Tag Archives: Faith

The Little Things

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What is the life of God like? Is it full of perfection? Is it huge and amazing? It is overwhelming? It is rockets and firework and explosions?

Sometimes we think that it is, or that it has to be. Sometimes we can think that being a Christian, or living the Christian life is full of emotional experiences.

That surly being a Christian must mean a life full of perfect peace. . . . that everything is perfect. . . . that there are never any problems. . . . and that life is just one repeated vision of heaven opening and all things being perfect.

What we find though, is that the Christian life is full of getting kids ready for school. And doctors visits. And paying bills. And grocery shopping. And, well, just normal things.

The Christian life is not defined by the big things. It’s defined by the little things. Listen to what Jesus said today in Luke 13:18-19:

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

The kingdom (or the Christian life) is like a mustard seed. It’s small. It can seem unimportant. It can seem like it’s not much.

But it grows to be a huge tree that the birds of the ear can nest in.

It’s something small. That God turns into something big.

Today, don’t miss doing something and good because you were waiting on something big and important. Be faithful in the little things. The good things. The simple things. The things that help others. The good things.

These little things, the small acts of grace, they make a huge difference. And they turn into a things that make a huge difference for God.

Today, be faithful in the small, good, honest things of life, and of God. And He will take care of the rest!

Let’s serve God with all that we are. Let’s be salt and light!

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.

Enough

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Today, we have enough. We do. In this day, we have enough.

Whatever it is that we are facing, that we are needing, that we have to have, we have enough.

Today, we do. Through Jesus Christ and His power and His spirit, we have enough.

No matter how daunting the path make look, no matter how challenging it may be, no matter what we are going through, today, we have enough.

Even if it looks like we don’t. We do. Listen to what happens today in 1 Kings 17:12-16:

And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.'” And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

Elijah comes to the widow. And he asks her to do something that is impossible. He asks her to give to feed him with the little oil and flour that she had left. She said, I don’t have enough.

Elijah knew that she did. She had enough. She had all that she needed. She had enough to feed him, and her son.

Because through God, all things are possible. Through God, there is more than enough.

Today you have enough grace.

Patience.

Strength.

Hope.

God can do it through you. Whatever it is. You can do it. Through Jesus Christ.

Relax. Breathe. Trust. Hope. Believe.

Have faith.

God can do it through you. Today, you have enough. No matter how high the mountain. You have enough. Trust in Him. He can do it.

He has give you grace. And that’s enough!

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.

Knowing the Unknowable

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There are certain passages of scripture, certain turns of the phrase, certain things that we you think about, they can really just draw in deep to God’s love.

Today’s passage, to me, is one of those. Listen to what Paul writes today in Ephesians 3:17-19:

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

He tells the us this, that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith – and heres’ the kicker for me – that we may know this love that surpasses knowledge.

Just think that about that concept for a second. God’s love is unknowable. We really can’t understand it. It’s too powerful. To awesome. Too big. Too amazing. Our human minds cannot understand the depth and power and might of God’s amazing love.

Today, you are literally loved more than your mind can even fathom.

God’s love for you is literally unknowable. We literally can’t understand it’s depth.

And Paul says today – you can know that love. Through Christ dwelling within our hearts through faith, you can know this love.

So, today, you can know the unknowable.

You can be filled with His fullness.

You can know the depth of God’s love, God’s purpose, God’s life.

You are loved. There is a love out there that is deep, that is wide, that is amazing. That is unknowable.

That through faith, you can know.

Today, through faith, you can know this love.

Today, may we know the unknowable. Today, we can know a love that is amazing. Today, through faith, the amazing, life changing love 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.

The Proof is in the Pudding

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The proof is in the pudding. I have no idea what that phrase means. But I like it.

And I think I know what it means, just not where it came from.

In life, and in faith, the proof is in the pudding. What Jesus wants for us and from us is not just for us to talk about our faith, but for us to live out our faith each day of our lives.

Our faith must move from something that is in our mind or in our heart to something that in our hands and in our feet. Our faith must be an active thing. A thing that calls us. Pushes us. Changes us.

To love, serve, and forgive just as Jesus would.

Listen to what it says today in James 3:13-14:

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.

We’ve talked a lot this week about wisdom. Today we see this encouragement (i.e. calling and command) – show it. Don’t just talk about wisdom.

