Monthly Archives: August 2013

Look Around

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Today, take some time to stop and look around. I know it’s Monday. I know it’s going to Monday all day long. I know that many of us have long weeks ahead, full of tasks and worries and stress.

I totally understand that.

And because of that, those of us that are extra busy or extra worried need to stop. And look around.

Listen to the words of Psalm 89: 5-11 this morning:

Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones! For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.

sunsetLet the heavens praise you, O God. You rule the raging sea. You still the waves. The heavens are yours. The earth is yours. All the world is yours.

Today, stop and look around at the wonders that God has made. Stop and look around at the glory of God that’s all around us.

The beauty and power of creation. The sun rise (for early folks!), the sun set (for later folks!). God’s glory is all around.

The laugher of children. The virtue of hard work. The gift of health and family. The grace of friendship and of love.

The joy of salvation.

Take a moment today to look around. See what God is doing. See the small blessings. See the quiet glimpses of grace. The small wonders of God’s mercy.

Look around. And you will be blessed. You will be stunned. And you will be thankful. For we will see just how, and how glorious our God is.

And we will see just how much it is that He loves us.

Today, take time to stop. To look around. And behold the glory and beauty of God!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Who are You?

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Because I have an odd sense of humor, there are certain verses in the Bible that just make me laugh. Today’s reading has one of those passages. Listen to what happens in Acts 19: 15-17 today:

But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled.

Christ the Redeemer, Rio de JaneiroToday, some people are casting out demons in their name, and basically, they get overpowered, and somehow wind up naked and wounded. But notice what they are told – Jesus I know, Paul I recognize, but who are you?

What a great reminder for us today about where our strength comes from. Jesus. In fact, look at the end of the text, what happens? What happened was made known, and Jesus’ name was extolled (or praised).

In this we can learn a couple of things. First, our strength today comes from Jesus. Not from ourselves. Our talents. Our name. Our fame. Our power. Any of our “stuff.” Our power and strength come today from Jesus.

From Jesus only. Only from Him.

Today, in times of weakness, doubt, fear, worry, don’t turn to yourself.

Turn to Him.

And, in the end, we see that this event is used for Jesus name to be glorified and praised. We see that in this, honor is brought to Jesus.

Just like, today, in your life, even in your defeats, God can and will use it for your good and His glory. He will use this, and all things, for that purpose today.

So, trust in Him today for you strength. And you will not be empty or disappointed!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

What Grace Looks Like

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What does grace look like? Let’s look at what David does in 2 Samuel 9: 6-8 today and see.

And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, “Mephibosheth!” And he answered, “Behold, I am your servant.” And David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always.” And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”

royal-tableWhat happens here is this. David is now the king. And he wants to know if there is still someone from Saul’s family that is alive, so he can show them grace. But, wait, first remember what Saul tried to do to David repeatedly.

He tried to kill him. He threw speaks at him. He chased him around Israel. He did all in his power to kill him.

And now, as king, David wants to show kindness to a member of Saul’s family.

Why?

Well, David remembers his promise to Jonathan. He remembers his love for him, and he will honor his friend in this even though Jonathan’s dad (Saul) tried to kill him.

David will show grace.

Why? Because of his friendship with Jonathan. And because it’s what the people of God do. We have been given grace. We have been given mercy. We have been given forgiveness. We have been given so very much.

That we must give back. We must show it forth. We must give back to others out of the grace that we have been given.

David showed mercy to a man whose family tried to destroy him. He loved, because he had been loved by an awesome God.

That’s what grace looks like. To forgive when we don’t “have” to, to show mercy when there is no reason, and to see to show God’s love to all that meet each day.

That’s what grace look like.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones

How to See

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Sometimes it can be very easy to get frustrated with others when they don’t see. I am the kind of guy that often misses things that are right under my nose, the very thing that I’ll be looking for will be right in front of me, and I’ll just miss it.

We can all miss things, not see things.

