Day 80: The Good News Is The Bad News Is Wrong

Day 80: The Good News Is The Bad News Is Wrong

Read: Isaiah 52:4 - 12 (13 - 15 'The Lord's Suffering Servant')

Well, all that I can say this morning is Praise God, it is finally Friday. It has been one of those weeks where if it could get any worse - I would not be able to tell you how Monday was a bad neck, bad hip, bad leg day. Everything seemed to want it's own fifteen minutes of attention. Tuesday I went to the hospital for a procedure on my hip to find out why I have consistent hip pain. All goes reasonably well with the procedure until I wake up and cannot stop throwing up. From hospital to home - it went on and on. Wednesday I am all bruised up, pained up, with sutures I did not bargain for, and why not - I cannot fall asleep then Thursday my Primary Doctor gives me what for.

Well, like I said Praise God TGIF! It is Friday, I still didn't getmuch sleep last night. I just could not find that one comfortable position - it was toss and turn on the couch all the night long. I guess by now you get the idea that I am looking forward to a significantly better weekend with my family, helping the wife preparing a open hearth dinner for a group of volunteers at the Farm Museum in Westminster. I desperately need all the family bonding time I can get. After the week I have had, with all the things going on, all the bad news this week: bad news on the war, the bad news on the weather, bad economic headlines - what I also desperately need is the Good News of Jesus Christ!

It is just time to say that enough is enough. Bad news is okay sometimes. But there are days when we genuinely need to shout at the top of our lungs "stop the world, I want to get off." And I guess I am there right now. So prepare your eardrums all you readers out there. Okay, ready or not, here it comes: Isaiah 52:7 -8 - 'How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns! The watchmen shout and sing with joy, for right before their very eyes they see the Lord returning to Jerusalem.' YES, YES, I have shouted the Good News of Jesus Christ and I feel great!

Our God reigns. Whether it be downtown Jerusalem or the sprawling suburbs of the City of Baltimore, Maryland - the good news is that whatever the bad news is, was or ever could conceivably become it will always be 100% wrong: the bad news cannot reign supreme in a heart or upon any one persons spirit where God has firmly and securely established His Throne. And believe this: where ever God is, there also is the Good News of the all - atoning love of His Son Jesus Christ at His right hand and there also are the all cleansing, all refining, all comforting Fires of the Holy Spirit ready to administer and minister to all God's children; His peace that defies all understanding.

Let Us Pray: Today, I humbly pray that you will please consider personalizing Psalm 3. Psalm 3 is a psalm of David, regarding the time David had fled from his son Absalom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV5lJNK4D2Y

Glorious/Our God Reigns-Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels

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Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels, Glorious, from Passion Everything Glorious DVD.

Day 79: "I Am Holy"

Day 79: "I Am Holy"

Read: Isaiah 6:1 - 8

Early morning appointment at the Doctors. From the devotional "Listening To God" Listen to the voice of God as if He is speaking directly into your mind, spirit and soul:

"My child, I am going to take you to the highest heights for a moment. Long after you have heard my voice today. I want you to set your heart and your mind on this majestic thought: I AM HOLY.

I know that you have heard that a thousand times. Many times, you have sung the chorus that declares my holiness in my three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But from know on, I want you to break free of a shallow familiarity with those words, and let a fresh vision of my holiness fill your being.

There is a danger in this: if you let my Spirit fill you, opening your thoughts to my unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, holiness, you are going to be traumatized by your own sinfulness. Dwell on your own depravity for a moment, just long enough for your heart to break - then let my Spirit capture your thoughts and give you a new and profound appreciation for this truth: you can immerse your unholiness in the deep love of Jesus and His precious life given for you.

That is where you must seek refuge - for when you are safe in His arms, I will see His holiness covering you." Signed, GOD

Let Us Pray: Lord, make me holy as You are Holy, In Jesus' name. Amen Amen Amen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPBmFwBSGb0

Michael W. Smith - Agnus Dei

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Michael W. Smith - Agnus Dei

Day 78: "Jesus Is The Head Of The Body"

Day 78: "Jesus Is The Head Of The Body"

Read: Ephesians 4:15 - 16

Let me extend my humble apologies to the readership out there but this morning I am
finding myself under the weather. So this morning devotional offering is taken directly
from the book "Listening To God" by Bruce Bickel. These words are written as if God himself had revealed them to the author.