Live it out.

Let your wisdom be reflected in your works. In your words. In your conduct. In your meekness.

But, if we have lives and hearts full of jealously. Or selfish ambition, be careful. Don’t boast about our wisdom.

Don’t claim to be more than we are. Be humble. Be meek. Be wise.

Depend upon Him. Live for Him. Serve for Him. Love for Him.

Today, in our lives, the proof is in the pudding. Let’s not just talk about being faithful or being wise.

Let’s do it. Let’s live it. Let’s be it!

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.

Faith and Faithfulness

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One of the questions that I am as a pastor is asked, and one of the questions that we are Christians can think through is this?

What does it take to be a Christian? How does one start? Where does one start?

But then from there, what does the Christian life look like? So, we say that we are a Christian, what should that Christian life look like?

We see today in Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul talk about this.

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.

He says this about the start of salvation – we are saved by grace through faith. This is not by our own doing, by anything that we can possible do.

We don’t earn our salvation. Our salvation is not about us “doing” anything right. We can’t earn it.

We simply by grace through faith accept it. God has done a great work in Christ Jesus. And that belief in faith in Jesus brings forth salvation. And new life.

Ok, so we are saved by grace through faith. Then what? What is the Christian life look like?

We see it next – we are created in Christ for good works, that are prepared for us.

So salvation starts with faith, and then that faith leads us to faithfulness.

We don’t earn it. It’s a gift.

And that gift changes us. That gift of faith changes our lives our heart our plans our hopes.

So today, know that this gift is yours. It’s God’s gift to you through faith. We don’t need to spend our life trying to earn it, we just need to accept it.

You are loved. Really. You are. Accept it. Let that love and salvation sink in.

And let that grace sink in. And let it change you. Be faithful in the faith that Jesus has given you.

We are saved by grace. But that grace changes us. Today, live in faith.

And let that lead you to faithfulness.

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.

When Trouble Comes

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When trouble comes, what is your life built upon?

Not if trouble comes. But when. We all wish that life was always perfect and easy and calm and fun.

And for many times in life, it is. There are always joyful times. Many, many moments in life are amazingly awesome. Times of great fun, times of laughter and joy.

These fun memories that shape our soul and stir us up. Those are the good times.

But, scripture makes us a promise. There will be times of trial.

The 23rd Psalm tells us “when I walk the valley of the shadow of death. . . ”

And today, in Luke 6: 47-49, listen to what Jesus tells us:

Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

When the flood arose. When waters come.

When trouble comes. What will we do.

Well, we quoted part of the 23rd Psalm, but we all know the rest. When we walk through the valley, we will fear no evil. For thou art with us. Even in the valley of the shadow, we don’t have to fear evil.

For God is with us.

And when the flood waters come. When the rain and the wind and the storms comes, if our lives are built on the rock of Christ Jesus, we will be ok. For He is the firm foundation. He is the rock. He is the life. He is the cornerstone.

We don’t have to fear the flood or the storm. We don’t have to fear the future. We don’t have to fear the unknown.

For, if our life is build on the rock of Christ Jesus, when trouble comes, we will be ok.

Trust in Him today. And He will take care of us. May we trust in Him in all of our lives, and with all of 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.

Change of Plans

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I like having plans. I like knowing what I’m going to do. Even as I sit here typing this reflection out, my mind is thinking through the various things that I have to do today. My schedule, my meetings, my appointments.

I like being able to stick to a schedule. I like knowing whats going to happen. I like having that idea and plan for what is coming.

I don’t like having my plans disrupted. I don’t like it when things don’t go according to schedule. I don’t like it when it doesn’t go the way I planned.

So, what do we do when that happens?

Listen to what Paul says today in 2 Corinthians 1:15-19:

Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes.

Paul wanted to come by Corinth and visit the church. He wanted and had planned to come and teach them, share with them, be in ministry with them.

But, he wasn’t able to stick to his plans. Was it because he was wishy-washy? Was it because he wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do? Was it because he decided to just change his plans?

No.

It was just not able to happen. For whatever reason, it was not able to take place.

So, what did Paul do? He kept on going. He kept on being faithful. He kept on being obedient to God.

You plans may not work out. It may not happen the way you want, when you want, how you want. It may be totally different from anything you’ve ever wanted.

