Today’s reading is James 2: 1-13: Today we see James’ clear warning to the people. No favorites! God doesn’t play favorites, neither should you. James tells the people we are to honor and esteem the poor as much as we esteem … Continue reading
Today’s reading is Acts 6: 1-7 We can’t do everything. That is actually a common lesson throughout the Bible. We see Moses learn it from his father-in-law Jethro. We see how many people in scripture have folks walking beside them, from … Continue reading
We all need help. No one can live life alone, do life alone. We are beings of community. We are made in the image of a God that three in one, made in the image of a God that is … Continue reading
One of the earliest debates that the church had when it started was this. What do we do with Gentiles? See, the first Christians were also Jewish. They were Jews that heard about Jesus and followed Him. That was what … Continue reading
You know why I believe that the Bible is true? Well, there’s a million different reasons why it’s true. But one of the reasons why I hold to the Bible is that I think it just really lays out how we should live.
I can’t think of anything else that paints a picture of how relationships should go, with God, with each other, with family, with everything. The Bible just so clearly lays out how we should live and what we should do.
For instance, check out what we are told in Galatians 6: 1-5:
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.
Now there’s a lot of thing that we could focus on here, but the thing that jumps out to me in the word “bear.”
First, we are told to bear one another’s burdens. Be there for each other. Help each other out. Support each other. Care for each other. Be there.
But wait you say, a few verses later it says each will have to bear their own load? So which is it? Are we to bear each other’s burdens? Or are we to bear our own?
Yes.
Yes we are. Wait, what? I think this lays it out perfect. We are each to bear our own burdens. We are to take care of ourselves. I am to take care of myself and my family, take care of those that I love.
And this is why. If my things are taken care of, then I am able to help you take care of your burdens. When I have taken care of my stuff, I can help you take care of your stuff.
And here’s the thing. You need to take care of your stuff. Because there’s going to come a time when I can’t take care of my stuff. And I’m going to need your help.
If you bear yours and your burdens are taken care of, then you can help me.
And if I bear my own and my burdens are taken care of, then I can help you.
That’s why we bear our own. So we can bear each others.
That’s beautiful. That’s what it should look like. That’s what faith, what family, is called to look like.
So, today, may we bear our own burdens. So that we have taken care of what we can take care of, and we can fully and easily bear each other’s burdens.
We need each other. Today and each day. May we never forget.
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!
Sometimes in life we just beat up. Sometimes, nothing goes right, something it falls apart, sometimes we know what we should do; what we should believe.
And we just can’t. We can’t do it.
Life is hard. We are tired. It’s not working. We just want to lay in the muck and sadness and just sit there for a while. We are at our wits end; we are just done.
Every felt that way? You may feel that way right now. You don’t know what to do; where to go; how to handle it all. It’s just about as bad as it can be.
You can know this, at least. You are not alone. We’ve all felt that way. All of God’s children have felt that way. I was reading in Exodus recently when I read this passage I forgotten about. Listen to what it says in Exodus 6: 6-9:
Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’” Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.
God comes to the people through Moses and says, soon, very soon I will save you. Soon I will deliver you. But they could not hear. They were too defeated. They were too broken. They were too defeated.
Even though, their deliverance awaited. Even though, it was soon to be there. Even though it was soon to happen. They just couldn’t believe. The pain, the hurt, the fear of that moment, it clouded their eyes.
They couldn’t see help was coming.
So is it for you today. No matter where you are today, help is coming. Even if you can’t see. Even if you can’t believe. God has not forgotten His promises to you. He has not forgotten you.
He hasn’t. Hold on. Help is coming. Don’t give up. Don’t quit.
Keep going. He doesn’t forget His people. They didn’t believe it at the time, but help was already there.
The same is true for us today. God is with us, even if we can’t believe it. Help is coming. Hold on. It’s coming.
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!
It’s been a tough few days here in the south, and yesterday was really tough here in Mississippi. One of the things that happens when you have served all over the state is you know people everywhere. So, I heard about Tupelo and I thought of friends at The Orchard and FUMC. I then saw pictures of St. Luke, where I went to meetings at all time and was stunned.
Then, I hear about Louisville, and the hospital being destroyed. I text a friend to check on him, and find out he’s busy, moving nursing home residents into his church’s gym after their nursing home was badly damaged.
Then, we hear of Brandon and Pearl, and Holly and I have family there; lots of friends. So, we are texting and calling. Trying to find out what is going on.
And here in Petal, and at Asbury, this all cuts close to home as it was this time last year we were recovering from tornadoes that destroyed so much of our town and left so many without homes.
Storms come into our lives, both “weather” related, as well as storms of sickness or addiction or tragedy. Storms come. Today I was reading from the book of Psalms, and listen to what it says in Psalm 57: 1-3:
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by.
