Category Archives: General

For those of you who were expecting a “Happy Halloween” on October 31^st, I’ll say it: Happy Halloween! Neighborhoods all across the United States will be covered with kids in costumes hoping to fill their bags with treats. However, I would like to take a moment to encourage you with a brief history of something far more significant to celebrate on the last day of October: Reformation Day.

Reformation Day is a religious celebration for Protestants all over the world. On October 31, 1517, a Greek monk named Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg, an event that marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s document represented a public invitation to academics and theologians of his day to discuss and dispute the church’s practice of selling “indulgences” to secure the forgiveness of sins. Many theologians say that October 31 commemorates a cosmic move of the Holy Spirit reminiscent of the Day of Pentecost.

What follows is a very brief picture of the importance of this day in the history of the Christian church. Martin Luther identified the problems of works-righteousness, merit-based practices, and extra-biblical traditions that were rooted in Roman Catholicism. Luther essentially revived the true Gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, as is set forth in sacred Scripture.

It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.  (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Luther believed that the Word of God should have supremacy as it related to faith and practice. Tradition can certainly play a role in the church, but it must never be elevated to the level of infallibility. In God’s providence, at the time Luther hammered his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church, the printing press had been invented and was ready to copy and circulate the Bible that Luther had translated into German in order to put the Word of God into the hands of the common person.  Luther also recaptured the doctrine of “the priesthood of all believers” which meant that every person mattered. Luther taught that there was no sacred-secular split; every person, regardless of their occupation, is in full time ministry service to God when what they are doing is done for God’s glory. 

As you might imagine, the Roman Catholic Church was greatly displeased, Luther was brought before the church and told to recant of his position. His response left an indelible mark on the history of the church:

I cannot choose but adhere to the Word of God, which has possession of my conscience, nor can I possibly, nor will I even make any recantation, since it is neither safe nor honest to act contrary to conscience! Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise, so help me God! Amen.       

The Protestant Reformation exploded out of Germany and spread through Europe. The torch was picked up by other courageous giants in the history of the church: John Calvin in Geneva, Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich, and John Knox in Scotland. The Reformation that Luther led sparked the Anabaptist (free church) movement and the English Reformation, which expanded Christianity across the water all the way to America. Make no mistake, Luther’s hammer hit a nerve that vibrated throughout the world, reclaiming the good news of the Gospel, that salvation is by grace, not good works . . . mercy, not merit.

Sometimes we wonder what difference one person can make. Well, the difference Martin Luther made will echo into eternity in the lives of untold millions of Christian believers. 

So, on this Reformation Day, let me encourage you to rest in your redemption, knowing that everything you need has already been given to you by the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus said, ‘It is finished,” He meant what He said, and He said it to you. Let me also encourage you to do as Luther did by telling others that God so loves them that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). 

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” (Exodus 3:4)

On Monday we saw that we have a “Behind the Scenes Savior” who is at work in our lives, even when we cannot see Him or sense His presence. On Wednesday we saw how He worked behind the scenes in the life of Joseph; today we’ll look at another great hero of the Old Testament: Moses.

Moses was born at a time when the Pharaoh of his day had given the order for the Hebrew midwives to kill all the baby boys born to the people of God. When Moses was born, God was at work behind the scenes, and Moses was taken in by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised as her own son . . . and as the grandson of Pharaoh. Moses received the finest education and military training that was available; clearly God had placed him in the household of Pharaoh to prepare him for service years later.

God was working in the heart of Moses, who, at age 40, decided to be “mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:24). When visiting his people, he saw an Egyptian slave master mistreating a Hebrew slave and he struck down the slave master. Moses thought he was going to deliver his people from bondage in his strength and in his way, but Pharaoh sought to kill Moses for what he had done. Moses was now a condemned murderer on the run. But once again, God was working behind the scenes in the life of Moses, and He sent Moses to the back side of the desert in Midian for the next forty years, preparing Moses to be the deliverer of God’s people.

When Moses eighty years old, God called Moses into service and sent him back to Egypt to deliver God’s people from bondage and slavery. When Moses objected and gave every excuse he could think of to get out of his calling, God said, “I will be with you.” God was with Moses and used him to deliver his people from their slavery in Egypt. For forty years, Moses led God’s people out of Egypt, through the desert, and to the Promised Land. Throughout all 120 years of Moses’ life, God was working behind the scenes.

Moses could never have imagined what God was up to during the first forty years of his life as he grew up in the household of Pharaoh, living a privileged life. Then, as a condemned murderer, he never could have imagined what God was up to during the next forty years of his life as he worked as a shepherd in the desert of Midian. But when God suddenly came out from behind the scenes and appeared to Moses in the burning bush, Moses began to understand how God had been at work throughout his entire life, preparing him to be the deliverer of God’s people.

