Our Rock

COVID-19 has captured our attention, changed our lives and will affect us forever. The devotion below appeared in God is My Spinach in 2012. The foundations of our society have been shaken. There is reason to be concerned. Having a strong faith is an advantage

Our Rock

“There is no one holy like the LORD;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.”

(1 Samuel 2 vs. 2)

            Growing up in New England we often fished in streams and frequently crossed them by stepping from rock to rock. When we stepped on a loose one or slipped from one we got cold and wet. The analogy I am getting at is we chose the wrong rock! That is not an option with God.

            The Lord is the rock of our life; our foundation, and always with us. There are times when we forget that simple truth; when we feel lonely; when we will not let Him in to help. During those times we can feel cold and lonely. (Hopefully not wet!)

            Prayer and devotionals will help that situation. If you are reading this today you are probably sitting squarely on the rock.

Thought for Today: During hard and scary times, we need our foundation; our rock!

Prayer for Today: Heavenly Father, today we recognize you and give thanks for being our rock and foundation. We pray for ourselves, our families and our world.

COVID-19

Tonight, I want to be current. The news this week is one of trauma and fear. Yes, the big bad COVID-19 is a worldwide concern. Visits to my devotional blog today are more than four times normal and from 160 countries. People in the world are searching. The twenty-third Psalm seems to be the correct reading. Let’s think it through.

23^rd Psalm

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside still waters..."

 (Psalms 23:1-2).        

            The first two lines above, lead us to tranquility. Faith will take care of your wants and lead us to that inner peace you desire and to the restful place beside still waters. My message last week was to find a still place. We need that right now!

"He refreshes and restores my life;

He leads in the paths of righteousness for His namesake"

(Psalm23:3)

When things in our life need rebuilding; fear and concern are an issue. We need spirituality and faith to maintain peace.

"Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil; for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff to comfort me."

(Psalm 23:4)

            On our planet this week, we seem to be walking through the valley and in the shadow. No one knows what to expect. Fear may be too strong but most are concerned; certainly, elders are at high risk. We need comfort. The Psalmist points out that the Lord is with us, he will guide and support us.

As Christians have wonderful tools to work with the more we let God lead, the more we will be at peace.

Thought for Today: We have a virus epidemic expanding in our world. That is cause for concern. When concerned, remember you are not alone. The Lord is with you.

Prayer for Today: Heavenly Father, COVID-19 has us all concerned. All the world’s people are reacting with fear and anxiety. We pray for peace and calm. We pray that you will carry us through.

Amen

A Still PLace

00301 A Still Place

"Be still and acknowledge that I am God"

 (Psalm 46:10)

           

The world is a busy place. Americans are overbooked; families are tied up every day with career and children’s activities; empty-nesters seem to have filled the time with commitments; often retirees often do not know how they ever had time to work! That leads to a lot of stress, tension and often family failures. That’s correct; the family that plays too much together just may not have enough quality time to survive. They do not have time to call for help.

           

In his book Bread for the Table, Henry Nouwen says it this way, “These are words to take with us in our busy lives. We may think about stillness in contrast to our noisy world. But perhaps we can go further and keep an inner stillness even while we carry on … It is important to keep a still place in the "marketplace". This still place is where God can dwell and speak to us. …with that stillness God can be our gentle guide in everything we think and do.”

Do you have a still place? How do you keep your sanity?

Thought for Today: The many varied conditions in our world are causing many of our friends and neighbors to go through unplanned changes in their lives. Let us pray that God will be a presence in their lives as they pursue the opportunities presented to them through these changes.

Prayer for Today: Heavenly Father, the world around us is confusing, sometimes cruel and always difficult to understand. Please allow us time to step aside from our busyness and dwell upon "your will" rather than "our wants and needs". Let us find the peace or stillness to allow "thy will to be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Paul's Sales Training

This is very long but meaningful enough to be posted on February 29th!

0229- Paul’s Sales Training

“ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.

Honor one another above yourselves.

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

(Romans 12 vs. 9-13)

Paul's message to the Romans There is a lot to it and it is a good way to live your life. Today, I share a personal story about my sales mentor and trainer, George. In the years he spent training me he sounded just like Paul in his message to the Romans. He would not tolerate sales bluster- he always was sincere and expected the same from me.

            George did not like evil, like late deliveries, a bad product or cheating on pricing- he liked what was good; fair deals, integrity, and ethics. He taught me to respect and honor both the manufacturer and the customer and that they had to come before me- that was not always easy.

            Verses eleven and twelve have to do with keeping a positive attitude; a difficult thing in life, especially in sales. You see, no salesman has more than half of the market share so by definition, they lose more than they win. In my business, we had about a ten percent share so we lost nine out of ten. With that said, George taught me to always be upbeat and positive, “Never be lacking in zeal… Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction.”

            During those years, George was not a church person; just a great guy sent to me from God to be my mentor. We now have a different relationship, friends of each other, of the Lord and of Jesus. He is a Good News Buddy.  I will hear from him when he reads this.

Thought for Today: Focus on Paul’s important message in verses 11 and 12. Keep our attitude upbeat so that we may have a positive effect on those around us. “Never be lacking in zeal... Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction.”

Prayer for Today: Dear Lord and Father, we give thanks to our mentors; those who have influenced our lives. That includes Jesus, Paul and the others that you sent to guide us.

Amen

George’s Comments

Pick,

I am honored and humbled to think that I had a positive influence in your life and you are right in saying we didn’t know Paul back then. In fact, I felt I could do all the things by myself. I really didn't need God or Paul or anyone.  The church was not important; I was invincible (ugh, so sinful, so shameful).  So what you saw in me was what God was bringing to the table....it was certainly not me!

I went through too many years ignoring the urging and pushing of the Holy Spirit until He pushed so hard one day, there was no way to ignore Him any longer. It’s sad that we can’t recognize Who really is in control, but joyful that we eventually come to the right “path” and by so doing we are able to share the Gospel with others.  So to all who see this remember, it doesn't matter when you "discover" God, what really matters is that you DO discover God.

 

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--

and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God"  (Eph 2:8)

I am happy and at peace today (as I am almost every day now that I am walking with Jesus), and I, like you, find great delight in the teachings of Paul. I don’t know if I ever told you this, but I considered Paul to be a “frustrated athlete” but an even better “athletic coach” and through that, I have always identified you with him.  In fact, I can look up from this keyboard and see another of my favorite passages.

                   Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever

is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is

admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about

such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard

from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.  And the God of peace

will be with you.  (Php 4:8-9)

Thank you, Bob, for being my friend and for all the good work you are doing.  May God continue to bless you, your Ministry, and all your family.

George

Peaks and Valleys!

Peaks and Valleys



"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,
we have peace with God ...
And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope.
And hope does not disappoint us,..."
(Romans 5:1-4,)

        Life is full of peaks and valleys. It is very human to take credit for the peaks and blame something else for the valleys. It is hard at times to identify with our own "piece of the action" when there is pain. It is often hard to appreciate the lessons learned through the suffering process.

        We look to our faith more often when we are in a valley than when we are at a peak. Many people that visit our churches come through crises. Divorce, illness, grief, loneliness etc. are among the common reason for a visit. I have personally never greeted someone that told me that they had such a great week that they came to say thanks to God.

        However, one of the beauties of our faith is that we recognize God's role in helping get us to the next peak. We recognize God's role in getting us to the final peak. Each peak gives us a reason for a stronger faith, the lessons learned in the valleys gives us the "... perseverance, character; and character, hope" that carry us through out our lives.

Thought for Today: Today let us recognize if we are in a peak or a valley. Let us recognize the lessons we are learning if it is a valley and give credit to those things that helped make it a peak. Either way, let us give thanks to God.

Prayer for Today: Heavenly Father, we are in a confused world. Many people are concerned about their future in tough economic times. There is war, fear, terror that seems to dominate the news. Certainly there are many needing a "peak" to help them out. This week we pray that through your Son Jesus, we all may find a peak and a way to share your Love with someone.

Valentine's Day

00214 Be My Valentine

“Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic,

love one another,

be compassionate and humble.”

(1 Peter 3 vs. 8)

            “Love one another” is a great idea. It does not include any qualifiers or reasons to separate people from the group; it means all, every day and moment. That is our Christian charge and it means everyone, every day.

           

Valentine’s day in America has become a symbol of romantic love where symbols seem to replace the real thing. It is good to have a day when we symbolize our love, caring and dedication. It is good to focus on those around and dear to us. It is kind of fun.

           

As Christians, we believe that we were made in God’s image. To love everyone, we need to have God’s heart and capacity to care. We are reminded of that today!  Happy Valentine’s day!

Thought for Today: Today we will focus our love on those closest to us; our families, significant others, moms and dads, etc. That is great but let’s also try to care for everyone!

Prayer for Today: Dear Lord, today we give thanks for our ever-expanding hearts that seem to have enough love in them for everyone. We give thanks for the ability to understand and care for all.

Self Respect

0204 Self Respect

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,

And let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air,

over the livestock, over all the earth,

and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created man in his own image,”

(Geneses 1v 26 & 27)            

           

            God made us in His image but one of humanity's significant problems is people suffering from low

self-esteem and a lack of self-respect. It manifests itself in a myriad of problems including substance abuse and depression; a lousy way to go through life.

           

Twelve-step programs have been very good at dealing with these two issues. They work because they have people admit there is a power greater than themselves (God) and their goal is spiritual growth. Low

self-esteem occurs when someone loses touch with the Lord and has trouble recognizing His presence in their lives.

            Spirituality, self-respect, and confidence go hand in hand. Understanding that the Lord is with us every day makes for a satisfactory lifestyle. If you are reading this, you probably have life under control. Meditation is one way of recharging our spiritual batteries. We need to do that for ourselves, our families and others around us. When we have self-esteem, others will want what we have. That is when we can help.

Thought for Today: This week when we look in the mirror, let’s look past the visual image of ourselves. Let’s look into our own eyes and try to see inside where our heart and soul reside. Take that thought out for the week and display to others our pride, self-respect and our faith in the Lord.

 Prayer for Today: Dear Lord and Father we live in a wonderful place surrounded by beautiful people. Some let differences separate us and come between us. This week we pray that we can contribute to dissolving and understanding those differences. We pray that with our strength through you we find a way to do your will and take a step toward acceptance of spiritual differences by respecting others.

Amen