Deeper Still by phil mccallum

Press the arrow to listen to “Rescue” by Jared Anderson.

Scripture
The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died.

Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
“You are just in these judgments,
you who are and who were, the Holy One,
because you have so judged;
for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.” Revelation 16:3, 5, 6

Observation
Can I praise God as much when he uses wrath as much as when he uses love?

Think of it this way. We have watched movies like Band of Brothers. In it, the bad guys are really bad. The good guys well…they are us. It’s easy to choose which side to be on and to yearn that the characters in the movie will be successful in their destruction.

Life surrounds us with a plot more moving than a movie. A battle swirls around us and the battle lines are not clear. It isn’t one nation against another or even a terrorist organization against peaceful society. There is a system that runs through our world that is pitted against anything and everything God desires. We sit next to it in airplanes, push our shopping cart through it and pass it on the freeway. It is woven into the life we live in. Yet it is strategically opposing every purpose of heaven. Good people die because of it. It tramples everything we value and mocks everything we believe.

One day God will have had enough and he will act. We must face it. God makes the bad things in Revelation happen. The disasters in Revelation are not natural ones or man made ones. How can a loving God make such terrible things happen? Because justice demands that something eventually be done. He wouldn’t be a God of love if he did not eventually stop evil. Wrath is really an expression of his intense love. The end result is that the city that opposes God is destroyed and heaven comes down to earth.

Application
The wrath of God is a heavy thought for 6:20am as I write this. But this story in Revelation tests which side I’m really on. My existence is so woven into the system that opposes God that it is easy for me to take the wrong side. Reading this story on a regular basis holds me at gunpoint and forces me to decide whose side I’m on. It is only as I can applaud the wrath of God, even when it comes against the world that I sometimes love too much, that I come to know true love for the Lord.

I read this sentence yesterday,

This is the highest wisdom: to see the world as it truly is, fallen and fleeting; to love the world not for it’s own sake, but for God’s… (Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ)

It is only as I choose sides with God that I can love the enemy I live with as recklessly as I am called to do.

Prayer
Father, help me to see clearly which side to be on. While I’m being comforted by the enemy, help me to recognize the claws under the fur. I chose your side and to rejoice with your purposes, even when they are difficult. Amen.

Share on Facebook

Press the arrow to listen to JesusCulture.org sing “Where You Go I Go” as you read today’s devotion about money.

Scripture
But by the twenty-third year of Joash’s rule, the priests hadn’t done one thing—The Temple was as dilapidated as ever.

King Joash called Jehoiada the priest and the company of priests and said, “Why haven’t you renovated this sorry-looking Temple? You are forbidden to take any more money for Temple repairs—from now on, hand over everything you get.” 2 Kings 12:6-7 [The Message]

Observation
God’s house was dilapidated not because there wasn’t enough money but because the priests put their own needs first.  Before the house was fixed they first wanted to be paid. After all they had house payments, kids to feed and put through school. It all seemed reasonable.

But it was not acceptable. Before the workers could be paid, God’s need first had to be met. It took a leader like the King to see the problem clearly.

Application
I’ve tried to keep the principle throughout life that first the expenses of the church should be met and then my own salary as a pastor. There have been times I’ve gone without pay because of that decision. We need leaders like King Joash who see priorities clearly. May I see those priorities today. This principle is easier to remember when church planting, but when the church becomes more established it becomes fuzzy.

Prayer
Father keep my perspective clear. The church does not exist to support me, but I am here as a leader to serve the church. Thank you for the gift of income you have for me to use. I don’t take it for granted. Amen.

Share on Facebook

Press the arrow to listen to Michael W. Smith sing “Awesome God” while reading today’s devotion.

Scripture
Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
Cease from your consideration of it.
When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. Proverbs 23:4-5

By wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
And by knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches. Proverbs 24

Observation
Wealth is elusive. When we pursue it we lose it.  It is like the pool of water on the road ahead that we speed towards only to find it to be a mirage on hot pavement.  Wealth is a backache to the body and a headache to the mind.

