by Pastor Cecil | May 1, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Psalm 31:1-3
“In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in Your righteousness. Turn Your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. Since You are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of Your name lead and guide me.”
When I was working on my master’s degree, I enjoyed spending time with my major professor. During one of these meetings he laughed as he told me about his major professor. The man was known for being absent minded. One day he met my professor in the middle of the campus. They talked for several minutes about an assignment. When they finished the conversation his professor said: “Pardon me young man. Which way was I heading before we met?”
Sometimes people are like that spiritually. They lack a sense of direction for their lives. I was doing a word search using my Blue Letter Bible (contact me if you want to know about it), and simply typed in the words: lead and guide. I really did not expect to have a verse that included both words, but it is in today’s Scripture.
There is so much in these three verses that I feel it is God speaking to me personally. Please look over my shoulder as I explore this truth today. This is a Psalm of David and it takes the form of a prayer. It acknowledges that David has taken his refuge in the Lord.
It was a time in David’s life when he was betrayed and abandoned. Those that could have been, and should have been, supporting him had abandoned him. But there was One who was always there, and David placed his trust in Him. He took his refuge in the Rock that cannot be shaken.
The storms of life can be frightening at times. It even seems that there are no avenues of escape. I am sure that David had those feelings at times. When he had those thoughts, he placed his trust in the solid rock of his salvation. With the Lord as his mighty fortress it was impossible for any enemy to penetrate and cause him harm.
Let’s slow down and digest some of this. The title implies that some of us do not really have a sense of where we are or in what direction we should be going. I remember driving across the barren stretches of Wyoming desert and seeing a sign along the highway. “I MAY BE LOST, BUT I SURE AM MAKING GOOD TIME!” There is so much truth to that statement. We need to slow down and consider where we are and what route we need to take to reach our destination.
David gives us great advice on discovering where we are and where we need to go. When we take our refuge in the Lord we find the directions for our life. When the Lord is our refuge and fortress, we can call out to Him, for His own name’s sake, to lead and guide us. We are His, so His reputation is at stake. He has never failed to provide for one of His own, and He will not fail to provide for us now.
Have you ever had a visitor, who did not know the area, follow you? If they are observant and follow closely, there is no problem. It has been my experience that sometimes they sometimes lag so far behind that a traffic light changes and I have to stop and wait for them. Then when the light turned green, the traffic makes it difficult to pull back in front to lead them. If they get ahead of me, they have no idea where they are going. Only when they slow down and allow me to get back in the lead, will they know the way. Does that sound a little familiar with your spiritual walk?
Here is the bottom line! If we want to get to our goal of pleasing the Lord, we must place our trust in Him and allow Him to be our guide. There is no other alternative. We may feel like we are making good time, but it generally will be in the wrong direction. The faster we go in the wrong direction, the more off course we become. Christ came into the world to be our leader and guide. If we keep our eyes on Him, and never stray from His side, we will reach our goal. We can always know where we are when we stay close to the Lord.
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 30, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Proverbs 15:1-2
“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.”
I have shared with you some of my experiences as a police officer while I was attending college. In one of our FBI training classes, the agent mentioned that one of the best ways to apprehend a drunk and disorderly offender was to use a soft and gentle voice.
I filed it away in the back of my mind and thought little more about it. A few months later I developed a severe case of laryngitis and virtually had no voice. I received a call from our police dispatcher to go to a local tavern and arrest a man who was drunk and belligerent.
When I walked into the tavern, the owner pointed out the man who was causing all of the trouble. I walked up to the man and whispered for him to come with me. To my utter shock he whispered back, “Okay,” and like a little child, followed me out to the patrol car. When I returned to the tavern to gather information for my report, the manager could not believe my skill. I told him it was not skill but just a bad throat!
Sometimes we have the mistaken idea that if we raise our voice we will achieve a greater response. It usually has the opposite effect and escalates the problem rather than resolving it. I can recall meeting with a family a few days before officiating at the funeral for their mother.
Her two sons recalled how angry she would become if they used profanity. She would swear at them to stop swearing. She would yell: “You blankety-blank kids quit your swearing.” They saw what she failed to see—that she was teaching by example and her words to stop swearing were negated by swearing herself. Should they stop? Of course! It was just that she was showing something other than what she was saying.
There are many times when we feel inclined to decapitate the head of the person who has just spoken. Believe me, it is not the best solution! Today’s Scripture has a wealth of wisdom for those of us who have ears to hear and receive it. It has to do with; “A gentle answer” as opposed to: “a harsh word.”
Think about times in your life when you spoke a harsh word. I think that you will recall that when we use harsh words a battle royal is on. Time after time, when this occurs, the participants get so caught up in the argument that later on they can not remember what the original disagreement was about.
The Word of God always gives us the answers for the way we should live our life. We see it in the life of Jesus, and written in so many places. Other than the times He was rebuking those religious hypocrites of His day, He spoke with gentle words. By the way, do not use the rebukes of Jesus as an excuse for you to use harsh words. His anger does not justify our anger. He was the Son of God and as such, He could read human hearts as well as human actions. Can you?
I challenge each of us to commit ourselves to speak “GENTLE WORDS.” When we do it will go a long way toward creating a whole new life in our family, where we work, in our church, and everywhere we go.
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 29, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
It is sometimes interesting to review what you have been doing. I was reviewing some of my Daily-E-Votionals. I noticed that the ones for Thursday and Friday of last week and yesterday’s started with the word “YOU.”
I was struck by how often we make ourselves the object of our attention. When a team wins a championship, we often see the players (and fans) parade around with their index finger held high while shouting at the top of their lungs: “We’re number one! We’re number one!”
I fear that as Christians we fall into that same trap. Some individuals compete with other denominations or other churches within their own denominations. Individuals have been known to have a superior attitude toward other Christians.
Jesus was especially critical of judgmental pride. In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus told the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. He compared the self-righteous pride of the Pharisee who prayed in a loud voice and boasted of his spirituality. The Tax Collector would not even raise his eyes but cried out: “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
What was the teaching of our Lord about the parable? In verse 14 He gave these burning words to all who were listening to Him: “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
I can almost picture the scene Jesus describes in this parable. The Pharisee is pompous and proud—pre-occupied with the view of himself. On the other hand the tax collector is thinking of how far he is from God and how much he needs the saving grace that only God can give. The direction of his prayer is away from himself and toward God.
The story is told of an old man that was full of pride and self. Day after day he devoted himself to making himself comfortable. His desire for comfort, ease and the welfare of only his family caused him to lose any care or concern for others around him.
His beloved son began to show signs of some type of disease that ravaged his body. It tore this man’s heart apart. In grieving for the suffering of his son he shut out others even more than he had done before. It was only he and his family that counted!
He read in the newspaper about a medical treatment that had been discovered that seemed to be just what was needed to save his son’s life. He wrote a long and passionate letter to the doctor who was working on the project.
Day after day he eagerly looked for the mail to bring an answer to his plea for help, but none came. Several weeks passed and his son slipped closer and closer to death’s door.
One afternoon the man was returning home from work. He had checked the mail earlier in the day and there was still no reply from the doctor. As he rounded the corner with an especially steep bank along side of the road, he saw where a car had gone over the bank.
He stopped his car and walked over to the edge of the road. He could see the driver of the vehicle trying to crawl from the wreckage. He called out to the man to come and help him. The man felt a small twinge of concern, but he knew that if he went to help it would take him away from his family and especially his gravely ill son. He decided to just go home and call for medical assistance for the man.
After he had made the call for police and emergency medical services, he forgot the man and his terrible condition. The next day he read in the paper that the man, a doctor, had died. The article said that if the doctor had received assistance earlier he might have survived.
The next day the man checked his mail as he had done so many times before. He was excited beyond measure when he saw a letter from the medical center he had written. It was from a doctor who said that he was coming to personally see to the care of the man’s son. With heavy heart he realized that the doctor he had refused to help was this very man!
What is the focus of your attention? Are you so concerned about your personal affairs that you close your eyes to the needs of others? Let me close with the wonderful testimony and admonition of the apostle Paul in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 28, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Isaiah 41:10
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
I am sure you have heard the expression: “Misery loves company!” That usually has a negative connotation, but at the same time it contains a basic reality. When things in life seem to be falling apart, it seems imperative that we have someone near us to help us bear the load.
What happens when we feel that we are all alone in the time of trouble? The answer is that we have a much harder time dealing with things.
Problems may be catastrophic or at various stages of difficulty. A dear friend just lost his precious wife who was his soul mate. He has called or e-mailed me several times for comfort and to have someone to be a point of contact in this time of loss.
I also recall my wife, Joyce, feeling terribly alone when I was in the Air Force and had assignments that took me away from home. She said that she became so desperate for the sound of a human voice that she would place a call to the weather recoding in the area, just to hear the voice of an adult.
In reading those two examples you can see that we can all go through times in which we feel all alone. Elijah was a mighty prophet and it would seem that feeling lonely would not be problem he would have to deal with. But that was not the case. In I Kings 19:10 we read of Elijah’s sense of loneliness: “He replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.’ “
When we read today’s Scripture we see that when we are the children of God we are never alone. Not only do we have His presence, but we also have His strength. When we feel that things are just too much for us, we need to remember that He says that we are not to fear or be depressed. Why? Because He never leaves us nor forsakes us.
It is easy to become so overcome with our circumstances that we forget that God has a plan and a purpose for our life. In the midst of our pain and loneliness, He holds out His arms and calls us to come to Him. Do not become caught in the trap of feeling that there is no hope.
