More Than Bread Devotional for 1/27/12

Isaiah 53:3-4
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

I don’t like to think about suffering. And I definitely don’t like to experience it! We often think of Jesus the man healing the sick, raising from the dead, living the perfect life. We could easily miss a key fact that makes him our perfect intercessor. He was a man familiar with suffering. Have you been rejected? So was he, you can read all about it in the Gospels. Have you been beaten and abused? See the Gospels. Have the people you loved most in the world run or turned their backs on you? You’re getting the picture right?
Jesus understands suffering intimately as one well acquianted with suffering. So you can trust Him with yours. Make Him your partner in your suffering. Let Him in… let Him take it. Press in.

More Than Bread Devotional for 1/26/12

²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  – Hebrews 10:23

I suppose that I write a lot of these devotionals along this same theme, but I can’t help it.  Sometimes I think we need to be reminded often of just how faithful and true God is to His word.  This verse isn’t about us making bold statements of what we want and standing firm until God gives them to us.  This verse is about remembering that God will deliver on all of the promises that He has made.  Our hope rests securely in that fact.  He has promised eternal life.  He has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us.  He has promised that we will have trouble in this world, but He also promised that He has overcome this world.  Let your hope be in Him and Him alone.

More Than Bread Devotional for 1/25/12

²² The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.  – Romans 14:22

In God’s Word, there are lots of ways to be blessed.  There are whole chapters on blessings that God promises to those who hear and obey Him.  Paul here gives us another blessing, but it is a strange way to put it.  He is basically telling us that the things we approve or endorse should not be a source of embarrassment or shame.  We must be careful what we not only consider permissible for ourselves, but more so what we commend to others.  If you aren’t firmly convinced that something is good, then pray that God would show you the truth about it.  Bring it to the light of God’s Word and evaluate it there, between you and Him.  He will give you wisdom in these times when you ask for it.

More Than Bread Devotional for 1/24/12

⁶ Seek the LORD and live,
lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel,
⁷ O you who turn justice to wormwood
and cast down righteousness to the earth!  – Amos 5:6-7

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that our God is a consuming fire.  He is quoting from elsewhere in Scripture when He says this, but I can’t help but wonder if we take the time to consider this truth often enough.  God is patient and merciful and willing to extend grace to all who seek Him, but He has a limit of tolerance for those who abuse this mercy and seek to just do their own thing.  Injustice, an unforgiving heart and stubbornness among other things will lead to God’s fire breaking out in our lives and in our house.  Much better to seek the Lord and live.

More Than Bread Devotional for 1/23/12

¹⁷ ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. ¹⁸ You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts, ¹⁹ great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.   – Jeremiah 32:17-19

Sometimes, I just need to be reminded of all of these things.  Both the notion that nothing is too difficult for God to do and the reminder that God’s love is balanced by His justice.  There is nothing hidden from Him.  Sometimes we fear what man will think more than we fear what God does think.  Sure, fearing what another person will think of us for some slip of character or misdeed might help to keep us in line at times; but the fact that we can be more fearful of what others may think of us if we get caught in a transgression of some kind, indicates that we fear man more than God in that moment.  After all, God always sees.  Do we really believe that?  Do we live like we really believe that to be true?

More Than Bread Devotional for 1/20/12

Hebrews 10:35-37
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.  You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.  For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay.

per·se·vere – To persist in or remain constant to a purpose, idea, or task in the face of obstacles or discouragement.

I’m starting to think the reason so much of my writing has been on waiting is because so many of us are in the waiting loop right now.  So here is a word or two to let you know you are not alone.  This morning I found these verses by searching on perseverance.  You know what?  There are a whole lot of verses with that word.  That says to me that the waiting game is not a new thing.  God will use the waiting time if we let Him.  So let me encourage you.  Don’t throw away your faith in persevering.  You will receive what He has promised you. You will not wait one single day beyond what God has prepared you for.  He will not delay.  Press on my friends.  The end of waiting is one day closer today!!!!

More Than Bread Devotional for 1/19/12

³³ The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. ³⁵ The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. ³⁶ And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.  – Exodus 12:33-36

Because of the plagues that God had inflicted on Egypt to break their stubbornness and Pharaoh’s hard heart, “let my people go” became “give my people all of your stuff and beg them to leave.”  If you had tried to tell Moses before this all started that not only would Pharaoh let them leave, but that the people of Egypt would be giving them gifts as they left, he would never have believed you.  People often quote the verse that says that God will work all things together for good, but it is often hard to enjoy getting through the “all things” to see the good.  Take heart and remember God’s faithfulness will bring you to the good.

More Than Bread Devotional for 1/18/12

¹⁰ When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city.  It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. ¹¹ When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”  – Acts 12:10-11

Sometimes when we read things in the Bible, we can tend to get a little overwhelmed at the amazing nature of the story.  Peter’s escape from prison is a wonderful thing, but I have been asked often over the years why it is that God doesn’t do things like this in our lives as believers today?  First let me say, He does do things like this in the lives of believers today.  I have heard the stories and seen the things God can and has done in the lives of countless folks who follow Him.

It isn’t a question of why God doesn’t do these things, rather the person asking is really wanting to know why they don’t experience these types of miracles from God.  My answer to that has become very simple.  If you don’t see it, it is because you don’t need the miracle at all.  Peter was imprisoned for the sake of the Gospel and his very life was in danger.  Have you ever been in such peril for the sake of the Gospel?  I know the story of at least one brother in Christ who was and he indeed walked out of a maximum security prison in China.  Our God will not fail, but He isn’t about to start performing “miracles for show” either.  God isn’t out to impress you, but He is always ready to deliver you.

More Than Bread Devotional for 1/17/12

¹⁶ Rejoice always  – 1 Thessalonians 5:16

As a youth pastor for many years, I was always keenly aware of the “shortest verse in the Bible;” the one in John 11:35 that simply says, “Jesus wept.”  This one seems to get overlooked as fitting in that category.  Perhaps because it is so much harder to wrap our mind around this one.  Jesus wept conveys His humanity and while it might be difficult to understand it fully, it doesn’t require anything of us either by itself.

Rejoice always.  Now that is different.  This is the other end of the spectrum and it calls to us to find joy in all things and at all times.  This is a challenge and we often struggle and fall at this point, but the one who endured the cross for the joy set before Him is our example.  He is our Savior and Lord and He will give us joy unspeakable and full of glory.  So, rejoice always.

More Than Bread Devotional for 1/16/12

¹ Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
² from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I,
³ for you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.   – Psalm 61:1-3

Somehow this passage seemed appropriate for a Monday devotional.  Why is it that this one day of the week seems to evoke such dread and bad feelings if not outright resentment?

I am not sure that I have an answer for that, but I do know that our life is full of cycles.  We learn, rinse and repeat or something like that.  From reading the psalms, it is clear that this lesson also gets repeated an awful lot.  When in trouble, cry out to God.  He will answer and He will be there.  He is our rock and refuge, even from Monday.