"I've been telling you about the body of Christ and the members of my church who complement one another with their spiritual gifts. Every member of the body is important; no one is expendable.

What I have not told you is this: while there are many of you who are hands and feet for the body, and others who are eyes and vocal cords, there is only one head. That is my Son

Jesus is uniquely qualified to lead His body, comprised as it is of a large group of individuals from a wide range of cultures and locations. Have you ever wondered how you can meet a complete stranger, yet immediately feel a common bond when you discover you are both my children? The reason for that connection is Jesus, who fits and forms all members of His church into a single body of believers, united in purpose and in love for each other.

Day 77: The Fragrance of Love Or The Stench Of Death?

Day 77: The Fragrance of Love Or The Stench Of Death?

Read: 2 Corinthians 2:14 - 17

In every kitchen there are good smells like freshly baked bread out of the oven or the smell of a little baby or a new car. Those are good smells. Then you have bad smells like sulfur, spoiled milk, rotting meat and garbage. There is the wonderfully fragrant stench of not so fresh fish that fills the air around ponds that lose their identities in a drought. There are the pungent aromas of downtown city streets and the sewers that run underneath. Each of us differs as to what we perceive as being the worst smells. While some of our smell preference may be innate others are learned by experience. Right there at very the top of most any stench rating scale is the smell of rotting flesh.

From Genesis 8:20, “Then Noah built an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma; Then the LORD said in His heart, I will never again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done”. He liked what he smelled from the burnt offerings from Noah. So, this morning, I am going to talk about the things that God would say smells good and the things that God would say smells bad. Then I want you to ask yourself, “What do you believe you smell like?”

From today's text (verses 15 and 16): 'For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?' Paul is raising an interesting question is he not - 'And who is adequate for these things?' And what about that word 'adequate' - Sufficient to barely satisfy a minimal requirement or meet a need, barely satisfactory or minimally sufficient to barely get by or make an impression without being abundant, the least bit outstanding? Nothing in these meanings suggests the fragrant perfume of God's love has a lot of hope to overcoming deaths stink.

One of the things that smells bad to God is lack of commitment. Lack of commitment stinks. Ask yourself, when you look in a mirror do you see lack of commitment, a lack of desire to put forth just a minimal effort to make even the smallest of differences? When you make a commitment to your family, your friends, your community, to your God and you don’t fulfill that commitment to the very best of your ability then (forgive me if this offends you!) that stinks and that is just the way it hits the fan. If you decide to commit to making something work, steadfastly commit yourself to living a life that emanates God's love from every single pore. Love or death, Which do you smell like?

Let Us Pray: Almighty God, help us not to look at the immensity of the task before us, but help us to look at the immensity of our all-powerful God. With humankind many things are impossible, we feel too inadequate for the task before us but with You, God our Father, nothing is impossible. We want to trust You for supernatural workings in our lives and in the duties before us. In the name of Jesus the Christ we pray, Amen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_OTz-lpDjw&feature=g-high-rec
Newsboys - God's Not Dead
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Music video by Newsboys performing God's Not Dead (Official Music Video). (P) (C) 2012 Inpop Records. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is a vio...

Newsboys - God's Not Dead

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Music video by Newsboys performing God's Not Dead (Official Music Video). (P) (C) 2012 Inpop Records. All rights reserved. Unauthorized

Day 76: The Sweet Sweet Fragrance of God's Love

Day 76: The Sweet Sweet Fragrance of God's Love

Read: 2 Corinthians 2:14 - 17

From out of the background came these desperate pleas: "Hold on a minute, will you please slow down, you are moving too fast, you are trying too hard, you are going to set off the smoke detectors, why don't you take a chill pill, why don't you take the time to just read the recipe, stop and smell the smoke in the kitchen because it is just my guess but I am pretty sure something is surely burning." These anguished pleas came from my Mom when one fine day I decided that I could do a better job than she could making breakfast. It was a Mother's day, I was down in the kitchen, and even if I ended up smoking everybody out of the house - Mom was getting breakfast in bed!

