hldude

“We Desperately Need Restoration”

Ephesians 4:31-32 NLT

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.  Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

As I was reading this passage this morning, I thought about how we are all so often guilty of negative behavior toward other people.  It’s definitely evident in the world around us each day, especially during this time of election.  I get so tired of commercials showing candidates bashing each other.  But, it’s not only evident in the secular world around us, but sadly also very evident in the church today as well. 

If we were to be absolutely honest, often this behavior happens more in the church than in the secular world.  Ouch!  In all my years of paid ministry and volunteer ministry, I have seen so much that has broken my heart as people treat each other in so many ways they never should.  I have been very guilty of this myself in many ways through the years. 

Paul is very adamant that we need to get rid of all this evil behavior that consumes us and, instead be consumed with kindness, love and compassion for each other.  The world really needs to see the church be the example of Christ that it needs to be.  If we are filled with bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words and slander, who in the world would want to be around us?  If we are filled with this behavior, how is the love of Christ going to shine through us?  Just the opposite!

My wife, kids and I really enjoy watching HGTV shows.  We are often surprised and make loud comments when people walk into homes that look disgusting.  We often wonder how in the world people could treat homes the way they do.  Some home are left in awful condition and it’s often a turnoff to many realtors and home flippers.  The one thing they want to do in these homes is get rid of everything that makes the home sale impossible.  They want to get rid of everything disgusting and replace all of that with things that will bring in home buyers.  The home flippers will go to whatever lengths they have to in order to make the home presentable and inviting. 

Friends, we also need to work desperately hard to rid our lives of the disgusting things Paul mentions and fill our lives and attitudes instead with the love of Christ so that people feel invited more to know the love of God.  We cannot afford to set a bad example of behavior for others when they need to see God’s love. 

We need to daily resist the temptation to fly off the handle and instead allow God’s love to fill us and bring us to forgiving others and showing unconditional love that God showed to us. 

Weekly Devotional Blog Site www.zwdevotions.com

“Let Us Hold Tightly To Hope”

Hebrews 10:23

NIV- Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

NLT- Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

The other morning, I was reading this passage and the timing could not been better and I’m sure it will be good timing for many of you to read this as well.  This passage hit me as I’ve thought about all the different challenges and obstacles so many people, including myself, have dealt with this year.  2020 has definitely been a year where many people have had their faith and hope tested.

So many people these days are hoping for so many things.  I have found myself hoping for many things as well.  Often times, our hopes are dashed because of past pain that has resurfaced or new pain that has come up.  We all continue to deal with current and new challenges as this pandemic goes on.  We feel fear, panic, worry, concern and so many other different emotions as we continue to listen to news and statistics of what’s going on.

There are days when I find myself holding onto hope in God that He is in control and then other days when I don’t feel much hope for one reason or another.  I find myself becoming discouraged from hearing about constant issues coming up with the pandemic and other things happening.  I’m not a political person at all, as I’ve shared in the past, and I’m so ready for all this election stuff to end.  Some days, I’m finding my head and heart full of concerns and worries that I need to give to God. 

God is inviting me each day to turn over these things that weigh me down and allow His hope to fill me as only He can do.  Friends, we need to hold on very tightly to the hope we have in God.  Just because we have chosen to follow God and committed our lives to Him, that will NEVER make us immune to the pressures and discouragement of this world.  Each day, we need to commune with God and ask Him to fill us with His presence and pray that He will give us strength to continue to have hope in Him.

God is faithful and He will lead us on, even in the midst of such a crazy year.  He will always be faithful and we can always trust and hope in Him.  I hope and pray that each of us finds new hope in God every day that we wake and in the moments when we feel especially weak. 

Let us hold tightly and unswervingly to the hope we profess because God can be trusted and He is forever faithful!

Weekly Devotional Blog Site www.zwdevotions.com

“Understand This Most Of All”

Deuteronomy 7:9 NLT

Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God.  He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.

There are a lot of things in life that I don’t understand and cannot wrap my mind around to even begin to comprehend.  Some things I wish I did know and other things I know a lot about.  There are some things that I have taken great interest through the years to read up on and come to understand better.  Then there are other things that I find totally boring and don’t care to learn more about at all.

There are some things in life that I wish I understood better and some things that I really don’t care to know more about for one reason or another.  Some people make it a point to educate me on things they think I need to know.  Some of those situations I really appreciate while others I just take with a grain of salt.

Out of all the things I don’t understand and wish I could, I am very thankful to know that I understand God is an amazing God and He is more faithful than I’ll ever know.  I don’t have to know all there is to know and I never will.  No one can fully understand Him.   It comforts me to know that I don’t have to know everything to be at peace in Him. 

I often find myself becoming frustrated at things in life that I cannot understand and I feel like everyone else is “getting it” but me.  Satan knows this is a weak point in my life and he drives it hard with me often.  My wife often has to remind me this is not the case and there are many people who don’t understand a lot of things.

While there are so many things in life we don’t understand, especially this year with so many crazy things happening with the pandemic, we can rest assured to know that God is indeed a great and amazing God and He’s in control.  He indeed lavishes His love upon us each and every day.  Just knowing that He leads us and guides us should be a wonderful comfort for us.

I want to encourage all of us to stop trying to understand everything that happens in life and rest in the fact that while we can’t understand so many things, we can understand that God is indeed Who He says He is and that He will always be our great Provider. 

May we all be blessed in the coming days, weeks, months and years knowing He will continue to be faithful and loving to us all!

Weekly Devotional Blog Site www.zwdevotions.com

“The Greatest Example Of Service”

Mark 10:45 NLT

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

We have all experienced so many times in our lives when we are not servants toward others.  We all struggle with the battle of being self-centered and only focusing on what we want in life.  As I live my life from day to day, week to week, month to month and year to year, I am saddened not only by watching how others get sucked in to a self-absorbed life, but I find myself also being sucked in to becoming so self-centered so much of the time.

I think about how there are needs all around us each and every day, no matter where we go and how so many people are not coming to know the love of God because of how selfish we have become.  We miss so many opportunities because we have forgotten that Jesus calls us to a true life of serving.  He Himself gave us wonderful examples of what it means to serve others. 

We should look no further than Christ to see the best example of what it means to serve and love others.  Why have we become so bad at this?  Why have we become so self-absorbed?  We are all so guilty and we actually seem to enjoy keeping to ourselves while people all around us go about their lives not knowing God’s love. 

Jesus focused His time on building relationships with others and building a family with a group of men whom He devoted so much time to teaching.  Jesus really cared about serving and He gave some great examples of what it means to be a true servant. 

Friends, I’m not sharing anything new here.  What I am hoping and praying is that we all realize and remember how we are called and commanded to reach out and be servants for others.  He calls us to get out of our comfort zones and reach those around us, wherever we are.  What are we willing to do in order to serve people in our lives each day? 

Let us seriously consider how we may turn our focus from ourselves to serving others. 

Weekly Devotional Blog Site www.zwdevotions.com

“Daily Desperation For Almighty God”

Psalm 42:1-2

NIV- As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God?

NLT- As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.  I thirst for God, the living God.  When can I go and stand before him?

I was reading a devotional this morning and the author used the word “Desperation” describing how our longing and panting for God should be each day.  It really caught my attention and I looked at both the NIV and NLT translations and wanted to use them both for this week.  I think about how we do or do not find ourselves longing or even panting desperately for God. 

If we are really honest with ourselves, I think most of us find ourselves often longing and even panting for whatever is next to give us another “high” of what the world offers.  With all the ads and invitations we constantly see and how we really long for the next great thing the world offers, we often get pulled away and enticed instead of truly longing and thirsting for what only God offers.

We so often get so busy with our daily lives that we forget how desperate we should be for God.  As you can tell, it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve sent out a devotional.  We just got done selling a house and buying one in the same town.  For the past couple of weeks, I kept thinking about how I need to get another devotional out, but allowed myself to be consumed by everything else as we’ve worked on getting settled. 

So the case and point right there is that I longed and desired to send out another devotional and then ended up reading this morning about being desperate.  That hit home!  We so often get wrapped up in what we think is important and often forget what is really important and that is meeting with Almighty God and seeking Him above all else. 

When was the last time you and I found ourselves really longing and even panting desperately for God?  We should be this desperate each and every single day, not just when we become drained from the pull of the world that leaves us dry.  We should develop a daily desperation to seek God like we’ve never done before. 

I hope and pray that we are all encouraged this week and in the coming days, weeks, months and years to daily become desperate to seek Him like we have never done before!  We need daily desperation for Almighty God!  Our souls should long and pant for God in desperation to meet with Him!

Weekly Devotional Blog Site www.zwdevotions.com

“Do They Really See Him In Us?”

1 John 4:11-12 NLT

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.  No one has ever seen God.  But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

I have to really wonder how often unbelievers really see God in and through us.  As I consider all the ways we tend to live our lives each day as proclaimed followers of God, I just have to question whether or not we are striving for others to see Him in us?  It seems like we get so focused not only on how we want things, but also on how we want others to know how we feel about certain things. 

I just have to wonder with all the different opinions that we feel we need to share and get others to hear from us, how often are we really concerned how much God is showing through?  In all of my years of experience with secular work and working in ministry, it breaks my heart how so often His love is not expressed through how we treat one another. 

Think about this passage and read it over and over again, pondering what it is saying.  God loved us way more than we’ll ever understand.  He came to die for us and that is the greatest act of love anyone has ever expressed.  What does that mean to us?  Does it overwhelm us?  Does it move us to the point where we stop focusing so much on what we want and what we think and focus on loving others as He commanded us to?

I go to work each day and I just so often wonder if others are seeing God in me in some way.  I wonder if they notice something different in the ways that I treat others.  Sometimes, I don’t know if they see God at all in me as there are times that I don’t handle things well at all and say things I should keep to myself.  Working in the secular world for so many years has taught me so much and it has challenged me to think more about how I am around non-believers.

Loving each other is probably one of the biggest challenges we face in being the church God wants us to be.  Why is that so hard?  Sure, we have differences, but why can we not just love each other as He has called us to do?  That’s been a prayer and cry of my heart for years.  I’m sure it has been for many of you as well. 

I hope that you and I will deeply desire for others to see God’s love in and through us.  We need to work a lot hard on loving each other, especially when challenges arise.  We need to love others as best as we can, even if we don’t get along.  If we really want others to see God in us, we will obey His command with a passion in our hearts to sincerely love one another.

Weekly Devotional Blog Site www.zwdevotions.com