Tag Archives: Life

Give Us Rest

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maxresdefaultDavid Crowder Band is one of my favorite Christian bands ever.  I love their spirit, I love their art, I love their lyrics, and I love their passion for leading the people of God in worship.  There version of one of my favorite hymns, O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing is very different, but very good.

One their last album they have what may be my favorite of their songs.  It’s called “Give Us Rest.”  I just love the notion of singing to God, saying, give us rest.  We are tired. We are worn out. We are exhausted.  We can’t do any more.

Oh great God, give us rest!

Is that your prayer today?  So many days, it is my prayer.  As a busy body, sometimes, I just need rest.

Today, don’t just listen to the words of that song, listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Today, there is rest.  No matter what you are facing.  No matter where you are.  No matter what is going on. There is rest.  Really, there is.

Now that doesn’t mean that everything will get better at this exact moment.  It doesn’t.  But, you can rest.

You can put down your burden.  You can lay it aside.  And you can know that the very  God of Creation holds you in His hand.  You can rest today.  Really, you can.  You can rest.

Today, cast your cares upon Christ, because He cares for you.

Rest.  In Him.  Rest.

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 phone.

What is Truth?

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imagesWhat is truth?  That may be the question of this age, and every age.

When Jesus was before Pilate, one of the questions that he asked Jesus was this – what is truth?

In an age of conflicting ideas about truth, about revelation, about right and wrong, one of the things that we have to get right is this. What is truth?

Well, listen to the words of Jesus this morning in John 14:6:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus says this.  Truth is not a concept.  Truth is a person.  Truth is not an idea.  Truth is a person.

He is truth.  He is the way.  He is life.  No one comes to the Father, but through Him.  He is truth.

So, to know truth, here is the answer.  Know Jesus.  He is the source of our truth.  It’s not that He is a truth.  He is THE truth.

I told my folks at bible study here at Asbury that my goal is not to make them better people.  My goal is to help them meet and know Jesus better.  If we have met Jesus, I truly believe that He will take care of our actions. That’s what He does.  He will burn away the things in life that we shouldn’t be doing. And He will increase in us the things that we should be doing.

Chase Him.  He will take of the rest.

So, today, to know truth, chase after Jesus.  Seek Him.  Know Him.  Give yourself and your life to Him more and more and more.  He is truth. For the questions we face, the decisions in our lives, the choices we make, turn to Him.

Seek Him.

Know Him.

And in that, we will know truth. We will. Because He is truth.

Today, in all things, seek Jesus. And we will find truth.

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 phone.

Listen to the Word

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open-bibleEvery day I try to share with you a biblical passage and a short reflection on it.  It is my sincere hope that this is a help to you and your faith.  I enjoy doing this, and I truly hope it is a blessing.

I always want the Word of God to be fresh and relevant to you, and I try to put some story or some take it on to help it sink into your life.

Today though, as I was reading this passage, it spoke to me so loudly, that I just want to let the Word speak.  Whatever it is that you are doing, please take a moment, and read this.  Listen to it.  Ponder it.

And try to apply what it says to your life today.

I know that I am.

This passage speaks so loud, about what the Christian life should be.  The Christian life is not a life of just Facebook statuses or Tweets or Christian music or anything like that.  It is a changed life.  It is about the grace of God wrecking us and changing us.  We should be changed people, by His grace.

Today, no frills.  Just stop for one moment.  And listen to the Word.

Romans 12:9-21:

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.  Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.  If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

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 phone.

I Don’t Want to Go

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dont-want-to-goAnyone that’s friended me on Facebook or followed me on Twitter, knows that I’m a big Doctor Who fan.  And I’m not going to go too deep into why I love the show, because we don’t have the time to explain everything. But, I really do enjoy it.

In this show, “The Doctor” doesn’t die, but when it’s time for a new actor to take the place of the old he “regenerates” or changes into the new character, while staying  “The Doctor.”  In the show, when the 10th doctor regenerated into the 11th, his last line was a famous one for Doctor Who fans (aka whovians).  He said this – “I don’t want to go.”

But, go he must, for the show had to go on with a new actor. He had to go.

Sometimes in life, there are places that we don’t want to go. But, we must. There are places that are essential that we have to go to, even if it isn’t our desire or our “want” to. But, go we must.  Listen to what happens today in Matthew 16:23-24:

But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Jesus tells us where we must go.  To the cross.  Not just to His cross of our forgiveness of our sins, but our cross of dying to ourselves.  Dying to what we want to do, dying to our desires.  Dying to us.

And living to Him. Living for Him.  Living in Him.

We may not want to go. But when we go, we find His life. For when we die to ourselves, and live for Him, we find life.  Life eternal.  Life everlasting.  Life now.

We find life in Him.  Today, may we go to the cross.  And may we find His life.

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 phone.

What is Your Purpose?

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We are in a season of the year that is called Advent.  Yesterday, Sunday, December 1, was the first Sunday in this season. This season is a time when we stop, and get our hearts ready for the Lord’s Coming.

His first coming as a gentle babe, born in the humble town of Bethlehem.

And His second coming, when He shall come as the victory King and Lord that He is.

His first coming was easy to miss, unless you were paying attention.  It wasn’t until the Wise Men came, that the priests and teachers of the Law in Jerusalem even knew that the Lord had been born.  His first coming was easy to miss.  His second, it will be unmistakable.

In our reading for today, we read from Mark 1: 6-8, where we see the that got things ready for Jesus’ coming.

Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

stjohnJohn came to get things ready for the coming of Christ. And look at the one thing that he knew to be true and that he lived by.  It wasn’t about him.  It wasn’t.  It was about Jesus.

He knew that He was here to get things ready for Jesus’ coming.  That was His purpose.  That was what it was about. And that’s what He lived to do.  He lived with that great purpose.

Today, as we consider John the Baptist, we ask this question.  What is our purpose today?  What are we living for?  Who we are living for?  What is the purpose of our lives?

Do we have one?

Today, unless Jesus is our purpose, we don’t truly have a purpose worth having. Today, may He be our purpose, our life, our everything.  Today, if we are living for Him, we are living for our greatest purpose.

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 Counts

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flat,550x550,075,fEverything in life demands something of us.  Our time.  Our resources.  Our heart.  Our passion.  Our work.  Our sweat.  Our schedule.

Everything in life that’s good, that has a purpose, that can accomplish something, it demands something of us.  Everything.

Everything.

So, the question is not will you give of your time or your talents or your gifts.  It is not will you give of your resources.  The question is this.

To what will you give these things to?  Will you give these things to things that are passing, or will you give these things to things that counts.

Jesus poses it this way in Matthew 16: 25-26:

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

So, if you give everything, and gain everything, but in that process lose your soul, what have you really gained?  If you give yourself to your work.  Or your hobbies.  Or your whatever . . .

And you lose your soul, what have you gained?  Nothing.

Are you giving yourself to what counts?  Are you living for what counts?  Are you focused on what counts?

Today, we will give part of ourselves, our stuff, our everything away.  Are we giving it to what counts?  Are we living for what counts?

Cause if we can everything that this world has to offer, but focus on the wrong thing, what have we done?

Faith, family, friends.  These things.  They matter.

May we live for what truly counts.

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.

Do Everything. Everything.

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I tell people that before I got saved as a senior in high school, I was not a pleasant person to be around when I played ball. I really wanted to win, which is a good thing.  I still feel that way.  If you are playing with a scoreboard, you should play to win!

But, for me the problem was when I didn’t win.  I’d act hateful.  I’d just act wrong.  I’d act in ways that just weren’t good.

And here’s the thing.  That still continued after I became a Christian.  I still acted in ways that I shouldn’t have.  And one day a friend of mine pulled me aside and told me to read the following verses.  So, I read Colossians 3:16-17, and this is what it said:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Cross in hand prayerIt was that last verse, verse 17, that got me.  Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Everything.

Do everything in Jesus name. I realized that I wasn’t doing that. By the way that I was acting, the way that I was behaving, I was not doing it in His name, and I was not bringing Him glory.  So, I has to stop and think about how I was acting. And I had to change the way that I was acting.

