The God of Abundance

By Gillis Killam –

 

Some people think that God is a tight-fisted, penny-pinching and miserly God.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Someone put it this way: when God made prairies, He made miles and miles of them; when He made the mountains, He made many and gigantic; when he made the ocean he made a vast abundance of water; when he made the trees He made an abundance of forests; when He made people he made multitudes; when He made provision for our salvation He paid the highest price and brought abundant salvation.

In fact, all that God does is in abundance. Jesus didn’t come to earth to make us miserable, but to give the abundance of a full life.

Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV).

God’s abundant grace and mercy helps us to meet life’s needs no matter what they may be; so we need not worry because provision is plentiful.

I think we limit God by obsessing about what might happen in the future, when we should appreciate a God who never skimps in His provision. His supply will be more than enough. We should not worry! He said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25 NIV).

Paul once wrote, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever” (Ephesians 3:20-21 NKJV).

No matter what our lot in life, God is able to make all grace abound toward us.  When we think we can’t carry on under the burdens of life, His unfailing grace and provision is poured out on us.

Not only does God give a copious supply, He intends that we not be stingy. He said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over” (Luke 6:38 NIV).

Prayer: Thank you Heavenly Father for your abundant supply in my life.

Life vs. More Life

By Elaine James –

 

“Prayer is my medication” whispered my friend who was grieving the sudden death of her twenty-three year old son.  I was grieving, too, and trying to make sense of things. I was praying and pondering how we would ever come to a place of accepting this tragedy. Her next words came with strength and conviction: “St. Paul said ‘to live is Christ and to die is gain’” (Philippians 1:21 NIV).

This grieving mom was comforting me. This should not have shocked me. She was praying and pressing into God. The Holy Spirit spoke to her.  In another version it was stated “Life versus even more life! I can’t lose” (Philippians 1:21 MSG).

Don’t you often wonder when someone goes through a horrible ordeal “How will the family get through it?” Then it happens. The Holy Spirit does actually what Jesus promised he would do by counselling those through their troubles. Reading God’s word daily allows the Holy Spirit to counsel and convict us. In an instant I sensed God’s presence in that room. He was moving in the hearts of many of us bringing good out of despair. He was reassuring us that He was there to comfort, support and fill us with hope.

The book of Philippians records that Paul was in prison. The result of his praying was that he was shown that he was in chains for Christ. God was using his pain for gain. Paul’s letter to the Philippians was similar to the devotion I am writing. We each saw the power of God working many things together for good through a bad situation. Paul was trying to encourage everyone that here on earth you can have some life on your own or you can have even more life if you choose to follow Christ. Paul was looking forward to his hope which is one day being with Christ.

Paul pleads “for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.  I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death” (Philippians 1:19-20 NIV).

Each of us should take a moment each day to be reminded we are not here of our own accord. The worldview for true happiness is being independent and self-seeking. Whereas, God’s view for true happiness is being united with Him in love and letting the Holy Spirit lead us and reveal life to us.

PRAYER:  God, being led by your Spirit allows me to see how much there is to life and after life. Thank you for your perspective and revelation. Amen.

 

When I’m Bad to the Bone

By Dawn Wilson –

 

Why, oh why, did I sit in the front row?

One Sunday, eager to hear a long-time friend preach in my church, I came early to sit in the front row. My husband is something of a “back-row believer,” and I usually sit with him; but since Bob was out of the country, I got a front-row opportunity!

My seat was saved, but then I came in a little late after waiting for my preacher friend’s wife to finish up at their book table. The congregation finished a stirring song as I settled into my pew.

My friend smiled from the platform to see me so obviously “in place” to hear his message, and then plunged into a powerful message from the book of Revelation.

Then suddenly, from down near my feet, came the raunchy music of a tune by George Thorogood and the Destroyers—“Bad to the Bone!” In the late rush to my seat, I’d failed to shut off my phone before putting it in my purse.

It was a call from my husband. He’d forgotten the time difference from Guatemala to California, and his bad boy ring tone blasted out strong. (No, I will not tell you why Bob has that ring tone!)

My friend didn’t miss a beat. He kept preaching. But I’d swear he glared in my direction. To be honest, he may have been intense about his message on the anti-Christ and the end times, his topic for the evening. But as I scrambled for my phone, shut it down and cringed in my seat, I felt like members of the congregation were searching for 666 on my forehead!

All but my friend’s wife. She erupted into a geyser of giggles. My preacher friend glared again.

I felt “bad to the bone” that night. But not the wild kind of bad to the bone. More like the humiliated, “I’m so terribly messed up” sort of bad.

It’s not the first time I’ve been embarrassed by worse behavior than that. And before you point a finger, remember:  the Bible says there is “no good thing” in our flesh (Psalm 14:2-3; Romans 7:18a). Our fleshly “goodness” is like “filthy rags” in God’s sight (Isaiah 64:6).

