Taking Off the Mask

Devotion:  James 5:13-20

“Can you imagine what it would be like to be able to take off your mask and bare your soul to other Christians and to know that you would not receive condemnation from them but rather help in the form of intercessory prayer?”  That was the opening question in my James precept written originally in 1960.

Sixty one years later, I ask you the same question.  The same question still applies; “Can you take off the “invisible mask” you hide behind and bare your soul?”  I would say most professing Christians cannot be trusted with your deepest darkest secrets. In fact it’s been said that most prayer groups are just gossip groups.  It can happen that even close friends cannot wait to share what you’ve shared in prayerful confidence.

THIS IS WHY EVEN CHRISTIAN PEOPLE SUFFER ALONE!

Healing cannot come because we do not possess the freedom to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another.  Prayers seem ineffective versus effective because they flow from unrighteous lips.  God says, “If we regard iniquity in our hearts; the Lord will not hear our prayer.”

There is an amazing comparison to how we have felt hidden behind the masks we have been mandated to wear for the last year and a half. We’ve felt our own hot breath as we have exhaled our own carbon monoxide. ”

Here’s what I found on line about CO.

“CO, a low molecular weight gas, is a ubiquitous environmental product or organic combustion, which is endogenously in the body.  CO binds to hemoglobin resulting in decreased oxygen delivery to bodily tissues at toxicological concentrations.”

In the same way; toxic poison flows from unrighteous lips.  We’ve all been guilty at some point.  The Bible calls us “talebearers”.

You and I have watched as people avert their eyes to engaging with anyone.  It doesn’t matter where you stand on mask wearing; our already toxic world actually has become more emotionally toxic.  People alienate themselves to protect themselves.  There are degrees of alienation depending upon the level of toxicity.  Personality, circumstances, levels of hurt, and the trust factor all come into play.

I would encourage you to examine your own heart to see if you are a talebearer.  Take off your mask and confess that sin before the Father and repent of it.  Find one or two trusted intercessors who will keep your prayer confidential.  What a wonderful God idea straight from the throne room.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus,  I am taking off my mask before You and my brothers and sisters in Christ.  Forgive me for every unbelief, every unkind word, every wrong action.  I wait for You, just as I am without one plea.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

Strange Bird

Devotion:  1 John 2:13-17

I was driving home from my Marketplace Ministries job the other evening on a back road and all of a sudden there appeared coming from the right side of the road the strangest bird I had ever seen.  It appeared to be about two feet high and there was not a feather on it.  It was totally naked.  Scared me to death.  It was one of those stranger than fiction kind of moments.

What I did not realize; is that currently, it is molting season for many of the bird species and turkeys are some of them.  Quite honestly, I didn’t  know turkeys go through a molting stage.  It is quite the sight to behold for sure.  As I recall what happened, I felt as if I had been transported into a science fiction movie, or Jurassic park maybe.

There are many ways we can be not only transformed by the world or because of the world but transformed into someone the world does not honestly understand or recognize.  The Bible calls us strangers and aliens in this world.  The world calls us strange birds but that’s okay.  God knows we truly don’t fit here very well anyway.

Many believers try to look and act like the world.  They refuse to come out and be set apart from the rest of the world.  Christ is the One who asks us to do so.  He is fully God and fully man, One whom the world could not identify with.  We truly are strange birds; set apart, holy and acceptable to God.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus, thank You for making me strange to this world.  I long to be holy and set apart, unto You.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

 

Patiently Endure

Devotion: James 5:10-11

Today, I am still thinking about, dwelling on what God’s Word has to say about patience.

As long as we have life; Christians need to patiently endure whatever God has allowed to come into our lives.  We want whatever is good and true and just to be at the forefront of our minds and hearts.

We are to be pleasers of God and not men.  Obey Him and do His will, not your own or the will of anyone else.  We may be forced to wait on His answer but can we wait patiently?  Have you ever seen someone waiting in traffic and continually switching lanes .  You might be behind me.  Just kidding.   However, I have observed people swerving in and out because they cannot sit still.

Some things just do not lift off our spirit as quickly as we would like.  I do not know about you, however; patiently enduring is not  my strong suit.  It is only when I submit to God’s Holy Spirit that I can exhibit patience, this fourth attribute of the fruit of the Spirit.

Romans 12:12 admonishes us to be patient in affliction and persistent in prayer. Those two definitely go together.  I do not for one minute believe one can be patient in affliction if one is not persistent in prayer to the Savior.

How are you doing?  Are you patiently enduring all that’s going on in your life and the world?  Are you patiently enduring all that’s going on at work, at church or in your family?

We are to live in harmony with one another and not be proud.  Choose to associate with those who are humble because a humble and contrite heart, the Lord says He will not despise.  Patiently endure my friend.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord, please help me patiently endure all that You have alllowed to come into my life and the world.  I long for You to be pleased with me.  In Jesus Name.  Amen

 

No Purpose Thwarted

Devotion:  Job 42:1-6

Thwart means to prevent someone from accomplishing something.  No purpose of God’s can ever be thwarted.  No enemy can prevent Him from accomplishing what He sets out to accomplish in someone’s life.

