A Daily Devotional –Cleansing – The Eternal Word (13.2)

A Daily Devotional –Cleansing – The Eternal Word

Comment: Last week as a lead off from Proverbs 17:3 and challenged by the verse that God is the Master Refiner; not only for the ‘individual man’ but also for the ‘nations’. Now continuing: Individually and nationally most of the world around us has fallen away from the LORD who tests the hearts. I have written many words in time past, sometimes in tears regarding this United States of America. However, the subject of good and evil is not to be solved by the mere words of man. “For who has known the mind of the LORD that we may instruct Him” But we have the mind of Christ, see also Isaiah 40:12-ff and John 15:15.

Devotional: Jesus, Isaiah and the apostle Paul make it clear that God’s Will for mankind is going to be accomplished and NO ONE can change God’s mind. Now, knowingly or unknowingly many do seek to change the mind of the LORD with our words and in our prayers. Nationally and personally we desire to move God rather than allowing God to move us. 1 Corinthians 2 is a chapter easy to understand until you get to 1 Corinthians 2:16.

If we look around as I am sure we do, we see on a large scale injustices of every sort, so we cry out to the LORD who is JUST and RIGHTEOUS to crush the injustice we see (usually on our personal terms). God is who is not obligated to do anything that is outside the boundaries of His Just and Righteous Will says that our complaint is not “part of His solution”, in fact it is the very problem since we are not allowing God to personally shape us into the gold or silver vessel that glorifies Him to the world around us. Or we could say, we are not using the mind of Christ and do not know what the will of the LORD is.

Thus, we need to understand a bit more about the Wisdom of God and the wisdom of man. 1 Corinthians 2 is one chapter to help, as is Isaiah 40 and John 15. “For who has known the mind of the LORD that we may instruct Him.” But we have the mind of Christ. Isaiah 40 stands tall against the wisdom of man; man’s wisdom is defeated with one verse in this chapter as well, verse 21. Jesus/Messiah who is the incarnate Word and Wisdom of God provides Truth and Light for the SERVANT of God. He will know what his Master is doing because Christ/Messiah has made known to us His mind, therefore we have the Spirit of God in Truth. John 15:1-17, especially verse 15.

A Daily Devotional –Cleansing – The Eternal Word (13)

A Daily Devotional –Cleansing – The Eternal Word

Comment: I have never been in a refinery but I have walked by one or two in my earlier years growing up. Busy places where you can sometimes feel the heat. In thinking about this, I did work at a finishing plant as a metal press operator and there learned that metal when heated could be molded and shaped into most anything. Applying life to the Living Word of God is already accomplished by our Creator who is the Father of His only begotten Son – The LORD Jesus Christ/Messiah. So, anything I say about molding and shaping the child of God (The believer in Christ) falls short, way short of what God’s will is for His children, but to God be the Glory. Amen!

Devotional: Earlier this morning while reading in Proverbs, I was challenged by this verse. The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the hearts – Proverbs 17:3. Now everyone knows that I am not a doctor or the son of one, but without the aorta and pulmonary entrance and exits, the heart is of little value. The cleansing actions of the liver and kidney, also the infusion of oxygen by the lungs provide for our daily physical life. Praise the LORD that as our Creator, He arranged our bodies as a system that works very well.

Mostly it is we human beings that mess with the functions of our bodies; drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, poor eating habits are just a few of the objects we instill in our bodies that effect the function of the heart. Stress, depression and a lack of exercise are effects that also trouble the heart. Now we know this, but we do ignore this as well as we know it. We are responsible to our physical body to keep it healthy, not the doctor. He or she has a job because we willingly neglect our responsibility.

The LORD God speaks a lot in His Word about the ‘heart’ of His children, but He is not referring to our physical heart, He is referring to our ‘SOUL’. Our soul belongs to God, like our physical heart belongs to us. Notice what the LORD has to say about the soul in Ezekiel 18:1-9. Because we have a sinful nature, our soul is abused like our physical counterpart with SIN right from the beginning, it is not a disease like heart disease, it is more serious than that.

Since I am running out of time, I will have to pick this up again on Monday, I apologize for that since what I intended to say about Proverbs 17:3 is not what I have written at all. Hate to leave you hanging, but many are the plans of a man’s heart, but God directs his steps, Proverbs 16. Good food for the soul! See Romans 5 -7.

A Daily Devotional –Comfort – The Eternal Word (12)

A Daily Devotional –Comfort – The Eternal Word

Comment: In the middle of adventure, there can be suffering. Plans seem anchored in the LORD’s will so we trust Him and move forward. The destination of the adventure is complete and there you are! What next? Further plans to complete the adventure become unreachable, it is as if you are now alone. Communication is all but lost, informational plans cannot be acquired. (as these were on my cell phone). Okay, so what is going on you ask? There you are, your wife, luggage, a phone number, a cell phone that refuses to work and a foreign pay phone that does not like your credit card. Foreign money? Yes, but no coins.

Devotional: Anxiety, fear, emotional melt down and a few other serious thoughts travel through your mind. How did all this confusion happen and what is our next step? Thanks to the LORD God who never leaves or forsakes us; is the blessed God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ. He is the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our tribulation, (now get this) that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God – 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.

Yes, there were logical solutions to that most recent event in our trip twenty time zones from Connecticut and I am sure that others may have worked things out without calling on God for help, however there must be a time yet future when my wife and I will be able to provide godly comfort to someone in a confused state such as that of which we experienced in Palmerston North, New Zealand. There is no need to go into detail since after that moment in time, God provided a plan that never missed a step for the remaining six days of our stay.

Paul in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians is sincere when he says in 1 Corinthians 1:12-14 that his boasting of the events that brought him to write about the deliverance that God provided was to testify that his conscience was not to boast in fleshly wisdom, but in the simplicity and godly sincerity of his soul as he relied on the grace of God. What he explains is that this same simplicity and godly sincerity is abundant to anyone who will trust God’s Will at every moment in time.

He says that he is not writing anything other than what you can read and understand. As well, I do not write as though you do not understand (that is; understanding with spiritual knowledge we children of God have). However, the flesh often defaults to human efforts apart from the grace and will of God. This does not mean that I spiritualize everything! Certainly, to solve any problem (large or small) we need you use our intellect. Simply put, I and my wife did just that, but only after we filtered our intellect through the Will of God who never leaves us or forsakes us – Hebrews 13:5.