A Christian Devotional

[Shammu]

Who do you want to be king?

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

In 1865, Matthew Shiel came upon the Island of Redona while sailing the Caribbean and claimed it for his infant son, Felipe. Years later, he brought the boy to the island, and he was proclaimed King Felipe I. The new King appointed several of his friends as dukes and when he died one of these dukes became the new king, King Juan I. The funny thing is that the Kingdom of Redona was only 1 mile in length, and 1/2 mile in width and it was totally uninhabited. In reality, they were king of nobody!

It's easy to proclaim ourselves king. When we say, "It's my life -- I'll do whatever feels good to me -- I'll go wherever I want, say whatever I want, buy whatever I want, eat whatever I want, etc...", in essence by doing so, we are proclaiming ourselves king over our own lives. It might feel good for a little while, but soon enough our hearts and lives become empty -- as empty as the Island of Redona.

When we try to be king, we end up with nothing. Only He who gave us life, can really be King over it!

Let's allow Him to be King of our lives! Let's seek His Kingdom and His righteousness because there's too much work to be done to waste time building kingdoms like Redona!

[Shammu]

Start building!

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

The word for builder in Hebrew is “bo-neh”. It is also translated repairer. When our Yeshua (Jesus) came 2000 years ago, He came to repair lives -- to do a complete restoration of all that is broken in this world.

Interestingly, the Hebrew words for son, “ben” and daughter, “baht” both also come from the word bo-neh! So -- if you were wondering what God’s calling on your life is, here you have it! We, as sons and daughters, are called to repair and build up our families, the body of Messiah and the world around us.

Let's begin looking for opportunities to bless those around us! Let's seek to be the ones to repair broken hearts, lives and relationships. In this way, we will truly become sons and daughters of God!

[Shammu]

Times of refreshing are near!

1 Kings 19:4-5 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.

In this passage, Elijah had become so weary running from Jezebel that he sat under a Juniper tree and just asked the Lord to take his life. But the Lord knew exactly what Elijah needed and He sent forth a messenger to revive and nourish him. I love it.

In His infinite mercy, God sent an angel to minister to Elijah. And that was just enough to help him get up and continue to do great things for the Lord. We've all been under that tree, haven't we? Some of us are there right now.

Perhaps you know a saint who is growing weary and in need of refreshment. Let's be available for the Lord, to be that messenger and supply his or her needs. Make a meal, give a gift, offer your time, maybe even just bring a word of encouragement -- perhaps that's all he or she needs to get up from under the Juniper tree and keep on keeping on for the Lord!

When you supply a need for someone else, you are acting as God's messenger. And proverbs says that he who refreshes others will, himself, be refreshed! There's so much work to be done!

[Shammu]

Scatter your enemies!

Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

A young reporter approached an old man on his 100th birthday. "Happy birthday, kind Sir! Can I bother you to answer one question? In all your years, of what are you most proud?" he asked.

"Well," said the man, "I don't have a single enemy in the world."

"Really?!" shouted the reporter, "That's just incredible -- how inspiring to us all!"

"Yep," added the centenarian, "outlived every darn one of 'em."

Sadly, each of us has acquired an enemy or two in our lives. While it's our human nature to find fault in others and make an occasional unnecessary enemy, sometimes it has nothing to do with us! I mean, you wouldn't believe the kind of hate mail we get from people we've never met! What can we do to make peace with enemies like those?

"He" is the operating word in the verse above. Did you catch that? He, that is, the Lord, makes even [a man's] enemies be at peace with him. All we have to worry about is making sure that our ways are pleasing to the Lord and He will do the rest!

The word "deh-rech" in Hebrew, is 'way' in the verse above. Derech can also mean journey or path. When our path is straight, and God is the focus of our journey, then our ways will please Him and He will make even our enemies be at peace with us.

Let's rededicate our lives to the Lord again today and see Him bring the victory. There is so much work to be done!

[Shammu]

Don't be shaken!

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

When we first moved to Israel we experienced a thundering earthquake that measured 5.2 on the Richter scale. I was in my Hebrew class downtown, and my wife and newborn were in our Jerusalem apartment. I don't know if any of you have ever experienced an earthquake, but it can be very scary. My wife told me about her experience.

She was sitting in our bedroom with the baby in her arms, when out of nowhere came a sudden loud roaring sound, followed by a shaking of all four walls, and all the contents within banging against them for what seemed like an eternity.

So many things go through your mind when you're in the midst of a life-threatening experience like that. Rivka said that as everything was shaking, she began to fear what could happen next. But in the midst of it all, Riv looked down at Elianna in her arms. Would you believe, she was perfectly content -- happy, smiling, even drifting off to sleep as the earth shook all around her.

Each of us can take a lesson from Elianna. Even in the midst of craziness, chaos, distress, crises beyond our control, we as believers must rest, trusting that we're safe in the loving arms of the Father.

Is your world being shaken right now? Know that God is holding you today. No matter what you're facing, you can trust Him fully to cover you and protect you. Relax in His sheltering arms!

[Shammu]

Don't forget!

