Resist The Temptation To Be Satisfied With Less Than God's Best

May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless… —1 Thessalonians 5:23

Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

 As I have written these devotions, I noticed a thread that runs through them .. It is the same thread that runs through the Bible.  God has called us to a life of faith and holiness.  We cannot achieve that life on our own.  And even when we are born again, even though we are “awakened” to the reality of spiritual Truth, we continue to struggle with living a life of faith and holiness.  

We make excuses for our failings, unfortunately often resolving ourselves to some lower level of faith and holiness that God never intended for us. Finding satisfaction in a sort of self-defined compromise between our proclivity to continue to sin and our faith and redemption.  When you talk to other Christians, even those that you might consider “more spiritual than most”, you should never think that they are immune to that struggle.  None of us are like Jesus, but one day all of us will be.  So should we be content with our not being like Him yet?  God forbid.  We are on a spiritual journey.  We must keep our eyes fixed on Him, and press on.  And so my friend, let me encourage you to press on in your faith with confidence that 

He who began a good work in your will be faithful to complete it. - 1 Philippians 1:6 

"I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am" ― John Newton

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. -  Philippians 3:13-14

Think about it – Pray about it - Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone

How To Live The Sanctified Life

May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely… —1 Thessalonians 5:23

When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means?  Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God. Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21-23). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him.”  Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

There are two parts of sanctification.  The first is at the point of salvation, when you are sanctified – “set apart – declared holy  ”  by the work of the Spirit and your faith in Jesus. Both aspects of sanctification require your submission to God.  The first was the point where you confessed Jesus as Lord and believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.  The second is a daily progression of yielding your will to God’s will. Becoming one with Jesus.  

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. - Romans 12:2

Choosing obedience to the Father’s will and rejecting the will of your flesh – your old nature.  Satan would have you focus on your failures and not your faith. Convince you that you will never overcome the demons that haunt your life.  That you will never be the person that you know you should be – that you want to be.  The truth of the matter is that you can’t be that person by trying more – but by trying less.  You were first sanctified by faith, not by works.  You are called to live by faith and not by sight (or works). Sanctification is a supernatural phenomenon.  You yield your life and the Spirit does the work.  You could not be righteous through self-effort before you were born again and you cannot be more righteous through self-effort now.  

“Purify My Heart” Maranatha Music

Purify my heart Touch me with Your cleansing fire Take me to the cross Your holiness is my desire

Breathe Your life in me Kindle a love That flows from Your throne Oh purify my heart Purify my heart

Think about it – Pray about it - Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone

Don't Let Your Past Hold You Back

You shall not go out with haste,…for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. —Isaiah 52:12

God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ. Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.”  Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

The remembering our past failures (sins) has two edges.  On the one hand, they remind us that we have a sin nature, that we live in a sin-sick fallen world and that nature has been a powerful influence in our lives.  We have proven and been confronted with the truth of the Word … that all have sinned (Romans 3:23) and there there is none righteous (Romans 3:10) - not even = especially not us.  

Our past failures remind us that we do not deserve God’s favor.  But on the other hand, we also know that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”  (Romans 5:8).  We know that we have been redeemed.  

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law (from the judgement of God) by becoming a curse for us. - Galatians 3:13

 That does not mean ours sins are somehow, “OK”, but it does mean that we are forgiven. By the power and presence of God we can overcome our past - no matter how painful or hurtful it might have been. It does mean that we have hope.  It does mean that we have help.  It does mean that we have a certain future.  Don’t let your past hold you back.  You are a child of the King.  Focus on your future and rejoice!  

Think about it – Pray about it - Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone

Have You Ever Told The Lord "Now Is Not A Good Time"?

When you were under the fig tree, I saw you. —John 1:48

 We presume that we would be ready for battle if confronted with a great crisis, but it is not the crisis that builds something within us— it simply reveals what we are made of already. Do you find yourself saying, “If God calls me to battle, of course I will rise to the occasion”? Yet you won’t rise to the occasion unless you have done so on God’s training ground. If you are not doing the task that is closest to you now, which God has engineered into your life, when the crisis comes, instead of being fit for battle, you will be revealed as being unfit. Crises always reveal a person’s true character. Are you saying, “But I can’t be expected to live a sanctified life in my present circumstances; I have no time for prayer or Bible study right now; besides, my opportunity for battle hasn’t come yet, but when it does, of course I will be ready”? No, you will not. If you have not been worshiping in everyday occasions, when you get involved in God’s work, you will not only be useless yourself but also a hindrance to those around you. - Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest 

I just got off of the phone with a friend and partner in the Gospel discussing this very thing.  Most Christians have a notion of what they would do “if” they heard the call of God to do something beyond themselves. But, when they do, they respond in a different way than they imagined. 

Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.” - Matthew 8:19-22

When Jesus called them, the affairs of the world rushed in presenting reasons why “now” was not a good time. Can you imagine?  Telling God that now is not a good time … questioning God’s wisdom.  Oh, wait, that is not something new is it?  Remember the question “Did God really say?”  (Genesis 3:1) When the Spirit speaks, you must expect Satan to make a counter offer. The next best thing to not being a Christian, from Satan’s perspective, is a Christian who is disobedient to the voice of God.