There is another path toward wealth that is indirect. Instead of pursuing wealth, we are told to deepen our relationship with the Lord. As a result of our relationship with him, our needs will be supplied. That relationship includes the Three Musketeers of the Book of Proverbs: wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.

Wisdom says, seek what pleases God instead of what pleases you.
Understanding advises, there is an economy you cannot see that supplies our needs even more than the economy we can see.
Knowledge counsels us in good choices not driven by fear or greed but God.

Knowledge is one of the most useful when it comes to bringing prosperity to our families. Not just information, knowledge is both the facts as well as a perception of what to do with them.  Like a financial adviser, the Holy Spirit can give to us perception that comes from the deep knowing of the Lord to make good choices with what he gives to us.

Application
Does a person need the Lord to become wealthy? No, but all wealth comes from the Lord.  A man who seeks riches may just get them, but only them. What he has is hallow and shallow because there is no relationship in it.

But if a man turns his back on wealth, and instead seeks first an ever deepening relationship with the Lord, he will find many happy surprises along the way. My call is to seek wisdom, understanding and knowledge and in them I will find many of the things I have desired. All of life must be held loosely as a gift for us to receive yet more. Only open hands can be given more.

Prayer
Father, I ask today for the riches of knowing you. Holy Spirit do life with me today and teach me moment by moment. Amen.

Share on Facebook

Press the arrow to listen to a song that lives up to its name: Typical by the band Mute Math. It’s a song that helps my 17 year old son draw closer to Jesus. I hope it will disturb your world today for Christ.

Scripture
But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6

Observation
This generation is like a man who has had a large meal of carbohydrates, sipped a hot milk drink and dozes in front of the television. This is an age that Jesus described as one in which everyone has fallen asleep.

We are to be like the man who steps out the door on a cold night and swallows large amounts of frosty oxygen to become alert again. Our mandate it to stay awake.

What makes us sleepy? One simple word: comfort. Ours is the age of comfort, where the average man lives like kings dreamed centuries before. A hot shower, cold milk, warm house, running water, air conditioning, ABS brakes and manicured lawns were something even out of the reach of a Roman Emperor. But what we can’t get at Walmart we can find on Amazon. Life becomes wrapped up in buying and paying off these things.

The comforts are also corrupted. We have so much sex we do not know what love feels like. We have so much chemical stimulant we have forgotten simple joy. We have drunken so much violence that we do not know the sounds of innocence. The world is drifting off to sleep and their yawns are contagious, unless we fight to keep awake.

Paul told us to be alert and self-controlled.  In a picture, he meant for us to live as if the lights are always on. No matter how grey the world becomes, the worst evil happens at night. Paul instructed us to live an exposed life. If we are open with others we will be honest with God. Alert means that we are to be at attention to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, even in our relaxing moments. Self-controlled means not using what is so freely available because we are content with what God has already provided.

Application
In the news this week there has been a report from Burma of 100,000 humans dying in one storm and from China of 50,000 crushed in an earthquake. While that news pushes from the front page to the comic section, I am to become alert.

Prayer
Father, wake me up. Amen.

Share on Facebook

Press the arrow to listen to Desperation Band sing “Counting on God” while you read today’s devotion.

Scripture
David did not take the number of the men twenty years old or less, because the LORD had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky. Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. Wrath came on Israel on account of this numbering, and the number was not entered in the book of the annals of King David. 1 Chronicles 27:23-24

Observation
David took a census. What was the big deal? Governments count heads. That’s what governments do. Why did God threaten David with a triple whammy because he wanted to make a book of pie graphs?

There is a great difference between counting up the nation and counting on the nation.  David was doing more than counting noses, he was moving his confidence from depending on the Spirit of the Lord and onto the biceps of his nation.

The Absolam insurrection was over. The nation was in a time of peace. David’s final retirement was looming. Perhaps the aging king was nervous about the transfer of power. Another son would rebel against him before Solomon was placed on the throne. Maybe he wanted to take stock of his resources before the final battle.