It is my prayer that this week’s three-part devotional will be a source of great hope and encouragement in your life. God is at work in your life, even during those dreary and difficult seasons when you cannot sense His presence or understand what He is doing. Remember, Jesus said, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (John 13:7). Just keep looking to Jesus. He has everything under His complete control in your life. Always has, always will. You have His Word on that!  

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:19-20)

On Monday we saw that we have a “Behind the Scenes Savior” who is at work in our lives, even when we cannot see Him or sense His presence. God is working everything together — even the difficult and the painful — for our ultimate good. Today and Friday we’ll look at two examples of just how He does that.

Joseph was the favored son of Jacob, and his brothers hated him for it. Jacob gave Joseph a special coat of many colors; that visible symbol of their father’s affection inflamed the brothers’ hatred even more. God was with Joseph and gave him the supernatural gift of understanding divine dreams. But when Joseph shared these dreams with his brothers, they hated him with a deadly intensity.

So when Joseph was 17, his brothers decided to get rid of him. Here is an overview of the next 13 years of Joseph’s life:

• The brothers decided to kill Joseph by throwing him into a pit (Genesis 37:24).
• Then, not wanting his blood on their hands, the brothers decided to sell Joseph to slave traders, who took him down to Egypt (Genesis 37:28).
• Joseph was sold to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials (Genesis 37:36).
• Joseph prospered in the house of his Egyptian master because God was with him (Genesis 39:2).
• Joseph was entrusted to care for everything Potiphar owned (Genesis 39:4).
• Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph; when he refused her advances, she falsely accused him of trying to rape her (Genesis 39:14).
• Potiphar believed his wife and had Joseph thrown in prison (Genesis 39:20).
• But the Lord was still with Joseph in prison and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden, who put Joseph in charge of all that was done there (Genesis 39:21).
• Joseph interpreted the dreams of the king’s cupbearer and chief baker (Genesis 40:8).
• After Joseph spent two more years in the prison, word of his gift eventually reached Pharaoh, who had two dreams that Joseph interpreted, warning of seven years of famine in Egypt (Genesis 41:16).
• Pharaoh took Joseph out of the prison and brought him into the palace, making Joseph second-in-command over all Egypt (Genesis 41:40).
• While Joseph was serving as Egypt’s prime minister, Pharaoh gave him one of his daughters in marriage. Joseph was now 30 years old (Genesis 41:46).
• During the famine years, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt looking for food and were ultimately reunited with Joseph. It was then that Joseph uttered the words recorded in our verse for today (Genesis 50:19-20).

When Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, he surely did not understand what God was up to, but God was working behind the scenes. When Joseph was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into prison, he surely did not understand what God was up to; Joseph was punished for doing the right thing! But God was working behind the scenes. When Joseph more than two years in prison, he did not understand what God was up to, but God was working behind the scenes. When Joseph was raised up to the position of prime minister of Egypt, he still could not understand what God was up to, but God was working behind the scenes. Eventually, however, looking back over his 13 years as a slave in Egypt, Joseph finally faced his brothers once again, and his words of grace to them revealed his understanding of just how God had been working behind the scenes in Joseph’s life:

“God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” (Genesis 45:7-8)

This account of how God worked behind the scenes in the life of Joseph should be a source of great hope and encouragement for all of us. No matter what we are facing, God has not abandoned us; He is at work in every area of our lives, even when we cannot see or understand what He is doing. Scripture assures us that God is working all things together for the ultimate good of all those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Trust Him, even when you cannot trace Him, knowing that He who began the good work in you will one day bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6).

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself, the God and Savior of Israel. (Isaiah 45:15)

We all know that God works in full view of everyone and everything, and we know that God is always working (John 5:17). But what about those times in our lives when we feel like challenges and trials are beating us down, and it seems like God is nowhere to be found? I want to encourage you today with the biblical foundation that teaches us the truth that that we do indeed have a “Behind the Scenes Savior.” Then on Wednesday and Friday of this week, we’ll look at two powerful stories from Scripture about God working from behind the scenes while being in complete control of everything.

We have all heard the saying, “God works in mysterious ways.” Here is one of the most important passages in all of Scripture that speaks to this truth:

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Often it is only when we look back over our lives that we see just how God was working, even though we could not see it at the time. Why? Because more often than not, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and God’s ways are not our ways. When we are struggling in the midst of a difficult trial, we tend to shift our focus away from Christ and zero in on our circumstances. When we do that, we are utterly incapable of seeing what God is doing in our lives.

To be sure, there are many times when we do not know the mind of God in a certain set of circumstances. But what we can always know with complete certainty is that we have a good God who has a perfect plan for our imperfect lives. If this message finds you in a moment of darkness, difficulty, or even despair because you feel that God is distant, take heart! God is at work in every aspect of your life, whether you see it or not. How do I know that to be true? Because that is what He has promised! “Never will I leave you,” He assure us; “never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

And throughout the entire process, He is working everything together for your ultimate good. Look to Him. Learn from Him. Lean on Him! Trust God even when you cannot trace Him in your life.

On Wednesday we will take a look at the life of Joseph and see a splendid story of our Savior working behind the scenes.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. (Psalm 34:17 NASB)

When we are hurting, we often feel helpless . . . even hopeless. The waves of challenge that wash over us can seem unending. Just as we are coming up to gasp for a bit of air, another wave pummels us back down onto the sandbar of sadness and sorrow. But no matter what we are facing in this life, we never face it alone.

In today’s verse, the psalmist hands us the key that unlocks the door to divine intervention: We are to cry out to the Lord. The cry of the heart is the pathway to healing, and I’d like to give you two reasons why this is true.

#1 The Lord Hears

Our Lord hears the cry of our heart. He is sensitive to our suffering. He knows what we are going through, and He wants us to turn to Him and trust Him, no matter what we are currently facing. Peter put it this way, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer” (1 Peter 3:12). When waves of challenge come your way, cry out to the Lord! He hears you, He cares for you, and He will ultimately deliver you.

#2 The Lord Delivers

It’s important to understand what this means and does not mean. It does not mean God will always deliver us out of the difficult circumstance we are facing. Our deliverance will not always be physical; as we all know, we will eventually die. But God will always deliver us through our difficulties emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. Remember, the apostle Paul had a thorn that caused him great difficulty, yet God refused to remove it from him. Instead God delivered Paul through it, growing and maturing Paul in his faith.

Remember, troubles are a sign of our Savior’s mercy, David said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word” (Psalm 119:67). Every trial we face and every challenge that confronts us is another reminder of God’s mercy in our lives as He works to bring us to the end of ourselves, making us more and more like Jesus . . . and more and more dependent on Him, just as Jesus depended on His Father.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Satan replied, “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?” (Job 1:10)

The term “hedge” in the Scriptures illustrates God’s supernatural, strategic system of protection for His people from the slings and arrows of the evil one. We wake up each morning and find ourselves centered within the crosshairs of the world, the flesh, and the devil, all seeking to harass us and hinder the work God is doing in us and through us. But our gracious God, who has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), provides “holy hedges” for our protection.

God is our Shield of Protection; He is our Holy Hedge. Here are three passages from the Psalms that reinforce this biblical truth:

Let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them sing for joy. Spread your protection over the, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. (Psalm 5:11)

In the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. (Psalm 27:5)

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (Psalm 34:7)

The story of Job makes it clear that God’s holy hedge around us does not mean that we will never experience the sorrows and suffering of life. Because we live in a fallen and broken world with other fallen and broken people, difficulties and distress are simply part of this life. But we must remember this: if God does not protect us from a storm – He will protect us in the storm. God has promised to be with us in every storm we face and to bring us to the other side of it . . . whether in this life or the next. Because God knows what is best for us all the time, we are to trust in His goodness and receive all that happens in our lives with thanksgiving.

The book of James tells us to receive our trials with joy, because God is using all of them to grow and mature us in our faith as He conforms us to the image of Christ. Believe me, I am well aware that this is not easy, but genuine thanksgiving and joy are the only right responses to the One who laid His life down for us that we might live with Him — not just for eternity, but right now, in our everyday lives.

Look to Jesus. Learn from Jesus. Lean on Jesus! He is in control of everything in your life and has promised to be with you and to protect you.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love . . . (1 Thessalonians 1:3 (KJV))

The title of today’s word of encouragement is a popular phrase that refers to any work done for no financial compensation, because it is work that is motivated and manifested by a heart that overflows with thanksgiving for the service one is providing. You can see from today’s Scripture passage that our English phrase finds its origin in these words penned by the apostle Paul to the church at Thessalonica.

Another way you could express “labor of love” would be “Labor driven and directed by love.” And therein lies the key to serving the Lord in a way that brings honor and glory to His name. Whether the work is paid or volunteer matters not. What matters is the “why” behind the work we are doing. Are we doing it for the money? Are we doing it for the applause of man? Are we doing it for our own glory? Or are we doing it simply as an act of love and thanksgiving to Jesus for all He has done for us?

Everything we do should be a labor of love to our Lord. The more time we spend in the presence of our Lord, the better we will understand how His love empowers, encourages, and equips us to live our lives, moment by moment, in the light of His love.

So here is the big question: Is the job you are currently doing a labor of love to your Lord? Regardless of what it is you are doing, from changing the world to changing diapers, your work matters to God, and He wants you to do it for His glory and the expansion of His Kingdom.

Remember, Jesus saved you for relationship, and that relationship must not be compartmentalized. Jesus is to be sitting on the throne of every aspect of your life, including your work. Work is a gift from God; the way we do our work is our gift back to Him. May the confession of our work be a labor of love for our Lord, regardless of what kind of work we are doing.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. (Galatians 3:13)

Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the entire human race has been living in exile – far away from God and our true home. In the ancient world, a conquered people would be exiled from their homeland to be made slaves in the land of the conqueror. This brought with it a special kind of sorrow, and the people of Israel experienced this as a result of God’s judgment on them for their continued idolatry and disobedience. But when we read through both the Old and New Testaments, we should read all of it as an “end-of-exile” story that finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

When Jesus shows up in our lives, we begin our long journey home – not by our own efforts, but rather by His. You see, the journey is too long; the road is too rough; and the travel is too exhausting. Only in His strength can we make our way back into our Promised Land. When Jesus left heaven, took on flesh, and dwelt among us, He was on a divine rescue mission. He came to redeem us from our exile, and He did it by way of the cross. Jesus willingly laid down His life for all those who would trust in Him alone for eternal life.

Remember, through His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection from the grave, Jesus heralded the end of our exile by inaugurating His eternal kingdom. God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus, and all the curses of the covenant were fulfilled because of His faithfulness. Jesus is the True Israel, and through His total obedience to His Father, He set the captives free, and that includes you and me. So today we are simply pilgrims passing through this temporal world as we make our way to our eternal home in the new heavens and earth. May this be the confession of our lives.   

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Whoever is patient has great understanding . . . (Proverbs 14:29)

You’ve probably heard it more than a hundred times throughout your life: “Patience is a virtue.” The question is, do we even know how to define the word patience? One of the best definitions I have seen for patience is “Waiting without complaining.” Is there anyone reading these words who would say that is an easy thing to do?

When the sky is blue, the clouds are fleecy, and everything is going our way, the practice of patience is relatively easy. But when the waves of challenge begin to crash over us, we have a tendency to grow impatient . . . quickly! I know that’s true of me. And at those times, I must remind myself that the Word of God praises patience as a fruit of the Holy Spirit in the life of the disciple of Christ. Patience is a gift that is given to every believer, and the patience we show in our lives reveals our faith in, our trust in, and our dependence on our Redeemer.

Let us return to that definition of patience — waiting without complaining — and add some important insight into the word waiting. Waiting is not a posture of passivity or resignation; it is filled with activity that is submitted and surrendered to the will of God.

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus . . . (Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)

It’s hard to imagine someone winning a race by passively waiting on all the other runners. Rather, to run with endurance is to proceed with perseverance through the the challenging circumstances that will inevitably come against us. Remember, this is a practice; patience will not be developed in a day, but daily. God will allow us to enter into circumstances that are designed to test our faith and train our faithfulness.

Our goal is to keep on looking to Jesus, knowing that He has promised to bring us through our race with freedom, joy, and faithfulness, bringing glory to God and good to all others.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. (James 1:2)

It is vitally important for Christians to understand that God has infused purpose into our pain; when we do recognize that biblical reality, the key is to make sure we don’t waste any of our pain. As we all know from personal experience, life on this side of the grave is not all green pastures, still waters, and mountaintop experiences. All the stories you read in the Bible about the heroes of the faith are filled with one painful providence after another. So the question that must be answered is this: “What will you do with what you’ve been through?”

We’re all familiar with the phrase “growing pains.” As we grow up physically, we go through growing pains — times of physical and emotional awkwardness and discomfort — as the body is transforming from child to adult. This phrase “growing pains” also reflects a biblical truth for all those who are disciples of our Lord Jesus. Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). And where was Jesus going? To a cross, to die an unimaginably agonizing death in our place so that we might have eternal life by trusting in Him alone.

Regardless of the storms you have endured throughout your life, God has brought you through every one of them. He has used every wave of challenge crashing over you and all the storm winds that buffeted you to grow and mature you in your faith. Were some of these times painful? I’m sure they were! Were there times when you reacted to them awkwardly? Perhaps even angrily? I know I certainly have. But God brought you and me through those experiences each and every time. And I’m quite sure that even now you can look back on some of them and see how your faith was strengthened because of them.

Wherever this message finds you today and whatever storm may be battering you relationally, professionally, or personally, remember these words from our Lord Jesus: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). May that truth set us free to make the most out of every painful providence that God sends into our lives.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!