My Devotional Place...

2 Peter 3

The Day of the Lord 1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.[a]
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[b]That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever!

Amen.

From Focus on the Family Outreach Letter

We are certainly living in interesting times that could cause us to throw our hands up in despair, but we continue to move forward in the hope of the Gospel, expecting that in this world, we will have trouble. We do not despair; in fact, we take heart because Christ has overcome the world. We may take the time to mourn through the night, but we must then wake with the Morning Star, whose mercies are new for each of us every day. Remember that the reason we labor and persevere is because our hope and faith are in the One who calls us to stand. He has called Focus on the Family to continue to stand, armed with His Word, truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation, with a mission to nurture and defend His institution of the family. I'm standing with the strength only He can provide, and I hope you will continue to stand with me, as we pray for healing and the courage to take the challenge He has placed before us. Thank you for your faithfulness to the Lord and your hearts for His ministry.

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/

What does it take to be a Christian man?

Hi Bill,

As I read your e-mail this morning it made me ask myself, “What is reality in a Christian’s life?” What does it take to be a Christian man? What does God expect of me?

Because God knows me completely, inside and out, He knows not to expect too much from me. He knows that apart from Him, I can do nothing. But by His grace, He has given me some wonderful tools.

He has given me prayer, the privilege of walking into the throne room and telling him exactly what is going on in my life and seeking the help I need.

He has given me the ability, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to be transformed by the renewing of my mind. How does a man become transformed? By using the tool called CHOICE.

We use the tool continually all through the day, whether it is consciously or unconsciously. When we wake up we can consciously decide to live our day to glorify our Lord. By not consciously choosing to do so, we unconsciously make the choice not to.

We can consciously decide to work at having a better relationship with our wife and our children or by not consciously choosing to do so, we unconsciously make the choice not to.

Any day we wish; we can discipline ourselves to change it all. Any day we wish; we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish; we can start a new activity. Any day we wish; we can start the process of life change. We can react to a situation or consciously choose to respond to the situation. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year. We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform.

If the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause. As Shakespeare uniquely observed, "The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves."

We created our circumstances by our past choices. We also have to take the sole responsibility for those choices. We have both the ability, given by God, and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today. Those who are in search of a Godly life do not need more answers or more time to think things over to reach better conclusions. They need the truth. They need the whole truth. And they need nothing but the truth.

We cannot allow our errors in judgment, repeated every day, to lead us down the wrong path. We must keep coming back to those basics that make the biggest difference in how our life works out. And then we must make the very choices that will bring life, happiness and joy into our daily lives.

And if I may be so bold to offer my last piece of advice for someone seeking and needing to make changes in their life - If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree. You have the God given ability to totally transform every area in your life - and it all begins with your very next choice. Now just do it!

And that is reality.

When we walk to the edge of all the light we have, and we make the choice to take the step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen. God will provide something solid for us to stand on... or He will teach us to fly." – Paul Marshall

Wretched 'rescued' man that I am...

You know, I'm always trying to reconcile my faith in God through my Belief in Jesus Christ with the reality of what is going on in my private life.

You know what I mean, right? That private life we all lead and hope no-one else can see too clearly. You have one, right? Of course you do....

Anyway, since we all have one, you may be like me.... I'm always running into my weakness and slothfulness and 'worldliness' and falling short of what I read in the Bible or expect to be as a Christian man.

I feel so guilty everyday, many times, every few hours, about what I am thinking, saying and doing in my actual life vs what I know I am called to be as an example of a Christian man.

Paul relates to this paradox when he talks about his private life in Romans 7

"23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."

Paul, the greatest Apostle and self proclaimed 'greatest of sinners' admits that he has this same paradox. He reconciles his condition and proclaims that God, through Jesus Christ has rescued him.

Our Belief and faith in God through Jesus Christ is the only way out from our private lives. This does not mean, I believe, that we will be pure or holy, but that through our faith in Him we are able to practice godliness, self-control and, most importantly, empathy for others because we know we are all the same.... in our private lives.