Keep going.

Sometimes I have to remember that there plans bigger than my plans. The Bible tells us God’s ways are bigger than our ways and His thoughts are bigger than our thoughts.

That means that God’s plan for us is sometimes different than our plan for us.

Keep going. Even when the plan doesn’t make sense. Even if it’s not the plan that you had made. Even if it’s a change of plans for you.

God knows what He is doing. He has a plan. And even when we don’t know His plan.

We know Him.

Today, trust in Him!

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.

Fairy Tales

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I once heard someone say that one of the most destructive things we face in life are fairy tales.

Wait, what? Fairy tales?

Yeah, that’s what they said. Now, they could just be like me, a parent of younger children that has had to watch Tangled roughly a billion times.

But, that wasn’t the their point. What they were saying was this. What happens in fairy tales? Everyone lives happily ever after.

Does that happen in real life?

Nope. Not everyone lives happily ever after. Sometimes life is hard and painful and we do the best that we can do, even when it’s not easy.

Even when we are doing the right thing.

Take, for example, what happens today in Acts 10:49-51:

 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.
Life is not a fairy tale.

So, what do we do? What Paul and Barnabas did. Keep going. Keep being faithful. Keep doing the right thing. Keep loving, serving, and caring.

Get up. Shake the dust off. And keep on going.

Why? Because, actually I told you a little fib. Life is not a fairy tale. But it does end well in the end.

God’s got this. He’s got you. He’s going to take care of this, and every situation you face.

Keep going. Keep being faithful. Keep trusting in Him. And know that He’s got this.

Today, you can do it! Keep going.

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.

Confessions of a Worrier

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I heard an old joke about worrying that I really like. I know that my worrying must work because 99% of the things that I worry about never happen.

So, obviously it’s my worrying that keeps these things from happening, right? That’s what it’s got to be right?

Or perhaps, it’s something else. Perhaps my worrying is my way of wanting control. My lack of trust. My lack of faith.

I confess to you that I’m a worrier. I come from a family or worrier. It’s just what we do. We worry.

I worry about things that I can control. I worry about things that I can’t control. I worry about myself. My family. My church. My friends. I worry.

So, even if you don’t need to hear this passage this morning – I do. Listen to what Jesus says today in Matthew 6:31-34:

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

It’s kind of like we talked about yesterday, are we focusing on the things that are eternal and will last, or are we focusing on the things that are temporary and that are passing? Are we worrying about the things that are fleeting and passing, or are we seeking God’s kingdom first.

If we seek God’s kingdom first, seek His will first, seek His way first, seek Him first, we will find the things that we worry about are filled.

But, if we just worry. And worry. And worry. And worry. And don’t seek God, we will not find what we are worrying about. And we won’t find Him either.

Today, don’t worry. I know. I know. This is a pot calling the kettle black situation. I know. But trust me. Seek His will. Seek His way. Seek Him. And He will take care of the rest.

Seek the kingdom first. And all these things will be added. That’s His promise. Let’s trust in it today.

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.

Why Do You Follow?

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One of the things we see in scripture is that Jesus always has folks following Him. We see different levels of folks that follow.

Some are very, very close to Him, like and inner circle – Peter, James, and John. And there are the 12 Disciples that go with Him everywhere, they are His closest follower and friends. Then, there is the next level, what scripture calls “the crowd.”

Some of the crowd follow because they value what Jesus says. Others follow because following Jesus is cool. Others follow for what they can get out of it – food, or healing, or attention.

Listen to what Jesus says in John 6:26-27  about this today:

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

He said you follow because of signs, because of food. Don’t focus on getting that from me.

Focus on this from me. Eternal life.

Focus on what matters. Follow me for what matters.

Today, why do you follow? Why do you follow Jesus?

Is it because it’s what’s expected?

Is it because it’s what your family does?

Is it to fit in?

Is it for attention?

Is because you believe that if you will, you will get what you want?

Or, is it because you know that in Jesus Christ, you find life. Life is found only in Jesus. No where else.

That’s why we should follow.

Today, Jesus asked His followers, do you follow me for what you can get out of it? Or do you follow me because you have found that life is found in me, and nowhere else alone.

May we follow the giver of life. Today, may we follow Jesus with all that we are!

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.