Month: January 2021

Simplicity and Purity of Devotion to Christ

I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

                                                                2 Corinthians 11:3

When I read this verse for the first time, I remember being captivated by the words “simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”  I was struggling to decide which method of Bible study to use.  Having attended church most of my life, and participating in weekly women’s Bible studies for many years,  I knew the Bible pretty well and could answer most questions in the fill-in-the-blank studies without even opening the Bible if I wanted to.  I was attempting to learn another method that would enable me to study any part of Scripture on my own.  I got too caught up in the method and lost sight of the purpose of studying the Word.

Satan can use even something as necessary and valuable as Bible study to lead us astray from simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.  Bible study methods are helpful tools to understand the Word of God, but knowing who God is, and who we are, and how He wants us to live needs to be the focus of our study of the Word.  I need to do an attitude check often.  Is devotion to Christ my highest goal, or am I caught up in all the trappings — Which method?   Which group shall I attend? Am I spending time in the Word to get to know God better, or am I just going through the routine of attending Bible studies because that’s what is expected?

            Instead, I should be asking, “How is my relationship with Jesus?  Am I getting to know Him better through the study of His Word?  Do I desire to know His will for each day?  Am I willing to obey when He shows me something specific I need to act on? Am I depending on the Holy Spirit to accomplish what God is calling me to do? Do I love God more than everything and everyone else?”

            As believers, we can easily commit to many good things, both at church and in the community. I remember when my life consisted of Bible study leaders’ meetings, group meetings, Steering Committee meetings, monthly gatherings for a special speaker at the church, and lots of time spent with friends who were hurting and needing someone to listen. Again, all these are good things, but I’ve learned the importance of asking God what He wants me to be doing for Him.  I want to be doing what He is calling me to do, not merely because there is a position in the church that needs to be filled.

            I encourage you to take time with the Lord and ask Him to show you what is His plan is for you.  If we are too busy to spend quality time with Him, we are too busy.  Ask God to lead you to what He has planned for you, a heart that is focused on “simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”   

PERSONAL REFLECTION

What evidence do you see in your life that devotion to Christ is your highest goal?

Is there evidence that would indicate you have been led astray from that goal?

Ask God to help you recognize areas of your life that Satan can use to lead you away from simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. 

Let’s go back to the questions raised in this section:  How is your relationship with Christ?  Are you getting to know Him better?  What are you doing that will enable you to know Him better?

Do you desire to know His will for each day? What action do you take to discover His will?

Are you willing to obey when He shows you something specific you need to act on?  What is a recent example of this?

Ask Him to show you anything standing in the way of centering your life on Him and His plan for your life.

How Much More…

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!

Luke 11:13

We know from God’s Word that every believer has received the Holy Spirit to live in us at the moment we were saved.  Why should we have to ask for more of the Holy Spirit?  Do we only get a little of the Spirit at a time?  No, I believe that “how much more” means that there is more of God that He wants us to be aware of and experience — His love, His constant presence, His wisdom, His direction, His promises. He wants us to know what He has done for us, the hope we have even in the midst of the most difficult and troubling circumstances, and the promise of eternal life with Him.

A few years ago, our pastor chose “Desperate Dependence” as the theme of the year for our church.  It has been life-changing for me to learn to live that way. The more we get to know God through studying His Word, we will become more aware of His love for us, the plan He has for our life, His desire for us to become more like Jesus. The more we surrender our lives to follow Him, the more we will recognize our need to depend on Him for everything we need.  That’s why He invites us to ask Him for more of His Holy Spirit.

As I write this, we have just recently celebrated the Christmas season.  I think of how much delight I received in finding the perfect gift for my daughter, something she had seen in a store and wasn’t able to buy it for herself.  When she opened it, we were equally delighted! Now I think of God who knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows the abundant life He wants us to enjoy the more we surrender our lives to Him.  Through the Holy Spirit living in us, we receive His gifts, the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). We will grow more deeply in love with the Lord, and grow in our love for others and willingness to serve them with the gifts He has given us.

We can ask the Father for more of the Holy Spirit and be assured that is a prayer He is delighted to answer! I’m encouraged to ask Him daily!

Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:16-19 encourages us with these words:

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God (my emphasis added).

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Do you recognize your need for more awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life? You can ask Him, and then begin intentionally depending on Him each day to supply what you need to accomplish His plan.

Are you experiencing the abundant life God offers?  John 10:10 tells us “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

How will you respond to God’s offer of more of the Holy Spirit in your life?

Who Can Heal Our Land?

If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

                                                                2 Chronicles 7:14

Watching the horrific events that took place in our nation’s capital this week (January 2021), my first thought was that we are completely out of control and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it! But as I began to pray, I was reminded of this devotional message I wrote many years ago.  It has been in my file cabinet for decades, along with many others that I have begun to publish weekly on my website in the last few months.  I’m encouraged today to personally respond to this message, and I pray you will be encouraged too.  I realize it is our enemy, Satan, who will tell us that everything is completely out of control, there is no hope, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Here it is:

            What solution would you offer if you were asked how you would go about bringing healing to our nation?  I’m sure we could all come up with a very lengthy list:  If we could stop the sale and use of drugs…  If we could get a tougher justice system to lower the crime rate…  If we offered a stronger educational program in our schools…  If we could reconstruct the welfare program…  If there was more money for better housing and programs for the homeless…  If we had higher standards for environmental policies…  If our government were more (or less) in control…  The list could go on and on.  But, look carefully at what God says:

If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).

            Where does God say healing of the land needs to begin?  Not with the government.  Not with drug control.  Not with the education systems.  It needs to begin with the people who are called by His Name — with Christians.  With me.  With you.

            Is that a sobering thought?  I believe that if each one of us as an individual Christian would take this verse seriously and act on it, our nation and the whole world would be a very different place.  We need to renew ourselves to a wholehearted commitment to obedience to God, to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and to love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39).  We need to take seriously our charge to be salt and light wherever we live (Matthew 5:13-16).

            The first step God requires is to humble ourselves and pray.  As Christians, it is imperative to understand that prayer is not optional if we are to live life as He intended us to live. That is how we can know what He wants to accomplish in our life.  Prayer is not just presenting a list of our needs to God. We can ask Him to direct our thoughts to the matters that concern Him.

            Next, He tells us to seek His face.  What does that mean?  It requires so much more than just regular church attendance.  It requires much more than a daily Bible reading.  It is possible to participate in good religious activity and never have it touch our heart, change our behavior, or enable us to see God more clearly.  To seek His face is an attitude of the heart that desires to know God, not just facts about God, but to know Him, to see Him as He reveals Himself in His Word. We will not see Him if we are busily rushing from one activity to another.  We need time to be alone with Him, asking Him to reveal Himself to us, listening, and responding in worship and obedience as we see more and more of His love and grace.

            God doesn’t say “if murderers, drug dealers, hopeless criminals….”  He says that His people must turn from their wicked ways.  We must repent — a change of heart that leads to a change in our actions.  It’s easy to make the mistake of comparing ourselves with others and to conclude that we’re not so bad.  But when we hold ourselves up to the standard of God’s perfection, even our righteous deeds are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).  All have sinned. We need to see sin as God sees it.  We need to turn away from sin, turn back to God and be forgiven.

            My prayer is that God will awaken my heart, and the hearts of His people, to inspire us to wholehearted commitment to Him.  I pray that He will open our hearts to understand the urgency of living as He has called us to live.  Lord, bring new life to your people.  Send a revival to our land.  Let it begin with me. 

Then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Spend time with the Lord asking Him what specifically needs to be done in your life in order for you to be a part of bringing healing to our land.  Ask if there are specific ways to be salt and light in the community He has placed you. 

