by Pastor Cecil | Jan 9, 2009 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 12:9a-10
“‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
If you have been receiving these Daily-E-Votionals for very long, you know that I am far from perfect. Even using Spell Check and having it proofed, I sometimes read over a copy after it has been sent and find glaring errors which make me wonder how I could have made such a glaring error.
There is a lesson here that I want to share with you—I am not perfect! I hope this does not shatter your expectations. This ministry of sending out daily messages of hope and encouragement, does not come from one who is adept at doing such a thing. I am in way over my head.
Some of you may know that I began this ministry in September of 2000 by sending out an inspirational message to our updated list of church members with e-mail addresses. I knew that the addresses were wrong, I would get a notice of non-delivery from their mail server, and then I could call and get the correct address.
The response was not from the mail servers, but from individuals saying what a blessing it was. I decided to try it for awhile. Since that time I have sent out 2,444 issues. This is only with the Lord’s enablement. It has been a learning experience to use the right fonts, format and whatever. I know that some of you have experienced some problems in that you receive things in a different format than the way I send it.
I have realized many times that it is not my strength that counts, but only my willingness to be used. Several years ago I was having trouble with my Internet connection. When I called my server about the problem, the first technician did not have the answer and referred me to his manager. After explaining what I was doing, the manager asked me to send him one of my Daily-E-Votionals. After he read it and realized what I was doing, he helped correct the problem and then asked to be included on my list of subscribers.
Does God work? Yes! I have no idea who that man was or what he was going through. I do know, however, that he received a copy of that message. The Lord is the One who does the real work in individual hearts.
This is a ministry which you can use to touch the lives of those around you. Share copies freely as God leads you. You can also go directly to our website; www.Daily-E-Votional.com and browse over past Daily-E-Votionals. If you have names to be added to my mailing list, please forward them to me. Above all, please make this ministry a matter of prayer.
If you have questions, please write them down and I will prayerfully promise to give you counsel that comes from the Word of God, rather than worldly wisdom. It may be a few days before I can respond, but I will respond.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 1, 2009 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 5:16-18
“From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”
Do you ever feel like you would like to have a new start? Perhaps you have made some foolish choices and find yourself in a real quandary. Regardless of your own actions or those of others, you feel that you would just like to begin again.
Years ago I was working for the Idaho Law Enforcement Planning Commission. We had a custodian who was on work release from the Idaho State Penitentiary. He was in my office one day and asked if I may be able to help him.
As we talked he told me a story of failure and pain that stretched back across the years of his life. Virgil was in his sixties and told me that he had been in and out of prison for all of his adult life.
He asked if I might speak in his behalf to the Parole Board. I had witnessed to him about the Lord and there was some indication that he had accepted the Lord. Still I asked him why he thought he would be able to stay out of prison this time since he had previously failed so many times.
He stunned me with this statement: “I have reached the age that if I ever come back, I will die in prison and I don’t want to die inside the prison walls.”
I agreed to speak in his behalf and he was paroled and continued working for our agency. It was only a few months later that Virgil failed to report for work. When I checked on him I was told that he had died suddenly. His wish to not die in prison had come to pass. My wish is that his heart was truly right with God.
How can we insure a new life in Christ and to have our name written in the Lamb’s book of life? In John 3:7, Jesus told Nicodemus that it was necessary to be born again. That is accomplished by confessing that we are sinners and that only Christ can cleanse us and make us fit for heaven. It is not in being as good as possible, but rather humbly bowing before Him and inviting Him into our life.
I think it is safe to say that many who are “born again Christians” live a life that is far from God’s standard. At the beginning of the year 2009 it is an excellent time to make a new commitment to live our life for Christ. World events strongly point to the soon return of Christ. I pray that we may live for Him with all that is in us from this day forward.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Dec 15, 2008 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 5:5-6
“Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.”
