Pastor Johnnie's Devotional Archives
December 2006
December 4, 2006
Psalm 100:2 “Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with
joyful songs.”
When I look back and quickly scan the major activities of my life, I’m
so glad that I don’t have many memories of bitterness or resentment
against the Lord. From the time I received Christ as my Savior at 8 years
of age, I had an unusual understanding of the mercy and grace of God to
me, and I began to serve the Lord. I clearly recall that sharing my new
found faith with my young neighborhood friends was very important to me.
Witnessing in the grade school where my brothers and I attended was also
a part of that evangelistic burden and privilege God placed within my
heart. Traveling and singing with the “Youthfulaires” trio
to many churches, evangelistic campaigns, missionary conferences, and
AWANA camps also offered endless opportunity to serve the Lord with gladness.
Then came nearly 25 years in foreign missions, an unbelievable period
of time in my life when Christ became so very real to me because biblical
truth was practically applied to my life through a multitude of divinely
appointed experiences in church planting and spiritual leadership. And
now, after nearly 20 years in the pastorate, I still come before Him with
joyful songs of praise and thanksgiving.
Briefly review the continuous flow of God’s grace in your life since
becoming a Christian. I pray that you are still serving Him with pleasure
and delight today!
Father, renew a right spirit of joy and gladness within us. For Jesus’
sake, Amen.
December 11, 2006
Psalm 99:8 “O Lord our God, you answered them; you were to Israel
a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds.”
Unfortunately, because of a great lack of understanding of God’s
holiness and justice, generations of human offspring have been subtly
or overtly ‘trained’ or ‘educated’ to view God
as judgmental and unforgiving. They have also become very comfortable
with cursing Him and attributing their social and moral discomforts to
His lack of true love for them. They are quick to vilify society’s
judicial system – and Him! - for punishments which are meted out
for the misdeeds of a rebellious and God-resistant people.
The authentic child of God will humbly and gratefully live in a constant
awareness of God’s mercy and grace! We will become as familiar –
and ‘comfortable’ - with His forgiveness as we will with the
delight related to the quenching of thirst on an extremely hot day. We
will learn to not constantly be questioning the ‘why’ (yes,
I mean to say it that way) of His punishment, discipline, or correction,
because we will have learned the depths of our own depravity (Romans 7:18).
Merciful and pardoning Father, forgive the quickness of our sin-influenced
hearts to accuse you of misdeeds in the necessary disciplines which you
mete out to us in your great love. Amen.
December 18, 2006
Psalm 97:11, 12 “Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant,
and everything in them.”
The context reveals (vs. 10) that this will be a time when “the
Lord reigns”. And, when He is reigning, there will be rejoicing,
gladness, and jubilance. In other words, His eternal presence, His sovereign
authority, and His absolute influence on all of creation will most definitely
be apparent.
Which brings us to you and me….at the close of 2006. As children
of the Most High God, our lives (speech, actions, attitude) will be reflecting
either rejoicing, gladness, and jubilance or they will reveal sadness,
sorrow, and disappointment. The difference between the positive and the
negative, I believe, is faithfully: acknowledging God’s glory and
strength (vs. 7), offering the sacrifices which truly please Him (see
vs. 8 and Romans 12:1, 2), worshipping Him in the splendor of His holiness
(vs. 9), and sincerely communicating to all around us that “the
Lord reigns” (vs. 10).
Father, may you truly reign supreme in us today so that everything
pertaining to our lives might resound with praise, clearly demonstrating
to the world around us the magnificence of your glory and grace! Amen.
December 28, 2006
Psalm 57:2, 3 “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills
his purpose for me. He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those
who hotly pursue me; God sends his love and his faithfulness.”
I have always liked the story about the tight-rope walker who skillfully
walks across Niagara Falls several times, including one time with a wheelbarrow
filled with ‘stuff’. Everyone watching ‘believes’
he can do it after the third or fourth time. But, when he asks who of
his observers would like to go into the wheelbarrow and let him take them
across, he has no takers!
I don’t know what you’re going through right now as you read
this. I have so many huge Church and family issues staring me in the face
right now as I write this that I tend to get a headache just thinking
about them all! But God……
But God is faithfully fulfilling His purpose for me. I must not doubt
in the dark what I know to be true in the light about His love and faithfulness
and His good purposes for me! I must truly believe and rest in the promise
that He will keep me safe; that He will protect me from those intruders
to His purpose for me; that I will become all He intended me to be, by
His grace!
Have a God-filled, Christ-honoring 2007, by His grace!
Faithful and loving Father, may we not, in unbelief, cease to cry
out to you, for you have promised to show yourself strong in our behalf!
Amen.
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