This is true with the stuff of life. And it’s also true with the stuff of the spirit. Listen to what Paul writes today in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6:

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

579938003_oThere are forces working that do not want others to see the good news of the Gospel. The Gospel is freedom. The love of Jesus Christ, and His power, it is freedom. It frees the oppressed. It gives hope to the hopeless, strength to the weak.
It is life.

And as Paul says, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. Have you ever just wondered why those that don’t believe just don’t “see?” This is why.

The devil doesn’t want them to see God’s glory. He doesn’t want them to see what life is really all about. He doesn’t want them to know the life, joy, and peace that comes from Jesus.

He wants them blinded.

So, how do they see? How do we see? Not with our eyes.

With our faith. We walk by faith, not by sight. We with faith, not with our eyes. We “see” through our faith in Jesus. He allows us see things not as we “see” them, but as we really are.

I tell folks when you look just through your eyes, you won’t always see the miracles. But when you look through faith, you see miracles everywhere.

Today, for those that are blinded and cannot see, the most important thing that you can do for them is to pray. Pray that God, through the power of His spirit opens their eyes to truth and to life.

And today, for those of us that do see, let’s walk by faith, not by sight. For in that, that’s where our sight is really found.

That’s how we really see.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones

Works

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Listen to Ephesians 2:8-10 this morning:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

faith_works_landscapeWe are not saved by works. But, we are, however, saved for works.

Wait, what?

Yep. We are not saved by our works. There is nothing that we can do to save ourselves. Our works aren’t good enough. We can’t “do” enough to save ourselves, our good will never outweigh our bad, and even the good we do will most times be plagued with pride and other sin.

It’s not that we are the scum of the earth, it’s just that we are prone to choose wrong. You are, I am, we all are. That’s ok. It just who we are.

And that’s what Jesus came to save us from. And this salvation doesn’t come from anything we “do” but what He did. We aren’t saved by our actions, but we are saved by believing by faith, which is given to us by grace, in Jesus Christ.

You don’t have to earn it. You can’t earn it. Just accept it. God loves you. Believe that. Your works to earn that.

Ok, so salvation through faith. Not works.

But, look at what it says today in verse 10 – we are created for good works. So our works don’t save us. But, when we are in Christ, we walk in faith, and good works follow.

So, there’s nothing you can do (or not do) to make God love you any more (or less). He just loves you.

But, He has made you for something. You are created for something. You were made to be faithful. To serve. To love. To be salt and light. To make a difference. To live in love, grace, mercy, and truth. That’s through Him. By Him. For Him. In His grace. For His grace. For His glory.

You aren’t saved by your works. But, His grace in you will call you to be more faithful.

You are His workmanship. You are His master piece. Today, through grace, may His love flow through us. And may all folks come to know how good He is, through His grace in our lives.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones

All of Us

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Ours is an inside out faith. For us, as Christians, it all starts on the inside. Now, what we “do” matters. Our lives matter. How we live, how we speak, what we do, where we go, all these things, they really do matter.

But, they have to start somewhere. For us, as Christians, and what Jesus wants for us today, is that is what is inside will show itself.

And here’s the thing. What is inside will show itself. It’s not that it may do it. It will do it. Our actions show what’s on the inside. Listen to what Jesus says today in Mark 7: 14-15 and 20-22:

And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” . . . And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

392290825_640Jesus says that nothing outside can defile (or make unclean) a person. It’s what is inside.

But wait, then He lists a whole bunch of stuff that we shouldn’t do. And all over the Gospels, and the Bible, there are lists of things that we should do, and things that will leave us condemned.

So, what gives?

It starts on the inside. The faith that is inside, the faith that’s in our hearts, that faith that’s really down, within us, it will show itself with our actions. Our faith will be made known in what we do. How we will. Our actions. Our “works.”

Our actions and works don’t save us.

The simply show us (and the world) what’s already there.

It starts on the inside.

I put it this way, when Jesus has our hearts, He will have our actions. Ours is an inside out faith.

Today, may Jesus have all of us.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones