Ruin: March 18, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY MARCH 18, 2016.

RUIN

DEFINITION:

A moral or physical collapse; downfall; decay or destruction.

SCRIPTURE:

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. John 8:44.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The words of John in the verse we have put above were spoken by Jesus as a warning to us that Satan is a liar and a murderer. It was Satan that lied to Eve and brought about the ruin of man. Man today would have to be spiritually blind, deaf and mute not to know that the whole world lies under the sway of Satan, the wicked one.

In I John 5:19 it reads, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the control of the wicked one.” In this verse God reveals two classes of people. First, there are those who are no longer spiritually blind, deaf or mute to God’s message. They are saved by the grace of God and know that they are a child of God.

Secondly, there is a whole world of unsaved souls that lies in the hands of the evil one, Satan. They are under his control. Satan is the father of the wicked and the one that has ruined mankind. Every nation, every tribe, every family, the rich and the poor, the educated and the uneducated, all suffer the consequences of the ruin of man because we all have a common origin in Adam. We all share a common heritage, a common legacy and the ruin of man. When Adam fell we all fell and we are all children of the devil until we become a child of God.

The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23 that because of the sin of Adam and Eve, we are all sinners and the wages of that sin is death, but the gift of God to us if we accept Him as our Father is eternal life with Him. Death is universal because the ruin is universal.

Peter assures us in I Peter 1:18-19 that “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from the aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

As a believer in Jesus you can rest assured that your ruined life is no longer ruined. Your life has been redeemed. Colossians 1:13 tells us that He has rescued us from Satan’s domain of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Revelation 3:20.

Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with Me.

PRAYER:

Thank You dear Lord that You have provided for me salvation from my ruined life. Help me to love and serve You this day to the best of my ability. Take me out of the habit of relying on my ability and to learn to wait on You.

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Revenge: March 17, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY MARCH 17, 2016.

REVENGE

DEFINITION:

To exact punishment for a wrong; a vindictive spirit; to inflict pain or harm; act to retaliate; to return evil for evil.

SCRIPTURE:

Do not take revenge my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge. I will repay, says the Lord.” Romans 12:19.

Be sure that no one pays back wrong for wrong. But always try to do what is good for each other. I Thessalonians 5:15.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Romans 12:17.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Basic human nature drives most people to want to retaliate when someone does them wrong. This attitude of revenge seems to be for many the justification for a fight or disagreement. Most will tell you that they just wanted to get even, thus the revenge.

An attitude of revenge is not acceptable to God. It is true that almost every day we have situations that brings out our desire to show some revenge. A fellow worker blames you for something at work. A friend betrays you with something he or she says. A spouse causes hurt feelings to the other spouse. For all of these situations, and many more, your natural response is to consider a revengeful action even if it is only verbal.

When one tries to even the score and get revenge it starts a vicious cycle. Every act done to retaliate and get revenge on someone who has wronged us only results in another act of retaliation. Usually each act of revenge is more severe than the previous one.

We have noticed that people who are in a deteriorating relationship have a strong tendency to bring up “ancient history” and recall all of the wrongs and hurts of the past. The result is that no one will ever “win.” In the verse above from Romans we are told to let the Lord be our avenger. He will punish with justice and fairness in His perfect timing. God expects us to respond to those who mistreat us with kindness and forgiveness and not repay evil for evil (verse above).

This is hard to do because of our sinful nature but if we want to live a life honoring God by our words and deeds, we need to take the initiative and make things right. Jesus commanded us in John 15:13 to love one another just as He loved us. To love as Jesus loved we must be willing to forgive. Forgiveness is more than saying words but it involves attitude and actions.

Paul tells us in the verse above to always try to do what is good for each other. When you respond with love and an understanding attitude it will make a lasting impression on the one that wronged you because that is not the norm. Learn to, as the saying goes, “bite your tongue” because it is hard to continue a fight when there is only one fighting. Let God take care of things for you.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Revelation 3:20.

Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with Me.