Prayerfully evaluate your life in relation to each of these sections of 2 Chronicles 7:14:

Have you humbled yourself?  Have you completely surrendered your whole life to God to use as He chooses?  Or are you still holding onto your own dreams and desires?

Do you pray?  Do you honestly spend quality quiet time alone with the Father asking for His will for each day?  Prayer is quiet communion with God — pouring out our heart to Him, but also quietly listening for Him to speak to us.  It is not a list for God to “do this and do that” that we so often get caught up in.

Do you seek His face?  Do you long to know Him more and more? We should not be satisfied with just hearing what the pastor has to say on Sunday mornings.  We need to develop a close personal relationship with the Lord daily through prayer and study of His Word.

Have you turned from your wicked ways?  This is not a one-time-only experience of asking forgiveness for all our sins.  We need to consistently ask God to show us what needs to be forgiven so we can be a clean vessel for Him to use.

Lord, convict us to take seriously these words from Your Word.  Let it begin with each of us in our own heart. Help us to renew our commitment to pray for the healing of our nation and the world.

Updating My Operating System

Not my will, but yours be done.

Luke 22:42

After my morning quiet time alone with the Lord recently, I asked my husband what he had been doing in his office.  He said, “I’m updating my operating system.”  At that moment, I realized, “That’s what I’ve been doing too!” He was referring to his computer, but I was referring to God as my “heart system manager.” 

My time with God each morning is setting my focus on Him in worship, listening to Him through His Word and prayer, and committing to do what He has planned.  I ask Him to align my heart and mind with His.

            Believe me, it hasn’t always been this way!  For so much of my life, I was under the influence of legalistic teaching.  “Don’t go to movies, don’t go to dances, don’t wear skirts above the knees or wear two-piece bathing suits…”  It was all centered on outward behavior, following all the rules to please God.  I would have early morning “quiet times” (the earlier the better for “good Christians”). So often I would fall asleep during those times, but at least I could check it off my list along with reading a chapter or two of the Bible!

            Thankfully, God has shown me instead that He is my Shepherd who knows me by name, loves me, has a plan for my life. He has invited me (and you!) into a loving relationship, not a legalistic list of duties to perform.  Jesus came so that we could know God, and was willing to give up His own life to pay the penalty for the sins of the world.  We can have the assurance of salvation and eternal life with Him.  We can have peace no matter what is going on in the world and in our personal life if we receive His offer of forgiveness and turn our lives over to Him as Lord and Savior.  We can trust Him to orchestrate our activities and choices throughout the day if we have surrendered our own will and plans to Him.

            As we begin a New Year, may we make our relationship with God and time spent with Him a priority.  He will work out all things according to His plan as we walk with Him by faith.

            I just remembered a poem I wrote more than 20 years ago.  It came to me after a time of struggling in my relationship with the Lord.  I pray it will encourage you.

            Be Still

“Be still and know that I am God,” you say,

But how can I be still?

I have such as busy day;

Bible study, my job, a luncheon at one.

Maybe later, Lord.  Right now I must run.

Like Mary, you’d like me to sit at your feet,

Quietly listening to the words you will speak.

But, like Martha, there’s so much to be done.

Maybe later, Lord.  Right now I must run.

“Come and lie down in green pastures and rest.”

When my work is caught up, Lord,

I’ll do my best.

So many things need my attention.

Maybe later, Lord. Right now I must run.

Why am I so weary?

Where has the time gone?

Forgive me for running when you’ve asked me to come.

Often the “good things” are not your best.

You invite me to come to you, and I will find rest.

I’m willing to be quiet now;

Teach me your will.

Now, Lord, right now, I’m ready to be still.

Renewed by your Spirit

Like an eagle I’ll fly;

No longer running, but quiet inside.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

I encourage you to spend time with the Lord a priority for an “update of your operating system.”

What is He showing you that needs to change?  Maybe rearranging priorities? Maybe an attitude adjustment?  Trust that He is there to walk through it with you.

Maybe you’d like to write out a prayer of renewed commitment, not just for the New Year, but for your daily life.