Day by Day

[Soldier4Christ]

"Discipline I"

Psalm 38:1 "O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath."

Today is St. Patrick's Day. While some of what is observed is legend, one thing is not-St. Patrick preached the Gospel. Though he had been made a slave in England, God called him to preach the Gospel to the very people who enslaved him. St. Patrick knew firsthand what the writer to the Hebrews said, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it" (Hebrews 12:11).

St. Patrick's life was not easy, but he did consider his life to be of value. He endured much hardship, but left a legacy to future generations that God works all things for good to make us stronger in the faith.

Our Lenten Journey to Calvary can be considered a discipline. As you spend time with reading God's Word and in prayer, He leads you to the cross. It is my prayer you will come away from this journey stronger in your faith.

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"Remember"

Psalm 25:6 "Remember, O LORD, Your great mercy and love, for they are from of old."

Can God forget? God does indeed forget, but only our sins as He forgives them for Jesus' sake. When we cry out "Remember, O Lord," we are really reminding ourselves that God's great mercy and love are always ours for Jesus' sake.

God's love and mercy have existed for us from the very beginning. The longer we live, the more important things "from of old," or traditions become for us. They give us comfort and provide a feeling of "connectedness." There are many and varied traditions in God's family. And while some do indeed fade away, the tradition of God's great love and mercy never fade. He remembers His great love and mercy forever and we can count on them as something that will never fade away.

No matter where you are in life-whether single or married for 50 years, whether you have children in school or are a child yourself-there is great comfort in knowing that God is there. God loves you and that gives your life meaning.

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"Rejoice and Sing"

Psalm 32:11 "Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!"

Today my three sons sang "Happy Birthday" to me. And it certainly was! On Christmas Eve, I try to sing "Silent Night" without tears clogging my throat (and fail every year). When my favorite team won the pennant, we sang until we thought our hearts would burst.

Singing can be an exhilarating way to express joy. Even on Good Friday, a black day indeed when the Son of God died, the earth shuddered and the rocks split-their own way of singing out!

Lent is a time of singing; however, it is also a time to reflect on why Jesus died for us. Some churches emphasize this by not singing "Alleluia" during Lent. This is not to remove the joy, but to remind us that Lent is a time to reflect on Christ's sacrifice. On Easter, we will sing a joyful "Alleluia" once again. Until then, may our songs help us reflect upon the joy that awaits us through Christ.

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"Surrounding Love"

Psalm 32:10 "Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in Him."

Last Saturday, the Psalm verse talked about "unfailing love." This verse also uses that phrase. Phrases repeated in Scripture tend to catch our attention.

God's love for us is unfailing. We can always count on it. It will always be there.

In the Peanuts® comic strip, Linus had a security blanket. The illustrator, Charles Schulz, could likely have used this as a metaphor for God's love. We can drag it around, hold it tight, even try to get rid of it at times, yet it is always there for us. God's love wraps us like a warm, comfortable blanket when we are cold and tired.

Even adults need a security blanket. When God's unfailing love is our security blanket, we are secure indeed. No matter what happens, God's unfailing love is there for us. Trust in Him. His love for you never fails because Jesus did not fail in winning salvation for you on the cross.

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"The Hiding Place"

Psalm 32:7-8 "You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you."

In a sense, I have a "soundtrack" to my life. Think of a favorite song or hymn. Does a special time in your life come to mind? If so, you've got a soundtrack, too!

As you journey through your life and through Lent, you may find that you need "hiding" places-places where you can tap into God's protection and help. Our Lenten journey can, in part, be defined by the music we hear and sing only at this time of year. These can be our "song of deliverance" as God speaks to us through the songwriters.

The Book of Psalms is the best place to find the songs through which God speaks to our hearts. There is a Psalm for every situation. Whatever situation you find yourself in right now, there is a Psalm-a song of God-that can speak to your situation!

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"Confession is Good"

Psalm 32:5 "Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"- and You forgave the guilt of my sin."

When I was twelve, I shoplifted an address book from Woolworth's. It was only 25 cents, but I stole it anyway. Eventually my conscience got the best of me. I admitted my crime to the store manager and placed the book on his desk. I waited for the police to take me away, but the manager simply gave me a speech and let me go home.

Confession is good for the soul. Confession doesn't bring God's forgiveness-only Jesus' death on the cross can pay for our forgiveness. But confessing our sins prepares us for the already-won forgiveness and mercy of God.

With our sins taken away by Jesus Christ, we can forgive others. We can live a new life according to God's plan. If you want to know more about how to do this, you might want to talk to your pastor for insight into how to put the forgiveness of God into action in your own life.

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"Time to Clean Up"

Psalm 32:3-4 "When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer."

I had a small refrigerator in my room while at seminary. Mostly it held juice and pop, but every now and then I would add a slice of pizza. That was my downfall. While pop or juice might last awhile, I can tell you for a fact that a slice of pizza will not last two months.

If you keep your sins bottled up inside, you can become like that slice of pizza after two months. This Psalm verse is very graphic in describing what happens when we do not confess our sins. Spiritually and emotionally, we won't last long if we do not get rid of our sins. And there is only one way to do this. Confess them to God. He will forgive us each and every time for the sake of Jesus' death on the cross. We will be strengthened and renewed, and such a relationship with God will strengthen and renew all of our other relationships!

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"We Are Blessed"

Psalm 32:1-2 "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. "

During Lent a couple of years ago, we did a Bible study about the death of Jesus. It was a good study--except for one small detail. In the video, the leader referred to Jesus as "dying for the redeemed." What he meant was that Jesus' death and resurrection was not for all people; it was only for those who actually have faith. Yet in John 3:16 we read that Jesus died for the whole world!

But how can Jesus die for all people, yet some people still go to hell? The answer is that those who go to hell reject what Jesus did for them. This is what the Psalm calls a "spirit of deceit."

A spirit of deceit rejects the death of Jesus, which leads to hell. But our Journey is about living! Don't deceive yourself. Sin kills. Sin leads to death. But Jesus died and rose again for all people. Including you! May you be blessed and not deceive yourself, for Jesus' sake.

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"Call Upon The Lord"

Psalm 91:15-16 "He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

A young man escorted a young lady home after sharing a malt at the soda shop. He bid her goodbye on the stoop of the brownstone and asked an innocent-sounding question loaded with hope and anticipation: "May I call upon you sometime?" It was the beginning of a lifetime together.

God wants a lifetime with us. As part of that relationship we can call upon Him and He promises to answer. Not like a "genie in a bottle," giving us our every wish, but rather like a loving father who takes care of us.

Today is Invocavit Sunday-Latin for "call upon." It is a day to remember that you can call upon God and He will answer. Not because you are all that great or powerful, but because He loves you. God answers your prayers because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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"Hope in the Lord"

Psalm 130:7-8 "O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption. He Himself will redeem Israel from all their sins."

God draws a powerful image when He uses the ideal love of a husband and wife as an example of His unfailing love for us. He uses the union of husband and wife as a picture of Christ and His bride, the Church. This same picture is used in the Old Testament to describe God and His people, Israel.

But even though some marriages come to the point where love does fail, the love of God for His people never fails. Never. Can we even comprehend that? I'm not sure we can. Nevertheless, unfailing love does exist and it is the love God has demonstrated for us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And maybe, just maybe, knowing and seeing that kind of love-no matter how incomprehensible-is enough to get us through another day.

[Soldier4Christ]

"Forgive and Forget"

Psalm 130:3-4 "If You, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness; therefore You are feared."

One year I drove from Missouri to Nevada and back. When I returned, it was like revisiting my past. None of the places I saw were "new" anymore. I had already been there.

Sometimes we revisit a time when we were hurt. We talk a lot about forgiving, and we may even do it most of the time. But forgiving and forgetting? That's a different matter altogether!

God does exactly that. Through Christ, God forgives all our sins. But even better than that (surprisingly possible!) God forgets our sins! It's as if they never happened. He forgives and forgets, because of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is powerful stuff! God, in turn, gives us the power to forgive others for the sake of Jesus Christ. It is good news that we are forgiven. We can share that good news in a powerful way by forgiving others.

[Soldier4Christ]

"The Lord Pays Attention"

Psalm 130:1-2 "Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD; O LORD, hear my voice. Let Your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy."

For an 11-year-old boy, digging a hole is great fun. Once I was in a three-foot hole with my feet sticking out and my head at the bottom. The sounds of the world were muffled. When I called out to my friends, I could hear myself just fine, but they had trouble hearing me.

There are times in our lives when our sin brings us to the bottom of a deep hole, often referred to "hitting rock bottom." We cry out but no one seems to hear us.

But because of Jesus Christ we have the assurance that God hears us. As we cry, "Lord have mercy," God hears us-no matter how deep our hole. How do we know? Because Christ died to take our sins away! Our cry for mercy was answered when the Lord of mercy and grace sent Jesus to live, die and rise again-for us!

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"All People Die"

Genesis 3:19 "For dust you are and to dust you will return."

Lent is traditionally a time of "giving up something," which started long ago as people imitated Jesus who fasted 40 days in the wilderness. (Lent is a 40-day season, if you don't count the Sundays.)

"Giving up" something for Lent can remind us that we will, someday, give up our lives-we are dust and one day we will return to the dust ("ashes to ashes, dust to dust"). We will die because of our sin, but Lent also reminds us what God did about our sin through His Son, Jesus Christ.

As we journey through Scripture, we will also journey to the cross of Jesus. Like any journey, we will need our "respites," our breaks for rest; these will be the Sundays during Lent. As part of your journey, I strongly encourage and invite you to attend worship so that you can tie together what you read during your devotional journey with what you hear during worship each week.

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"Our Adoption"

Ephesians 1:4-5 "In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will."

Webster says that predestine means "to appoint or ordain beforehand by an unchangeable purpose." And this is exactly what our text for today is talking about. God, in His grace and out of love for us, ordained beforehand that we should be His adopted children. Are you doing cartwheels for joy? We all should!

What have we ever done to deserve to be called the children of God? We are by nature prone to lie and cheat. We are a rebellious, arrogant lot. We often think we have all the answers and are very proud of our accomplishments ... until our world begins to collapse, leaving us beaten, destitute, and very insecure.

And yet, undeserving as we are, God's love for us has prevented Him from abandoning us to our fate. Even before the creation of the world, it pleased Him to decide to adopt us in Christ as His sons and daughters, so that we would live in His kingdom and enjoy all the blessings He grants those He loves. And all this God did out of pure grace, calling us out of the darkness of our selfish natures into the light of a life lived for Him and with Him through the atoning work of His Son.

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"The Great Promise"

Acts 1:4 "(Jesus) gave them this command: 'Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised.'"

Before He ascended into heaven Jesus told His disciples to wait for "the gift My Father promised." The promise is from the Father, given through the Son. But the promise itself is the Holy Spirit.

The initial act of the Holy Spirit is to lead us to accept our total loss in sin and our complete redemption in Christ.

But there is more. As executor of Christ's estate, the Holy Spirit wants us to have and hold the magnificent riches of that estate. Jesus said, "The Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you" (John 16:15).

The Holy Spirit gives us power to live in faith, in love, in joy, in peace, in hope, in triumph over sin and death and hell.

He gives us power to stand firm, to remain in conversation with Christ, to hold our ground against Satan, to put up a good fight, to endure hardship, to be faithful unto death, to march joyfully toward the splendid glory.

Through the Holy Spirit we are God's special agents, fit to be used by Him as instruments of His love and grace. In this way we glorify God and serve one another.