Category Archives: Devotional

Posted on

How to Wise Up

By Jesse Becker

Screen Shot 2016-04-11 at 8.03.54 AM

I have two boys, ages 11 and 7. They’re great kids with lots of energy. They love climbing trees, building forts, and wrestling each other or me! They’re growing at alarming rates it seems–either that, or their pants keep shrinking.

As their dad I have a God given responsibility to help them grow in wisdom. That’s an ongoing job. Everyday I am presented with lessons to teach them and guide them through. I wish I could say that I’ve masterfully handled every situation with grace and wisdom; but honestly, I’m learning as much or more as they are as we go. I am glad though that God has all the answers I need in His word and the godly counsel He has supplied around me.

Just like in my family, my Heavenly Father wants to impart His wisdom to me. He makes it readily available primarily through time in His word. It’s just up to me to spend the time seeking it there. In conjunction with reading the Bible, I believe memorizing scripture is key to learning wisdom. And what both of these actions do is help us get into the presence of God and remain there. As the second verse of Be Thou My Vision reminds us, reading God’s word and hiding it in our heart is a key to wising up.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

“For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.”
Proverbs 2:6

Posted on

No Trials, No Triumphs

By Jim Ramsey

Screen Shot 2016-04-04 at 11.31.24 AM

My elliptical exercise machine, which I try to use 30 minutes each morning, has certainly been beneficial to me in my efforts to take care of my health since my quintuple bypass surgery (almost ten years ago). This equipment has some built-in programs for different purposes, all contributing to overall fitness, and its programs have a wide range of difficulty based on time and resistance level. We’re all familiar with the phrase “no pain, no gain,” and my daily routine certainly reminds me of it!

Time and resistance are also beneficial to our spiritual lives. When I reflect upon the “tools” God has used in my life I realize that resistance has aided in my spiritual growth, my stamina, my faith, more than anything else that has come my way. You may have heard this saying: A faith that can’t be tested is a faith that can’t be trusted.” The path of least resistance is not the path that leads to triumph in life. Lord, when trials (resistance) come into our lives (time), please help us to see them as tools in Your hand to strengthen us and make us more useful for Your glory!

Posted on

His Glory Brings our Good

By Pastor Troy Dorrell

Screen Shot 2016-03-14 at 11.25.48 AM

I was recently reading an article on God’s desire for his creation to worship Him and how some people find objection to God asking us to make Him the primary source of our glorying and praise. Celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt said they turned away from their childhood faith because they felt God was too self-adulating. Unfortunately, people like these and many others fail to recognize that God is not a man. If a man demanded that we worship him or praise him he does so for his own glory, self-absorption, and benefit. However, when God asks us to glory in Him He is also giving us a gift in return. As our creator He has created and designed us to be most fulfilled and happy when we find satisfaction and joy in Him. In other words, when we see and recognize God’s goodness and we praise Him for it, we are giving the Lord His due and are releasing the greatest joy men can know. Living for the Lord truly is about honoring the One who saved us, but it is also acknowledging that living in Christ and for Christ unveils the best version of ourselves. Let me put it this way: God designed birds to fly. If birds tried to find the best and happiest version of themselves by hopping everywhere they would never know the full measure of the joy for which they were created. It is in the air that they live as they were intended to live and can find the greatest joy.  The same is true for us! If we try to find happiness apart from God in tangible things, accumulation, pleasure, prestige, or fame we are living like flightless birds. We will never fully realize that the way we were designed to fly is by living for God, pleasing Him, and making His purposes our own.  So when God asks us to Glorify Him and to live for Him He is loving us enough to tell us how to be the best and happiest versions of ourselves.  His glory does indeed bring our good.

Posted on

Got all your FACTS straight?

By Jim Ramsey

Screen Shot 2016-03-07 at 9.25.52 AM

What an honor and privilege it is to be a child of God, and to enjoy all the undeserved blessings attached to my position in Christ!  My position is secure in Him, but sometimes my condition as His child is not what it should be due to the infirmities of this old nature that has certainly not been eradicated.   Thank God for the resource of prayer that allows me, if I choose, to be in constant contact with the only One Who can make me what I ought to be for His glory.  

Posted on

Duty to a Principle or Passion for a Person

By Pastor Troy Dorrell

Jesus

In preparation for a sermon on the subject of Seeking God, I ran across a quote from A.W. Tozer referencing his assessment of the Christianity of his day. He said, “For millions of Christians, God is no more real than He is to the non-Christian. They go through life trying to love an ideal and to be loyal to a principle. But a loving person dominates our Bibles. A living person is present, speaking, pleading, loving, working, and manifesting himself whenever and wherever his people have the receptivity necessary to receive the manifestation.”

Posted on

The Heart of Giving

By John Mardirosian

Screen Shot 2016-02-01 at 4.43.38 PM

In I Kings 17 we read the story of the widow of Zarephath. Elijah is the prophet of Israel in exile for the prophecy he gave stating that God was going to judge Israel with a severe and lengthy drought. Initially God sustained Elijah through ravens bringing him food as he hid by the brook Cherith. After the brook dried up, God told him to get up and go to Zarephath where he would find a widow to sustain him. Upon arriving, he sees a widow and asks her to bring him some bread. She informs him that she has just a little meal and small amount of oil. Her intention is to prepare a small final meal for herself and her son and then to die. Elijah understands her plight, but asks her to first prepare the bread for him and then for herself and her son. He says that God will supply her with meal and oil until the famine ends.

Widows were often very poor as they would likely be the recipients of difficult unforeseen circumstances. But that is just the person God chose to sustain the life of his Prophet. In the story, it took faith on the part of the widow for God to be able to set in motion an amazing miracle. The heart of giving is placing God and his plan for our money ahead of our own plans. If we take this step of faith, then God’s plan for taking care of our needs is set in motion. Often, we put more faith in our small amount of money than in God’s limitless resources. If we do this, we are robbing ourselves of amazing blessings.

Posted on

He Can Do It!

By Jim Ramsey

iStock_000016361010_Full

It’s hard to believe that three weeks of 2016 are already spent at the time I write this article! Time really does “fly when you’re having fun,” and I thoroughly enjoy the life He has given me. I love new beginnings, but I also love the experience at my “mature age” of reflecting upon so many wonderful things that God has done, both for me personally, as well as for those He has brought across my path in life. There certainly have been no “accidents” in life thus far, and there will be no “accidents” in the road ahead – my God IS, He KNOWS, He CARES, He CAN, and, best of all, He WILL!  The exciting thing is that I have no doubt that He has some even greater things for me as I travel the road of this new year. My confidence rests in His Word, which tells me that He “…is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think..” I believe that! How about YOU?

Posted on

Reasons You Should Smile More

By Andrew Calabrese

Hand draws smiley with black marker on transparent whiteboard

Recently, we began a lesson series in our Young Marrieds class about being positive. In our world today, it seems as if there is an epidemic of negativity. Think about it. You may find yourself around people who are always finding something to complain about. If you turn on the news, chances are in seconds you will hear a negative story unfold. Even in our own self-talk—the way we speak to ourselves—we seem to talk down to ourselves and about ourselves.

Posted on

No Answer is Not Always a “No” Answer

By Jesse Becker

iStock_000002848630Medium

Luke 1:5-25

After a year or so of marriage, my wife and I looked forward to having children. Many of our friends’ families were beginning to grow, and we were excited about having the same for us. But our family didn’t start for another 5 years during which we had at least 3 miscarriages. Those years were long and hard, and we prayed and prayed for children. However, our prayers only seemed to be answered with a resounding “no.”