My friend has been called to serve in a very difficult place, in the U.S.  He has been serving there for a number of years with little fruit. But, spiritual fruit is beginning to emerge.  He has asked several organizations and individuals to join him.  Initially they were interested, but, I have surmised, after they counted the personal cost, they said “now is not a good time.”  Not everyone my friend has talked to was motivated by the Spirit, but I am certain some were.  Most of us struggle with living the “normal-natural” life in the context of our faith.  When God wants to stretch us, we are not prepared.  And so we resist the call.  Have you said “no” to God because it was not convenient.  Because it would disrupt your financial plans. Your idea of living the “blessed” life would be turned on its head.  What you had been planning and working for and “sacrificing” for was now at risk because God was speaking.  And so, to the one you thank for salvation, for your life in Christ, you say “now is not a good time, call me back later.”

And He [Jesus] was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”  -  (Luke 9:23) 

Are you ready? Are you really?   

Think about it – Pray about it - Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone

A Tribute To A Fallen Friend

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. – or I might add his country. John 15:13

I just had my annual Dermatology visit at the VA. As I left their office, the person at the front desk told me to enjoy my cookout. That got me thinking about the reason behind the 3 day Memorial Day weekend.  Originally the reason was not so we could have a cookout with family and friends, although that is what it has become. Just like the original intent of Christmas was not so people could get presents. 

Memorial day is a day to remember those who have lost their lives in armed conflicts while serving in the US military. It has been many years since there was a substantial loss of life during a war. In the Vietnam War which ended on 1975 there were 58,220 deaths. American service men and women who were serving their country – even to the point of losing their lives. Contrast that with Desert Storm – 1990-1991 where 300 military lost their lives.

But, with Memorial day  approaching , I was reminded of my best friend from Grade school and high school – Donald Lukens.  This is a tribute to him. And perhaps insight into the personal side of Memorial Day.

Don and I knew each other from first grade. We spent hours roaming the woods in the area around our homes in West Peoria, Illinois. I can remember as young boys we has a special call to let the other one know we were on the way.  It was a kind is shrill clicking noise that only we knew. Don’s dad worked for Cummins Diesel. His dad got transferred during Don’s Junior year and they moved to Moline Illinois. I never saw Don again, Back then there were no smart phones, texting, or social media apps to keep up with friends. 

As it turned out, we both joined the Army about the same time. I enlisted as a radio operator and Don enlisted and was “high school to flight school” as we called it. He became a Warrant Officer - helicopter pilot. We were both in Vietnam the same time in 1970. Neither of us knew the other one was there. Don was in the 1st Cavalry and I was with Military Assistance Command (MAC-V) advisors to the South Vietnamese military.

I returned home in November 1970 and mustered out of the Army. It was then that my folks told me that Don had been killed in Vietnam.  Many years later my baby sister got a rubbing off of the “traveling” Vietnam Memorial of Don’s name on the “Wall”. I started doing some research when I received the picture and that is what I want to share in this tribute. I was able to get some information through the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association.

I want to share some details – things that civilians would not ever read about someone who fell in battle- so please read on.  I want Don to be more than one number in  a Statistic that won’t be remembered 5 minutes later. He was a hero. 

May 25, 1970

Don was killed In Action from an incident while performing the duty of [Co-Pilot] in a UH-1 Huey.

Don was 20 years old.

He was assigned to Bravo Troop /7th Battalion/1st CAV

His tour in Vietnam started  March 30, 1970. I arrived in country on 15 September 1969 and left 1 November 1970.

This following information is from a pilot who served with Don in Vietnam

He was relatively new [55 days in country the day he died].  Don Lukens was flying right seat in the Dutchmasters C&C aircraft. Captain Sauer was the CO of B Troop and was the Mission Commander and Aircraft commander. Don Lukens was likely on the controls, as Sauer would have been directing the mission and working the radios. The helicopter Don was flying received fire from somewhere on the Mountain they were orbiting over. 

Only one 51 [not a typo] caliber round hit the aircraft but that round hit the sliding armor plate of the right front pilot seat, penetrated the plate and hit Don in the chest cavity. The C&C reported being hit but saw no tracers or source of the fire. The Mountain is 2,300 feet high with heavy vegetation and was well known to be honeycombed with caves used by the Viet Cong. We called in an Air Force air strike in the general area where we believed the fire to have come from. Air Force bombers came in and pounded the position.  I remember Don as a tall quiet fellow. He was rather lanky and we dubbed him "Goose"! The slick (UH-1) platoon seemed to have a nickname for almost everyone.  The person posted the flight duty roster on the board in the TOC [Tactical Operations Center]and then went by Dons' room to tell him he would be flying with Cpt Sauer in C&C. Don had been studying the Bible. It was small and looked like the New Testament that the Gideon's distribute. He seemed a little uneasy about me finding him reading the Bible. I told him not to be concerned as I also read it regularly in my private time. I remember one other thing regarding Donald "Goose" Lukens. He got an Air Medal with V device [for Valor] for flying with Roger Marcum on 18 May 1970. - End of testimony

In a big way – Don is the reason that I went to flight school to become a helicopter pilot years later when I was a lieutenant.