I cry out to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
He will send from heaven and save me;
he will put to shame him who tramples on me.
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!
In the midst of the storm, sometimes we just have to take refuge in God and just hold on. Hold on tight to Him. Trust in Him. Rely on Him. In the storm, in the darkness, in the fear, in all of it, just hold on.
The destruction will pass. The storm will pass. God will send His love and faithfulness.
He will.
And, sometimes, we are the way that He sends it. God will send help from heaven to help those in the storms to help. Maybe, just maybe, that help is from you and me. We can give or we can give. We can pray. We can serve. We can call/text. We can support.
We can do so much.
So, today, to those of us in the midst of the storm, take refuge in God. He will protect you in the shelter of His wings.
And to those of us that have made it through the storms, maybe our job it to be that help from heaven. Today, how can you help someone in the storms (either the literal storms of yesterday, or the storms that swirl around us daily).
How can we help today? How can we be salt and light today? In our day today; may that be our mission.
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!
Burdens and troubles are part of life. I will have them. You will have them. Each of us, today, as we are reading this, has some type of burden that we are dealing with. There is something in our life that is wearying for each of us.
Paul today in Galatians gives us some advice for handling our burdens. Listen to what he says in 6:2-5:
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.
He basically gives us two pieces of advice that seem to be the opposite of each other. First, he says in verse 2, to bear each other’s burdens. We are supposed to help and take care of each other. That’s what our command is as Christians, to care for and to love one another.
But, look what he says later on in verse 5, each of us must bear our own load.
Wait, what? How does that work? On one help each other, and on the other, take care of yourself. What is the deal here?
This is what Paul means and what we should do as Christians. First, we should our very best to take care of our loads and our struggles. We should do all that we can do to take care of our burdens and struggles.
Why?
Because there is a time when our friend won’t be able to take care of theirs. And we have to be there to help them. It’s sort of like why we should save money, to be able to help someone out in their time of need. If we don’t have any money saved, we can’t help.
But, if we do, we can help them out.
So, if we take care of our burdens, we are free to help each other out.
And, there will be a time when we need that help as well. We are going to need help with our burdens and struggles and worries. We will need help. We will need support.
We will need each other.
So, today, we bear our burdens. So that we can bear one another’s burdens.
Today, may we be there for each other in our hours of need.
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 hears our prayers. No matter when or where we say them, He hears them.
He doesn’t just hear the prayers we pray in church.
He doesn’t just hear our safe, happy prayers of life being good.
He doesn’t just hear the prayers of blessings for ourselves or for others.
He hears the prayers of pain. Of anguish. Of hurt. Of regret.
Of loss.
Listen to what happens today in Jonah 2:1-3:
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.
Jonah had run from God’s calling on him. God had told him to go and preach to people that he didn’t like.
So, he ran. He ran away, got kicked off a boat, and swallowed by a great fish.
And here in the belly of this fish, he prayed.
I’ve been in some bad spots, in some tight places, prayed in some odd places but I’ve never had to pray there.
Jonah did. And what happened? God heard his prayer. God heard what he said. God heard his plea.
And God freed him from the belly.
Today, no matter where you are, God will hear your prayers. He will. I promise you, He will.
God hears every prayer that we pray. Every one.
No matter how dark it may seem. No matter how dark it may be. No matter how lost the case may seem, know this. God hears your prayers.
Today – you are happy – pray.
If you are sad – pray.
If you are hurt – pray.
If you are lonely – pray.
If you are angry – pray.
No matter what is going on in your life today – pray.
And know that God hears your prayers. And He will be there with you, and for you. No matter what.
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.
There are people in our lives that we want to help.
There are people in our lives that we want to protect.
There are people in our lives that we want to see grow, changed, and empowered.
There are people in our lives that we want to see come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
What are we to do? What can we do for these people that we love? There are things that we can do to help in each of these situations. We can help and protect and teach and love. But, in the end, we can’t do everything.
As much as I want to protect my kids, at some point I send them out to the world.
As much as I want folks to be saved, there’s only so much I can “do.”
So, what can we do?
Listen to Paul in Colossians this morning:
So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
Paul reminds us that the absolute best thing we can do for those that we love is to pray for them. Pray for their safety. Their salvation. Their growth. Their very lives.
What can we do? We can pray.
Prayer is not the last option for a Christian. Prayer should be the first option.
Prayer is the most powerful weapon we have at our disposal. Prayer is the greatest force God has given us. Prayer is more powerful than we can even understand. Prayer changes things.
In this life, where we so want these things for those that we love, prayer is our greatest option. Today, are you praying?
Don’t turn to it last. Turn to it first. And know that God hears and God blesses.
What can we do? We can pray.
RevAndy.org 