PRAYER:

Help me to be responsive to wrongs done to me with a spirit of love. Keep me from returning evil with evil. May I become more like You daily and may others see Christ in all my words and deeds. Thank You for giving me an attitude of forgiveness as I face wrongs given to me in my life.

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Retire; March 16, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016.

RETIRE

DEFINITION:

Withdraw from an occupation or career because of age; make inactive; relieve of duty.

SCRIPTURE:

At the age of fifty they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of the meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. Numbers 8:25 (NIV)

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We are far beyond what is regarded as the age of retirement. Since we are now in our 80’s some people that do not know us very well will ask us if we are going to retire soon.

The word “retirement” has never been in our vocabulary. The reason is simple. When we accepted Jesus as our Savior we made a commitment to serve Him until we died. Even though we were both very young, even before we were teenagers, that commitment was real and stayed with us. When we were married, fifty-nine years ago this year, we decided to go into full time Christian ministry and made the same commitment again to serve the Lord until we died.

In the verse we have put above from Numbers, God through Moses told the Levites to retire from their regular duties at the age of 50. Although God retired the older Levites from doing the heavy work of moving the Tabernacle as the Israelites moved to the Promised Land, He did not want them to stop helping others. Thus it was only a change in job description and not what we might call retirement today. God said to the older Levites that they should “minister with the brethren in the Tabernacle” and assist them in performing the duties of the Tabernacle.

Just as God gave the Levites a change in their job description He has done the same for us. For over 50 years we worked in the area of leadership and supervision in ministry ministries. And now for over 15 years we have worked as consultants to Christian ministries and are now writing these daily devotionals being sent daily to over 30,000 subscribers by internet.

We believe that when a believer in Jesus comes to the point in their life that they can retire and retire with the means to live the rest of their life they should approach it just as a change in job descriptions. God does not want us to quit. He expects us to keep on serving Him. When you get to that point in life reach out to find your new job description. It can be with a church, with an inner-city charity, with a hospital or so many other places.

So many people today retire and soon find out they have nothing to do and nowhere to go so they sit like a so called couch potatoes and just seem to waste away.

Paul advises us in Galatians 6:9-10 to not to become weary in doing good and use every opportunity to do good onto others. We are never too old to reap a harvest if we never give up.

Let us assure you that life takes on a whole new meaning when you invest all your time and effort in representing our Lord and in helping others. Doing whatever we are able to do in order to serve the Lord always brings blessings. No one is ever too old to be a testimony of God’s love or be a prayer warrior praying for the needs of others.

We need your prayers that God will continue to enable us to do whatever He calls us to do.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Revelation 3:20.

Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with Me.

PRAYER:

Give me the strength dear Lord, and help me to serve You today. Help me to never be weary of doing good and sharing with others the good news of the gospel.

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Retailiate: March 15, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR TUESDAY MARCH 15, 2016.

RETALIATE

DEFINITION:

To return evil for evil or a wrong; to inflict pain or harm to gain satisfaction.

SCRIPTURE:

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the richly ornamental robe he was wearing, and they took him and threw him into the cistern. As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelite’s coming from Gilead. Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover his blood?” Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelite’s. Genesis 37:23-26.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

In Genesis 37 we learn quite a bit about Joseph and his brothers. There was no love lost between Joseph and his 10 older brothers. Joseph had become a thorn in the flesh to his older brothers. They resented the fact that he was the favorite son of their father Jacob.

Joseph had two dreams that he shared with his brothers about his future. These dreams foretold to Joseph that his brothers one day would bow down to him. The possibility that Joseph might reign over them caused the brothers to hate Joseph even more. They no doubt had been wanting to retaliate for a long time. It was probably a good thing that they were away from home most of the time tending their father’s flocks.

One day Jacob sent his son Joseph to check on his brothers. The brothers saw Joseph coming from a far distance wearing his beautiful coat, the hated symbol of their father’s favoritism for Joseph. They began to plot how to kill Joseph and throw him into an empty cistern nearby. So when Joseph arrived to talk to his brothers they stripped him of his robe and threw him into the cistern.

While Joseph is no doubt pleading to his brothers for their mercy the hard-hearted brothers sat down to eat their meal and did all they could to ignore Joseph. Suddenly they saw a caravan in the distance coming their way. It was a caravan of Ishmaelites and the brothers change their mind and plan to sell Joseph rather than leaving him to die. Not only would they get rid of Joseph but they would gain some money for themselves.

All the brothers could think about was satisfying their desire to retaliate against Joseph.  Evil deeds always require a cover-up so the brothers, after selling Joseph, dipped his robe of many colors in the blood of a goat and took it to their father to mislead him to believe that a wild animal killed Joseph. Of course their father was deeply grieved. The brothers had not given any consideration as to how their act of retaliation would affect their father. Now they had to live with their guilt for the great sorrow they had caused their father.

There are a lot of lessons we can learn through this account of Joseph, his brothers and Jacob. When one child is favored over the others by one or both parents the children notice it and it causes discord in a family. Discord leads to trouble. There is never any satisfaction in retaliation. It usually results in an endless cycle of trying to get even. There is always a cover-up involved and it becomes more harmful than the act of retaliation. The only way to stop the cycle resulting from retaliation is forgiveness. But most people excuse their desire to retaliate by telling themselves that the person they are retaliating against has it coming.

In Matthew 5:38-39, God has a whole different perspective on retaliation for us to consider. He says, “You have heard said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

Jesus taught that we were not to try to even the score by returning evil for evil. We are to forgive and then do good.  This is a very hard lesson for most people to learn and practice. When a situation comes your way that you might consider requires retaliation take a moment to stop and think before you act and ask yourself what would Jesus have done.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Revelation 3:20.

Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with Me.

PRAYER:

Take away my desire to retaliate, dear Lord. Against those who do evil things against me. Help me to forgive and then to shine as a bright light, representing You with my walk and my talk.

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Same: March 14, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY MARCH 14, 2016.

SAME

DEFINITION:

Unchanged in character or condition.

SCRIPTURE:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Think for a moment how quickly things become out of date. Not much stays the same. Do you remember typewriters and carbon paper? Most young people today would have no idea what we are talking about. They know now all about computers and printers instead.

With advanced technology, every month or so, we have new cell phones, updated computers and major advances in the medical field. Everything that man makes will become old and out of date soon. Many things that mankind once thought to be true with his limited wisdom is now discovered to be false.

In the ancient world man thought the world was flat. It wasn’t until the sixth century B.C. that Greek astronomists established that the earth was round not flat. Yet even in Christopher Columbus’ day many still believed the earth was not round. Today we have pictures of the earth taken from space leaving no doubt the earth is round. Yes, with the passage of time some things do change.

The writer of Hebrews assures us that there is one person that never changes and will always be the same. That one person is Jesus. It is so assuring to know, as the writer has written in Hebrews 13:8 that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Yesterday He created the world. Hebrews 1:10 reads that in the beginning Jesus laid the foundation of the world.

In Hebrews 10:12 we are reminded that today Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God, the Father in heaven. Tomorrow Jesus will still be the creator. He will still be sitting at the right hand of God and He will rule forever. Hebrews 1:8 tells us that He will rule forever.

We live in a world that is constantly changing but Jesus will remain forever the same. In his Bible Commentary, Matthew Henry stated, “Christ is the same in the Old Testament day as in the gospel day and will be so to His people forever, equally merciful, powerful, and all-sufficient. Still He fills the hungry, encourages the trembling and welcomes repenting sinners.” And the good news of the gospel will never change because Jesus is the heart of the gospel.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Revelation 3:20.

Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with Me.

PRAYER:

Thank You Lord, that You are my Savior and that You never change. Thank You that you are the same yesterday, today and forever. Thank You for sitting now at the right hand of God, our Father, making intercession for me. I pray for my family and friends that they too might have this same assurance.

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