God does not work on the same time schedule that we do. Joseph knew years of loneliness before he was elevated by God to a position of being able to save His family. Moses had to spend 40 long and lonely years in a desert wilderness before God called to him from the burning bush and sent him to lead God’s people out of slavery.
When you feel that you are alone and forgotten please read today’s passage once again and know that it was meant for you. YOU ARE NOT ALONE–HE IS ALWAYS WITH YOU–EVEN IN THE DARKEST NIGHT!
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 25, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
Psalm 30:1-5
“I will exalt You, O LORD, for You lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. O LORD, You brought me up from the grave; You spared me from going down into the pit. Sing to the LORD, you saints of His; praise His holy name. For His anger lasts only for a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
THIS IS AN OVER DUE NOTICE!!! THE RECORDS INDICATE THAT YOU ARE IN ARREARS WITH YOUR REJOICING AND EXALTATION. PLEASE PAY UP NOW!!!
What is the cause of praise? We might term it “exalting” or “rejoicing”, or such terms, but why do we do it? There was a man in our church when I was a kid. He was always a favorite of all the kids. We would make a mad dash for him–the reason? He always carried SenSen. That was a type of breath freshener that was tiny little squares of something that tasted like licorice. We praised him for what he gave to us!
Now there may be some of you who are reading this, and you say, “How shallow! I only praise the Lord, because He is God.” RIGHT! Tell me another one!
All through Scripture, the great passages of exaltation and rejoicing are attached to specific things the Lord has done for the person giving the praise. That is okay! It is not a matter of withholding our praise until we see the results, it is recalling what He has done so far, and expressing thanks.
We seem to be, by nature, a presumptive people. Asking, pleading, even whimpering for special favors comes easy, but when are we going to praise the Lord for those answers?
Think – imagine in your mind, that you had done something that was extremely taxing on you, both physically, as well as financially. Got that in your mind? Now, just picture that the person that you presented this special gift to, takes it, walks away, and says nothing, and acts as if it were nothing.
While we are in an imaginative frame of mind, try to imagine (you will not be able to come close) all that the Lord has done for you. Do not try to include all that He has done for the entire world, but just what He has done for you. How have you expressed your deep appreciation to Him?
As a very small boy, I heard an illustration about a little boy who had climbed on the roof of his house to retrieve his ball. It was one of the cedar shingle roofs that had been weathered for many years. As he reached for his ball, he suddenly began to slowly slide down the steep pitched roof. He knew that there was nothing to stop him, and without Divine intervention, he was in for a very bad fall.
He began to pray as loud as he could for the Lord to save him. Just before reaching the edge of the roof, a rusty old shingle nail was sticking up and snagged the seat of his pants. He looked toward heaven and shouted out, “Forget it Lord, this nail has saved me!”
Oh, how I hope that you are able (that I am able) to visualize those times when God touched us in a special way, and that praise and thanks were not adequately given. We need to start paying on what we owe in the way of exaltation and rejoicing.
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Apr 24, 2008 | Daily-E-Votionals
The doorbell rings and it is the postal service. You are handed a certified letter. As you open this very official letter, you are stunned beyond measure. Inside you read that a distant uncle that you did not even know you had, has died. You are the sole surviving heir and you have just received an inheritance of one million dollars!
I know that this is just make believe, but please play along with me for just a few minutes. Before you finish this Daily-E-Votional, stop and make a list of what you will do with this sudden influx of money. Take as long as you wish. You may even want to prioritize the items on your list.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Are you back? Look over the list you have made from top to bottom. Are you ready? This is where your heart is! You will notice that I have used a different format today. I wanted us to consider what we would do with our new treasure trove before I shared the Scripture.
Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Recently I have seen commercials on television for a lending company. Evidently there are many people who have received structured settlements that will pay out over time. This company wants to give you the money now instead of the established schedule. The actors in the commercial are seen yelling out of their windows: “It’s my money, and I need it now!” I can only imagine how much interest such companies would charge.
It may be easy to observe the wrong priorities in other people, but what happens when we look into the mirror of God’s Word? I am so glad that I do not have to look into the eyes of many of you who used that make-believe money for the things of this world. I am sure that I would see looks of embarrassment.
Today’s Scripture is a portion of the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, the previous chapter includes the Beatitudes. The Sermon on the Mount marked the unique teachings of Jesus. Other Rabbis of His day quoted from Old Testament passages, but Jesus presented new truth.
This passage gives us a clear picture of what constitutes true riches. It is not money, gold or precious stones. These have no eternal value. What really counts are the treasures which are laid up in heaven.
We know that there is nothing we can do to merit salvation—it is a gift from God. But once we have been born again, we must begin to lay up eternal treasures. There is an old saying that I will close with: “Only one life t’will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil
