Tag Archives: Faith

The Secret

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saint-john-the-baptist-09John the Baptist is one of the coolest characters in all the Bible to me.  One of the reasons why is because when you read his story, he has such courage.  Man oh man, he’s not afraid of anything.  He says what he needs to say, sometimes in a VERY bold way, and he does what he needs to do.

He said what he said, wore what he wore, did what he did with great courage.

You ever wonder what his secret was?

What was it that he had that gave him such courage?  Well, when we read his story, this is what we see.  We see that he knew that he had one job in life, and that was to point to Jesus. Everything he did was for that purpose.  He did in everywhere and in every way.

He pointed to Jesus.  And was the source of his courage.  He knew that if he did what he was supposed to do, that was his purpose.  And all would flow from that.  Listen to what happens today in John 3: 27-30:

27 John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. 28 You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Here’s John, who is a big deal, has people coming from everywhere to hear him preach.  Folks are talking to him, saying are you the messiah?  Are you the one that is to come?

And John says – no!  I am not the one.  I am a friend of the one.  I point to the one.  But I am not the one.  And then he says that great statement in verse 30 – He must increase, but I am must decrease.

Wow.  That’s a tough thing to say, isn’t it.  Jesus must decrease.  We’re good with that one. That one’s cool.

But I must decrease.  I’m not so sure about that one.  I’m not sure that I want to decrease.  That’s tough.

But John knew that he had to.  He knew his life was not his own, but it was Jesus’.  And the only way that he would be able to find true life was to decrease.  Because living for himself would never lead to life.  Living for Jesus would lead to true life.  Now, and for all eternity.

He had to decrease.  Jesus had to increase.  That’s the secret.  That was where his courage, his purpose, his life came from.  He knew that if increased and Jesus decreased, he’d never find life. But, if he did all that he could do to point to Jesus and point others to Jesus, he’d fine life. And that life leads to courage.

Today, how about us?  We were made for that very purpose.  To point others to Jesus.

Today, may we live out our purpose. And if we do that, we will find the courage that we desperately need.  Today, may He increase and we decrease.

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Lemonade

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None of us like tough times. Really, I mean who wants to go through a time of trial or worry.  None of us do.  I don’t, you know, not a single one of us.  We all wish that we could avoid these times.  But you know what we see when we look at the Bible?

It’s not going to happen. We all are all going to go through tough times.  It’s just part of the deal being human.  Trials, storms, and tough times will come. Faith doesn’t prevent them from coming, but faith gives us strength when those things hit us.  Faith gives us a hope and a belief in the darkest times.

But here’s something else the Bible says.  Count these storms as a joy.  Listen to what it says today in James 1: 2-4:

2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

James says count these trials as joy.  Why? Because these tests produce endurance and endurance grows our faith.  Our faith matures and lacks nothing.  When we go through tough times, you know what we find?  All we need is Jesus.

And if we have Jesus, we all have all that we need.

When these trials come against us, they can (if we allow) draw us closer to God.  And went our trials draw us closer and closer and closer to God, they become for us, in a redemptive way, blessings.

Here’s the thing.  It’s up to us if these trials are blessings or curses.  How we handle them.  How we deal with them.  How we allow them to affect our faith.  That’s up to us.

6800363-lemonade-wallpaperThe old saying is when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  What faith can do it will allow us to see those lemons as lemonade. Through the eyes of faith, we can see that the lemons are actually lemonade. These trials are good things. They make us tougher. They make us stronger. They may us lean more and more on Jesus.

God will actually use these trials for our faith. We may not enjoy them at the time, we probably won’t.  But in time, we will look back and say – at that moment, then, that’s when my faith grew. That’s when I trusted. That’s when I clung tight to Jesus.  Then.

Today, let’s not have lemons. Let’s have lemonade. And let’s see exactly what it is that God will do with all our lives!

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Give it a Try

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We like to eat sweets in our house.  We love snow cones, ice cream, all kinds of goodies and sweets.  But the thing with a lot of the sweets that we like it eat is this. There are so many options.  I mean, how can you choose among so many flavors?  What are you to do?

So, we’ve learned this.  We get sample. We’ll get a sample of this, a sample of that, we’ll try a bunch of them until we figure out exactly what it is that we want. We give them all a taste and see what it is that is just right for that day.

I thought about that when I read today’s Psalm.  Listen to what it says in Psalm 34: 4-8:

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Look to him, and be radiant;
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
6 This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
and was saved from every trouble.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.

f1d9973e92872262bcbffe25d0a1c265This is coming from someone who has tasted the Lord’s goodness.  David says, the Lord delivered me from my fears.  He answered him.  His soul cried out and God was there.

He needed God, and God responded.  He cried out, and God was there.  He called upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord showed His face.

And so what does David do?  He says this. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Give it a try. Try it for yourself.  See what happens.

Put your complete and total faith in God.  Turn to Him, give it all to Him, truly turn it over to Him, and see what happens.

You won’t be disappointed.  Happy are those that have done it.

So, today, maybe that’s what God is trying to say to us.  Put our whole faith in Him.  Look what David says, He delivered David from his fears.

Have you given your fears to Him?  Not just your worries, but your fears?  Taste and see.  Give it a try.

Have you truly turned in that moment of doubt, worry, and stress?  Taste and see.  Give it a try. See what happens.

Turn to Him.  Give it to. Really and truly and totally and completely.  Taste and see.  Give it a try.

He is God.  You won’t be disappointed.

Today, may we give it a try.  May we taste and see. And may we find God’s goodness.

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Enough Faith?

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I really love when you are reading the Bible, and the spirit allows you to see a different perspective, it allows you to see things a little bit different.  That’s what happened to me this morning.  This is the familiar text I was reading, Luke 17:5-6.  Listen to what it says:

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Ok, check this out.  They come to Jesus and say, increase our faith.  Now, that’s a good thing, right?  I mean, who doesn’t want more faith?  Who doesn’t need more faith?  So, they come to Jesus with a good request.

But then, look what Jesus does.  He doesn’t say, no, I won’t.  He doesn’t say, sure, no problem.  He says this.  If you have the faith of a mustard see, you can throw a tree in the sea.

MustardSeed_(1)We hear that and think (quite often) about the size of the faith, and just a little bit of faith is powerful.  And then we think, man I just don’t have even that little bit of faith.  I need just that little bit.

But look at what Jesus is saying, if you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can do amazing things.

Guess what?  They did have the faith of a mustard seed.  They did.  They had left all they had and followed Him.  They had this faith.  Was it perfect?  No.  But it was there.

And so Jesus was saying this.  You don’t need more faith.  You have enough faith. Use what you have!

We are like them in this way. Are we perfect?  No.  Do we have all the faith in the world?  No.  But you know what, if you believe in Jesus, you have faith.  If you follow Him, you have faith.  You do.

He’s saying that you actually do have the faith of a mustard seed.  You do. And that means today that you can do it!

In other words, you aren’t inadequate.  You really aren’t.  You have all that you need.  You can do it.  It’s not the size of the faith that you have, it’s the size of the God that you serve.  

Don’t worry about having more faith, or not having enough faith.  Use the faith that you have. With that faith, you can do anything.  Anything.  Anything is possible.  It truly is.

So today, live, love, serve, laugh.  Live out the faith that you, and watch God do amazing things.  You can do it.  You have faith.  God can will use it.  Through Him, you can do amazing things.

Today. And each day.

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Look Around

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One of the troubling things about faith is just that.  It’s faith.  It’s something you can’t explain, you can’t really even make sense of, it’s something that you just have to believe.

But here’s the deal.  When you believe it, when you take that leap of faith, when you jump, this amazing thing happens.

When you jump, you see.  Faith is something that can’t necessarily be reasoned.  And believe me, I enjoy reasoning faith.  Mere Christianity by CS Lewis, The Reason for God by Tim Keller, and God: The Evidence by Patrick Glynn are books that have really helped me think through my faith and better explain my faith to folks that don’t believe.

But even with all this, here’s the thing.  We’ve still got to take that leap.  We’ve got to have that childlike abandonment and just jump.

When we do that though, you know what happens?  When you take that leap of faith, when you jump, when you leap into the arms of Jesus, you see!  Our eyes are fully formed by our faith.  Listen to what it says today in Psalm 19:1-4:

The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.

starstreeWe are reminded.  Look around.  But don’t look with your eyes.  Look with your faith.  God is everywhere.  The heavens are telling the glory of God.  He’s everywhere.  We just have to look.

Today, look around.  We get so busy.  Our schedules take over our lives.  We go and move and act and everything; so much is going on.  We get so busy that we aren’t able to see sometimes.

Today, look around.  You won’t have to look far.  You can look to the heavens.  Look in the eyes of a child.  See someone helping someone less fortunate.  Hear the good news of someone coming to know Jesus Christ.  Sharing a cup of coffee with a  friend.

His glory is there.  It is.  It is everywhere.  We just have to look around through the eyes of faith.  And when we do that, we will see God everywhere.

Today, look around.

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God Trusts You

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trust_actionLife is made up of choices.  Some are really big.  Some are really small.  But so much of life is about choices.

You know what one of the things is that I love most about God?  He trusts us.  I know that sounds crazy, like a huge mistake.  After all, don’t do things wrong?  Don’t we get in trouble?  Don’t we choose wrong?

Yeah, we do.  We get it wrong, a lot of the time.  We make those wrong choices.  We blow it.  It happens.  And then you know what else happens?

The sun sets.  The sun rises. And it’s a new day.  A new day full of choices and possibilities.  A new day to be faithful.  A new day to follow after God.  A  new day to see exactly what it is that God will do.  And what we will do.  Listen to what happens today in Deuteronomy 30: 19-20:

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

God tells the people as they go into the Promised Land – choose today.  Choose life, choose death.  Choose.

He gives them that choice, because He trusts them.

And He does you today as well.  Today, you will have lots of choices.  Some big, some little.  Some you’ll get right.  Some you’ll get wrong.

Listen to God.  Listen to His voice in His Word.  In prayer.  Through others.  Listen.  And follow wherever it is that He is calling.

Because of all the choices you have to make, this is the most important.  Will we listen to His voice?  And will we follow it?  Because if we make that choice right, everything else falls into place.

Today, may we be faithful with the choices we make. God trusts you, He loves you.  Follow Him where He leads.

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Doubting and Remembering

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Today’s reading is one that we have heard preached from many, many times.  It’s the Great Commission, Jesus’ command to the Disciples and to His church to go out and make disciples of all nations.

Today, listen to what He says to them, and see if some of the same things pop out to you today that popped out to me.  Listen to Matthew 28: 16-20:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

_bibleYou know what one of the first things I saw was?  This – they worshiped Him, but some doubted.  Ok, let’s think about who these “some” where. They were the Disciples. The very ones that had walked with Him, that had seen so very much, and were looking at Him, the resurrected Christ, in their midst.

They were also the very ones that Jesus was going to deploy into mission. They were going to be big, huge, things for Him.

And with all that, some of them still doubted, at that moment.

Just because you have doubts, or struggles, it doesn’t mean that you haven’t seen God, that you don’t know God, or that God won’t use you.  Doubt is often a part of faith; we struggle, we believe, we grow.

You never grow if it’s always easy.  Sometimes you have to go through the tough times before you can really grow. They doubted.  Jesus was going to use them in a huge way in a matter or days.

Today, if you doubt, hold onto Jesus even more tightly. He won’t let go of you. He won’t.  Hold on.

And one last thing, Jesus said this, Remember,  I am with you, even to the end of the age.  He told them to remember He was with them. Because at times, they may forget.  Don’t. Don’t forget.  Hold on.  Hold on tight to Him.

And remember.  Remember He is with us, always.  Always.   Don’t forget that.  You’ll be tempted to forget.  Remember even more deeply.

He will never leave or forsake, even when we struggle.  Because He loves us.  Never forget.

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Why We Don’t Worry

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One of the things that we see so often in scripture is this.  As Christians, we are called to be different from the world.  Not perfect in all things, but different.  There’s got to be something different about us from the world; from the culture; from where we are live.

We just have to be different.  Different in action, different in thought, different in purpose.

We see it in the Old Testament with the Levitical laws.  We see in the Prophets with the call to treat others fairly.  We see it in Paul’s works with the call to live not by the law, but by grace.  And we see it in the Gospel with Jesus’ command to follow Him.

Listen to what He tells us today in Luke 12: 29-31:

And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried.  For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Don't_worryJesus tells us, don’t worry about what you are going to eat, or drink, or wear.  Why?  The nations of the world worry about these things.  But your Father knows that you need them.

He’s not saying that these things are bad.  He’s saying this – the Father knows you need food and drink and clothing.  He knows this. And He will take care of you.  He will.

The Father will meet your needs.  He will. This is why we don’t worry.

Listen. The Father will take care of you.  He will.  Don’t worry about those things.  God will provide.

And here’s what happens when we don’t worry about that.  We can focus on what really matters. God’s kingdom.  His will.  His plan.  His purpose.  His love.

When we don’t worry about those things (that God will provide) we can focus on the one thing that really matters.  God.

So, today, don’t worry about those things. God knows that you need them.  He will provide.  Focus on Him and His kingdom.  And all will be well.

That’s why we don’t worry.

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Maybe I’m Amazed

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There was a little rock and roll band from England that I’m a fan of. You may have heard of them, I think they were called the Beatles. Love the Beatles, love their solo works after they broke up as well.

As I was reading today’s text, believe it or not, I thought of one of Paul McCartney’s songs. Maybe I’m amazed. Really? I thought of a McCartney song? Yeah, I thought of Maybe I’m Amazed.

Listen to what the Word says in Luke 8: 24-25:

They went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”

urlThey were amazed at Jesus. Amazed. Amazed at what He did. Amazed at how the wind and waved obeyed.

Amazed.

And here’s my question based off of that. How about us? When was the last time that you or I was amazed at Jesus? When was the last time we took a step back and just said, wow. He is so good.

He is so strong.

He is so mighty.

Wow, our God is good.

We aren’t often amazed at God enough. We don’t lose our breath enough. We don’t tremble enough.

When was the last time that we were truly amazed at God?

It’s not that God is not amazing. It’s that we are not paying attention. Today, look around. Pay attention. Listen. Look. Pray.

Be amazed. Because God is amazing.

Today, may we be amazed at Jesus.

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, and you thought our app, you can now watch our worship services from Asbury too!

The Desires of our Heart?

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heartballoonOne of the things that it is important to do when reading the Bible is to understand the context of a verse or a passage before taking it and running with it.  What does that mean?

The best way that we can make sense of verses in the Bible is to look at verses that are around it.  As we look at verses that are around certain passages in the Bible, we can understand those passages.

What does that even mean?  Let me show you.  One of the passages of the Bible that can most often misunderstood is a passage from our reading today, Psalm 37: 4, where it says this: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Boom, Ole Miss is winning the national title next year.  That would make my heart happy.

See, I’m pretty sure that is not what that passage is talking about.  This passage is not saying that God’s only purpose is to make us happy and grant us wishes.  So then, what is it saying?  Let’s look at the context and read this passage.  Listen to Psalm 37: 1-4:

Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Trust in the Lord.  Do good.  Befriend faithfulness.  And even part of that passage, delight yourself in the Lord.  And, He will give you the desires of your heart.

God will give you the desires of your heart when (and this is the key) when He has changed your heart.  God will give us our hearts desire when His spirit has changes our hearts desire.

This verse is not about us getting what we “want.”  This verse is about God changing us.  God making us more like Himself.  God growing us. And when God has changed our heart, our hearts will long for Him.  And when our hearts long for Him, we will only be satisfied with Him.

See that’s the problem sometimes.  CS Lewis said that we are far too easily pleased.  We settle for less than the absolute best. What is the absolute best?  God.

He desires to give us Himself.

And in truth, that should be our hearts desire.  Because nothing else will satisfy our hearts.  But Him.

Today, He will give us our hearts desire.  But first He wants to change our heart.  And we that happens, we will see that the only thing that can truly give us life is not the stuff of this world.

But Him.

Today, may we delight our hearts in God.  And in that, may we find all that we seek.

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, and you thought our app, you can now watch our worship services from Asbury too!