Charles Stanley New Year's Devotional

As the year draws to a close and you look at the possibilities ahead of you, what is it that seems impossible? What has the Lord called you to do that appears far beyond your ability to achieve? You may not see how it could ever work out, but God does. And He will assume full responsibility for your needs as you obey Him.

So how can you remain in the center of God’s will as you anticipate His provision?

First, seek the Father’s guidance and submit to His direction.

Second, keep your focus on the Lord’s character rather than your circumstances by recalling His victories. 

Third, cultivate a godly life by meditating on Scripture.

Finally, praise the Lord for His intimate involvement in every detail of your life.

Your heavenly Father wants the very best for you, and He will never lead you astray. So stay in the center of His will—watching for His activity and expecting Him to work on your behalf. Because with Him directing you, nothing will be impossible.

Lord, I know You will fulfill all Your promises to me. Thank You for leading me in the way I should go. Amen.

In His presence . . . expect His direction and provision.
    
~Every Day in His Presence - Charles Stanley.

Looking Toward the New Year

I just spent an inordinate amount of time searching pictures of people ignoring each other so I could share them with you . . . and then there's this summary statement:

 

As I'm looking toward the New Year, I'm thinking about what I'd like to see change in myself.  Of course I want to be transformed further into the likeness of my Lord, Jesus Christ.  Much of that is accomplished by God as I spend time with Him in prayer, and fill my mind with His word - we become like those we spend the most time with.  But there are also conscious decisions that I can make to emulate Him in my behavior.

One of my favorite observations of Jesus as I read the gospels happens whenever I picture His face in my mind.  Read an account of Him speaking to the multitudes, or addressing someone specifically;  where do you picture the focus of His eyes?  Directly on whomever He is listening or speaking to, right?  His full attention is given to the people He is with - they know that He sees them, that He is listening to them, that He is speaking directly to them.

What about us?  It is shocking how often we ignore each other even when we're right next to each other!  We don't look at each other, we don't speak to each other - it's as if we are pretending we don't realize the other person is there.  Do you sense the coldness of that?  The impersonality, the isolation, the unnecessary loneliness . . . the unspoken messages "you have no value", "I can't be bothered", "I don't recognize you as important to me"?  

Several years ago I began consciously to choose to look people in the eye and initiate conversation with them.  This actually started in the grocery store;  I began noticing older women, senior citizens, who were usually shopping alone.  I remember one in particular; she had carefully applied a pretty shade of lipstick, some blusher and pearl earrings.  I couldn't resist:  I said "That lipstick is such a pretty shade on you - it really picks up on the sparkle in your eyes!"  The radiance of her smile as she said thank you just flooded my heart.  How could I fail to continue to repeat this simple act of acknowledgement?  So now, every senior woman who crosses my path in the grocery store is certain to hear from me - about her scarf, the color of her coat, how beautiful her skin is, how nice it is to see her today.  Try it - you won't believe how pleasant it is!

Now I work at Panera, and I'm often at the cash register.  I am still surprised by how many people will order without even looking at me, or expecting me to look at them!  Now I pride myself on being efficient and taking people's orders quickly - I realize that they probably have a time limit and need to move along.  But there is plenty of time for me to look directly in their eyes, smile, offer a compliment or a pleasant word about enjoying their meal or the rest of their day.  

When we accept Jesus' gift of forgiveness of our sins and a relationship with God through Him, we become His dwelling place through the presence of His Holy Spirit.  We are now His hands, feet, eyes, mouth and voice - how can we help but use these to do as He would do?  To look directly at people, smile, speak with a warm and pleasant voice, walk alongside them and use a gentle touch to show them that they matter - these are acts of service to my God, honoring Him as I honor the people He has made, that He cares so deeply about.  

So as I approach 2015, I am recommitting to acknowledging people, making eye contact and simple conversation.  How about you?  Try compliments - nothing is easier!  I will add this disclaimer though - I save my sweetest, warmest compliments for women . . . I happen to love color, so sometimes I will remark about the colors or pattern of a man's tie, the brightness of his eyes, or the ease of his smile.  But 99% of the time when I compliment a man directly about himself, he's a senior citizen. For most other men, I try to compliment behavior - such as the gallantry or courtesy of holding a door for an older woman, or deferring to a mom with kids, allowing her to go before him in line.  Just sayin' . . . 

So brush up on your compliments and observations, and let them flow freely - you'll be pleasantly surprised, and those who encounter you will be glad that they did!  Offer this up as a gift to God of interaction with others and see where He takes you. 

On Living and Dying . . .

Two beautiful women that I know are suffering through terrible journeys right now . . . they are both walking through the valley of the shadow of death; one with her husband, and one with her son.  Both men seem too young, too full of life-force to be at this juncture, yet here they are, poised on that precipice between life and death.  Both men have placed their faith in God to heal them, and the time has come where it appears that God will heal them through translating them from this world to the next; they will receive no physical healing here on this earth.  

There is nothing poetic or metaphorical in their suffering; their bodily systems are shutting down, their organs failing to function, hospice is present with one as his time appears to be imminent.  My mind reels when I try to touch the edge of this reality with my imagination, my stomach jumps into my throat;  I grieve for these friends of mine as they watch their men slipping away from them.

I pray for God to strengthen my girlfriends as they tend to their loved ones, physical strength, emotional strength, mental strength . . . and strength of faith.  It all comes down to this for each of us eventually . . . it is appointed unto man once to die . . . but it seems that we spend our lives trying to avoid acknowledging this fact, making it even more difficult when the reality of it becomes unavoidable.

I simply cannot imagine preparing to lose my husband, or my son. And though I don't fear my own death, I wonder how I will be when I'm actually facing it.  Whenever I've thought of Sandy and Al or Suzan and Michael these past few days, I've tried to soften my voice as I speak to my loved ones, I've been more intentional in reaching out to touch them with my hands.  Though I am not walking their road right now, I want to honor their struggle by doing what I know they would do if they had more time, what I know they are doing with the time they have left.

Life here is short . . . too short to keep records of wrongs - real or imagined - in our relationships.  Too short for me to insist on having my way, or the last word.  Too short to make mountains out of molehills, catastrophes out of inconveniences, offenses out of oversights, biographies out of isolated episodes or permanent records of words spoken carelessly, or out of pain and anger.

We fail each other, we all do.  Humanly though, we are all we have.  God tells us to love each other as He loves us - completely, without reserve or hesitation, without regard for return on our investment.  We are not to sum each other up, nor render evaluations of one another - that is reserved for Him alone, for He alone sees clearly, without distortion, misinformation or misguided emotions.

He knows our frame, He remembers that we are but dust. The word of God refers to our life as a vapor, or as the grass of the field, here today and gone tomorrow.  Think of the millions who have gone before us . . . the many who will pass today . . . the transition from this life to the next is on each of our timelines . . . not having a specific date doesn't negate that it is there.

So spend some time today thinking about when you leave this planet; what will happen to you?  Can you know?  How can you find out?  Is there a God that you will answer to, and if so, what do you need to do to prepare to meet Him?  And how would He have you spend the time He has given you here?  Search out the answers - they are too important to ignore.  SO much more important than our many plans for our education, our prosperity, our vacations, our (fill-in-the-blank-here).  

And be gentle, loving and filled with grace as you touch the lives of the fellow human beings in your world . . . we're all trying to make sense of life as we go . . . let's try to help each other along . . . 

By the way, I love you, fellow sojourner.

The Lost Sheep

The Lost Sheep (Lk 15:3-7 / Mt 18:11-14)

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."  (Is 53:6)

Oh, we are sheep!  We wander ALL the time!  We follow others into dead ends, wasted time, endless pursuits of distraction and pleasure.  We get lost, we search to find our way until we are exhausted, then we plop down and bleat piteously.  Even our purposeful, intentional goals are often nothing more than wandering when considered in light of eternity!

What to do?  Through the years, men have developed standards and regulations in an attempt to gauge worth, to convince ourselves that we are indeed investing in things that matter.  All religion falls into that category.  Jesus challenged and shattered all the standards that we use - He routinely went against the religious thinking of His day when it came to choosing who He spent His time with. 

The story of the lost sheep was told in response to the charge that He spent all His time with sinners - with failures, people who weren't meeting the standards set by others.  Of course, those "others" were blind to the fact that Jesus Himself sets the only standard that matters, and they were failures too.  He was telling them that all men are like lost sheep - He has come to find each one of us, to bring us home and welcome us into His flock.  

So the first thing to consider is whether or not you have allowed Him to find you . . . have you responded to Him and allowed Him to embrace you, to forgive you, to cover your sin and give you new life with Him?  Have you surrendered to His care, accepting His leadership over you as your Shepherd?  If so, then rest in Him; rejoice in His goodness; enjoy His provisions for you.

Perhaps there is a day you can remember when you went from being a lost sheep to one of His sheep, but you have since wandered.  Have you chased after things outside the green pastures and still waters that He led you to?  Have you been deceived and followed the crowds into confusion, unable to find your way back?  He is your shepherd - His desire is to gather you back, bring you to safety, where He can once again provide for you and guide you.  Nothing you have chosen or have done is beyond the coverage He purchased at the cross, when all the iniquities of all of us were laid on him.  Don't let fear or guilt or shame cause you to delay even another second.  Call out to Him and you will find that He is right there with you!

Perhaps you have never come to the Shepherd at all - perhaps you have spent your entire life on your own, doing your best, or doing what you could, or simply wandering along.  You have a Shepherd who loves you.  You were never meant to be alone - He is not willing that ANY should live apart from Him in this lifetime or in eternity.  But you must be willing to come to Him - He does not force Himself on anyone.  Today - as you are reading this - you can call out to Him and He will be there.  You will be the lost sheep that He finds and rejoices over!  This Christmas, He will be your present and you will be His.  Staying lost is a choice, my friend.  Don't choose it.

(the link to the kid's post is:  http://elizabethtreger1.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-countdown-dec-20.html)

"I Am the Light of the World"

^{I Am the Light of the World}
  

^{We begin our lives in the dark, enclosed in our mother's womb.  When we make our entrance into the world, light crashes into our senses, and we squeeze our eyes tight against it - the darkness is familiar, the light foreign.  In the beginning, the world was shrouded in darkness, and God spoke "Let there be light."  Jesus came into the world, He is the light of life . . . and the darkness didn't comprehend or understand Him.  Our world is dark, filled with people and ideas that attempt to thrive separate of God, which is darkness.  Even as we follow Him, we can delude ourselves, be deceived or rebel and choose darkness rather than looking to Him to guide us with His light.}  

 

^{"Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, 'I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'" (John 8:12)}

^{Jesus speaks truth plainly;  the image is simple - He is the light, and if we follow Him we will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.  Clear, not complicated . . . yet difficult to live out, due to our tendency to choose the darkness.}  

^{Whenever we want to choose our own way, knowing that God wants something different for us, we choose darkness.  Whenever we choose not to ask, we choose darkness.  Darkness lets us hide; it suggests that we can do something and not be discovered . . . and we welcome darkness when we want to do things we'd rather no one else know about . . . especially God.  CRAZY how we delude ourselves, isn't it?  Even a child knows that if he's under a table God can still see him, yet we try to hide anyway.}  

^{Sometimes it's a dark area of activity;  sometimes it's a dark corner of our personality or our character, our emotions or our thought life.  Initially it seems that we can control this secret pocket; even maintain our relationship with God along with our secret.  Eventually, the darkness becomes too much - we hit that point where sin shows itself for what is really is; corrupt, empty, threatening to engulf our entire self in a void.  That's when we call out to God.}

^{Or perhaps you truly are walking genuinely and openly before God, when suddenly life around you seems to grow dark.  Your circumstances take a dive, and you can't see your way through.  People and things that you counted on turn out to be unreliable, even dangerous to your well-being.  That's when you call out to God.}

^{And the amazing thing is, the instant we call to Him, there He is!  His light permeates our darkness, and hope returns.  Maybe not all the details of how we will move from where we are to where He will lead us, but the certainty that He is there, that He has been all along, and that He knows how to guide us out of the darkness is undeniable.  Usually we can't help wondering why we waited so long to turn our face toward Him!}  

^{A speaker once asked us how much light it takes to dispel darkness - the truth is, not much.  Think of the comfort of lighting a single candle or turning on a flashlight during a blackout.  Think of the definition you gain from a soft nightlight when sleeping in a strange place.  Think of the difference between paralyzing fear when you're surrounded by darkness, and the immediate sense of readiness to move toward a light revealed in that moment.}  

^{Whether we bring on the darkness or life brings us to it, our answer is the same.  Jesus is the light of the world.  He is ever-present, ever aware of us, ever ready to illuminate our mind, heart and path.  All we need do is seek Him and follow Him as He leads us.  Thank You Jesus, for lighting our way.}

^{(the link to the kid's post is:  http://elizabethtreger1.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-countdown-dec-19.html)}

The Unforgiving Servant

The Unforgiving Servant  (Matt 18:21-35)

Peter had a question for Jesus - "How many times should I forgive my brother?  Up to seven times?"  This sounded good to Peter, as that was more than the law commanded.  But Jesus answered "Seventy times seven!"  Then He proceeds to tell them the parable of the unforgiving servant.  Basically , this servant owes the king more than he could ever hope to repay in his lifetime, and after begging the king for mercy, the king forgives the entire debt.  Then this servant goes out and finds a fellow who owes him a pittance, and though this fellow begs for mercy, the servant has him thrown into jail.  When the king hears about it, he delivers the ungrateful, unforgiving servant "to the torturers" until he can repay what he originally owed.  

Jesus ends the parable with these words, "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

I'm not going to writing anything new here, just reiterate what we already know, but often try not to think about.  If we have accepted God's forgiveness of our sins, we are OBLIGATED to forgive others.  We don't need to weigh the situation out, decide if they're 'sorry' or rationalize in any other way.  Being the recipient of God's extravagant grace means that I am now a dispenser of grace to others.  

God Himself will settle accounts with those that we forgive.  That's not our concern.  Our concern is to develop a lifestyle of forgiveness - seventy times seven!  That's 490 times!  If I forgave someone that many times, I think it would become second nature to me.  

My sins separated me from God - in this lifetime, and for eternity.  Jesus forgave ALL that debt with His blood that He shed for me.  How can I dare to imagine that any human being's offenses against me could outweigh my offenses against God Himself?  That's ludicrous.  

Forgiveness is not about feelings, it's not about settling a score, or deciding not to settle one.  It is stating that as a recipient of God's grace, I am granting grace to you.  Anything else that needs settling is between you and God.  Forgiveness stems from the overwhelming love I have for God in response to His grace and goodness to me.  In Luke 7:47, Jesus states that "she who has been forgiven much loves much."  This is the outward expression of my inward reality. 

I'm not advocating becoming a doormat to someone who continues to commit offenses against you, especially if the situation involves abuse.  Forgiveness does not mean that we stay present for repetitive, problematic behavior.  We can forgive and yet remove ourselves from an unsafe or unhealthy situation.  If you are facing issues like this, seeking counsel on how to protect yourself, and any children right away is what God would have you do.  Whenever we discuss forgiveness, it is necessary to note that forgiveness is NOT the same as reconciliation.  They are two separate acts, and while we are always to forgive, we may not be called to remain in relationship with harmful individuals.  

Not an easy truth, but one that Jesus leaves us no wiggle room on.  It's the season of gift giving - who do you need to give forgiveness to today?  Will you follow God's command in this matter?  You will not only be giving a gift to the offender, but to yourself and to your God, as well.  

(the link to the kid's post is:  http://elizabethtreger1.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-countdown-dec-18.html)

Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers

Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11-19)

A little history on Judaism in Jesus' day will expand our experience of this story.  Due to the highly contagious nature of leprosy, the affected persons lived apart from the rest of the community.  In religious terms, having leprosy made a person 'unclean'.  They were not able to participate in religious services or any form of social life.  When these men found that they were healed on their way to the temple, nine of them found their desire to get to the temple to be ceremonially cleansed and get back to their lives to be absolutely irresistible!  They never looked back - they were healed, and now they wanted to get on with living!

One man, a Samaritan btw, when he realizes that he is healed, turns and runs back to Jesus, falls at His feet, glorifies God and says, "Thank You" over and over and over!  For him, life can wait - He has just met the Messiah!  Yes, he has been extraordinarily blessed by being healed, but right now, all he can think about is the Healer!  And what is Jesus' response?  He tells him "your faith has made you well."  

He was already healed, as were the other nine.  What is Jesus talking about?  I believe it is the distinction between taking whatever good God can give you and running with it, and recognizing the goodness of God, leading you to worship Him. All ten were healed of leprosy, but all ten would one day die.  I believe that only one was healed for eternity.  He recognized Jesus and worshiped Him; his faith in Jesus made his soul whole.  

When the townspeople saw these 10 men, they all looked the same:  healed, healthy, whole again.  When God saw them, He saw nine and one.  I Samuel 16:7b says:  "For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."  

(the link to the kid's post is:  http://elizabethtreger1.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-countdown-dec-17.html)