nevertheless, as I make my point in the discussion at hand, I am often accused of bending the truth for the sake of argument. If I want to win an argument it is simply easier to talk about the perception of truth instead of the truth itself. It has been said, “truth is the truth until it is shared with someone.” My perception of the truth can, and often is, different than my friends.
We go around and around, like squirrels in the spring. The result of chasing each other around the tree is a joy. It is joy without judgment. It is a joy of being accepted. The truth has set me free. Weighty and thought-provoking friends make my life better.
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The Study of God and Life