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Junk mail -- those annoying letters that fill your mail box. Along with the junk comes the delightful bills, and renewal notices. Of course the junk, we can just throw away, the bills, unfortunately can't be ignored, but the renewal notices, those we're thankful to see. Without them, we'd likely forget that we need to renew our licenses, our credit cards, membership cards, whatever else. Without those renewal notices, we might go to the ATM one day and not be able to get the cash we need because our card is expired -- oops! We might be asked to show our identification and the authorities might say, "Sorry Charlie, this license is not valid - you didn't renew it!"

Sadly though, the most important things in life that need renewing, do not come with renewal notices. We will never open a piece of mail and see a notice to renew our love for our spouses, our children or our friends. But if we don't continually renew our love for them, it will eventually grow cold. We'll also never receive the most important renewal notice -- to remind us to renew our relationship with God. Our relationship with God is the most important relationship we can have. It must be renewed daily!

In Hebrew, the word "le-cha-desh" means to renew. Here you go. Here is your renewal notice. Renew your love for the ones you love today. Renew your love for the Lord. Renew your love for the things of God and for his calling upon your lives.

We all need a little renewing today. Let's ask the Lord to create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us. There is so much work to be done!

[Shammu]

Be monopolized!

Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

D.L. Moody has been influential in my personal life as I study and read about his life and ministry in the 1800’s. I remember reading a story about how D.L. Moody was preparing to lead a revival throughout England to which an elderly pastor protested and said, "Why do we need this ‘Mr. Moody’? He’s uneducated, inexperienced, etc. Who does he think he is anyway? Does he think he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?"

A younger, yet wiser pastor stood up and responded, "No, but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on Mr. Moody."

Do you truly want to be monopolized by the Holy Spirit? Let’s face it — the degree of fullness of the Spirit of God is in direct proportion to the intensity of our true desire. The reality of the spirit-filled life is — we have as much of God as we truly want.

As we approach the festival of Shavuot (Pentecost) let’s seek to have a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to monopolize our lives and in doing so — we’ll be empowered to do the great things God has called us to do in these days!

[Shammu]

Are you empowered...again?

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

As we approach Shavuot this Friday night, we’re looking at the promise given 2000 years ago: that normal people will lead extraordinary lives; that disciples, who were terrified on the night of Jesus’ death, were transformed into bold saints of God; and that fishermen, tax collectors, and housewives – normal everyday people – became empowered, and turned the Roman Empire inside out and upside down!

In Acts 2, we read about the initial outpouring of the Spirit during Shavuot. Just a few chapters later the same saints who had been once filled to overflowing, sought to be refilled again [Acts 4]. It was not a one time experience, but rather a constant refilling of the Spirit which they needed to change their world. They repeatedly sought to be empowered to accomplish whatever task God assigned to them. They just kept going back, to the well that never runs dry, and so they kept getting filled – and refilled — and refilled again!

Don’t ever become spiritually “satisfied”! Seek to be filled — once filled — seek to be refilled! And refilled again! How do we live in a constant state of revival? By always seeking MORE! In doing so, God will empower everyday folk like us to turn our world inside out and upside down!

[Shammu]

Fill ye!

Matthew 9:37-38 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

As many of you know, our first child, Elianna, is just over five years old now and our son, Obadiah is just over 1 1/2 years now. They are a joy and a treasure to us. We thought we'd be teaching our kids lots, but it turns out that they're teaching us some great lessons! Here's another one.

We've noticed that our kids are open vessel which will take in any and everything around them -- like an empty treasure chest that we have the opportunity to fill with all the treasures of the Lord. If we don't fill it with good things now, they will later seek to fill their empty chests with the treasures of the world. But if we are faithful to fill those treasure chests with holiness, righteousness, joy, peace and all the good things of the Lord, they'll not only be full but they will later defend those treasures with their lives!

This is our challenge as parents. But as believers, we all share this challenge -- to train and disciple the young --whether they are children or new believers in the Lord. They are each empty treasure chests, just waiting to be filled with God's goodness, and we have a responsibility to fill them! Just as the disciples in Jesus' day left all that they had to go and make disciples of men, so should we make ourselves available to train up and teach those new open vessles that God brings our way.

Let's get serious about the calling of the Lord on our lives.

[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]

You have Him, who is greater than your circumstances.

Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

The Lord quotes this scripture in Matthew. It contains an important principle which believers sometimes tend to overlook. Many believe and even teach that if you're blessed, your life will be filled with material prosperity, and that if you are undergoing extreme trial, it must be because you have sinned or that you lack faith. The Lord says that the sun rises and the rain falls on both the righteous and the unrighteous alike.

A life of good circumstances does not mean that God is with us. And likewise, a life of trial and suffering does not mean that God is not with us! If we base our lives on our circumstances, we are no different than people without God. What makes us different is that we have something far greater than our circumstances! We have a relationship with the Living God!

Theres nothing wrong with rejoicing in the good times but we need to rejoice in the bad as well! We have a greater treasure and a more amazing victory when our lives our centered upon Him.

[Shammu]

Find a reason to be thankful!

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Scottish minister Alexander Whyte was known for his uplifting prayers in the pulpit. He always found something for which to be grateful. One Sunday morning the weather was so gloomy that one church member thought to himself, "Certainly the preacher won't think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a wretched day like this." Much to his surprise, however, Whyte began by praying, "We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this."

There is always a way to thank God, even in the worst of circumstances. Let’s will to thank God, and do it happily! As we draw near to Him with our thanks, He will draw near to us and bring victory!

[Shammu]

Who is truly your enemy?

Romans 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

A story is told of Peter Miller, a plain Baptist preacher of Pennsylvania, in the days of the Revolutionary War. Near his church, lived a man who maligned the pastor to the last degree. The man became involved in treason and was arrested and sentenced to be hanged. The preacher started out on foot and walked the entire way to Philadelphia roughly seventy miles away to plead for the man’s life. George Washington heard his plea, but he said, “No, your plea for your friend cannot be granted.” “My friend!” said the preacher. “He is the worst enemy I have.” What!” said Washington, “you have walked nearly seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in a different light. I will grant the pardon.”

Like this precious pastor, although we don’t go out looking for enemies, we somehow seem to acquire them just by doing the work of the Lord! Many of you know how many times we've been attacked by hackers since we moved to Israel. These people probably spend weeks -- not hours, not days -- but weeks or even more trying to figure out passcodes and configurations in order to destroy our sites and all the work of the Lord going on there! It can be extremely upsetting to see someone steal away years of your hard work like that. You just want to know who?! and why?! and what did I do to deserve this?!

I'm sure many of you are experiencing your share of enemy assaults too and can relate to what I'm saying! But how should we react to these assailants? Should we curse them and hunt them down to get our revenge? This pastor had every earthly right to be satisfed with this man's sentence. After all, this man probably destroyed his reputation -- perhaps even his entire ministry! But this wise pastor saw right through the man. He realized that the offense committed did not originate with the man who slandered him. This man was merely a pawn in the hands of a cruel and crafty adversary, satan himself. Clearly, it's our ultimate enemy, satan, who is out to slander us, to steal from us, hurt us, lie, kill and destroy us and he'll use any means possible to do it.

In the same way, we must realize who is truly our enemy and come against him the best way we can -- determine to press forward for God's Kingdom even more than before!

When we strive to do the work of the Lord, we will undoubtedly gain some enemies! But we must ambush our archenemy who is manipulating these people and situations! How? By praying more! Learning the word more! Sharing the Gospel more! Forgiving more! Becoming wiser and stronger in the Lord! Becoming more like Jesus! Press forward toward the Kingdom of God today -- your great reward will be with Him!

[Shammu]

Feeling itchy?

1 Thes. 5:16-18 Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

In her book “The Hiding Place” Corrie ten Boom relates an incident that taught her always to be thankful. She and her sister Betsy had just been transferred to the worst German prison camp they had seen yet, called Ravensbruck. The barracks were extremely overcrowded and horribly flea-infested.

After their scripture reading in 1st Thessalonians that morning, where the Lord reminded them to rejoice always, pray constantly, and give thanks in all circumstances.

Betsy suggested they stop and thank the Lord for every detail of their new living quarters. At first, Corrie was appalled by the idea. She flatly refused to give thanks for that smelly, dirty, flea-ridden place. But Betsy persisted -- and Corrie finally succumbed to her pleadings.

It was by a miracle of God that Corrie and Betsy were able to smuggle their Bible into the camp. If the guards found out that the women were holding nightly Bible studies in their barracks, they surely would have been punished harshly, maybe even killed. During the months they spent at that camp, however, no guard ever said one word.

It was not until several months later that they learned the reason why the guards would hardly ever come into their barracks. They wouldn't enter the barracks because of the fleas!!

Perhaps you're dealing with some difficult circumstances today. But who knows? There may be a purpose beyond our understanding! Let's choose trust the Lord and maintain an attitude of thankfulness in every situation.

[Shammu]

What do you wish?

Psalms 27:4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

Three men were marooned on a desert island. As the days slowly went by, they dreamed of what it would be like to be at home with their friends and family, to be back at their jobs doing the things they loved. One day one of the men found a bottle. When he opened it, a genie came out and announced that he would grant each of them one wish.

"Really?" one of the men said, "Boy, I sure would love to be back in Seattle with my wife and kids." POOF! -- in an instant he was gone. Seeing that, the second man immediately gave his request," I want to be back in New York with my fiancé!" And in a flash, POOF! -- he was gone too.

The third man was left all alone sitting on the sandy beach and said, "Wow, it's lonely here with my friends gone. I sure wish they'd come back. And POOF.

Merriam Webster defines "wish" as "to have a desire for, as something unattainable";. We use that word all too often, don't you think? We're always wishing for something, always yearning for something, always "needing" that one more thing. It seems we can never be satisfied! There is only one thing we should truly desire, that is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives.

He is the only One who can truly satisfy our longings. Let's give our hearts and desires to Him once again today.