Before we receive the Lord Jesus, we are “sons of disobedience,” spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1-3). We are helpless and hopeless without Him, desperate and needing rescue. But (praise God) while we were yet sinners—while we were bad to the bone—Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

God, in His good grace, planned not only for our “bad to the bone” moments, but also our alienation from Him. Our holy God wants a relationship with us, and the only way He can do that is to transform us to the core—to make us righteous in Christ. In truth, Jesus is our only hope (1 Timothy 1:1).

In Christ, we are justified and positionally holy (Titus 3:5-7; Romans 3:21-26), and someday we will be like Him, glorified and perfected, for we will “see Him as He is” (Philippians 3:21; Romans 8:30; 1 John 3:2-3). But in the meantime, we can partner with God in our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 5:23; John 17:17; 2 Timothy 2:21).

We don’t have to be victims of Satan’s “bad to the bone” agenda for our lives. We were created for so much more.

Jumping to Conclusions

By Dawn Wilson –

 

The first time I heard my mom talk about spring cleaning, I thought, “Why would anyone want to clean a spring?” (With my elementary school thinking, I envisioned my mom scrubbing bed springs … or even my rusty metal Slinky!)

I don’t think I’m alone in jumping to (mistaken) conclusions, but I do it quite a lot. Once, when my husband was looking at some old photos from before our marriage, he said, “You really looked good there—thin and healthy.” Immediately, I jumped to the conclusion that he thought I was now fat and practically on my deathbed. I got offended by his simple statement.

I let him off the hook with a date at Outback Steakhouse, but my resentment wasn’t very pretty.

A verse in scripture addresses those kinds of conclusions. “[Love] … is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:5 NIV).

Sometimes conclusion “jumps” are big leaps of misunderstanding.

I read about a 24-year-old “boy” who gazed with amazement out a train window. “Dad,” he said. “Look! The trees are going behind!”

The father smiled, but a young couple sitting near them looked on the 24-year-old’s childish behavior and pitied him.

Suddenly the young man said, “Dad, look! The clouds are running with us!”

The young couple shook their heads and one of them said to the Father, “Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor? I’m sure he could help.”

The dad just smiled, glanced at his son, and then toward the couple.

“We just came from the hospital,” he said. “You see, my son was blind from birth, but he just ‘got his eyes’ today.”

It’s so easy to jump to conclusions, but what we see might not be the truth. What we think we understand might be far off the mark.

Our enemy, Satan, loves it when we jump to conclusions. With a little coaxing, he tempted Eve to deduce that she could be “like God,” knowing things she’d never known before (Genesis 3:4-5). But Eve didn’t read the fine print in the devil’s contract. Yes, her eyes and mind were opened, but to the horrors of sin.

Satan loves it when I reason apart from God today. He’s glad whenever I think God doesn’t love me or has forgotten me in a tough circumstance. He smiles when I act like my Heavenly Father—so sovereign and powerful—is somehow uninvolved, standing by “helpless” when my life seems to spin out of control.

Satan, the master deceiver, the liar of all liars (John 8:44), delights in casting doubt on God’s Word (Genesis 3:1). I need to remember that, and question him rather than my Lord.

Satan’s target is always our mind. He uses lies to make us ignorant of God’s will and ways. Our strong defense is the faithful Word of God. It exposes and teaches us to hate every false way (Psalm 119:128).

Warren Wiersbe wrote, in The Strategy of Satan: How to Detect and Defeat Him, “If we try to evaluate things around us on the basis of our own thinking and knowledge, we will get into trouble. We must believe that what God says about things in his Word is true.”

In other words, I need to guard my heart with the Scriptures. I don’t want to “spring” to any foolish conclusions or actions.

Pay Attention

By Gillis Killam –

 

Just think of it! We could be having a coffee with someone and make a decision that will change our lives forever.  It could alter our direction and have a drastic affect on the future of our family.

When we have a bad feeling in our spirit about something, it is usually a sign to pay attention. It may be about some relationship that might seem like an insignificant decision, or it could be a decision about marriage to someone, but we don’t have real peace in our hearts about it. It is better to stop and listen. This is one choice that will have far-reaching effects on every other relationship in our lives.

It does matter when we refuse to heed warnings in our lives. Mike DeWine writes, “On every journey you take, you are met with options. At every fork in the road, you make a choice. These are the decisions that shape your life.”

The most important decisions have to do with listening to God. We all come to forks in the road of life where we make decisions about our spiritual life, and what God has said.  The writer to the Hebrews gives a stern warning about not heeding God’s warnings.

“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (Hebrew 2:1 NIV). Note the word “drift”. It is not always that we all of a sudden leave what we know is right, but gradually lose our way by not heeding the warning signs from past experiences and teaching.

Jesus used the example of building a house on the solid foundation, or building on the sand (Luke 6:47-49). He said to take heed because when the storms come your house (life) will be tested.  If we build on the word of God we can withstand the storms of life; if we don’t our house (life) will crumble and fall.

It may be about attending church—fellowship with God’s people—about forgiving people who have wronged us, about gossiping, holding a grudge or our uncontrolled anger. Listen to what God says about these things.

Prayer:  Dear Lord, thank you for reminding us of those little things that we do, or forget to do that affect our relationship with you and others. AMEN

 

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