by Pastor Cecil | Jan 3, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Luke 16:22-26
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ “
Have you ever been forced to stand alone because of your faith in Jesus Christ? At the time it may seem to be uncomfortable or downright miserable. Later you may have seen that to stand alone was by far the best thing you could ever have done.
As a teenager I was subject to peer pressure to do things that violated my conscience as a Christian. What made it even harder was that some of those that were doing these things “claimed” to be Christians as well. It was during this time that I felt the presence of the Lord drawing my attention to Him, rather than to be tempted by the appeal of worldly activities.
I still can recall that some of those who had pressured me to do these things, ran into trouble. Some of them came to me and said they regretted their actions and wished they had not yielded to temptation.
I have shared with you that as a US Air Force personnel officer, I spent a year on an unaccompanied assignment on the northern tip of Newfoundland. I can honestly say that I never felt tempted to yield to some of the sinful activities others were engaging in, but it required standing alone.
On one Saturday night there was a knock on my door. A civilian pilot asked if he could talk with me. It was actually in the wee hours of Sunday morning. He was sobbing and asked if I could pray with him. He shared that he had just been notified that a pilot friend of his had crashed his plane a few hundred miles south of us.
After I had prayed with him about being prepared to meet the Lord, I once again felt the blessed peace of the Lord. Even though I did not make it a practice of condemning others for their sinful activities, they knew they could come to me at the time they needed prayer. I was not a chaplain or pastor, but a follower of Jesus Christ.
I have had a thought running through my mind for years, but not able to phrase it. Recently I heard or read a statement that expresses it: “I would rather live my life BELIEVING in God, only to die and find out He doesn’t exist, than to live my life NOT BELIEVING in God, only to die and find out He does exist.”
Jesus came as God in the flesh. He believed in a literal heaven and hell. Read today’s Scripture once again. This was a parable that Jesus used to teach that we all face eternity with or without God in our lives. What a pitiful picture Jesus describes of the rich man in hell.
In Romans 14:10a-13, we read these revealing words: “For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before Me; every tongue will confess to God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
We may be filled with our own self-sufficiency now, but there will come a time when each and every knee will bow before the Lord God Almighty. There will be no pride or arrogance then. We will bow in worship before Him. Those of us who have been born again will worship in adoration and love, while sinners will fall condemned because they have refused to receive His great salvation. Please accept Him while there is time!
Here is a prayer which you may pray for yourself, or if you have prayed such a prayer, you may be able to lead someone else in praying: “Lord Jesus, I have felt You speaking to me personally. I know that it is the time for me to make my decision to follow You. I confess that I am a sinner and cannot save myself. I want You to come into my heart and be my Savior and Lord. I will follow You and obey what You lead me to do. Thank You for caring enough for me to die for me. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.”
If you have prayed this prayer, and really mean it, tell someone. You may even write back to me and share it with me. Romans 10:9 says in part that, “- – if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in you heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 2, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Acts 9:3-7
“As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’ The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone.”
This Daily-E-Votional may be directly for you, or it may be something for you to use in sharing with someone else. According to Isaiah 55:11, God’s Word never returns to Him void, but will always accomplish what He intends.
The story of Saul’s conversion is a message of hope for everyone. It tells us that there are those moments in our life when the Lord confronts us with an urgent call that demands a response.
Just to refresh our minds, Saul was a Pharisee who was committed to the persecution and eradication of the followers of Jesus Christ. Two chapters earlier in the Book of Acts, we read that he was one of those who bore official witness to the stoning of Stephan. It is fascinating that at the time of Stephan’s execution, Saul was not able to hear and see the things that Stephan was shown prior to his death.
Now, here was Saul, traveling toward Damascus, with the deadly purpose of stamping out the life of any believers who accept Jesus as the promised Messiah. Suddenly, in an instant of time, everything changed. He had a personal encounter with our resurrected Lord. A light from heaven was so strong that it caused him to become blind. A voice penetrated Saul’s innermost being with a question that was eternal, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
It left Saul in absolute terror and left him no escape from answering. When Saul asked “Who are you Lord?” He answered his own question—it was the Lord and that was what Saul called Him. Jesus ordered Saul to continue his journey and it would be revealed to him what he was to do. At this point Saul could either obey the call or reject it. He could have attributed all of this to a bad dinner, or mental lapse — but he didn’t. He followed and became a mighty apostle.
The others who were traveling along with Saul were struck dumb. They knew something earthshaking had happened, but did not have ears to hear the very words of God. Saul experienced conversion, but they heard only noise. It highlights the matter of our own personal choice. Like them, you may have heard the sound (noise), but have not been open to hear the words of the Lord.
Notice that Saul was a very religious man, yet he was an eternally lost man without a conversion experience in his life. Self-satisfied religious devotion can never replace God’s demand for our own personal conversion. Saul and his companions continued their trip to Damascus, but only Saul had changed directions in his life. That is the way for all of us. We too can make a complete change and know that we are now bound for our heavenly home.
Here is a prayer which you may pray for yourself, or if you have prayed such a prayer, you may be able to lead someone else in praying: “Lord Jesus, I have felt You speaking to me personally. I know that it is the time for me to make my decision to follow You. I confess that I am a sinner and cannot save myself. I want You to come into my heart and be my Savior and Lord. I will follow You and obey what You lead me to do. Thank You for caring enough for me to die for me. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
If you have prayed this prayer, and really mean it, tell someone. You may even write back to me and share it with me. Romans 10:9 says in part that, “- – if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in you heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
That is God’s Word of instruction and assurance. We must act upon it by using our mouth to tell someone that we have prayed this prayer, and it must be based upon an inner knowledge that Jesus is truly the promised Messiah, sent to give us eternal life by believing on Him.
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 1, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Psalm 126:3-6
“The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.”
January 1, 2008. There must be a mistake! Where did 2007 go? Why did we fail to accomplish all of the goals we had set for ourselves during the past 12 months? Let me share something that was sent to me several years ago. It has real meaning as we stand on the threshold of a new year.
THE DAFFODIL PRINCIPLE… By an unknown author
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. “I will come next Tuesday,” I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call.
The next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, “Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!”
My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.” “Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!” I assured her. “I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage to pick up my car.” “How far will we have to drive?” “Just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”
After several minutes, I had to ask, “Where are we going? This isn’t the way to the garage!” “We’re going to my garage the long way,” Carolyn smiled, “by way of the daffodils.” “Carolyn,” I said sternly, “please turn around.” “It’s all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read, “Daffodil Garden.” We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.
It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns-great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.
“But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn. It’s just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.” Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.
On the patio, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking” was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. “50,000 bulbs,” it read. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”
There it was, The Daffodil Principle. For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun-one bulb at a time-to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top.
Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of ineffable (indescribable) magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.
The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time-often just one baby-step at a time-and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time.
When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.
“It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn. “What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!” My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. “Start tomorrow,” she said.
It’s so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, “How can I put this to use today?”
It really does not take great intellect or strength, it is just planting the bulbs that God gives us, and keep on planting them. I just switched over to my Daily-E-Votional file and was amazed that since September 15, 2000, I have sent out 1,968 Daily-E-Votionals. Let’s see – – – – 50,000 minus 1,968—that leaves me a lot of planting left to do. What are you planting? Start today!
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