Application
Whatever his motive, David did what any of us do when things are going well. We depend on the gifts and not the giver. It is God’s good desire to bless us richly, whether it be a slice of bread or a place to call home. Then he wants us to live as if we did not have it with total dependance on him.

This morning I held a simple glass of water in my hand, chilled from the refrigerator. I thought to myself, that even something a simple as this drink must be seen as a gift and not a possession. I should live with a sense of awe and wonder at the grace in air to breathe, a chair which to sit, a roof that collects the rain and a pillow to call my own. That should lead me to a life of profuse gratefulness thankful for every moment of life.

When I live without counting and instead count on God, then there is no limit to the resources he can draw from to help me. There are infinite resources in God that are not found in a tally sheet. When I live detached and grateful there is no end to what God can do to rescue me.

Prayer
Father, let me live with nothing as if I have everything; and when I have everything as if I have nothing. And in so doing let me live in your abundance, available whenever I have need. Amen.

Share on Facebook

Press the arrow to listen to Matt Redman’s Blessed Be Your Name while you read today’s devotion.

Scripture
Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Matthew 6:20-21

Observation
There is no trailer hitch on a hearse for a UHaul. There is no luggage rack on a coffin. As Karl Barth summarized, “One day the hearse will leave the cemetery and everyone will leave except you.” Here’s another one from George Bernard Shaw: “The statistics on death are impressive; one out of one people die.”

If death is a given, why do we buy and sell as if it did not exist? At best we consider death in a nursing home or on a deathbed. Few consider death when it really matters most: during LIFE. How much more we could enjoy life if we adjusted every decision with the end in mind. We would live clean and focused.

The best example of human frugality without God is saving for retirement. That is commendable, but not enough. We should be saving for eternity. We should start by first moving our heart into heaven. If we will do that, every daily decision becomes simpler.

When Leslie and I were first married, we had as our ambition to move to Australia to pastor a church. We were 21 when we married and by age 24 we did move to Brisbane and there we pastored for 21 years. It was one of the best decisions of our lives. During that four years of waiting to go, we made every decision based on our future move. We lived light in America because we knew that our home would soon be in Australia. Many things we passed up on buying because it just wasn’t time yet.

Application
Jesus asks me to live like that today. I am not settling down on earth, I’m packing for heaven. There are works beyond this life, and the way we live and give prepare us for them. What will I have in heaven to work with if we only die with a 401K? What I own, I owe, only what I give, I have.

Prayer
Thank you Father for what I don’t have in my possession that is in your hands. It is safer there; help me to live confident of that. I chose to move my heart to heaven today. Amen.

Share on Facebook

Press the arrow to listen to Hillsong sing “Halleujah” as you read today’s devotion.

Scripture
For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. 1 Corinthians 9:10-11

Observation
A truly great leader is not known by how much money he keeps but by his generosity in giving away. The word “generous” has its origin in a Latin word that means someone of noble birth. The idea is that the truly noble person is a giver, for he has a combination of power and tenderness.

When God calls us to be generous he is inviting us to act regally and royally, for to give is truly a noble thing. We think of royalty reflected in possessions, while God considers true nobility in an open heart.

There is a harvest with all of God’s financial development in our lives. When exactly does that harvest come? Does it come when we receive more financially? The answer is, no. The harvest comes when we show generosity. The produce God is looking for in what he invests into us is that characteristic of kings and queens: the ability to be generous. The money is inconsequential; the generosity that is created in us is what matters most to him.

An open, sharing heart is one of the greatest gifts we can give to the Lord, for it is then that we are most like him. When funds flow into our lives we are not to think that we have come to the finish line and arrived. The harvest has yet to come. There is no harvest until we give, then we have become like the Lord.

Prayer
Father, with or without money, I want to have an open heart of generosity. In each gift I give, make my heart like your own. Amen.

Share on Facebook