Press the arrow to listen to Newsboys’ “In Christ Alone” as you read about today’s fight.
Scripture One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the LORD your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you. Joshua 23:10
Observation
Life is not a shuffle, it’s a fight, so we cannot approach it with halfheartedness. We must fight to win, for the Lord and his cause matters. This fighting spirit should infuse everything that we do.
But if we could view our day from God’s point of view we would quickly see that we are not alone in this effort of living. There are unseen angels. There is the gust of the Holy Spirit blowing behind what we do. Overarching all is our Father, so secure in his power that he need not fight at all.
Application
The greatest reassurance to me today is that this fight is not up to me. I am responsible to fight in the zone God has chosen for me. I am charged to throw my whole heart into the fray. But really the pack behind my punch is from Christ.
Prayer Father, there is a part of me that retracts from the fight. Sometimes it is reluctance. Sometimes it is laziness. Sometimes it is the feeling of being overwhelmed. Sometimes I prefer peacemaking. But I wrap myself with the promise today that you are working through me to fight. I give you my sword. Use me. Amen.
Press the arrow to listen to Robbie Seay Band sing “Song of Hope” while you read today’s devotion.
Scripture For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time he fled from Saul and went into the cave. To be sung to the tune “Do Not Destroy!â€
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy!
I look to you for protection.
I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings
until the danger passes by.
I cry out to God Most High,
to God who will fulfill his purpose for me. Psalm 57:1-2
Observation
David was creative under pressure. While most would be pacing, David was working out rhyme and rhythm of his latest lyrics. How did he do it? David turned each sigh into a song.
All of his songs display emotional honesty. He did not whistle a happy tune, he took time to be sad, angry or desperate in the presence of God. As Bill Hybels says, he learned to “ventilate vertically”. Passing through the emotion David was able to discover that space in God’s heart where there is permission to improvise, invent and envision. When we bring the whole of ourselves to the Lord we find God’s center, a place of creativity.
Application
We may write our own song or we may borrow one from another, but we must learn this secret of emotional honesty in God’s presence. Songs are made from life just as much as songs are the thing life is made of. How many fresh ideas do we miss out on because we are allowing our emotions to play at our heart strings rather than playing them back to the Lord.
Prayer Father, I’m no where near David’s skill of writing and composing, but whether its with an iPod or a radio station, let me be one who turns the sigh into a song.
Press the arrow to listen to Don Moen sing Rescue while you read today’s devotion.
Scripture I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
He freed me from all my fears.
Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
he saved me from all my troubles. Psalm 34:4-6
Observation
Fear is paralyzing. Like a spider’s bite that immobilizes the victim, so the Enemy can use fear as a way of manipulating us. Satan cannot change reality, but he can alter the way that we perceive what is real. Small finger movements become huge wall shadows of frightening monsters. These illusions are not authentic, but they feel real. That emotion is all that Satan needs.
How can we escape fear? We can elude fear when we make the choice to pray through to the other side of fear. The other day I flew into snowy Denver. The pilot warned us that a blizzard awaited us below, but while he gave the forecast, brilliant sun and blue sky poured through my window. His words seemed so out of touch with reality. To those living on the ground, it seemed like the sun had disappeared. But my flight reminded me that sun still shines. The cloud cover was so thick, that we saw the land just as the wheels touched the tarmac. The fog and snow were depressing but not debilitating, because I knew where the sun was.
Prayer melts through fear to find the smiling face of God on the other side. There are two things we are to pray for when we are afraid. The first, is to see the Father’s face, so that our hearts will be filled with joy. The second, is for the Lord to release us from our troubles.
David would go on to face moments more fearful than this. But never again would he have anxiety attacks. From that moment on he would use fear to leverage himself into a more secure place in God.
Application
Why pray when you can worry? Oops, I think it is supposed to be the other way around! The answer is obvious and my choices are plain.
Prayer Father, show me the other side of fear today and help me to live in rainy days as if the sun were shining around me because it is within me. Amen.
Press the arrow to listen to Michael Card and Phil Keaggy sing “The Poem of Your Life”
Scripture “Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own. The neighbor women said, ‘Now at last Naomi has a son again!’ And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.” (Ruth 4:16-17).
Observation
God is the author of each life story. That clear from the first biography God ever wrote – the book of Ruth.
Ruth as a book is perfectly balanced.
The introduction and the conclusion have the exact same number of words. The novel starts bitter but ends better.
There are four main sections that pull the reader along.
Each section has an introductory sentence that introduces segment.
Each chapter starts with a problem that is answered and leads to the next problem.
There is balance between selfless Ruth and selfish Orpah and between selfless Boaz and the selfish relative.
The story starts with a picture of Naomi an empty a widow with two dead sons.
The fairy-tale ends with a picture of Naomi now filled with a baby in her arms.
And in the first biography in the Bible everyone lives happily ever after in the end.
Why is the book of Ruth so perfect? Ruth is not beautiful just because the writer spun a good tale but because the Lord was the author of her life. The book of Ruth is beautiful because Naomi had a God-written life. The book is a masterpiece because there was a master-plot planned by the Master Himself. Remember, God is the best selling author of all time.
Every human life is like a story. Some are tragedies. However, lives given to God are stories authored by the Almighty Himself. If my life is in Jesus then my life is a story written by God. No matter the character, the plot, the scenery, every life-tale under God’s control ends better than it began.
Some like Naomi want to stop reading the story of their lives too soon. At the start of the book Naomi tried to stop the story of her life. When her husband and sons died she thought her story had come to an end. But it was really the beginning of a brand new story.
Application
My life is like a book, being written by God every day. It all takes longer than I think it should sometimes. Writers are notoriously slow. I heard James Mitchner wrote just 3 pages a day. God takes his time working out the plot of our lives.
Our lives are like a book, a plot written day by day. Many pages are senseless. Some seem to have temporary purpose only to be lost in the next chapter. But Jesus is the author skilled at turning bad beginnings into better endings.
In all of the Bible, any human life participating with the Lord has ended better than it began. Jesus wants to dip his pen into my life to inscribe his eternal purposes. My choice is, will I scrawl an autobiography, with each chapter written by me, struggling to find meaning. Or will I let Jesus story blend with my own story so that I can inscribe eternal purposes?
Prayer
Father, here’s a pen, here’s my life, please write your story all over me. Amen.
Scripture Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O Lord, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’ I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps! O Lord, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children. But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.’†Genesis 32:9-12
Observation
Jacob was the meat in the sandwich. To the east was his father-in-law with a shot gun. To the west was his miffed brother. In between these slices of antagonism was Jacob. He could not go home and he could not run away. In that pressure place in the middle he prayed a prayer that made all of the difference. It brought a personal visit of God. It took him past Checkpoint Charlie with Esau. It established him as the father of the Jewish people. What did he pray that had such effect? Even closer to home for us, what can we pray when we are in a pickle that will make a difference to the Lord?
When I study this prayer I can see the framework it is built on that we can build our pickle prayers upon as well.
#1 O Lord, you told me…. Remind the Lord what he commanded you to do.
#2 And you promised me…. Remind the Lord what he promised to do for you.
#3 I am not worthy…. Remember your debt to the Lord’s kindness
#4 O Lord, please rescue me…. Pray the undignified prayer of great godly people: HELP!
#5 I am afraid…. Be honest with your emotions of fear so you walk humbly and not proudly.
#6 But you promised me…. Reheat the promises of God in the presence of God and then take that hot promise with you into the world you are afraid to face.
Prayer is not everything. Jacob had to go and face Esau. Later Jesus would have his all night prayer and he would have to go and face the cross. But prayer created the resource that got them and will get us through. As the familiar saying goes, “Pray as if everything depended on God; work as if everything depended upon you.”
Application
It’s kind of personal, but I have something to insert in each one of those blank lines for myself. I’ll just share that with the Lord.
Prayer Father, I am so thankful for the humanity of the patriarchs. Let their prayers guide my words so that I may enjoy the blessings they too came to know. Amen.
Scripture Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 1 Timothy 6:17
Observation
What happens when I try to enjoy money before God has given it to me? Instead of joy there is discontent, desire, debt, interest, anxiety, fear and resentment. There is a specialized word to describe the human experience of enjoying money before God gives it to us. The word is “covetousness.”
Coveting is more than wanting something. Covetousness is wanting to enjoy something without God’s participation. Instead of passing from the Lord’s hand and into ours, covetousness shoplifts from God.
Why do we covet things? Because we trust ourselves too much and because we trust God too little. Every human has a thought like this inside his brain: “Money is up to me.” And so we grasp after what God wants to give. The price tag of a self-financed life is dissatisfaction.
What does God have in mind for our finances? God wants us to enjoy life by first waiting for him to give before we receive. If covetousness is shoplifting then what God offers is gift giving. A stolen candy bar never tastes good, but oh the joy of Christmas morning!
Application
I heard someone say that inappropriate debt is a sign that I have become my own provider instead of the Lord. When the enjoyment of money is gone I need to ask myself what have I shoplifted from God’s storehouse instead of enjoying what he has given to me.
Prayer Father, help me to enjoy what I have and have enough contentment in you to live without. Amen.
“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.†Acts 7:51-53
Observation
Stephen’s sermon is so eloquent that it’s hard to remember the guy is on death row approaching the electric chair, in a manner of speaking. The last words Stephen spoke on the courtroom floor are the most remarkable. Around Stephen is a swirling chaos of fists, spit and stones, but at the center is a man having an epiphany. It’s like a melodramatic scene from 1950′s Bible flick. Stephen is gazing toward heaven, a spotlight warms his face, a beatific smile illumines his visage and he swoons at the sight of Jesus.
Stop, stop, stop! This is the sort of thing that should happen in a sanctuary and not in the witness stand. How did Stephen manage to see such a remarkable sight in the midst of chaos?
Here’s the secret: Stephen had learned to worship in extreme conditions. He had learned to be comfortable with adrenaline, push it aside and to see the Saviour’s face. His story would not be told if it were not a model for us as well.
Do you know the taste of adrenaline? Have you felt the dizziness of a surge of blood pressure? Can you hear the ringing in your ears as the blood vessels swell? Have you sensed the out-of-body experience as you stand before those you fear to hear a voice speaking and wake up mid paragraph to discover it is you? We’ve all been in pressure points. Stephen’s is an extreme. But here’s the point: have we learned to live as Stephen learned to die? Have we learned how to look up in pressured circumstances and to worship the God of heaven?
Application
Stephen’s poise under pressure is not an ideal but a possibility. There are pressured moments in life when we too are placed on the spot. It is then that choices we make can open up our relationship with Christ. I remember reading about the Christian leader Polycarp (his name does not mean ‘many fish’ but that’s another story). Polycarp was on his way to be burnt at the stake, but he asked the arresting officer if he could have time to pray. He asked for a meal to be brought to his executioners and he went to an upstairs room where he methodically prayed for each of the churches he oversaw. It’s no wonder that at the stake, when Polycarp was asked to turn his back on Jesus, that he had the presence of mind to say, “I’ve served him 86 years and he’s never failed me, how can I be unfaithful to the one who has loved me so?” (That’s my paraphrase.)
Worship can happen anywhere, even under pressure. It requires me to become comfortable with uncomfortable emotions, to walk through stress rather than trying to neutralize it, and to look for Jesus in the most unlikely places.
Prayer
Father, I can’t say that I’m there yet with this one, but I’m certainly learning. I’ve had several lessons this last year. I expect there will be more. Help me to look up rather than looking down in these pressure points and help me to break through emotions that I fear into an experience of you too great for words so that I can say what must be said even in the most difficult times. Amen.
I'm Phil McCallum, a husband, father and most of all one of the people Jesus loves. I'm privileged to serve Evergreen Community Church in Bothell, Washington as Senior Pastor where people love enough to believe "it's all about relationships." In 1982 I made a vow to read God's word daily and apply it to life. Each day I write out my reflections. Some days I post those on my blog. It's a little personal but it's my hope it will stir you to go deeper still. Learn how I do my devotions. These are my thoughts and not necessarily those of the ministry I serve. By the way check out the computer study Bible Glo. I highly recommend it.