We know that our rescue came from our faith in God through Jesus Christ, so we are forgiven and clean and equiped by His Spirit to 'put on' the wonderful attributes of God's spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, perseverence, godliness, brotherly kindness, self-control and to grow in the knowledge of God. And, Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1:8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are sinful beings, but it is the saving grace of God that has allowed us to get past our 'private lives' of sinfulness and to grow in the knowledge of God that we can ACT in love and hope and faith in this world.

Amen...

Love you all;

Even in Burbank, CA

Boy, traveling these days by the airlines is such a hassle; parking, ticketing, security, stuffed airplanes, delays, lost baggage……….. aaagghhhhh!!! But, we know that the Lord causes all things to happen for the good for those that love Him, right? Right!!

So, I’m sitting in the Burbank, CA airport waiting for my flight to Vegas and, then, Providence, RI. Waiting and waiting and waiting until a 60ish woman sits beside me and we begin a conversation;

“Hello, how are you?” She says. “I’m fine, just waiting and waiting.” I say. And we begin to share who we are and what we do, etc. etc. Seems like a nice California lady, living and working in Los Angeles, in fact, she manages the State supported farm co-op in Los Angeles. Interesting. So, we’re having a nice conversation and she begins to read the newspaper. The article that is blazoned across the front pages is about the Proposition 8 decision on Nov 4th and the subsequent protests throughout California by those that did not support the final decision which was to support the bill calling for a legal definition of marriage as that between one man and one woman.

She can’t believe it and is disturbed that so many ‘minorities’ supported Prop 8 which tipped the scales for it to be passed. This, apparently, is not the will of the people of California, but, of those folks that turned out to vote, supporting Obama, who also voted FOR Prop 8 and, thus, Prop 8 was approved. How dastardly, I thought to myself… NOT.

She stated something like; “It’s the ‘right’ of people to be able to live together and to have legal rights relative to ‘marriage’, etc. etc.” I stated the worldly focus of the disruption of traditional laws and administrative issues like, insurance and retirement plans, estates, etc. etc., but this met with a blank stare from my new acquaintance. So, empowered by the Holy Spirit, I began to explain the design of God relative to ‘one man for one woman’. It was gutsy on my part, but I felt emboldened and free to express my opinion sharing my own testimony about failures as a younger man with my relationships before my marriage and the example of my oldest daughter who waited until marriage to have sex with her new, also virgin, husband and how their marriage was an example of modern day love, compassion, respect and honor versus their friends who had tempestuous marriages with tremendous difficulties, separations and divorces.

As usual, I was pretty heavy relative to the conversation. I could see a slightly different look on her face now. She didn’t come back at me with any argument. She just had this look on her face as if she was somewhat surprised that I had gone in that direction. I could even sense a bit of an epiphany that may be going on in her mind. I am a little whacked in this regard, but, I sensed she was reflecting on her life, her relationship with, maybe, her husband (she had no wedding band on) or her other relationships in her life or whatever, but I got an incredible sense that she was having to deal with something very close to her that was touched by this differing outlook by her newly made acquaintance.

That was it, she turned back to her paper, the people on my flight began to bustle around the gate and we began the loading process. I wished her well, shook her hand and went on my way to mangle bodies together, get poured into a too-small seat for a 4+ hour flight to the east coast and meet my next new friend traveling from Las Vegas to Providence; Fred Flintstone…. It’s true. More on that later.

I wonder how my acquaintance in Burbank was effected by our conversation. The Lord only knows. Amen.

Here we go...

Hello, all;

My objective for creation of this blog is to engage other Christians in discussion regarding 'actual' evangelistic opportunities presented by the Lord and acted upon by His saints.

I pray that many will join-in and share their successes and not-so-successful opportunities in heeding the call of the Holy Spirit during actual life experiences in sharing the Gospel and/or responding to the needs of others.

We, as Believers, are called to "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15.

Join in and let's see how this goes.

Amen