Over the years, I had wondered about Don’s salvation and was encouraged to read about his reading the Bible in the barracks. But that story is for another time.

Please celebrate the Memorial Day weekend for the right reason – and remember Don – Goose – Lukens and so many others for their service and sacrifice. 

Be Careful Where You Walk – Stand – Sit

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. – Psalm 1:1-3

I have a picture hanging right above my computer monitor.  It is a picture of a man having a conversation with Jesus.  Under the picture is the quote from Psalm 1:1.  I want that picture in my view everyday when I begin my day – keeping my focus on God and my faith. It is so easy for us to put the world in front of us – let it occupy our thinking and our doing. Walking – standing – sitting.  That is the progression of embracing the carnal life.  It is possible to be around the ungodly, sinners, the scornful without becoming like them.  The problem is that when we are not strong in our faith – keeping God in full view – we, one step at a time, – find ourselves lingering and eventually finding a seat amongst them.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. - James 1:14-16

There is a book written by Watchman Nee “Sit, Walk, Stand” based upon Ephesians but reflective of Psalm 1. “The Christian life consists of sitting with Christ, walking by him and standing in him. We begin our spiritual life by resting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus. That rest is the source of our strength or a consistent and unfaltering walk in the world.” (Watchman Nee, Sit Walk Stand, 1957)

Do you love the Word of God? Reading it is like have a conversation with the Lord. 

… do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law [the Bible] shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. – Joshua 1:7-9

Let me emphasize a word used in the verses in Joshua – “Shall.”  The use of the term ‘Shall’ in contracts, [think of God’s covenant with us as being a contract] reflects the seriousness of the obligation or duty in that it is like a command, mandatory or imperative. In contrast to the word – “Will.” Will is used in contracts to refer to a future event or action. It does not impose an obligation or duty. My point is that your devotion to the Word of God is not a suggestion – it is a command – mandatory – Imperative. Why is it so important to the Christian life – your life?  “You shall meditate on the Word.” Versus “I will try to read the Bible more.” The word of God is critical to our spiritual well-being.  I will leave you with two verses to think about and pray about.

Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You – Psalm 119:11

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

I quoted our pastor's comment on those verses, but they bear repeating.

Doctrine is about what’s [right], Reproof is about what’s [not right], Correction is about how to [get right], Instruction in righteousness is about how to [stay right] - Pastor Charles Redmond

I know that you all are familiar with the Gospels – but the Word of God can be new each time we read it. The question I always ask myself is “What eternal truth does the Lord want me to be reminded of today?”

Think about it – Pray about it - Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone

You Were Not Saved To Go To Church – But To Be The Church

On this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.  — Matthew 16:18 

Several years ago, Martie and I were back in Alabama getting our house ready to sell and I saw a neighbor and he was asking me how our ministry in Texas was going.  He is a Christian so our conversation had a spiritual tone. I am always alert to indications that someone is born again because it allows me to speak in a different context with an expectation that they will have spiritual understanding.  I told him that we were selling our house and would be in Texas for the foreseeable future.  Meaning until the Lord moved us on.  

Allow me to pause there. Martie and I are fully committed to following God. When He says "Go" we go. On reflection it is in a way like Jesus not knowing when He will return - only the Father knows - but when the Father tells the Son to return - the Son will Go. Submitting the the will of the Father. We have sold more than one house because the Lord said Go and we are ready to do it again if He speaks. 

After a several minutes of sharing what God has been doing through us and to us, he commented about “going to church” alluding to the fact that we both sensed the presence of God’s Spirit during our conversation.  I told him that we are not saved to got to church but are saved to be the church. That caused me to remember Jesus words about establishing His church. To elaborate on that point I need to share the context of Matthew 16:18

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, andon this rock [the truth that I am the Christ] I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. [Because I am the Christ] I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. – Matthew 16:15-20

[The brackets indicate that I have inserted clarification to the verse]

The Church and the Body of Christ are synonymous with those who have been born again by the Spirit. The church that you attend on Sunday morning is not the Church – big “C”.  It is a place where the Church gathers for corporate worship and equipping of the Saints.

And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.– Ephesians 4:11-16

The Church is the Church not because of Peter but because of Jesus, Who is the Christ.  Peter and the other disciples were gifted to do what they did by the Spirit of God in the same what that your pastor is gifted.  The same way that Billy Graham was gifted for his role in the Church as an evangelist and the same way that you have been gifted for your place in the Body of Christ.  The Christian singer and song writer, Keith Green,  said “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makes you a hamburger!”

And when you do go to church, and you should not forsake that Biblical mandate of assembling with other Christians, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus to whom the Church belongs and not on the people around you or the music that is used to facilitate worship. Be the Church wherever you go and you will discover another truth.

For where two or three gather in my [Jesus] name, there am I with them. – Matthew 18:20

You don't have to be in a church building for that to happen but you should when are gathered in the church building.

Think about it – Pray about it - Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone