The Devotional - 16

The Devotional

Comment:

How important are the events of life these days to you? Do you have any vision? Many have the thought to live “one day at a time” nothing is terribly wrong with that, we certainly have to get through the day, and if you have read the passage in Matthew 6: 25-34 you know that the LORD Jesus says in verse 34 that we should not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have enough things to worry about of its own. If this is all one understands out of these 10 verses of scripture, they have missed the boat, they are still stranded on the island. Many saints of God are stranded on the isle because they do not daily plan for the “joy” of tomorrow. Notice also Matthew 25:23 and the contents surrounding, verses 14-30.

Challenge:

Matthew, the Gospel is written to the Jewish nation, by a Jewish person about a Jewish Person. According to the writer, this Person is Jesus Christ the Jewish Messiah. We might readily conclude then, “What has this Jew for the Jew have to do with me? “I am a Gentile, my beliefs are rooted in paganism and I have enough worries and enough religion to get me through life, so why bother? The answer is that Jesus is your King also, Revelation 19:11-16 and you would do well to listen up.

Matthew 6:25-34

The LORD Jesus in this sermon is teaching the joy of being “holy” in a world of good and evil. He began in Matthew’s Gospel in chapter 5. We call the verses of 5:1-12 the beatitudes and Jesus is recorded as saying “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. This brings up an interesting thought; “How is there “joy” in or while being persecuted?

As one takes the time to read from Matthew 5:3 to 7:27 we are challenged to live a holy life. Many if not all of us at some point in this reading say “impossible” I cannot do this, I won’t do this and I have already messed up, so why should I even try since I will only mess up again and again. Yes, many religious people stumble all day long and instead of joy, they are so unjoyful that they readily turn to the temporal happiness of the world and forget pursuing the “Joy of the LORD”.

I believe the access to the “joy of the LORD” is found in what we call the LORD’s Prayer revealed in verses 9 – 13 of Matthew 6. You say what? I pray that prayer every day, at least 10 times, I must be holy so how come I have no joy? The first answer is repetition in words are not prayer, the second answer is, since you are not praying, but expressing words from rote memory, God does not hear these words, just as you might ignore the words of your child when they continually say, when on an extended trip. “Are we there yet”?

Please stay tuned we will do more with this “joy” tomorrow by letting tomorrow worry about the things of tomorrow. Meanwhile! Rejoice in the LORD, again I will say rejoice, Philippians 4:4.

The Devotional - 15

The Devotional

Comment:

Hiding from the enemy is a normal operation of a submarine in unfriendly waters. Once some years ago the sub I was on was doing this very thing. The enemy was all around us, surface ships and their subs were on a training exercise and there we were in the mix, only as we thought; undetected. As their training was drawing to close we decided to leave the area. To our surprise as we abruptly turned away from the group we found that we were being tailed by one of their subs that had been hiding in our baffles. The word baffle as it relates to submarine jargon is much the same as the definition in the dictionary. A baffle is a screen that blocks noise such as one might find along a busy highway to prevent the neighborhood from hearing the sound of traffic. For the sub, it is the vision/noise normally seen by sonar being blocked by water turbulence from the propellers (screws).  

Challenge:

Have you noticed where our priorities in the United States are these days? Education, young people, entertainment, hobbies, sports and career. And some are saying “well what is wrong with that?” are these not the main avenues of important and moral or immoral pursuits as we travel to and from the crossroads of life in the hunt… of the living? Yes but did you notice, left out of the mix is, liberty and happiness. Also you may think it is silly of me to compare the “baffling experience above” with our modern irreligious lifestyle in the “land of the free and the home of the brave” then again, maybe you did not notice… baffling isn’t it? That is the rub!

Matthew 6:22-23 and 24

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

We live in baffling days… the enemy is all around us, actually we see the threat! We throw dollars at many liberal champagnes, we educate our young to understand all of the secularisms that cross our avenues of life. We idolize the people of entertainment and sports as religious icons. Our hobbies are willing distractions, like baffles on the horse (blinders we call these things). Our careers are designed for (simple mindedness) to teach ignorance rather than to advance human wisdom and integrity and we are a drug induced nation to keep us calm.

What we do not see is what is following us in the baffles, and here it is: “No one can serve two masters; for either he (or she) will hate the one and love the other, or else he (or she) will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches!

As a nation we have lost our way, we as individuals need to change course of our direction and leave the enemy waters; we have stayed to long; the enemy has found us vulnerable and he is ready to pounce. We as a whole cannot cause the nation to move in the right direction, but we can individually do what we need to do. National repentance cannot come unless YOU and I are willing to take the first step and show the way back. The way back to the pursuit of liberty and happiness for all, is found in the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:25-34.

The Devotional - 14

The Devotional

Comment:

Once as a young boy the neighbor took his children to the ice cream parlor. As they were leaving he offered to take me along as long as I asked my parents for permission. My father said “no” but the eyes of my mind were on “ice cream” so I told the neighbor that it was okay! Big mistake, not only was my father very unhappy with me but the circumstance of living for five minutes of pleasure turned into a long season of disappointment and trust, the relationship with my father had been marred; the root cause – coveting. We are seldom aware of the consequence or the aftermath of what we do when our eyes and our heart are fixed on self-gratification.

Challenge:

If we rely on our own will power to turn away from things that are in the end “worthless” we will fail most every time. Once the eye has seen or the heart has engaged in things that we do not need the appetite of desire is stronger than our will to abstain. Some of us reading this are feeling the hair on the back of the neck rise up in anger! That is because your eye and heart is at the present time focused of something that God or your parents have said that you must give up. You are saying “Jesse, you can’t be serious and don’t forget… you are the court jester”! Yes but even in laughter there is evidence of many years of tears. One cannot know how to laugh, if they do not know first “how to weep”!

Psalm 119:37-40

Turn (literally: cause my eyes to pass from) away my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in Your WAY. The psalmist is saying that once his eyes is fixed on something worthless he is like a dead man to everything else around him. Notice he says to the LORD – revive me in Your way. (literally: cause me to long for) help me, as in Romans 6:1-12.

Establish Your WORD to Your servant, who is devoted to fearing You. Coveting is the great destroyer, it ruined an angel called Lucifer son of the morning (Isaiah 14:12-14). So what does the psalmist mean “establish Your word” he is seeking help to reorient to the character of God as in fearing the LORD, Psalm 33:1-32 is a great help for this.

Turn away my reproach, (shame or disgrace) which I dread, for Your JUDGEMENTS are good. How bad is it to covet? For those of us who know the difference, it is very bad. Coveting dulls the soul, breaks relationship with God and destroys fellowship with the children of God (fellow believers). The judgements of God may be painful discipline, yet for the moment are good for the soul.

Behold (look) I long for your PRECEPTS; revive me in Your Righteousness. Psalm 19:7-11 are the precepts of God for every believer. If we are willing to hold fast to God’s Word, we will have a happy and rewarding life with all of our needs met. Of course the other side of that coin is to covet what we don’t have and retain a heart that is fixed on selfishness, the root of coveting.