“Alliance!” Devotional #38

            Ephesians 6:1-3, Children, do what your parents tell you. This is only right. “Honor your father and mother” is the first commandment that has a promise attached to it, namely, “so you will live well and have a long life.” (MSG)  This verse is what I tend to quote most often to my children when they do not want to listen to me.  As soon as I quote this verse our twelve year old son loves to quote the verse that follows it which is, Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, don’t exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master.” (MSG)  We then look at each other and say, “do what the Bible says!”

            Its funny how our children who when they were babies we couldn’t wait for them to learn how to speak but then once they do speak we wish they’d stay quiet!  Not only do they learn how to speak they also learn how to speak in such a manner that irritates us or worst, manipulates us!  There have been times when one of our three children will ask me for something and when the answer is “no” they’ll go to my husband with the very same request but, they do not tell him that I just said “no.”  He’d give them the “yes” they were looking for and I would not find out about it until it was too late.  They have also gone to my husband first and then to me without telling me they had already asked him.  After several times of being played by our kids we figured it out!  Now we run things by each other or we’ll ask them if they had already asked one of us.  Though they still try to play us (manipulate us) we are now on a more united front.

            Ephesians 6:11-13, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (NIV)

            It break’s my heart but, the truth is, the devil can use anyone or anything to try to get us to sin against God.  He can even use our children if we’re not careful.  The constant responsibilities of parenthood coupled with the constant responsibilities that come with marriage, running a household, work…everything and anything that requires your love, attention and or money, is and will always exist in life.  Though the very people you love like your spouse, children, extended families, friends, bring you happiness these very same people can also bring you sadness, stress, anger, frustration…the list can go on and on right?  This is why two parents should work together so that when the devil tries to use your own children against you, you’d be prepared, on a united front together through an alliance. 

             Ephesians 6:13-18, “Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.” (MSG)

These instructions given to us by God through Paul are to teach us how to, as a soldier in Christ, be prepared.  As parents being prepared includes being each other’s ally.  Ally: “connect people, or be connected: to connect people or families, or form a connection with another person or family, especially through marriage.” (The definition is from the Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.)  And so, my dear friends if you are married with children keep these truths close to your heart so that you can “stand against the devil’s schemes.”  If you’re not married with children then please pray for those that are.  I know my husband and I would greatly appreciate that!

 

My dear friend, thank you for reading this devotional.  Know that I appreciate you and am praying for you.  Thanks for passing on this blog to others!  Please continue to pass it on.  Also, I have a Facebook page for the ministry!  It’s a great way to get updates on the ministry and when the latest devotionals have been posted on this blog.  I also started posting “Thought of the day.” They’re short reads and have gotten great reviews.  Come and join by pressing “like!” on the page:  www.facebook.com/ReflectingTruthMinistries  God bless you!

*If you would like to read this same devotional in Spanish or know of someone that would please visit my Spanish blog at www.ministerioreflejandolaverdad.blogspot.com

 

“Consequences: Good vs. Bad” Devotional #37

            Every decision we make, whether big or small, has a consequence attached to it.  The consequences can either be good or bad.  Whether we accept the consequence as good or bad depends, sometimes, on our perceptions.  Let me give you an example.  I had a friend in high school that was accustomed to everything going her way.  We were Junior’s (in 11^th grade) and she got her driver’s license shortly before me.  I remember that her father offered to buy her a car but what he offered was a used car.  What she wanted was a brand new car.  He offered to use the money set aside for a used car towards a new car instead but she’d have take over the car note.  In the end she did not choose to receive the free car her father had originally offered.  She chose a new car with the car note too. 

The consequence of her decision was that she had to work part time after school so that she can make the payments.  She was constantly stressed out about the payments.  I could not understand why she chose to go through the stress of paying for a car when a free one with no stress involved had been offered to her.  What I could not understand even more was that even though she was always tired and stressed she did not care because she got what she wanted in the end.  The truth was that the consequence was bad (constantly stressed about responsibility of working while attending school) but, my friend only saw it as good because her perception was that she got the car she wanted.

There’s an example Jesus gave in Luke 15: 11-32, the “Parable of the Lost Son.”  In this parable a man has two sons.  One of the sons asks the father for his inheritance.  After he received it he left home.  He had all the “fun” the world could offer him that is until he spent the last he had left of the inheritance.  Since he no longer had money he lost his so-called friends too.  Soon after he hired himself out and was feeding pigs and because he was so hungry he desired the slop he was feeding them but he wasn’t allowed to eat it or given any food.  When he realized just how wrong he was he decided to go back home and ask his father for forgiveness.  Luke 15:17-18, “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!  I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.” (NIV)  His father forgave him and accepted him not as a servant but as his son.

When the money was there and all of the “fun” of this world were at his fingertips he believed he had it all.  He believed that the consequences of his actions, asking for his inheritance from his living father and then wasting it all away, were good.  Though the consequences were bad, he abandoned his family, moved away and lived a wasteful life, his perception saw it as good that is until he found himself in need.  Aren’t we this way sometimes too my dear friend?  When we desire something so badly, that we’ll do anything for it whether good or bad, we justify our actions to fit our desire.  But then, when we are suffering through the bad consequences we realize just how wrong we were like the Lost Son.

Good consequences come with good decisions based not on our desires, needs or intelligence but instead based on what the Lord leads us to do.  Ephesians 5:1-2, “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.” (MSG) 

My dear friend, thank you for reading this devotional.  Know that I appreciate you and am praying for you.  Thanks for passing on this blog to others!  Please continue to pass it on.  Also, I have a Facebook page for the ministry!  It’s a great way to get updates on the ministry and when the latest devotionals have been posted on this blog.  I also started posting “Thought of the day.” They’re short reads and have gotten great reviews.  Come and join by pressing “like!” on the page:  www.facebook.com/ReflectingTruthMinistries  God bless you!

*If you would like to read this same devotional in Spanish or know of someone that would please visit my Spanish blog at www.ministerioreflejandolaverdad.blogspot.com

 

“Inconsistencies!” Devotional #36

            For most of my adulthood I have had issues with consistency.  I’m great at starting things but terrible at finishing them.  I have started jobs, projects and church volunteer work with great gusto, passion and enthusiasm.  When people would get excited, enthused or would start to depend on my performance, behavior or my work that’s when I’d start becoming a procrastinator and would find reasons to quit.  Quitting became a bad habit of mine.  It got so bad that after a while quitting became way too easy to do.

            The consequences of becoming a quitter have been really difficult to endure.  Here’s a snapshot into my past inconsistencies.  When I was in college I was enthusiastic and dreamt of receiving my diploma.  In my third year of college, when I was in the program for the degree I found myself disappointed.  I didn’t like the program.  I was bored and unhappy.  Shortly after this I quit school.  Since I was no longer in school I decided to go to work full time.  Jumping from one job to the next became my pattern.  I worked because I needed the money not because I enjoyed what I was doing.  It was because of this lack of enthusiasm that the longest I worked at one place was two years.

            Am I proud of this behavior?  No!  Of course I’m not.  I have lost a lot because of it.  I have lost respect from my peers (who likes a quitter?).  I have lost out on opportunities to grow with a company (I’d quit once the pressure was on to really pursue a promotion).  I have lost out on opportunities for leadership growth as a volunteer at various times in the church (the procrastination problem left too many bad impressions).

            Why am I sharing this with you my dear friend?  It is because the inconsistencies in my life have cost me a lot.  It may be costing you a lot too.  Why is it so easy to fall into patterns of failure?  Psalm 125:1, “All who have faith in the Eternal stand as Mount Zion: unmoved, enduring, eternal.” (VOICE)  “Unmoved” means “not affected emotionally: having or showing no emotional reaction to something when it would usually be expected.”  “Enduring” means “1. persisting or surviving: persisting or surviving in the face of difficulties 2. long-suffering: patient or tolerant despite many difficulties.”  “Eternal” means “unchanging: unaffected by the passage of time.”  (All definitions are from: Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.)

            My inconsistency was that I’d do the opposite of what Psalm 125:1 says.  I was not someone who was “unmoved” because it seemed as though I couldn’t wait to move on to something else.  I was not someone who was “enduring” because once the task of a job, schooling or volunteering became difficult I’d quit.  I was definitely not “eternal” either.  Do you know why I became a quitter?  Do you know why I was unwilling to accept responsibility?  My fear of disappointing anyone was greater than my fear of failing, though I feared failing too.  So, in order to not disappoint anyone with my failure I’d quit before I could fail.

            I now know, through many convictions from the Almighty, that due to the inconsistencies of my life I became a bonafide quitter and that because I was bonafide quitter the Lord was not going to bless me with great responsibilities that would bring great “rewards” (blessings).  Because, if, for example, I was unwilling to make the best of the situation with an entry level position and therefore “endure” through it then how in the world would I be able to handle a management position which comes with even greater responsibilities and trials. Like the Parable of the Loaned Money found in Mathew 25:14-26, in this parable the Lord explains how a man gave his servants different amounts of “talents.”  At the end of the parable he says about the one that only received one, Mathew 25:26, “The master was furious. Master: You are a pathetic excuse for a servant! You have disproved my trust in you and squandered my generosity. You know I always make a profit!  You could have at least put this talent in the bank; then I could have earned a little interest on it!  Take that one talent away, and give it to the servant who doubled my money from five to ten.” (VOICE)

