A Christian Devotional

[Shammu]

It's not about us.

Psalms 138:8 The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

Many of you know that we've been in Israel a little over two years now. The whirlwind of a new atmosphere, culture and language -- those few things, in and of themselves, are enough to become truly overwhelmed. But if that wasn't enough, we are pioneering a new ministry here, trusting totally in God for His provision, trying to raise our first little one in a way that is pleasing to Him and going through our own personal trials.

When we are faced with trials which are impossible to face on our own strength, it's easy to be tempted to allow ourselves to feel inadequate and wallow in our self pity, saying "I am not worthy enough, not strong enough, not able enough, not adequate enough to get through these things -- I can't do it!"

But hear the truth of God's word. HE will perfect that which concerns us! It is not us -- it is HE who perfects us! It is HIS great strength and mercy that works through us, that allows us to be worthy, strong, able and adequate!

Let's practice giving to the Lord those things which concern us today and allow His strength to work through us!

[Shammu]

Blast off!!

Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Did you know that on a rocket's journey, the most force is exerted at its lift-off? The amount of force that is needed to get that rocket off the ground is so fierce that it could easily blow the whole thing to pieces. Interestingly though, the further the rocket moves from the earth's gravitational pull, the less energy it needs to move farther along.

Isn’t it true with us as well? Whether it's breaking a habit, losing those first few pounds or learning something new, taking our first step into a new thing is the hardest part. That initial step always takes the most effort, the most energy. If we keep pressing on, however, it becomes easier and easier to move ahead!

As many of you know, the fact that we have moved ourselves and our ministry here is nothing short of a miracle! God has sustained us as we have pressed ahead through all the difficulties of acclimating to a new language and culture, pioneering a powerful ministry, and living by faith for all our physical needs.

We have come to Israel with a vision and purpose that we truly believe is from God. That vision includes a number of endeavors such as a relief center for needy and hurting Israelis, a leadership training center and much, much more! In so many ways, we, like that rocket are just in our beginning steps of take-off. Please stand in prayer with us as we press ahead to bigger and better things for the Kingdom!

Perhaps there is something new He wants you to be doing! God wants us to get out of our comfort zones and take that first step of faith so that we can see just how truly awesome He is! Together, let's take our first steps into something new!

[Shammu]

Do it all unto the Lord!

Colosssians 3:23-24 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

Rivka, my sweet wife and wonderful mother to our two year old, once said to me that she feels that she's not doing enough for the Lord. It made me think of a story I once heard.

A woman came in to see her Pastor with the very same concern. She said "Pastor, I just don't feel like I' ve done much for the Lord with my life.... and now I'm old and tired and probably don't have much time left, or energy for that matter, to do anything great for Him.

This particular woman had raised four boys in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, three of which were doing full time missionary work in different countries and one in Bible college aspiring to the the same. "Sister," he said, I'll be lucky to get a small mansion next to your palace in Paradise".

We may not be pastors or world travelling missionaries but one thing is for sure. We each have been given gifts and abilities by the Lord for use in His Kingdom. Right now, Rivka is called to be a full-time wife and mother and do those things whole-heartedly unto the Lord. And you, perhaps, are called to minister to the Lord by being a light to your co-workers at your secular job, being available for a family member or friend in trouble, financially supporting missions around the world, or even cleaning the toilets after services at your local church.

Whatever the case, rejoice in the Lord and do what it is you're doing unto Him!

[Shammu]

Party on!

Luke 15:10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

Since we've been here in Israel, my wife and I try to come up with a reason to have a party at least once a month. If it's not a holiday party, it's a birthday party, an anniversary party, or a "whatever we can come up with" party! Sound like frivolous spending on our part? Well, it's not. It's a heavenly investment!

There are many ways to share the Gospel. Most often, however, it works best when we've gotten to know someone first! We invite some of our believing friends along with our unbelieving family and others we've made relationships with around the neighborhood and pray that God would build connections! And praise God -- He has been blessing our parties with a sweet anointing! We have already seen much fruit! What our unbelieving guests don't realize is that we're really having an "outreach party" and they are the guests of honor!

Are you eager to share the Good News of our redemption in Messiah? We hope you are!! Today is the day! People are hungry to know God! Perhaps try throwing a party or two and see what the Lord does! Each time you get together, water a little, till the soil of their hearts a little, and eventually, you too will see fruit!

[Shammu]

Fancy fruit?

Jeremiah 17:7-8 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

Out here in the Negev our trees suffer, especially in the hot summer months. We have a few trees around our neighborhood here which have definitely seen better days, I'm sure.

In this passage, the Lord compares us to trees planted by the water - trees which will always stay green even through the heat and drought - trees which will never cease to yield fruit.

We as believers who trust in the Lord and whose hope is in Him should be yielding fruit unceasingly! That's right - even through the droughts we face in our lives, we should never cease to bear fruit! Here, the Lord is showing us who we really are! We are trees, nourished by the Living Water of truth and hope and by the Son, who has redeemed us from all of our sin and given us new life!

Llet's take a close look at ourselves. Are we bearing fruit in our personal lives, in our families, in our communities? We need to be!! Let's walk in our calling and we will see fruit!

[Shammu]

Continue to be faithful!

1 Corinthians 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

In my first years serving the Lord, I was dedicated to serving with an inner city bus ministry in the heart of Baltimore. We would go door to door and offer "free Sunday morning babysitting" for their kids. If they agreed to let us take their kids to church, we would come and pick them up early every Sunday morning. Many times, the obvious change in their kids' lives would make a great impression and their parents would be moved to come out to the church as well --- then they too would give their lives to the Lord! It was exciting to see whole families come to faith! The following story touched my heart, from Max Lucado's book, God Came Near.

Norman Geisler, as a child, went to a DVBS because he was invited by some neighbor children. He went back to the same church for Sunday School classes for 400 Sundays. Each week he was faithfully picked up by a bus driver. Week after week he attended church, but never made a commitment to Christ. Finally, during his senior year in High School, after being picked up for church over 400 times, he did commit his life to Christ. What if that bus driver had given up on Geisler at 395? What if the bus driver had said, "This kid is going nowhere spiritually, why waste any more time on him?

All of us could use some work on the area of faithfulness. We have a responsibility to win hearts for the Lord, yes, but not only to win them. We need to stick by these baby believers, faithfully pray for them, serve them to the best of our ability, help them along the way and not give up when the going gets tough!

Llet's pray. Lord, help us to be the faithful people you desire us to be! We want to be shining stars for you, doing what you've called us to do and doing it with excellence! We give you our lives once again today and thank you for loving us the way you do. In Jesus precious Name, amen.

These e-mail Devotional are supplied by Worthy Devotionals.

[Shammu]

Choose your words wisely!

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

We talk a lot, don't we? But do we really say anything important? Let us consider some of the greatest words known to mankind.

The Declaration of Independence -- 300 words. The Gettysburg Address -- 266. The Lord's Prayer -- 56 words. Jesus' words to us, the great commission, "Go ye" -- only 2 words!

On the other hand, not long ago, the U.S. government issued an order setting the price of cabbage -- 26,911 words!

Let's master our tongues! With it we can speak life, blessing, and encouragement to all those around us today!

This e-mail Devotional is supplied by Worthy Devotionals.

[airIam2worship]

Choose your words wisely!

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

We talk a lot, don't we? But do we really say anything important? Let us consider some of the greatest words known to mankind.

The Declaration of Independence -- 300 words. The Gettysburg Address -- 266. The Lord's Prayer -- 56 words. Jesus' words to us, the great commission, "Go ye" -- only 2 words!

On the other hand, not long ago, the U.S. government issued an order setting the price of cabbage -- 26,911 words!

Let's master our tongues! With it we can speak life, blessing, and encouragement to all those around us today!

This e-mail Devotional is supplied by Worthy Devotionals.

AMEN Brother. Looking back into the first chapter of Genesis, we read God created everything by His Word. Verses 2, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 29; all start with
                                                               'And God said'
We are made in His image and with our tounge we can speak life, blessing, and encouragement as the above devotional states.

[Shammu]

Longing for a change?

Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

My wife is a natural-born perfectionist. She has what I like to call the "gift of critique". But I remember when she discovered something phenomenal.

Our daughter, Elianna, who was seven months old at the time, suddenly hit an interesting phase. Every time we would dress her, for some strange reason, she would begin to panic. As we'd try to place her shirt over her head and get her arms through, she would get very tense and undoubtedly begin to scream and cry hysterically. My wife and I started to dread dressing her. We would try and do it as fast as we possibly could just to get it over with -- but Elianna would scream and scream.

Finally, my clever wife had an idea. She began to applaud Elianna as she was putting on her clothes. As Elianna's head went through, she would stop and shout -- "Yay Elianna!" Then one arm --"Yay Elianna, Good for you!" Then the other arm -- "Alright! you did it Elianna! Yaaaaaaaaay!! And she persuaded me to do this as well.

Don't you know - that within a couple of weeks of this applauding -- Elianna stopped crying when it was time to get dressed. Eventually, she stopped getting tense and finally dress up time became a joyous occasion!

If you have the gift of critique, take a lesson from Elianna. Sometimes pressing to make something change isn't a fraction as effective as giving encouragement!

Perhaps there is someone or something around you that you feel has been needing to change. You've been critiquing and critiquing to no avail. How about trying something different for a change? Begin supporting, encouraging and applauding and watch the victory come!

[Shammu]

Don't be mopey!

Acts 22:15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.

Many times, our unbelieving family and coworkers -- society in general, can make us feel small and inferior -- like second class citizens -- because we are Christians. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, somehow, we begin to believe it! We become what I like to call "mopey Christians," just moping around, keeping our faith hidden under a bushel, feeling afraid to say a word about Jesus, in fear that we might offend someone! And that's precisely what the enemy wants us to feel!

But we can choose whether or not to give in to his foolishness today! Jesus said that those who follow after Him shall never hunger or thirst -- they have been set free from the law of sin and death -- they've been renewed, cleansed, forgiven, loved with an everlasting love! How on earth can we mope about that??

We need a reality check. We should be holding our heads high today and ready to tell people about the great work he's done in us! We have been redeemed!

[Shammu]

Yet another lesson from Elianna.

Proverbs 3:5-7 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

It is just so much fun to watch kids grow and learn. Our little two year old girl is fascinated by just about everything. Last night in the bathtub she was absolutely mesmerized by the abundant flow of water coming out of the faucet. It was so amusing to watch her. We wondered what she was thinking.

And that got us thinking. There are certain things we learn in life, that we come to accept as truth. Such as, in Elianna's case, that water is available from the silver object on the wall of the bathtub. She will probably never question that as long as she lives.

It's true with us as well. Most of us have never questioned whether there is some other way to survive but to inhale, exhale, eat and drink -- or why the sun rises in the morning and goes down at night -- or why it hurts when we fall. Why? Because these things, we've experienced from when we first entered into the world. We know nothing else! These are things we have come to accept as truth, and we don't question them.

Why then, is it so easy for us as humans to accept these things, but so difficult to accept God's existence and trust His divine authority over our lives? If it were not for Him, we wouldn't be able to experience the sun rising and setting, eating, drinking, falling or even reading this devotion!

There are areas in each of our lives that we have not trusted God entirely. There are concerns we may have given over to the Lord at one time -- and then somewhere along the line troubles came and we began to doubt. Let's give all these back to the Lord today and allow Him to take care of business. He is our creator. He knows our every need, concern, and thought. We should never doubt Him. There should be no question that everything is in His hands!

Let's renew our trust and our childlike fascination for God and all His blessings toward us. Let's also commit "not to lean on our own understanding" from this point forward. The victories will come!

[Shammu]

Onward Christian soldiers!

2 Timothy 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

My wife and I both came from very worldly back rounds. We both enjoyed alcohol and drugs and lifestyles that come with that before we became believers. I think of all the awful things we did -- yet God chose to forgive us and cleanse us. And then allowed us to know Him and serve Him in holiness.

There is really no good reason that God should have taken us under His wing. But He did. That's why He died -- that each one of us might be forgiven, cleansed, and serve Him in holiness.

It just goes to show that God doesn't call the qualified -- He qualifies the called!

Be encouraged today. Nothing you have done can separate you from His love and His calling upon your lives. Go forth in power today!

[Shammu]

Let's get exposed!

Psalms 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

I recently read a story about a rather pompous-looking deacon who was endeavoring to impress upon a class of boys the importance of living the Christian life. “Why do you think people call me a Christian?” the man asked. After a moment’s pause, one youngster said, “Maybe it’s because they don’t know you.”

I don't know if this is a true story -- but I'm sure we've all experienced hypocrisy in our own lives. Mark Twain said "We’re all like the moon, we have a dark side we don’t want anyone to see".

Hypocrisy is a dangerous thing. It has turned a many a man away from the Lord to search elsewhere for answers. It can ruin an entire generation and more after them. But we have the opportunity to change those generations for the good of God's kingdom! Those of us who know and love God must never stop allowing Him to search our "dark sides" so that we can more effectively be used as vessels to lead the hungry multitudes to Him.

Let's come against the hypocrisy in our lives. Let's ask the Lord to search our hearts today and uproot the things that need uprooting. Let's give our all to God again. There's so much work to be done!

[Shammu]

Stand strong!

Luke 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

An official of a mission board, who knew it takes more than just desire to make a missionary, was appointed to examine a candidate for the mission field. He told the young man to be at his house at six o'clock in the morning. The young man complied and arrived a six o'clock sharp. The examiner kept him sitting alone in the room until ten. Then he finally came in and said abruptly, " Young man, can you write your name? A little taken aback by the simplicity of his question, the man paused.
Before he could get a word out, the examiner blurted, "What, you don't know what it is?" The mission board official put him through a series of questions of that nature and then went to report to the mission board.

"Okay," he said, "he will do." I tried his patience for hours and hours and he did not break down; Then I insulted him and he did not lose his temper. This candidate answered with patience, fortitude, and gentleness. His faith was vindicated by the very quality of his character. He will make a good missionary."

Whether we realize it or not -- we all are in the mission field. Our patience is bound to be tested in ways we've never imagined and we'll most likely find it unfair and unkind at times. But standing strong in the Lord in the face of offensive treatment and enduring seasons of long-suffering is a testimony in and of itself -- and that will win souls!

Are you weary from the walk? Get your second wind! Count it all joy! You have endured much and you will see victory! Not only here on earth but when we meet the Lord!

These e-mail Devotional are supplied by Worthy Devotionals.

[Shammu]

Have you forgotten something?

Psalms 111:4 He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.

A farmer was showing his visiting citydwelling friend around his farm. "Watch this!" he said. He gave a whistle and his little dog came running from the house, herded the cattle into the corral, then latched the gate with her paw. "Wow, that’s some dog -- what’s her name?" The forgetful farmer thought for a minute and then asked, "What do you call that red flower that smells good and has thorns on the stem?" "A rose?" "That’s it!" The farmer turned to his wife. "Hey Rose, what do we call this
dog?"

Funny how we forget things, isn't it? But I'm not so sure God finds it all that funny! When we read about the children of Israel and their journeys through the wilderness for forty years, we see how God provided wonderful miracles for them, feeding them daily with manna, guiding them by a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day, parting the Red Sea!

How is it, then, that they became so very hard hearted toward Him? Over time, I think those miracles just became commonplace and they began to take them for granted!
But then again when I look back on my life, I can't really blame them. It happens to the best of us! God has done miracles in our lives and I'm sure he's done many in each of yours as well! But we still get anxious when things aren't going quite the way we hoped, don't we?

Recall a miracle of God in your life. Remember the joy you felt? We need to relive that joy today! The miracle of God's new birth in us and the many other miracles God has done are not ones to be quickly forgotten. We need to relive them daily!

We never want to become cold toward God! Let's spend some time remembering the miracles He has done in our lives and strive to trust Him for the trials we face today!

This e-mail Devotional is supplied by Worthy Devotionals.