Have you ever been away from home at Christmas time? Back in 1966 I was away from family and home as I served an unaccompanied tour with the US Air Force in St. Anthony, Newfoundland.
I made many wonderful friends and had a wonderfully warm and secure room. The meals were well prepared and from all outward appearances I should not have lacked anything—but it wasn’t home!
One Sunday evening a few days before Christmas, I was invited to the home of the administrator of the mission hospital in St. Anthony. There were doctors and nurses from all over the world. We shared testimonies and sang Christmas carols.
When we sang “Silent Night” someone suggested that those from other nations sing it in their own language. As they sang in their native tongue, tears would flow freely down their cheeks. There was joy in the room, but something vital was missing—we were all far from home.
Recently I watched a TV documentary on the construction of a new and modern airline terminal. The man who was responsible for the décor of the large atrium made this statement: “People would not want to live in a museum, but they would like to live in a garden.”
It made me stop and meditate on his statement. I think he was wrong—people may have the most appealing location for a house, but that does not make a home. It is not the location of a house or even its luxury that brings joy—it is what is on the inside.
The same is true for true believers. As the words of the old gospel song say; “This world is not my home, I’m just passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heavens open door and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”
We may not feel totally at home in this world, but the Lord has work for us to do. I think Paul says it best in 2 Corinthians 5:6-9: “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
Check out our website at: www.daily-e-votional.com
NOTE: “If you’re looking for inspirational Christmas gifts, please consider GloryScapes.com. Russ & Janelle Hansen, a husband & wife team from Centralia, WA, have put together 9 different inspirational DVD video programs that offer beautiful hymns for music, Scriptures or hymn lyrics, nature sounds, and beautiful video scenes that combine for a truly inspirational viewing experience. Russ helps me send out my Daily-E-Votionals to all of you and updates the Daily-E-Votional.com web site on a regular basis.”
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Dec 9, 2008 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 4:17-18
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
I once read of a laboratory experiment that was designed to test a person’s ability to tolerate pain. The test subject had his or her hand fitted into a device which produced heat. The hand could not be easily removed, and only the signal button in the free hand could be used to alert the tester to stop the heat. The tester knew how much heat could be applied without causing damage, and the object was designed to show the level of toleration of the pain created by the heat.
When the test subject pressed the button to reduce the heat, the tester ignored the signal and the heat continued to increase. The test continued until the subject cried out in pain or attempted to free the hand from the heat. The test results were interesting —they showed that the tolerance to pain was almost always about twice what the test subjects felt they could tolerate.
When I heard about this experiment I wondered what would prompt scientists to perform such seemingly cruel tests. I am sure it had something to do with providing pain blockers of some kind, but it also caused me to ponder. I guess I am still pondering—”How much is too much?”
When Paul was writing these words in his second letter to the church at Corinth, he mentions “light and momentary troubles.” Right! Go back a few verses and see what these light and momentary troubles were. In verses 8-9: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Isn’t it amazing that he calls these just light and momentary troubles?
How in the world could Paul take such a view of the trials he had endured? In 2 Corinthians 11:24-27, he mentions his many beatings, lashes, stoning, shipwrecks and the like. Wow! Those are the very things he calls light and momentary?
In comparison, what are our big complaints? We certainly may be encountering trials and troubles, but it is nothing by comparison. We have become such whimpering babies about living out our faith that it is no wonder the world does not see Christ in us.
Here is the bottom line—while we may encounter stress in many forms and in varying degrees, it is easy to get our eyes focused on the stress. When our attention becomes preoccupied by stresses, we have a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. That is why some people seem to go from one stressful situation to another.
It is essential that we look beyond the stress and see that a blessing is waiting for the believer. It is not wise to seek after the blessing that is ours as an inheritance from the Lord Himself when we become the children of God through the new birth. Rather than seeking blessings, we are to look only to Jesus and constantly seek to please Him in all we do. We may be stressed, but at the same time we must remember that we are also blessed.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Nov 28, 2008 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 4:15-16
“For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.”