Everything was everywhere. Egg shells were spread across the kitchen. Pancake mix spread and splattered all over the cupboards. Big blotches of butter were all over the stove where it refused to be shaken off the fork and into the frying pan. I hammered and hammered the side of the pan but the butter refused to budge. The burners were up full and the butter that did end up in the pan was splattering everywhere on me. I was a mass of frustration and my voice got louder and louder. The kitchen was now smelling like old stale grease, burning toast (I set it way too high), and burning eggs. My eyes were watering, my nose was assailed with nothing my Mom would've made.

My Mom eventually came to my rescue. The kitchen was a smoke filled disaster area and I was in tears, not from the smoke, but because I felt like I let my Mom down on her special day. I looked at her and observed "You always make it look so easy and smell so nice." She just smiled back, hugged me and thanked me for trying before we set ourselves to the task of cleaning my best efforts up. Nowadays, I think all of us would agree that the sense of smell has a strong power to vividly bring back memories, and images of people and places and special times in our lives. The sense of smell is very definitely more important than we realize. It is a powerful means of communication.

The Apostle Paul writes to countless generations of believers and gentiles alike: 'For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?' (verses 15 and 16)

God created us with many special abilities we call senses. Smell is probably the least appreciated but potentially the most powerful. We communicate with the outside world through our senses. Without smell, taste becomes limited. When combined, we are are able to enjoy an almost limitless array flavors and fragrances. God enjoys fragrances too. Especially the sweet fragrance of love that arose from His Son Jesus' sacrifice for us at Calvary. However, it did not end there. When we seek to extend our own senses of smell from our worldly kitchen toward the heavenly banquet God has already prepared for us in heaven, others will want to know just where God's kitchen is.

Let Us Pray: Creator God, open our eyes that we may see, open our ears that we may hear, awaken our noses that we may smell, open our mouths that we may taste all that is good which comes first from You. Let our lives become the very sweetest of fragrances that draws others to Your heavenly kitchen. Let our lives touch others with the sweet fragrance of love emanating from the love of Your Son Jesus Christ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suMhQ3ETCyI

How He Loves Us - David Crowder (Matt Chandler & John Piper)

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A video describing and highlighting just how great the love of God is. When we truly see that He loves us right where we are it sparks a desire in us to wors...

Day 75: Now That You Have Tasted The Lord ...

Day 75: Now That You Have Tasted The Lord ...

Read: 1Peter 2:1 - 3

According to a recent article I just read on nutrition, the authors said that eating right doesn’t have to be so complicated. Nutritionists say there is a simple way to tell if you are really eating right. Colors. Colors are the skeleton keys to a healthy life. Fill your plates with bright colors. Greens, reds, yellows, oranges, plums. In fact, I did that this morning. I had a couple of bizarrely long strawberry Twizzlers, an entire snack cup of tangerines and a Peanut Butter and blackberry preserve sandwich on toasted white bread. They were incredibly delicious! I never knew eating right could be so visually appealing so easily prepared. Ah, Breakfast in heaven at my own home.

Our text talks about a completely, yet no less savory, different kind of taste; a taste of the Lord’s goodness. Hey, Wait a minute ... tasted of His goodness? Wow! You can really 'taste' the Lord's goodness? What does it taste like? How is it prepared. What is the recipe? Where was it prepared? What grocery store do I have to go to and buy a couple of jars or cans or whatever? My question right back to you is this: Who of you there right now hasn’t tasted of the Lord’s goodness and not realized it? Even if a person didn’t know the Lord personally they've still tasted of His goodness. Have you counted all your earthly and heavenly blessings lately? Have you looked around lately?

Are you a spiritual baby who has not yet been weaned from their formula? Have you not yet moved on to the spiritual bottles of 'Gerber's baby food? I loved my peas and carrots but absolutely despised spinach. Please do not take offense for I am not in the least bit trying to cast you in any kind of negative light. I just found out that my wife and I are going to be first time grandparents next year and my mind has suddenly become fixated on 'baby stuff'. I am just so incredibly blessed. I cannot wait to kiss it. As I am trying to say, there is nothing wrong with being a baby, in the spiritual sense. Every Christian starts there, every maturing Christian will at some point inevitably find themselves returning there.

Like a baby, whether a newborn or maturing believer, at one time or another we all need to be nourished. We need our nourishment that we may grow up strong and thrive along the long and winding courses of the lives we are given by God. There is nothing that nourishes us more like the spiritual milk provided to us through the pages of the Bible. This is the Living Word of God! These are the basic nutritional building blocks of faith that every non believer or believer needs to build up strong and healthy bodies: faith, hope, trust, love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, redemption, salvation in no other name save our Resurrected Savior Jesus Christ. Taste of the goodness of God!

Let Us Pray: Almighty God, You created us in Your image. You nourish us and sustain us still to this very this day as You nourished and sustained the Israelites with manna from heaven. Since we cannot live by this bread alone, let it be by every word that comes from your mouth and Your Word, make us hunger for this heavenly food, that it may nourish us today in the ways of eternal life; thru Jesus Christ, the bread of heaven. Amen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSXpFsjSc-4&feature=g-high-rec

What a Savior - Laura Story

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Lyrics What a Savior - Laura Story Lyrics Verse 1 Atoning sacrifice Keeper of this life Hallelujah, You are Savior Beginning and the end Forgiver of my sin

Day 74: Overcoming Ourselves: Seeking Jesus In The Darkness.

Day 74: Overcoming Ourselves: Seeking Jesus In The Darkness.

Read: John 3:1 - 17

What is the one thing that you’re scared of? Think about that for just a few moments. I mean what is or who is it that really frightens you? Perhaps it’s something you think of regularly or maybe it’s something or someone you would much rather go far out of your way to avoid. Perhaps it is a situation the mere thought of which sends waves of shivers rushing down your spine. The one thing, the one person, the one place, the situation you pray does not become the least bit obvious that you are avoiding at all costs. The one thing, the one person, the one place, the one situation, the one time you will become instantly defensive over, the one's excused by 'plausible deniability'?

I know that it is the beginning of the weekend. I can guess that for most it has been a long week filled with long hours of pre-christmas "I can't wait for the Christmas Party" boredom, tedium and rushing from pillar to post to make travel arrangements, buying the right gifts and then shipping them to all the right places around our vast globe, in the process making sure you get just the right card for this person or that, writing the perfect note explaining why you didn't do a better job of keeping in touch like you so eloquently promised the year before then being sure you've bought sufficient numbers of forever stamps to mail them. Yes, perhaps these are those most frightening things.

For many of us folks in the real world, we have this conscious or subconscious fear of the darkness that night time brings. We cannot always see where we are going. We cannot clearly see or distinguish the faces of the people walking up and down the city sidewalks. We may possibly become more naturally suspicious, that these suspicions will overwhelm our otherwise naturally confident nature. We will enter our twilight zones in secret because we do not want to admit to anyone, including ourselves let alone to family, friends or neighbors, that we are trying to overcome something about ourselves that we would never otherwise do in the day light - that is to seek the Light of God, the true Light of This world - His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Do you remember the story of Nicodemus? He was a highly esteemed member of the Pharisees, a very influential religious sect that gave Jesus a lot of trouble. There was one - named Nicodemus - who wanted to learn from Jesus. However, he was greatly afraid of his brethren. So he secretly went to Jesus at night so he would not be seen. Nicodemus, this greatest of teachers, whose knowledge of the Hebrew Scripture was second to no one, feared perhaps there was something of greatest significance to him that was missing, something that he was willing to risk everything he had to find it. I am wondering, if we wearing Nicodemus' shoes that night, what is it or who is it we would need to walk into the night to overcome, to find the only true Light of our salvation?

Let Us Pray: Dear God, please give me the courage to enter the darkness, to get in touch with and face all my fears so I don't set myself up to fail. And please lead me to the help I need to overcome them so I can honestly say with David, 'I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.' (Psalm 34:4) Thank you for guiding me through my darkness toward Your marvelous light and new hope. I thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, Amen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB1NJV3rG6k

You never let go - Matt Redman

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Thank you Lord - for never letting go of me. I am empty. I long for You as I long for water in a desert. Personal Note: Thank you all for watching and leavin...