Tag Archives: God

Forgetful

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It’s a bad thing that we can be forgetful. Each of us, through out our days, can forget to do things. We can forget important things. We can forget silly things. We can forget.

Our nature is to be forgetful.

That’s one of the reasons why all through the Old Testament, God has His people always build alters and monuments. He does this so that they will remember. They will remember what He has done and who He is.

He did this so that they will remember, and teach their children. He wanted people to remember His faithfulness.

He wants us to remember. But, for God, He forgets.

Wait, what?

Yep. God will forget? What do I mean? Listen to what it says today in Psalm 25:6-9:

Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord! Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgression. God is that God that when it comes to our confessed sin, is forgetful.

He purposely forget them. When we confess them, when we give them to Him, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.

Yeah, forgiving them is one thing.

Then, He takes it a step further. He forgets them. It’s like they never happened. As it says in another Psalm, our sins are as far as the east is from the west in the mind of God.

That sin that you can’t move past. That you can’t forgive yourself of. That you can’t get of your mind?

God has not only forgive you of that sin. He’s forgotten that has happened. His grace, His love, His mercy. It’s that great.

Today, let’s remember what God has done for us. And let’s be thankful to Him that He forgives, and forgets our sin.

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.

Keeping Perspective

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Sometimes in life, we can think that the stress of this exact moment is the worst thing in all of human history and in all of creation. Nothing, nothing, nothing could ever be worse that this.

The world is ended. It is over. It is finished. It just is.

Sometimes in that moment, we loose the gift of perspective. We really cane lose that and forget how things really are, and how things really work.

Now there are some things that are truly and utterly life changing, things that rock our world, shake our core and change the direction of our lives.

There are those moments.

And there are the other moments, the rest of the moments that define our lives. And these moments that cause of great stress, stop and think for a moment. This event. This time, this thing.

Will it matter in a year? Will you remember it in a year? Will it be important in a year. What will it matter in the scope of eternity.

Listen to what it says in Psalm 102:11-12:

My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass. But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.

Our days are finite. Our days are limited. We are just a shadow that is here for a moment, and then is gone. What are our lives in the scope of eternity.

So, this issue that you are worried about, what is it in the scope of eternity?

Keep your perspective. Remember what is important. Remember what counts. Don’t get bogged down on these things.

And here’s the really cool thing. Yes, our lives are fleeting. They are short. They are small. And God Almighty that knows all, sees all, understands all, knows you.

Knows the hairs upon your head. Knows your thoughts, your dreams, your hopes.

Knows and loves you.

We may seem insignificant. But to the God of the universe, we matter a great deal. So, keep your problems in perspective. And know that the God of creation knows you, loves you, and will be with you.

And that’s bigger than any problem we face!

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.

God is Able

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In life, it doesn’t always look like things will turn out our way. It may look like the road we are walking down will lead to the place we’d like to be.

We feel hopeless and we feel like it won’t work out for our best and for the way that we would like.

We think, man how can God fix this? How can this turn around? How can God make something good out of this.

What can God do?

Today, friends, I tell you, God is able. No matter what is happening in your world, in your life, no matter how bad it may look, God is able.

Listen to what Paul says today in Romans 4:18-21 about Abraham.

In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”  He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Abraham was promised that he would be the father of many nations. He was promised by God that he would be a light to the Gentiles.

But, it took a long time coming. He was promised a son, but it didn’t come on his schedule, it came on God’s schedule. It didn’t come on his time, it came on God’s time.

And he still believed. He still believed that God would keep His word, and do what He said He would do, even when the timing and schedule was not what he wanted.

He knew, that no matter what, God is able. He trusted God.

Today, no matter what is going on in your life, God is able. He is.

Trust. God is good, He is merciful, He is good. Have faith.

Even if it looks hard and tough ahead, God is able. Believe in Him. Trust in Him.

He will not fail you. He won’t. He is able.

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.

Some Monday Encouragement

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Ugh, Monday! Who likes them? I mean, really, who wanted to get out of bed this morning.

Some weeks, some Mondays we need a little (or a lot) or encouragement to get going. That little extra kick. That little extra cup (or five) of coffee in the morning.

Sometimes, we need a little extra Monday encouragement.

Well, here you go. And from a surprising place. Deuteronomy.  Listen Deuteronomy 7:6-8:

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Listen to what we are told today. God has chosen you as His treasured possession, out of all the earth.

He has chosen you! He loves you! You are His prize this morning. You have a worth to God this morning great than you can even imagine. You are more valuable to the king of eternity than anything else in all of creation!

Wow!

The God that made everything, both seen and unseen, has chosen to love you, know you, save you!

But, you think, I haven’t earned that.

Exactly, that’s what makes it even better. He hasn’t chosen us because of anything we’ve done. He loves us because of who He is! He loves us because of what He’s done.

So, bring it on Monday. You can’t touch us. We have been chosen and loved by a Holy God. He has freed us, loves us, and will never leave us.

Nothing can stop that. Even Monday!

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 Will God Speak Through Today?

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The people that God will use may look very different than you may expect.

Today, who do you expect God to use? You may have in your mind an image of the person that God will use.

It may be your preacher. Your small group leader. Your youth pastor. Someone that works for the church. Someone that’s in full time missions.

We all have an idea of who God will use.

And, we all have an idea who God won’t use. He will use the good, the holy, the “sanctified.”

He won’t use the hypocrites, the sinful, the imperfect. He only uses the worth.

Right? That’s what we are tempted to think sometimes.

But, that isn’t the case. Look at what we hear in Judges 4:4-5:

And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.

We see God raise up Deborah. We see Him use here in amazing ways in this book. She leads the people of God to a victory. She frees them. She helps restore them to freedom and helps them to return to the correct worship of God.

And she was not who we would expected God to use. We didn’t expect God to raise her up. And He did. He used someone that we normally wouldn’t have expected God to use.

He uses unexpected people to accomplish His plan and His purpose.

So, today, who do you expect God to use? Who do you think that God will use to speak to you today?

Where do you expect God to speak to you from?

Are you sure about that?

May our eyes be open to all the various ways and places and people that God can speak through. May we be looking. May we be listening.

Today, look for God. Listen for God. Seek Him. And don’t be surprised if He speaks to you in a way that you weren’t expecting.

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.

God is Bigger

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Have you considered the awesomeness of God?

We know that God is personal. We know that He loves us. We know that He counts every hair upon our head. He knows our fears. He knows our hearts. As a loving father longs to embrace his children in his arms, so does God long to embrace His children in His arms. He is a deeply personal God that loves you more than your finite human mind can understand.

But, with all that said, have you considered the awesomeness of God?

I love the book of Psalms; they bring that awesomeness back to our minds. They remind us what a great, might, amazing, sovereign, omnipotent God we serve.

Read part of what is said in Psalm 50:2-5:

“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes; he does not keep silent; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest. He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people: ‘Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!’ The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge.”

God is an awesome God. Really. He is the God of all of creation. He is the God of all that is, both seen and unseen. He is a God that literally spoke creation into being.

And He is bigger. He is bigger than all.

Today, He is bigger than your fears.

He is bigger than your worries.

He is bigger than your failures.

He is bigger than you defeats.

But, also know that He is bigger than your dreams.

He is bigger than your victories. He is bigger than your successes.

He is the God of Heaven. He is the Lord of the universe. He is King.

Do you live with that awareness? What are your problems when compared to the God of Hosts? He is bigger. He is bigger than whatever you face. He is bigger than whatever your fear.

This is not to diminish your fears and worries. They are real. They exist.

But trust me. Listen to me. Hear me. No matter what they are.

God is bigger.

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

Judgement and Grace

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I really want the Lord to judge “them” for their sin.

Whoever “they” are, and whatever “they” are doing, I want Him to get them. After all, they deserve judgment. I mean, look at what they are doing! God, go get ’em!

Now, for me and I my sins, I want grace. I want forgiveness. I want God’s mercy for the mistakes that I make every day.

For “them” and their sins, I want the holiness of God to come and smite them for the mistakes that they make. For me and my sins, I want the grace of God to smooth over the rough edges of my life and remind me that I’m His beloved child, no matter what.

So, to recap, I want judgment for them, and grace for me.

All of us as Christians are tempted to live that way. To think that we are the righteous and they are the sinners. We as Christians are sometimes (most times) tempted to live a life of judgment.

Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 14:10-12:

“Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

Paul says who are you to pass judgment on another? And in our society, we like that verse because it lets us off the hook. We can say, “Don’t judge me!”

But Paul is really saying this: we are not to judge each other, because ultimately, we will all stand before a truly righteous judge one day. One day, we will all give account to God for our lives and what we do.

This passage isn’t a “get out of jail free card” but a reality check card. We don’t judge because we are not worthy of being a judge. Only God is.

Because of that, I want to live that graceful life that is given mercy for my sin, as well as your sin. Only God can judge.

None of us are good enough to judge.

But, God is.

And how does He respond to our sin? Grace.

May we respond the same way to others and their sin.

And may we all seek to live our God’s grace and life 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

When Words Fail Us

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This past weekend at Camp Wesley Pines, all the families were sitting around eating ice cream and the camp director asked me if I liked to hunt.

I told him I have no problem at all with eating deer, or squirrel, or rabbit, or whatever. I just can’t think of a more miserable activity (for me) than hunting.

Because in my limited experience hunting involved a whole lot of sitting still and being quiet. And those are two thing that I do very, very poorly. The idea of being still and quiet for hours on end sounds like pure torture to me.

But, as much as I hate being still and quiet, there are times, times of prayer, times of reflection, times of awe, times of hurt, times of mystery when we just come before God, and we are quiet.

Our words fail us. We don’t know what to say. And you know what? That’s ok. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 8:26-27:

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

God knows your needs. God knows your hurts. God knows your pains. God knows your fears.

God knows.

When you are at a loss for words, God knows. When you don’t know what you need, God knows. When you aren’t even sure what to pray for, what do, what to say or how to say it, God knows.

Today, you don’t have to worry about what you have to say to God. Just come before Him. Sit before Him. Come into His presence.

And even be quiet, if you want. You don’t have to say anything at all.

Sometimes the most important prayers have the fewest words said. God knows what we need. May come before Him today with joy, hope, and peace.

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 Will Steer the Ship?

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Sin and temptation are powerful. They really are. Sometimes in our lives, we feel like we are totally helpless in resisting sin. We feel overwhelmed. We feel as though there is nothing that we can do against it.

Paul talks a lot about the power of sin, how it takes over, how it works against us, how we can feel as though we are overcome by it sometimes.

And he is 100% correct there (duh, he is well, you know, Paul, and all of this is inspired by the Holy Spirit!). So then, we why do we fight against? If God loves us in spite of our sin, and we are helpless against it, then why do we worry about it and strain against it?

Listen to what he says today in Romans 6: 12-14:

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Do not present yourself to sin, but instead present yourself to God. What? What does that mean?

Today, in your life, what will set the course for your actions? Will it be your sin and temptations? Or will it be God?
Something will steer the ship in your life today.

Something will guide you today. Will it be God? Or will it be sin?

If it is sin, then you will get yourself in trouble. You will trip and fall. You will make mistakes.

Me too, by the way! All of us are equally effected, and destroyed by sin. It’s called being human.

But, if God steers the ship, if God sets the course, then we will be more aware of temptation. We will be more aware of where we are being pulled away. We will be more in tune to His leading and will have more of His strength to fight.

Now, even with God steering, we will mess up. But if He is steering, and we mess up, we are aware of mistakes, aware of His calling to keep going, and aware of His forgiveness.

Sin blinds us to these things. And sin wants to keep us from knowing that we are forgiven!

So, today, in your life, who will steer the ship? Will you present yourself to God? Or to sin?

That decision right now, will affect everything else we do 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.