Pride and Humility

Pride and Humility 

“Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud,

but humility comes before honor.”

(Proverbs 18:12) 

            My mom used to use some interesting terms and expressions when describing humanity. One of her favorites was “foolhardy” when someone did something out of line. Another was that “It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” Somehow, when we are proud in the context of today’s text, we are not paying attention. When we kid ourselves with false pride, it helps us grow to have an appreciation for the realities of life. 

            We are often overconfident, especially when we are young. Somehow, that is God’s way of teaching us. We constantly have to monitor our pride and confidence. The elders of society have knowledge and experience but are not always correct. Technology and society are changing faster than fifty years ago. Therefore many of the rules of life have changed. 

In our spiritual lives, the rules have not and will not change. We need to take inventory of our pride and be real. The ethics, love, and traditions taught to us by Christ will endure regardless of technology changes and cash flows. We need to hold up our values to serve the Lord in an ever-changing world. 

Thought for Today: Every day is the first day of the rest of our lives. The mistakes and experiences of our past are nothing more than learning experiences and enable us to move forward with confidence. Today, let us focus on being humble and dealing with the realities of our worlds. 

Prayer for Today: Heavenly Father, today we give thanks for the lessons we have learned and the great loves that we have. Through all that Jesus taught us and what we learned from the past, thank you for putting it before us.

Amen

 

Positive Strongholds

Strongholds in Our Lives

 

“For though we live in the world,

we do not wage war as the world does.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.

On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds”

(2 Corinthians 10 vs. 3 & 4) 

            Life contains issues that dominate our thoughts and distract us from our spirituality. They may be negative or even exciting and positive issues. On the surface, they may be very good for us. Distractions that have a stronghold on us, “strongholds,” block us from being Godly or spiritual.           

In our case, the Pickering family had some very successful years and a good life. We owned and ran three businesses, traveled, and raised four children. Those were also triathlon years and June and I kept very fit. (I just looked at some old photos and wondered how we ever looked like that.) There were a few people, including my pastor, who talked with me about possibly being OCD. That could never have been true, making money, having fun, great family trips, etc. and we did go to church. That is the American way. We were victims of a positive stronghold.           

There were some negatives. In the early ’80s, there was a recession that caused business stress that dominated our thoughts, some legal issues that dominated thoughts for a year, and every day management of it all.  Another time when there were two kids in college and our first business had issues that caused us to hedge our bets and start a second business.           

Positive and negative issues in our lives can be overwhelming. When these strongholds take over, spiritual focus will level the field. In our case we knew that we needed help and emotional support. So we prayed a lot and meditated about the Lord’s role in our lives. We made it with the help of spiritual growth and so can you. 

Thought for Today: Today let’s recognize our strongholds and pray for release. We can take a break from them.

Prayer for Today: Dear Lord and father, today is the day you made for us to enjoy. We are often distracted by life and ask your support so that our concentration on the spirit stays at the forefront. Today we pray that we will contribute to doing your will here on earth.

Amen

 

Spring, Peace on Earth!

Spring 

"Crown Him the Lord of peace,
Whose power a scepter sways
From pole to pole, that wars may cease,
And all be prayer and praise"

Crown Him, Methodist Hymnal; words by Mathew Bridges 1851

 

            Spring is a wonderful time of the year. Short winter days are replaced with warmer, longer evenings. Spring bulbs emerge from the ground with green sprouts, color returns to the woods, parks, and yards. It is a time when the wonders of God bring peaceful thoughts to us all.

       

We also live in a world surrounded by protests, shootings and fear. Terrorism, anger, illness, and other crises fill our world alongside the wonders of spring.  Where is our "peace on earth"? Spring shows us how close it is and that God is trying to bring it to us. What is our best way to participate in having a peaceful world?

 

The message in another hymn,"...let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me." gives us a hint. If each of us does our part, we can influence the world.

 

John F. Kennedy put it like this.  "One person can make a difference and every person must try.”

Thought for Today: We encounter negativity, anger, frustrations in the workplace, and frustration in our lives. We can choose to be anxious or at peace. This week let’s demonstrate Christian love and our peaceful side. Let peace begin with each of us.

Prayer for Today: Heavenly Father, we see violence negativity around the world and seem to have very little control over it all. We pray that we may lead by the example of Christ, that our living example may contribute to a better world. 

 

Personal Peace

Personal Prayer 

“Let us, therefore, make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification.”

(Romans 14:19) 

         As we watch the news, read our newspapers and study life around us, we see a lot of stress and confusion. The media presents us with more negatives than positives. We might wonder how to overcome these challenges and bring peace to the world.        

Consider what our contribution to peace will be. We cannot go out tomorrow and solve the world’s problems and create “World Peace”. However, each of us can start every day to be at peace and stay that way. Stay within ourselves through prayer to maintain our internal peace. 

Our contribution to the world can and will start within us. We know that the Lord is with us, we need to let Him in and others see the results. As Paul stated to the Romans, “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.  ² Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” (Romans 15:1 & 2). 

Thought for Today: There is an old expression that suggests aggressive reactions: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. That is always an option. Today for us let’s think about this: When our going gets tough, let’s start to pray and be at peace”. Demonstrate a better way! 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father today we pray for gentile solutions to our problems. We pay that when things get tough we may peacefully resolve the issues the way Jesus did.

Amen

 

Easter

 

Boldness

Boldness 

"Almighty God, may they be filled with the Holy Spirit

 and speak the Word of God with boldness..."

-- Acts 4:31 

                April fool’s day is a day of practical jokes, misleading emails, and general tomfoolery! So, let’s skip reading our devotional, forget the Holy Spirit and our Lord so that we may participate. That will not work because we cannot hide from God who loves us.           

Today the comics in the newspaper will have Fool’s Day jokes, the news, and sports programs will be full of them and there will be a few bogus press releases to get your attention. If I was to write a press release for today it would be “Bob shoots par at St. Andrews!” or “… wins the Ironman.”

People would recognize immediately that these were jokes and some would know they were my fantasies.           

Today like all days I hope this devotional puts you on track to recognize the Holy Spirit in your life and the role it plays for you. While others are playing jokes, we need to be sure that we are bold in our faith.

Blessings to you all and enjoy the start of April. 

Thought for Today: For today we will be bold in our faith and remember that it is ok to be a joker also! 

Prayer for Today: Father, we give thanks for all that we are and have. We thank you for having the freedom to enjoy a good joke, a great laugh, and the faith to know the real truth. Our jokes will be dampened today by COVID-19. We pray for overall safety from this virus and speedy recovery of the world’s economy.Amen

 

Character

 

 Character 

“Now all has been heard;
   here is the conclusion of the matter:
… keep his commandments,
   for this, is the duty of all mankind.”

(Ecclesiastes 12 vs. 13) 

            What a wonderful world it would be! We are all aware of the rules and will have a chance to break them daily, weekly, etc. The temptation is always around and none of us is perfect. Each morning we need to pray “Dear Lord, for today I pray to be perfect.” No coveting, jealousies, anger, aggressiveness toward others (that must mean complete stops at the stop signs!). Ok, when done reading this, try again!           

There are only ten rules to obey for a great life and a great world. Most of us try, many of us fail. That’s why we go to church on Sunday and pray daily. Somehow we end the day wishing we were better; were perfect.           

Each day we strive for perfection; that is we try to build character. We attend church and pray and that generates spiritual growth. Building character is slightly different but parallels it. The closer we are to the spirit, the easier it is to have that perfect character we all desire.           

Persistence is the word, perfection is the goal. Pray daily, obey the commandments daily and life will be good. Never give up being the best you can be. 

Thoughts for Today: For today, let us be aware of the commandments in all of our activities. 

Prayer for Today: Dear Lord and father today we give thanks for our wonderful lives and the hope we have for the future through our belief in Jesus. We pray for the strength and judgment to be obedient and of the highest character.

Amen