Encouragement extraordinare!  Who needs some about now?  When you think of God’s servant Job, do you get depressed or sad?  Honestly, I consider it one of the most up-building, restorative, spirit renewing books in the Old Testament.  You know why?  Because it puts on full display the character of one of God’s favorite people.

I believe Job brought to God pure, full on pleasure; when no matter what God allowed;  he continued to respond in worship and praise to His Creator, Redeemer and Friend. He refused to curse God and die as his wife suggested.  The man from Uz knew how to keep his focus fixed on the Author and Finisher of his faith.  I need to learn from him.

I wonder if we will choose to say with Job, “I know that You can do all things; and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”  Job declares that he had heard by the hearing of the ear the things about God but He says; “Now my eye sees you.”  He has experienced the hand of God Almighty.  He saw what he had heard and knew everything he had heard about God to be true.

The best way to learn and remember a life principle, is through a storm allowed by God.  The tests He allows come about for our good and His glory.  Hard as they may seem, every one is teaching us and training us in righteousness.  Is it easy? No!  Is it fun? No!  Is it beneficial?  Yes.  Again, “No purpose of God’s can be thwarted.

Prayer in Motion:

Thank You Lord that no purpose can be thwarted, not for me or those for whom I am praying.  In Jesus Name.  Amen,

 

 

 

Inspired

Devotion:  2 Corinthians 4:9

How long has it been since you’ve been inspired?  Deeper still; do you even know what inspires you? Would you know inspiration if it was standing in front of you?  Truth be told, if you  ignore those little moments, flutters of inspiration; they will go away, not forever; but for a time.

There are times our hearts are engulfed by grief, the grief of a loss so great, we can barely breathe.   The One who bore all of our grief and sorrow on the cross; says, “This is just sadness of heart.”  Dear friend, sorrow and sadness are part of life.  It’s the yucky part, this part of your journey;  but God will use it to transform you into His image.

When “You are persecuted, you are not abandoned, just struck  down (for a moment)  but not destroyed, always carrying in your body the dying of Jesus.”  He longs to be the lifter of your head.  Through His Word and prayer;  He will inspire you again.  Wait for it with hopeful expectation.

Out of a broken heart comes a new person, one that longs for wholeness and restoration.  Wholeness and restoration are coming dear one, this side of eternity.  Will you trust God for it?  How I long for wholeness and restoration for my soul. God promises in Psalm 23 to restore our souls.  I believe it’s coming for you and me.

Restoration of anything takes time.  I recently restored my kitchen table and chairs.  I am not patient and can I say; it took some time.  The chairs took the longest because of all the spindles.  Why would I not expect the restoration of a relationship to take a while?

As horrible as it is, inspiration can flow out of deep sorrow; grief and pain.  You have to seek it from the One who longs to give it.  I believe God longs to supply for us peace that surpasses all understanding in the midst of the brokenness.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord, “out of my bondage and sorrow and night, Jesus I come. Into Thy goodness, gladness and light, Jesus I come to Thee.”  Lord the old hymns are full of encouragement.  Help me find one and sing it to you today.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

 

 

Scoffers

Devotion:  2 Peter 3:3-4

In the past, I’ve had a couple of people make ridiculous statements like; “I tried praying and it just didn’t work.”  What?  Did you expect God to answer instantly, so you quit?  Another one is; “I tried tithing and I didn’t see God blessing my finances.  It just didn’t work for me.”  Goodness!  By whose standards?  It is still robbing God of what He has required of you.  Both decrees are choosing to follow your own sinful desires and in so doing, disobeying God.

God tells us in the latter days, there will be such a great falling away, that even the elite will be deceived.   Much of the church has adopted the ways of the world, accepting what God calls an abomination as ok.  You may be called legalistic; old fashioned or a plethora of other names; however, if your beliefs lines up with the Word of God, dear one, you stick with the gospel truth.

Jude 18 declares: “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.  Verse 19 says it is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the Spirit.”  There are many people who want to identify so closely with the world that they become like the world so an onlooker cannot tell the difference between a believer and a non-believer.  God admonishes us to come out and be set apart from the world.

We should care far more about what God thinks; versus what our friends or acquaintances think.  We should not dress like, think like or act like the rest of the world no matter how much scoffing they do.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord Jesus, I do not care about the scoffers.  I only care about what You say.  I will obey You Lord.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

 

 

Merciful Father

Devotion:  2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“God has a multitude of all kinds of mercies.  As our hearts and the devil are the father of variety of sins, so God is the father of variety of mercies.  There is no sin or misery but God has a mercy for it.  He has a multitude of mercies of every kind…If your heart be hard, his. mercies are tender.  If your heart be dead, he has mercy to liven it.  If you be sick, he has mercy to heal you.  If you be sinful, he has mercies to sanctify and cleanse you.”