Did you catch the last phrase in today’s Scripture? “Our inner man is being renewed day by day.” In a day when some people are using face lifts, tummy tucks and botox treatments to disguise the aging process, the advance cannot be halted.
Paul is pointing out to the church at Corinth that “our outer man is decaying.” We may slather on all manner of putty, cream or salve to fill the cracks and blemishes, but underneath the truth remains.
Almost every week, Joyce and I watch the Gaither Homecoming program on TV. In one episode there was a tribute to George Younce, who sang with the Cathedral Quartet for many years. Bill was telling how George was an encouragement even when he was experiencing major health problems.
Bill related that one time George had called Bill and sang a little song about an elderly man who had married an elderly wife without really knowing her. On their wedding night the couple went to their hotel room and the wife began to get ready for bed. She took off her wig and placed it on the chair. Next she removed her teeth, placed them in a glass on put them on the chair. Next she removed a glass eye and, yes, she placed it on the chair. Finally she removed a wooden leg and it too went on the chair.
The new bride looked at her new husband and asked if he was coming to bed? He replied; “No dear, I am going to sleep on the chair—there is more of you there!”
Our physical body may be aging, but for the believer our inner man (the spiritual part of our being) should be growing more and more each day. This spiritual growth should be evidence of our walk with the Lord. There is an old song of the church that best illustrates this point: “Day By Day”.
Verse One
“Day by day and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each what He deems best–
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure
Mingling toil with peace and rest.”
Verse Three
“Help me then in every tribulation
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation
Offered me within Thy Holy Word.
Help me Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
‘Til I reach the promised land.”
As we are being renewed day by day, I pray that we will come to the realize that our hope is not in this world. We have a hope and a calling to be mighty in spirit. As we are renewed in His own image we become more and more a blessing to those around us. We can be the motivation for others to be renewed in their spirit and give thanks to the Lord.
Blessings dear hearts! Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Sep 2, 2008 | 2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 2:14-15
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”
Imagine walking down the street on a warm spring day. The birds are singing and the sun shining through the trees leaves dimpled blotches on the sidewalk. Your mind is preoccupied with the joy of the day, when suddenly everything changes.
There is an aroma that wafts across the street and seemingly draws you to a small shop with a familiar sign over the door. FRESH BAKED BREAD! You laugh to yourself, “As if anyone would have to tell you it is fresh bread!”
The aroma had provided enough of an announcement by itself. You peek through the window of the shop and see row after row of freshly baked bread on the counter. Having great will power you turn and walk away. RIGHT!
So you do not have the greatest will power in the world. You walk in and purchase two loaves. You can hardly wait to get home and cut into one of those warm loaves. With butter melting into the warm bread you enjoy the precious treat. It is so delicious that you and your family eat one loaf that evening.
The next day you take out the remaining loaf but something has happened. That wonderful aroma has faded. There is a hint of the original smell of fresh baked bread, but not the same as the day before.
By the third day what was left of loaf had become stale and had lost its aroma. It has become nothing but stale bread. You can remember what it had once been but it just did not have the fragrant aroma that was so appealing when fresh.
As we read today’s Scripture, we are told that we are to be the “aroma of Christ” to those around us. In other words, we are to draw people to Christ.
What fragrant aroma of Christ, do people sense when they are around you? Do you think they will want to “taste and see that the Lord is good?” Will they think of you when they desire spiritual counsel?
Paul says that God, “- – – leads us in triumphal procession in Christ.” That means that there has been a victory! It is not what we have done, but what He has done. We become appealing to the lost as we march in victory with Jesus.
HERE ARE MY CONCLUSIONS OF THE MATTER:
1. Christ has won the battle.
2. I have received Christ as my personal Savior, so I share in His victory.
3. When we share in His victory we need to act like victors- – -smile!
4. We should invite others to share in Christ’s victory.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing to others!
— Pastor Cecil
