There have been times in my life when I did not have the relationship with Christ that I would have liked.  There have been times when I have been angry with God or have questioned God on why things have transpired the way they did.

This scripture reminds me that when I act in such a way that I hurt those who love me, I also hurt God.  It reinforces for me that I need Christ to help me on this journey.  For as much as I would like to, I cannot do this on my own.  I need God to be that guiding force in my life.

Finally, this scripture reminds me that no matter how far from the path we have ventured; God is always waiting for us to come home.  Nothing feels   better than being washed and being cleansed of our sins!  I am comforted by knowing that I am now intentional about traveling the road with Christ and that no matter what may come to pass He will always be with us.

Gracious and Heavenly Father, please do open our lips and mouths and give us strength and endurance in order to spread your word and love throughout our community.  Help us to live lives so that all may know we are followers of Christ.  In His holy name we pray.  Amen.

The most important time to “listen” is when we are praying.  We can grow our Christian faith and nourish our Christian life by regularly studying the bible and attending Church services.  But the way to pull it all together is to “listen” as we talk daily with God in prayer… “I need help”…“Why am I here?”… ”What should I do with my life?”… ”Which path should I choose?”…”Will you forgive me for what I did?”….”What is the right thing for me to do?”

In this busy world of ours, it is hard to filter out the constant distractions and concentrate on what we want to accomplish.  How should we talk with God?

Matthew offers this advice:

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret; and your father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:6

Before we pray, we need to eliminate distractions and find a private location.  So next time you want to talk with God, just shut the door and listen.

Father, we thank you for listening to our prayers. Help us to hear your reply. We want to learn your plan for us.  Amen

As a younger person I used to think those words had a much different meaning than I do now. When I was young I thought that there were some people who had a lot more wealth than I did and therefore were required to do more for other people. As I got older, I realized that wealth can be found in  different forms. I am lucky to be wealthy with wonderful relationships with my family, my friends, my work colleagues and my church.

It is through my church that I really began to realize that I was one of those people that much more is required. Through God’s grace I have been allowed to live a life of plenty while so many others struggle with basic necessities. Who am I if I do not heed the call that is demanded in Luke 12:48?

I have been fortunate to witness the act of giving in the most unselfish ways through my work as a Preschool Director and a Youth Mission Advisor. It is truly remarkable to watch our children and our Youth who have been given so much, give so much of themselves. Children have the unique ability to see what is important and act selflessly. I have witnessed a high school boy get a cheeseburger for a dying man in a hospice center, watched an entire youth group provide a dance party for the residents of an adult disabilities facility, and seen a 3-year-old child place a bag of food in a box for the needy. Much has been given.

Lord, please give us the strength to realize what we have been given and to meet our requirement. Amen

I believe it is the universality of its message.  Maybe the time is right to bring it back. The play caused people to re-evaluate their vision of the American Dream that had become such a nightmare for some. They questioned their work ethic and the value of money, much of it lost in the Great Depression. The play raised the questions of the day that many of us are faced with now, with our nation in severe recession. Possessions may fall by the wayside. But family icon Grandpa protested, “Nobody can take my happiness away from me, no matter what they do to the world.”

Grandpa’s insistence on clinging to his happiness reminds us that no matter what may happen, we are never alone in this world. There is an invisible    companion who longs for our company. God is with us. In Him we find our happiness, and here is where we should put our heart.

In the Gospel of Matthew, 6:19-21, we are admonished: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Heavenly Father of the universe, help us all to see that the only thing of true value in our lives is our relationship with You and Your Son, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

2 Corinthians 6:1  implores us: do not accept the grace of God in vain. Oh my! I think that’s what I was doing when I tucked my “salvation” so neatly on the shelf and went about my life trying not to feel guilty about my sins Jesus had to bear on the cross… I tried to stop sinning, but honestly, it was impossible. I was making his burden worse every day, but I felt pretty sure I wouldn’t go to hell.

What a mess our sin put us all in. There is no one who is righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10). For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).  We might become the righteousness of God!  What a transformation that should be.  That, for some reason, doesn’t compare to my original goal of avoiding hell.

So how do I do this? It still starts with God’s grace and our faith.  New paradigm: it’s about God, not me.  I confess and am forgiven, and God looks at me and sees the righteousness Christ brought me.  As I ponder the Good News that God loves us so much, I rest there and feel God’s love, and naturally, I am learning to love him back. That’s what God wants.  He wants us to love him.

As that relationship develops, my love for him makes me want to please him, and naturally, my attitudes and behaviors are going to change because the desires of my heart are changing.  I start to see others as God sees them, which makes me love them.  Me, I love God and I love you.  God does this transformation and God gets the glory.

God, we love you.  Help us to love you more, with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and help us to love each other.

Christ’s message turned everything upside down when He lived on this earth.  To become great, He told His followers to become servants to others.  To rise up, stoop low.  The last shall be first, and the first last.  To become significant in the kingdom, become like a little child. 

Our culture, like every other culture throughout history, is very self-absorbed.  Selfishness transcends time, race, and societies.  But because we have more   disposable income than any other people in history, we have more that we can spend to indulge ourselves.  Everywhere we look, ads tell us that our lives are deficient if we don’t have this new vehicle or this latest gadget.  Though we might claim to be shrewd, we are all infected by at least a light case of consumerism. 

The promise of advertising is that the product or service will give us fulfillment in our lives.  People who have walked with God for awhile, though, understand the danger in this lie.  We know that having more stuff only fills us for a short time, and soon we thirst for even more. 

We know that we really live only when we really give! 

The deepest thrill of our lives comes when we pour out our lives to help those who can never invite us to a fancy dinner party or take us out on their yacht. When we help others and expect nothing in return, we are most like God and He blesses us beyond anything the world can offer. 

Dear Lord, illumine our thoughts and inspire us to practice selfless giving in all that we do.  Amen.

I really don’t like being wrong.  More importantly, I really don’t like admitting that I am wrong.  As a young man I often chose to believe that I was not wrong, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  Somewhere along the maturing process I came to realize that I am wrong.  A lot. 

I think many people outside of the church think many Christians are like that young man I used to be.  A common complaint I have heard about Christians is that we are perceived to be judgmental and hypocritical.  Basically, we      Christians are often viewed as a people that think we know all of the answers… even though we fail to live up to what we preach. 

What I love about Psalm 51 is the honesty in the heart of the psalmist in regards to sin.  My sin is always before me… Indeed I was born guilty.  Often times we look at sin as something non-Christians do.  Whenever there is an act of terrorism or a natural disaster there are outspoken Christians who are quick to pass judgment and suggest that the victims got what they deserved because of their sin.  Those people are assuming that the sin of others is greater in God’s eyes than their own sin.  The psalmist goes on to say “I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.”  But this ability to teach does not come without first having contrition and forgiveness.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.”  We are all sinners.  We all fall short of the glory of God.  Lent is a time of prayer and preparation.  It is a perfect time to admit our sins to God and      ourselves, ask for forgiveness, and welcome in His spirit.  We can then take the message of Jesus out to the world… not with judgments… but with honesty and humility. 

God, I am a sinner.  Every day I fall short of your glory.  Take my broken spirit and my contrite heart as my sacrifice and fill me with the joy of your Holy Spirit… so that I can go out into the world as an honest and humble servant of your Word.  Amen.

I have a GPS on my cell phone.  If you don’t know what a GPS (Global Positioning System) is — it’s a device that tracks exactly where you are at any given time, and can tell you how to find just about any place on the planet.  It’s kind of like a map — only better, in my opinion, because it talks to you and tells you where to go.  My GPS has a name.  It’s Andrew.  Andrew is so polite and patient with me.  If I don’t know how to get somewhere,  Andrew tells me when to turn left or right, and will even tell me if there is “traffic congestion ahead.”  If I miss a turn, or get off the route, Andrew very calmly  says, “Make the next legal U-turn.” And if I go too far off the route, Andrew lets me know that he is “recalculating route” and again, very calmly tells me how to get back to the right direction.  I really like Andrew.  When I have Andrew with me, I know I won’t get lost. 

God knows the roads pretty well too — the road to abundant and eternal life is God’s favorite.  And God wants to not only tell us, but to journey with us on the road.  Unfortunately, we have a long history of getting distracted,          wandering away, and ending up lost.  It started in the Garden, continued through the Wilderness, throughout the Scriptures, and beyond.  Way back then, and still today, God calls us to return. 

Reynolds Price, author and professor at Duke University, translates John 3:16 this way: For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so all who trusted in him might not be lost but have eternal life. 

God loves the world, every single person, even you and me—so much, that God doesn’t want us to be lost.  God wants us to be on the right road, journeying together.  This Lent, listen for God’s calm and patient voice saying, “make the next legal U-turn and return to me.”  

Loving God, forgive me for ever wandering away – most of the time I didn’t even     realize I was doing it, but then there have been times that I knew I was wandering away from you and your love.  Keep me on the road with you, and guide me in the best way to go.  Thank you for your patience and grace and love.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 35-39 

Many of us have our favorite passages of scripture that we commit to memory and that we recite for different reasons. Some of us recite our passages when we are afraid and need assurance. Others recite theirs to praise God when they are joyful. 

Two of my favorite passages are Philippians 4:13 and Romans 8:35-39.  I recite the former when I know that I need strength for a task that I have to undertake and doubt my abilities to accomplish it; and the latter, I recite when my world seems upside down. This passage reminds me that God is in control and that no matter how grave a situation is, God is, has been, and will always be in  control. We can only pray for God to help us have faith in Him. For it is only through Christ, our Savior, that we are comforted, healed, and saved. 

Dear God, strengthen our faith in you to always look to you for all our needs. Send us your Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us. This we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen

As we move through a time of reflection, the words “we are a Party People not Party Poopers” flashes through my head.  We as people do not revel in the glory enough. “The Life You Always Wanted” series left a lasting impression on me. I went out and bought a bottle of bubbles and started blowing them out the window when stuck in traffic. What crazy looks I received, and what    awesome feelings went through my heart. I only wished that I could jump out of the car and tell folks what the bubbles symbolized for me. Writing this devotional is going to have me out buying another bottle for future use. 

The signs of God’s Blessings and Love are everywhere. We can try to ignore them, but they will jump up and grab you no matter what. When you least   expect it, expect it. When you need a shoulder it is there. In the darkness of   despair, the light of God will shine through. The story below was in the newspaper several weeks ago, and it touched me. 

When Wismond Exantus was pulled from the rubble of a hotel grocery store on Saturday, January the 23^rd in Haiti, he said he was hungry. He had survived by eating cookies and drinking beer and cola. He explained that he thought every night about how he would survive. Here is the quote that brought tears to my eyes, “It was God who was tucking me away in his arms. It gave me strength.”   Wow! 

Dear God, please grant me the strength to never let doubt rule my behavior. Grant me the wisdom to use all of the many blessings that you have bestowed on me, and my family, in your service. Grant me the strength to choose Faith over Fear at each of life’s crossroads. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen