Pastor Johnnie's Devotional Archives
February 2005
February 3, 2005
Psalm 102:18 says: "Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord."
For several months, our church family has been involved with the "Purpose
Driven Life" theme through preaching and small groups. I love King
David's stated purpose for living, which was driven by a spirit of evangelism:
"... even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until
I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to
come" (Psalm 71:18). So vital for the social welfare of nations;
so necessary for the propagation of righteousness in succeeding generations,
that David went on record that the godly education of children would not
be neglected. The kids would have their daily times of instruction regarding
"the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that
he has done"; (Psalm 78:4-8), so that the children of each generation
might eventually be evangelistic in their own outreach by telling these
same truths "to their children", assuring that the next generation
would be informed and well educated in things spiritual. The purpose of
all this instruction? "So that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God". Another purpose for such intensity
in Christian education? Obedience and faithful living for righteousness
lest any undealt with stubbornness and rebellion of previous generations
sidetrack them as well. Another purpose, of course, is seen in our text
for today: "so that a people yet to be created may PRAISE the Lord".
Dare we go on record that the holy purpose driving each of us or each
of our families is to faithfully propagate the gospel of grace in our
generation?
Father of mercy, forgive our short-sightedness. Grant each of us the
wisdom to live so powerfully and sacrificially today that a people yet
to be created may praise the Lord tomorrow. Amen.
February 6, 2005
Psalm 6:4 has a sweet message to the informed, undeserving soul: "Turn,
O Lord, and deliver me; save be because of your unfailing love."
The idea behind mercy is that God doesn't give us what we deserve. So,
our prayers are not: "Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me because
I've been faithful in Sunday School attendance; I've made sure our neighbors'
newspaper was brought from their driveway onto their front porch steps,
out of the rain and snow; I've faithfully tithed; I've worked hard at
raising my children to love Jesus; I've read through my Bible two years
in a row; I've been nice to some of the nasty customers at work; I've
told people around me about Jesus; and, I've stopped yelling at careless
drivers who cut me off". The obvious focus in that kind of prayer
would be 'me' and my 'worthiness'. I've done so many good things, it's
just the righteous thing for God to turn (immediately!) and deliver me
from whatever I suggest He save me, whenever I request He do so.
Aren't we grateful for the mercy of God? In spite of all the perceived
'goodness' we might list for God to take into careful consideration for
showing us great favor, the Bible is clear that "all our 'righteous'
acts (in light of the holiness of God) are like filthy rags" (Isaiah
64:6). In His mercy He doesn't remember the sins of our youth - Whew!
- (Psalm 25:7). Nor, in His great mercy, does he take into account "the
sins of the fathers" - praise God! - (Psalm 79:8-9). That's only
because of the incomparable riches of His grace, to be sure! (Ephesians
2:7-8)
Glorious and merciful Father, "we do not make requests of you
because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy" (Daniel
9:18)! "Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver
us and forgive our sins for your name's sake" (Psalm 79:9). Amen.
February 9, 2005
Psalm 59:17 says: O my Strength, I sing praise to you; you, O God, are
my fortress, my loving God.
Imagine being in your home with a group of would-be killers outside, watching
your every move, just waiting for you to come out into the open where
they can do you in. Imagine hearing them talk about you in terms that
reveal the bloodthirsty attitude of their hearts (Psalm 59:2-4). They
are relentless in their evil intent; tireless in their efforts to dig
up more dirt about you that only further feeds their goal of killing you
(See 59:12, 14). What to do? I can think of many things a person could
do, including intense web-site researches on how to get out of there quickly
and safely!
But David is singing. He is full of praise to the One Who, as his gracious
God and faithful fortress, has protected him many times before. In Him
and in praise of Him, David finds strength to resist what could have been
a profound temptation to accuse God of inattention or lack of concern!
In Him and in praise of Him, David finds the ability to turn a difficult
and truly dangerous situation into another opportunity to express his
trust in the living God and actually lift up His name in praise!
What troubling circumstance in your life is tempting you today to react
carnally instead of praising God for His love and care? Remember: The
Lord redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in
him. (Psalm 34:22)
O our Strength, forgive the proneness of our hearts to be negative,
and feisty about issues of life. Grant us the courage to look beyond what
we perceive to be 'adversity' to the steady, gracious, and sovereign Solution.
Amen.
February 11, 2005
Psalm 111:1 is a great way to begin any morning: Praise the Lord. I will
extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in
the assembly.
When David was gathering gifts for the building of the temple, he went
on record that "besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I
now give my personal treasures .... for the temple of my God, over and
above everything I have provided for this holy temple" (I Chronicles
29). In other words, besides the bronze, iron, wood, onyx, turquoise,
other precious stones and marble which he freely gave, he added on 110
tons of GOLD and 240 tons of SILVER!! Imagine declaring that under 'charitable
giving' on your IRS form! William MacDonald once said: Enjoyment of riches
is not found in possessing them but in using them for the glory of God
and for the good of others.
No one could ever dare say that David was not enthusiastic and sincere
in his praise and worship of the Lord God, and in promoting and cultivating
the same among the Lord's people! Several decades ago, we used to hear
that "When E.F. Hutton speaks, everyone listens!" I can well
imagine that when David spoke of "wholehearted" worship and
praise of the Lord, only those who were deaf, blind, or willfully ignorant
would refuse to listen and be impressed!
May genuine praise flow from and within our "inmost being" (Psalm
103:1) today. May the worship of praise be heard from our mouths often:
personally and corporately, both in private and in public, in home with
family or at church with fellow Christians. May our praise even be freely
declared "before the gods" (Psalm 138:1).
Holy Father, may we be increasingly characterized as people of praise
in every aspect of our daily lives! Amen.
February 13, 2005
Psalm 113:2 says: Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore.
No forced obedience here. Praise comes voluntarily - and freely! - from
the heart of one who has experienced the love, the mercy, and the grace
of God. There is no need for chiding: now you sit here in this corner
until you've learned to praise the Lord! I'm tired of your moaning, groaning,
and constant complaining! Either learn to praise or you're going to be
in this time-out stool for a very long time!
The idea behind both now and forevermore is that we should never allow
ourselves to be so occupied or preoccupied - with anyone or anything!
- that the LORD is not in our thoughts over an extended period of time.
Sort of like, as we peer down the telescope of life and see Him approaching
a vanishing point, and His image, His name, and the memory of His faithfulness
is actually close to vanishing, close to being totally out of our mind,
and suddenly!, finally! His name comes up. Don't let that happen! LET
the name of the Lord be uppermost in your mind NOW, in this circumstance
of life, in this problem, in this trial, in this time of sadness or grief,
in this moment of brokenness, in this moment of anger and frustration!
Let praise flow from your heart from now to everlasting (Psalm 41:13).
And the Psalmist calls for a vote in Psalm 106:48: And let all the people
say, 'AMEN'. Does praise get your vote today and every day?
Father, to You be glory (praise) in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:21)
February 15, 2005
Psalm 115:14 is a wonderful blessing: May the Lord make you increase,
both you and your children.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of staying with my youngest grandson for
a couple hours while his mommy went to a Valentine party at his older
brother, Christopher's, school. It was another of those great experiences
which, in my younger years, I had sort of dreamed of when our own children
seemed to be growing up so rapidly.
We played with the choo-choo train until it had derailed itself several
times, his attention span had reached its max, and the temptation to playfully
throw pieces of the train in my direction was almost too great to hold
back. Then we romped and rolled all over the floor, one attacking and
the other defending in mock battles which ended with grandpa breathing
hard and Joshua simply saying, Let's eat a cheese stick, grandpa. Oh,
OK.
It was during that 'down time', munching on our cheese sticks that I began
to sing some songs: Jesus Loves me; Isn't The Love Of Jesus Something
Wonderful!; Only A Boy Named David; Climb, Climb Up Sunshine Mountain.
As I mimed the motions and sang the words, I was transported back many
years when I anticipated a future day of this very sort of activity with
my children's children. I looked at Joshua and he was almost 'transfixed'
as he watched and listened intently...and smiled the sweetest, break-grandpa's-heart
smile! It was one of those moments I'm sure God had in mind when, through
the Psalmist, He said: May you live to see your children's children (Psalm
128:6).
How delighted we should be that the Lord God has such fascinating and
wonderful plans for us, not just in the joy of procreation, but in the
sheer delight of enjoying the fruit of His love!
Sweet Father, thank you for the blessing - and evidence! - of Your
love and faithfulness to us in each generation! We love You! Amen.
February 18, 2005
Psalm 18:19 is a verse of great hope: He brought me out into a spacious
place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
I recently visited an incarcerated friend who had been arrested for crimes
against society. From the expression on his face, from the way he allowed
words of confession and deep regret to flow from his exposed and shattered
heart, and, from his general demeanor, it was obvious that there was a
Spirit of God brokenness that was in process within him.
I was impressed with how he described the years of his life: though he
had been walking and living 'freely', he had been 'imprisoned' because
of secret sins. And now, he was humbled by the mercy, the goodness, the
faithfulness, and the grace of the Lord in having uncovered his secret
sin and 'freed' him, though he was now physically incarcerated. At last,
he had been rescued from the jaws of distress produced by guilt and shame
and was now graciously being brought to a spacious place (Job 36:16) of
forgiveness brought about by a godly sorrow which brings repentance that
leads to salvation (II Corinthians 7:10)! In my anguish I cried to the
Lord, and he answered by setting me free (Psalm 118:5).
Broad is the (sinful) path which leads to destruction. But, in another
sense, sin is a great restrictor. For the authentic child of God imprisoned
through a pattern of sin and who is pursued by the Holy Spirit, the pathway
of life becomes very narrow and troublingly constricted. Only through
humble confession, casting ourselves upon the mercy of the Lord, does
our gracious Father lift us out of the slimy pit, set our feet on a rock
(Psalm 40:2), and eventually broaden the path beneath us (Psalm 18:36).
Hallelujah for the cross!
Glorious, merciful, gracious, and forgiving Father, our enemy ruthlessly
confronts us in the day of our disaster, when we finally own up to our
sinfulness. He seeks to further destroy what sin has already begun. Reach
down from on high and take hold of us; draw us out of the deep waters
of unconfessed sin and guilt. Rescue us from those enemies who are too
strong for us (II Samuel 22:17-20). It is truly for the sake of Jesus
and the glory of His church we humbly pray. Amen.
February 20, 2005
Psalm 120 is the first of 15 Psalms called "The Psalms of Ascent",
sung by Jewish pilgrims as they went up to Jerusalem to the temple to
celebrate the three annual Feasts (Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast
of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles - Deuteronomy 16:16). Half of them
were characterized by happiness, and all of them were hopeful.
Imagine singing these serious words as you walk dirty
trails and roads on the long trip to Jerusalem, and as you approach the
place where, in profound seriousness, you will worship the Lord God in
all His holiness: Save me, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful
tongues.
On the first day of the week, one of the first places we modern Christians
'lie' to the Lord is at church, believe it or not! How many of us, just
on the way to church, have arguments and verbal fights with spouse, or
have nasty words for unruly children, or entertain unholy - and unconfessed
- thoughts from spiritual or moral carelessness of the past week? By the
time we get to church and enter for worship, unless we have asked forgiveness
of each other; unless we have come to see the sinfulness of our attitudes
and actions on the way to church or from throughout the week and have
confessed it to the Lord, there is every chance that we will 'worship'
with fraudulent, lying lips and deceitful tongues. Messages the Lord has
for us will fall on spiritually clogged ears and deceiving, lying hearts.
When it's all over, the charade will continue into the next week. And,
apart from divine intervention producing brokenness, repentance, and confession,
will be repeated again the following Sunday and each week thereafter.
We are in the habit of deceiving others around us, giving them the impression
that everything is OK, when it is not. Already given over to pretense,
when someone asks "How are you?", instead of honesty and a sincere
request for prayer, we respond "Great!", when we are not. We
mislead each other, but certainly not the Lord! May the Holy Spirit deliver
us from such lying lips and deceitful tongues!
Holy Father, may spiritual integrity and uprightness protect us, because
our hope is in you (Psalm 25:21). Amen.
February 22, 2005
Psalm 122:8 says, For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say,
'Peace be within you.'
Read this whole Psalm to get a feel for how David and so many others felt
about their custom of going to "the house of the Lord" for worship
(prayer, singing, and more insights to the Word of God, all in company
with others of like mind). You don't get a sense here that it was just
another 'thing to do' in an already very busy schedule, preoccupied more
with what they'll do after they're finished 'putting in their time' or
'doing the right thing'. You get a powerful sense here that in this very
focused group, there are strong and abiding friendships which have the
right focus and the appropriate motivation: genuine fear of the Lord and
love for His Word (Psalm 119:63). There was an energizing excitement about
being with others in unity of worship, which God's people in every age
have experienced as they guarded the unity of the Spirit through the bond
of peace: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all
(Ephesians 4:4-6). So corporately encouraging, so instructive, so spiritually
insightful is the worship of the Lord in fellowship with other like-minded,
like-focused believers that any child of God who has tasted such oneness,
such community, such joy of mutual worship, really misses it when, for
legitimate reasons, they're unable to participate! (Psalm 42:4)
Regardless of your church affiliation, may you be so in love with Jesus
- may there be such peace 'within' you (read today's verse again) - that
you become an enthused and contributing participant in seeing that community
of believers be more excited about Christ, increasingly more serious in
worship, and definitely more participative so as to keep that group spiritually
strong and growing in faith.
Father, help us to fall more in love with Jesus. And, in that context,
bring us back to the heart of worship. Instill within us a more biblical
view of what it is to authentically worship in excited fellowship with
other believers of like mind (See Philippians 2:1-5). Amen.
February 24, 2005
Psalm 24:8 says: Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle. (Thinking out loud, I want to briefly look
at this chapter through the JAAV: The Jenkins Amplified and Applied Version)
In case you're wondering - or have any doubt - the earth and everything
in it was created by the Lord and is, therefore, clearly His; including
you, by the way!
You have my attention! Who could stand in the presence of such a One?
Any non idol-worshipping, God-fearing, righteous person who has truly
put absolute trust in God by receiving the free gift of salvation He offers
through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. (Romans 6:23; 3:23 John 3:18-20)
Tell me more about this One you call the King of glory. He is the self-existent,
eternal God (Yahweh), Who forgives your sins (Romans 3:20-21), makes you
His child through faith (Romans 4:5), and Who then unbelievably and faithfully
defends you and fights on your behalf like a strong and powerful warrior
in battle. (Ephesians 3:20)
This is not totally new; I've heard others share similar observations....
uh, anything else you can tell me about Him? Yes, this Mighty One speaks
and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it
sets. (Psalm 50:1) Don't underestimate His authority in your life. He
is robed in majesty and armed with strength. (Psalm 93:1) There is nothing
in your life outside His authority to rule or overrule.
And you, personally? What's your personal response to all this knowledge
about Him? Well, He is my God and my Savior. And, like a person's body
would greatly suffer - indeed, could not exist! - without water, I see
Him as the only One who could possibly satisfy my insatiable spiritual
thirst for Him, for truth, and for all that's important; so I'm learning
to earnestly and constantly trust Him and seek Him on a daily basis. That's
my prayer for you, too.
Prayer: Lord, I worship You because of Who You are, not just for all
the things that You have done! Glorify Your name in my life, in my friend's
life, and in all the earth! Amen.
February 28, 2005
Psalm 128:1 is both a reminder and a challenge: Blessed are all who fear
the Lord, who walk in His ways.
When our son Jeffrey was about 10 years old, he and Joy had been out
riding their bicycles. He did or said something he knew was intrinsically
'bad' or 'wrong', and told Joy, "I'm going back home to tell dad
what I did!" After telling me (confession), he asked if he were going
to get a spanking. I had the joy of instructing him about mercy (when
you don't 'get' what you deserve) and assured him that his punishment
had already been 'enough', in that his conscience had been bothering him
for the 40 minutes or so before he was able to get back to talk with me
about it, and he had responded in contrition, obedience, and confession.
My recollection at that point is that I really hugged him (I did that
a lot to both kids!) and thanked him for responding so quickly and so
faithfully to the Holy Spirit who was truly helping him to walk in His
ways, as today's verse says.
The Lord blesses both small and great alike (Psalm 115:13) who so fear
Him and walk in His ways. Their demeanor, their very lives reflect a humility,
a happiness, a superiority of spiritual ranking, a climactic, progressive
journey to a higher place that immediately separates them from those who
have no fear of the Lord at all, and makes them refreshingly, and quickly
recognizable to others who likewise fear Him. No wonder The Lord's compassion
is poured out on those who fear Him (Psalm 103:13)! No wonder His love
is with those who fear Him (Psalm 103:17)!
Father, may more of us who name the name of Christ fear You by finding
great delight in your commands (Psalm 112:1) and by putting our hope in
your unfailing love (Psalm 147:11)! For Jesus' sake we pray, Amen.
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