Because the Bible was clear.  I had to do everything. Everything.  In His name. And for His glory. And for Him.

So, I needed to change my behavior to give Him glory.  That lesson stuck with me. And I still try to live by it, every day.

Today, may we seek to do all things in the name of Jesus. All things, big or small, important or non important.  All things in Jesus name and for His glory.

May we use every moment of our life for that purpose.

 

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 Matters is Jesus

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One of the struggles for the church when Paul was evangelizing and starting churches was this – how much of the old life and the old tradition should they hold to?  Many of the new believers had come out of the Jewish tradition, while many of the newest believers were Gentiles (non-Jews). So, the question emerged, what should all Christians do?

Should they hold to the traditions of their ancestors and keep the laws about what to eat and what to drink?  Should they hold onto the old?

Or, should they break away completely?  Should they start over and walk away from the old traditions of the past? What are they to do?

Listen to how Paul writes about this in Romans 14: 17-21:

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

cu_jesus_kidsPaul tells us this – what you eat or not eat, that’s not important.  What matters is Jesus and the Holy Spirit. What matters is being lead by the spirit, walking with the spirit, living by the spirit.

Not if you eat clean or unclean, if you wash or don’t wash.

It’s Jesus.

Now, Paul would say that if you choose to eat only certain foods, that’s fine.  Just don’t judge others (who love Jesus) that don’t have the same conviction as you.  If they love Jesus, that’s what matters.

So is it today.  Just because there is something in your life that you feel like is the most important thing in all the world, and someone else doesn’t share that same passion, or doesn’t agree with you, or doesn’t go to the right church, or listen to the right music, or do the “right” thing, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t Christian.

Point folks to Jesus today, not to your traditions or the things that are you preference. Do what you need to do for you faith. But don’t mistake the way that you live your faith out for your faith.

Love others.  Love Jesus.  Point to Jesus.  Live for Him.

And let God take care of the rest!

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.

Not Ashamed

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Listen to the Word of God as we see in 1 Timothy 1:8-9:

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began

432693939_640This is big.  Really big.  We are called today not be ashamed of our faith in Jesus. We are called today to live boldly, live with confidence, live with peace, live for Jesus.  We are called today to not be ashamed of the Gospel.

But, be proud of the Gospel.

The title that is most important to me today is not Reverend.  Or pastor.  Or even Husband.  Or Father.  Or Son.

The title that means the most to me today is Christian. Because the title Christian makes everything else possible.  For me to be the best pastor or husband or father or son that I can be, I must chase after Jesus with all that I am.

Today, the title that has to mean the most in your life is that title of being a child of God. That has to have the most meaning.  That is the title that everything, all things, they must flow from.

Don’t be ashamed.

Don’t run from it.

Don’t hide from it.

You are a Christian.  You are child of God.  You are His.

Don’t be ashamed of the Gospel.  It’s the power of God in you, through you, and for you.

Live boldly.  Live for Him!  Take His name with you, where ever you go.  Live.  Love.  Serve.

In Jesus name.

Don’t be ashamed, today, and each day!

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.

A Choice

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Today’s reading from Mark 5:17-20 offers a pretty clear choice to us.  Listen to what it tell us:

And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

SocialClassChoiceIn this, we see two “people,” if you will. We first see the man who was healed from demon possession.  He had been plagued for many years by these demons, to the point that when Jesus found him, he was literally naked in a grave yard.

Jesus came to him, healed him, brought him back to sanity.  Jesus literally gave him back his life.  Now this man who was an outcast, that was not a part of the community, that was cast out, that was nothing, now he was whole again.

So, he goes out and tells people about what Jesus has done.

So, the town comes to see this Jesus that has healed this man.  And when the see Jesus, see His power, His might, who He is, they do this.  The ask Him to leave. They tell Him to get away. They want nothing to do with Him.

He is scary.  He is different. They are comfortable.  They don’t want it.

And so, today, that’s our choice.  Who will we be? Will we be the man, changed by Jesus, that can’t wait to tell others about Him, in every way possible?

Or will we be the crowd, that asks Jesus to leave, because we may not want to do what He may ask of us?

Today, we have a choice. Today, what will we choose?

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.