It was the middle of the night when I read the above words of hope out of Dane Ortland’s Gentle and Lowly.  Many of us have dis-ease in our souls at different times in our lives.  The Father “envelopes us with pursuing gentleness, sweetly governing every last detail of our lives.”

I recalled covenant words spoken by the pastor at our wedding.  In the midst of hard grief over my son’s waywardness, I recalled;  “What God has ordained, no man can put asunder.”  You see God has ordained good and evil.  Then I read Dane’e words, “But through and underneath and fueling all that washes into our lives, great and small, is the heart of a Father.”  Our Father will always bring to light what is hidden in the darkness.  There is still mercy for that.  His mercies are new every morning and great is His faithfulness.

You see dear reader; God bestows “endless mercies over-flowingly providing for us in our many needs and failures and wanderings.  That is who He is.  His tenderness toward you outstrips what you are even capable of toward yourself or anyone else.”

Prayer in Motion:

Merciful Father, I beseech You by Your mercies to multiply Your mercies toward _______________.  “I need You Oh I need You.  Every hour I need You.  Oh, bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee.”  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Patient Like a Farmer

Devotion:  James 5:1-8

When words paint a picture, they become solidified in your mind and many times in your heart.  Like seed in a fertile soil, words can produce fruit that will feed your hungry soul in the future.  In other words; they are long lasting.

James painted many word pictures in Chapter 5.  How many of us are familiar with the weeping and howling that comes from misery?  No material thing will last forever.  According to this passage, riches rot, garments become moth eaten, and the gold and silver of your treasury will rust.

The Lord speaks in verse four about hearing the prayers of those who have harvested. We should ask ourselves what have we harvested?  I long to be a harvester in my Lord’s field that is white for harvest.  I know you do as well.

Farmers prepare the soil, plow it up, plant the seed, fertilize the soil around the seeds, water the erupting plants, and rid the soil of weeds that try to choke out the vines that will produce much fruit.   Good soil is imperative.  Water and sun are imperative.  Weeds being pulled is imperative.  Patience is imperative.

If you impatiently went out and watched every step of a seed dying, the vine erupting, you would get nothing else done.  You’ve got to trust the process.  It’s the same way while you are waiting on a prayer to be answered.  God is working in the person’s life.  You’ve got to leave the process to Him.

Prayer in Motion:

Jesus, my Savior, help me to be patient and wait upon You.  I love You and trust You with the process.  in Jesus Name.  Amen.

Accepting Your Assignment

Devotion:  1 Samuel 15:22

Teachers make assignments everyday to their students.  It is part of the learning process one puts in to practice. Some assignments are easy and some are more difficult.  Some assignments take a minute and others take a lifetime.  How will you respond?

Our assignments can be very different.  One may be easy and another one may be very difficult.  What kind of assignment has the Lord given you?  Is it one of a broken relationship?  Is it one of great loss or devastation?  There may have been a deed done against you.    You must come to a place of acceptance in your own new reality.

Have you ever thought; “Is this really happening or is it just a bad dream?”   Some assignments are very hard to accept but accept you must in order to move forward.  Your assignment is given by God for your good and His glory.

We were all created equally to enjoy the pleasures for which God created us.  There are those things in life that you expect to go a certain way.  After all that’s how it was when you were growing up.  What has changed?  Actually, a lot has changed.  Nothing has changed as far as God’s immutable Word.  His assignments are unstoppable; and His will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Our assignment may simply be to become counter cultural, kick against the goads.  It takes a measure of courage to follow the ways of your Teacher versus the ways of the world; however through God you can learn and grow through your assignment.

Prayer in Motion:

Jesus, I love You! Help me to learn and grow from whatever assignment You give me.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Words of Repentance

Devotion:  Hosea 14:1-2

This is the heart cry of the prophet Hosea before the Lord on behalf of Israel.  No one else can bestow forgiveness like the Lord.  How long will we stay in the prodigal field and be away from the Lord?  How long will we stumble in our iniquity?

              Take Words of repentance with you.

Words of repentance are so important.  They are important to speak and important to hear.  Who is the one you need to go to and repent for words or actions you committed against them?  Maybe there is more than one person.

Are you walking in the ways of the Lord?  Over in vs 9 of Hosea 14, we read that the rebellious stumble in the ways of the Lord.  are we being foolish as we disobey the Lord and then refuse to repent?  Yes, of course we are.  God’s faithful love is constant.  Much of the world loves evil.  People love words that destroy.  God hates those words.

God longs to restore His children to forgiveness and wholeness.  We need to give it and receive it on a daily basis, from Him and from others who will offer it.  So many spread and tell lies so often, they do not even know the truth from a lie.

Remember how God declares He is our refuge and strength.  Hosea talks about the man who would not make God his refuge.  Why not?  He trusted in the abundance of his riches and took refuge in his destructive behavior.

Prayer in Motion:

Lord, give me words of repentance to speak to You and to anyone else that I have offended.  I thank You for forgiving me now and always.  May I forgive anyone who has offended me quickly.  I want to be free in Christ.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.