by Pastor Cecil | Aug 31, 2012 | 1 Corinthians
1 Corinthians 15:55-57
Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yesterday I received a prayer request that was somewhat unusual. It seems that a dear saint of the Lord is very near death. The family has been at her bedside for many, many hours, and yet she keeps hanging on. She wants to go and be with the Lord, but her body keeps lingering. The prayer request was that she would die!
It reminded me of a minister I once heard speak at a pastor’s conference who had been called to pray for people to be healed but, in almost every instance, they had died soon after. The pastor developed a complex and became hesitant to pray for healing. Then he received a call from a member of his congregation whose father was very near death. This time he was asked to come and pray that the Lord would hasten the death.
He was delighted to go since that was what usually happened. (You know what is coming don’t you?) Sure enough, the pastor prayed for the old man to die, but he was healed and lived for several more years. It taught that pastor to seek to know God’s plans and pray for God’s will to be done, not the human will.
Do we really trust God enough to pray that His will be done? When we are passing through the valley of the shadow of death, can we take our hands off and pray that His will be done? I am confident that if we can trust God with our life here on earth, we can certainly trust Him to bring us home to glory! As long as He has plans for me on this side, I am anxious to stay, but I will trust Him for my death!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Aug 30, 2012 | Daily-E-Votionals, Hebrews
Hebrews 5:11-12
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
What determines if a person is an effective teacher? Is it one who stands in front of a class to expound the truth? Possibly that is the case. Is it someone who spends hours, days, and weeks in careful study before sharing what has been discovered? That, too, may be the case, but I want to offer that there are wonderful teachers who are just one lesson ahead of the people they are teaching.
Joyce and I are eagerly awaiting the birth of our fifth great-grandchild. We love babies and it is a special joy to watch them grow and develop. They start with milk and then are fed predigested food. As a grandpa and great-grandpa I cheat and slip them bites of mashed potatoes and gravy . . . until I am discovered and told to stop. It is hard to look innocent when you have been caught red handed.
There comes a time when babies move from being fed by others to begin feeding themselves. It is often a messy sight, but it is the price for personal development. (Some of us seem to have over developed this process of feeding ourselves.) Eventually, the time comes when they are old enough to feed their own babies. It is then that the cycle is complete: 1. Being fed by someone else; 2. Feeding ourselves; 3. Feeding others. The writer of Hebrews is confronting his readers by using this illustration.
There was a pastor in Missouri who shared with me that his greatest blessing was a meat-cutter who worked at a meat plant near his church. Every afternoon this older man would drop by the pastor’s study to share what he had discovered in God’s Word the previous evening. The pastor said it made him into the preacher he was. I never met that old meat-cutter, but I praise God he blessed me by his teaching this pastor.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Aug 29, 2012 | 2 Timothy
2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
The answer to the title of today’s Daily-E-Votional—CAN GOD USE ME?—is a resounding YES! Not only can He use you, He wants to use you. The only thing standing in the way is (are you ready?) . . . YOU!
As I allow my mind to wander across the years, I am struck by those who have been able to minister under dire circumstances. A missionary I knew was rushed to a hospital with a ruptured appendix. While recuperating in a two-bed room, he was able to share his testimony with the patient in the other bed and lead him to the Lord.
During the cold war years there were many Christians who were imprisoned due to their belief in Jesus Christ. Rather than collapsing in a heap and feeling sorry for themselves, many used prison as an opportunity to preach the gospel.
In our own lives we have endured occasional tests and trials. But, as we surrendered each situation to the Lord, He opened doors of ministry that we could never have entered in any other way.
It is not necessary for us to be perfect before He can use us–just forgiven. It is not necessary for us to complete a course of study to be used–just available. It is not necessary for us to be of a certain age to be used–just willing.
Many of you are enduring trials and tests right now. Please do not allow what you are experiencing to paralyze you from being used. Step forward and volunteer to serve in God’s army. Neither age nor physical limitations will disqualify. “God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called.” Are you being used?
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Aug 28, 2012 | 1 Corinthians
1 Corinthians 15:56-58
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Back when we were young parents (which was so long ago that I can hardly remember that far back), there was a kid’s toy that I think was called a “Slip ‘N Slide.” It was about twenty feet long and three feet wide. You would roll it out on the lawn and soak it down with water. The kids would get a run and, because of the water, they would be able to slide down it with ease.
There was one element that was always required and that was water. If the Slip ‘N Slide was not wet, the kids would not be able to slide down the plastic strip. No matter how fast they would run before they landed, the plastic had become totally unyielding and resistant to a slip or a slide.
There is a spiritual application here. It is possible to water down the Word of God to such a degree that we are always on a slippery surface. Not only is it easy to slide through life, it is almost impossible to even stand up without slipping. The answer is found in today’s Scripture. Paul is telling Christians that to be able to stand firm we are to give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord.
Each of us is called by God to stand firm and sure for Him. We are to live a life of trust under His control. We accomplish this by being in fellowship with Him. We are to spend time reading what He says in His precious word and enjoying fellowship with Him in prayer. Are you standing firm for the Lord or are you on a slip and slide?
Blessings dear hearts! Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Aug 27, 2012 | Nehemiah
Nehemiah 13:4a-5
Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.
Over the years I have listened to the heartbreak of men and women who once were on fire for the Lord. Little by little the flame began to flicker and their walk with the Lord took a nose dive. They wanted me to tell them what went wrong.
Almost without exception it was because they had allowed questionable things to slip into their life. After a time these people, places or things took control of what had been reserved for the Lord. Chaos followed. It always has and always will!
In the book of Nehemiah we are introduced to an evil man by the name of Tobiah. He was one of the men who opposed Nehemiah when he returned from exile and began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. At first Tobiah and his cohorts just mocked Nehemiah’s building project, but later they plotted violence to stop it. Nehemiah used his reliance on the Lord to overcome the detractors and the wall was finished, and Nehemiah once again returned to serve as cupbearer to the king.
He finally came back to Jerusalem and to his shock the high priest had gone so far as to make a special room for this evil man, Tobiah. Nehemiah threw him out and established purity once again.
Read this story in Nehemiah 13 and then examine your own life. Have you allowed a Tobiah to take up residence somewhere in your life? Throw him or it out! That is the only way to find purity with God once again.
Blessings dear hearts! Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