            My dear friend, I am pleased to share with you that this area of my life has changed.  Thankfully the Lord has helped me overcome and I am now a consistent person.  There have been temptations to quit but I know that I can “endure” because the Lord can and will help me through.  Psalm 125:2, “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.” (NIV)  Philipians 4:13, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (NIV)  Ephesians 5:15, “So be careful how you live. Live as men who are wise and not foolish.” (NLV)

 

My dear friend, thank you for reading this devotional.  Know that I appreciate you and am praying for you.  Thanks for passing on this blog to others!  Please continue to pass it on.  Also, I have a Facebook page for the ministry!  It’s a great way to get updates on the ministry and when the latest devotionals have been posted on this blog.  I also started posting “Thought of the day.” They’re short reads and have gotten great reviews.  Come and join by pressing “like!” on the page:  www.facebook.com/ReflectingTruthMinistries  God bless you! 

*If you would like to read this same devotional in Spanish or know of someone that would please visit my Spanish blog at www.ministerioreflejandolaverdad.blogspot.com

 

 

“Moving Again!” Devotional #35 

            I don’t like to move.  Everything about moving from the packing to the decisions that need to be made like whether to keep things, give them away or throw them out, are tiresome and hard.  Moving is accompanied by lots of changes from the obvious like your address, to the not so obvious like how much time it will take to adjust to all that will be  new.  Moving also means having to get settled in a new place which means more work like unpacking for instance.   

            The other day I was unpacking some boxes.  As I was going through them I started wondering how the Israelites felt as they were moving around in the wilderness for forty years.  They didn’t have the luxury of moving trucks or even boxes to pack things in.  How difficult must it have been for them?  Do I really have reason to complain when I have the ability to pack and move so easily compared to what they went through?  I have friends and family that have moved from time to time too.  Each move that was made was because of a job situation, a family need or a better more comfortable place to live.  Hope is usually attached to a move.  But for the Israelites their hope was gone at least for the generation that was paying for their unbelief.  The hope of the “Promised Land” was passed down to the following generation.

            Numbers 13:18-20, ‘“See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.  What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified?  How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)”’ (NIV)

            Moses had given this order to the twelve spies that were chosen to go in and check out the land of Canaan which was the “Promised Land.”  When they had finished spying the land they came back to Moses and the people of Israel to give their report.  Only two of the twelve men believed that God could and would give them victory over all of the battles needed to fight to possess the land.  They convinced the people that God couldn’t do it.  Though the Lord had promised the people and repeatedly reminded them that He would keep His promise made to Abraham they still did not believe. 

            Numbers 14:26-30, “God spoke to Moses and Aaron: “How long is this going to go on, all this grumbling against me by this evil-infested community? I’ve had my fill of complaints from these grumbling Israelites. Tell them, As I live—God’s decree—here’s what I’m going to do: Your corpses are going to litter the wilderness—every one of you twenty years and older who was counted in the census, this whole generation of grumblers and grousers. Not one of you will enter the land and make your home there, the firmly and solemnly promised land, except for Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.” (MSG)  Then in Numbers 14:33-35, “Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.  For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’  I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.” (NIV)

            As these people moved from time to time in the wilderness for forty years their experience must have been heart wrenching.  Each move was harder than the last.  Each time it was a reminder of their unbelief and the hope that they would one day live in the land “flowing with milk and honey,” was dead for them.  It was because of God’s mercy that their children were able to see the “Promised Land.”  They were the ones that experienced all of the wonders that came with obeying the Lord and living in obedience.  The move for the new generation must have been full of excitement!  They were the ones that had a move to remember!  Though they were probably tired of moving by then that final move into what became Israel must have been the best one ever!  They must have thought to themselves, “We’re moving again!  This time will be our last move!” 

            My dear friends how wonderful it must have been for them.  It was an awesome experience going in side by side with the Lord.  Our daily experiences even our experiences with moves can also be awesome experiences as long as we also go side by side with the Lord. 

 

My dear friend, thank you for reading this devotional.  Know that I appreciate you and am praying for you.  Thanks for passing on this blog to others!  Please continue to pass it on.  Also, I have a Facebook page for the ministry!  It’s a great way to get updates on the ministry and when the latest devotionals have been posted on this blog.  I also started posting “Thought of the day.” They’re short reads and have gotten great reviews.  Come and join by pressing “like!” on the page:  www.facebook.com/ReflectingTruthMinistries  God bless you! 

*If you would like to read this same devotional in Spanish or know of someone that would please visit my Spanish blog at www.ministerioreflejandolaverdad.blogspot.com