Seize the Moment – Day 1177
Proclaim the Name of the Lord!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, June 7.
David quoted a thousand-year-old blessing in Psalm 67:1, “God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us – Selah.” This is a song with a promise; it invites the worshippers to meditate upon the whole of the Priestly Blessing, given by God to Moses in Numbers 6:22-27:
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: the Lord bless you, and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.’ So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”
As you pray through Psalm 67, you will find it a working out of God’s promise to Moses: when My people invoke My name, I will bless them. Twice in verses 3 and 5, today’s psalm commands the congregation, “Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You.” Three times, in verses 2, 4, and 7, the promise of Abraham is extended over the nations through the people of God when they call upon the name of the Lord, “God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him” (7). The obvious praxis of this promise is to call upon the name of the Lord because God has blessed you to be a blessing to others. As a Christian, you are called to proclaim the name of the Lord wherever you go – He will bless the nations through you!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 66, meditating upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ – “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1176
Pray with a Cleansed Heart!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, June 6.
Do you want God to hear your prayers? You might be asking yourself, why wouldn’t God hear my prayers? In Psalm 66:16-19, David praised God for giving heed to his voice in prayer, but he also taught us an important truth about how our prayers can be hindered:
Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell of what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue. If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear; but certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.
Do you fear God? God is holy, and because His perfection sets Him apart from all His creation, there is a chasm that exists between us and Him that cannot be crossed without divine intervention. Isaiah 59:2 makes this clear, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
Recently, in my devotion on Psalm 61, I described how there is nowhere you can go for God not to hear your prayers. While you can’t go anywhere in all of creation to prevent God from hearing your prayer, you can hinder the effectiveness of your prayers through unconfessed sin, as David testified in Psalm 66:18, “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear” (cf. Proverbs 28:9). There are motives of the heart and patterns of behavior that hinder the effectiveness of your prayers (ref. James 1:6-7; 4:3; 1 Peter 3:7). Are you meditating upon wickedness in your heart? Has your heart become a den of iniquity, and your soul a harbor for sin? The key to an effective prayer life is a right relationship with God (James 5:16; Hebrews 4:14-16).
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 66, meditating upon the cleansing of sin through the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:5-10).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1175
Praise God for His Bounty!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, June 5.
When is the last time you went for a walk in a forest or on a beach? When is the last time you sat and watched a sunset or sunrise? Psalm 65 is a remarkable psalm, which praises God for the bounty of His creation. There is a clarity to be gained by celebrating the handiwork of God, as David does so poetically in verses 9-13:
You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; You greatly enrich it; the stream of God is full of water; You prepare their grain, for thus You prepare the earth. You water its furrows abundantly, You settle its ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless its growth. You have crowned the year with Your bounty, and Your paths drip with fatness. The pastures of the wilderness drip, and the hills gird themselves with rejoicing. The meadows are clothed with flocks and the valleys are covered with grain; they shout for joy, yes, they sing.
God receives glory when we attribute the beauty and bounty of creation to His goodness and grace. Have you lost perspective on the power of God because you have stopped marveling at His creation? Take time today to praise God in His creation, for it was intended by its Creator to point you back to Him, causing you to seek the bounty of His love. It is for this reason David wrote this psalm: to call worshippers back to true worship of the One who provides for us through the bounty of His creation.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 65, meditating upon the bounty of God’s provision – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:1-3).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Grow Strong in God’s Grace – Wk 13
Grow Strong in God’s Grace: Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!
The Faith that Passes the Test!
Hebrews 11:17-19 (NASB)
God is in the business of transforming stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to grow strong in God’s grace as active participants in the world He created. God has entrusted His creation to His people to work as His Harvest workers – “All the world’s a field, and all the disciples of Jesus Christ merely farmers!” Therefore, let’s be faithful farmers by following the four-step strategy of a hard-working farmer: 1) cultivate people with faith; 2) sow the good seed of God’s grace (the gospel) into their hearts and minds; 3) care for them as their stories are transformed into fruit-bearing plants; and 4) reap a harvest of praise as the church of Jesus Christ.
This strategy must be empowered by the Holy Spirit! Therefore, harvest workers of God’s kingdom are called to grow strong in God’s grace. Let’s take the first step by learning from the transforming stories of the Hall of Faith, found in Hebrews 11.
STEP #1 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CULTIVATE THE SOIL WITH FAITH
Faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1-2, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men [and women] of old gained approval.” Today’s transforming story confronts us in our belief in this definition of faith: What happens in life when all we have left is faith?
A woman finds a lump and finds herself with more doctor visits in the coming months than she has had in the last decade. She prays and prays, has her family, friends, and church pray, only to hear the ‘C’ word. Her mind goes blank as she finds herself walking out of the doctor’s office not remembering anything said to her after she heard the word “cancer.” Her vision clouds over as the tears start falling… Only God knows what’s ahead of her!
A man has just lost his job. He is in his late-forties and has been at the same company since his twenties, and now he’s left with no job, nothing to show for over twenty years of loyalty. His kids are still in college. His 30-year mortgage, twice refinanced, heavy on his shoulders. His mind races out of control as he carries a cardboard box filled with family pictures and worthless tokens out the side door for the last time, heading to the parking lot, heading to his car as he fights back the tears… Only God knows his next steps!
A teenager’s parents are fighting more than ever; the word divorce being thrown around more and more. His grades are suffering, his friends are inviting him to go to parties, he is having a hard time focusing as his world seems to be crumbling around him. Is there really a God, and if so, how could He possibly be good, and does God even care about people like him? He heads out the front door confused, angry, with hopes of ending up somewhere better than here… Only God knows where!
A young couple, recently married, is so excited to have become pregnant in hopes of starting a family together. Three months later, with a nursey under construction, a baby registry filled out, names being discussed, and invitations in the mail, the wife calls the husband from work crying as something terrible is happening, as the EMTs are putting her in the ambulance. She needs him to meet her at the hospital as she won’t stop bleeding. His world starts narrowing and the next breath is too hard to take as he races out the door… Only God knows why!
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.
We learn and apply Scripture by watching how the people in His story respond to their situations based on what they believed about God. Faith is a good seed designed by its architect to bear the good fruit of the Spirit in your life. Truth about God leads to life application, which is why we are to plant it like a good seed and tend to it like a maturing plant, so that we may reap a harvest of praise to the One who chose our hearts and minds as His harvest fields.
STEP #2 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: SOW THE GOOD SEED OF GOD’S GRACE
Hebrews 11:17-19 highlights the greatest test of Abraham and Sarah’s faith. They were able to obey God because they trusted Him to keep His promises. The seed of faith was planted deep into their hearts and minds! Turn with me to the book of Genesis and let’s read their story is from Genesis 22. To focus our time, I will read verses 1-2, 7-8, 10-12, and 15-18:
Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” … Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. … Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” … Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
This very well could have been one of the last things Sarah experienced in her life, as her death was soon after recorded in Genesis 23:1-2. She had walked with God, and her husband, on a very long journey, passing the greatest test of all at the end of their lives together. She trusted God for His promises and from her barren womb, opened through the power of God’s Spirit, came the promises of God to the nations. She has received the reward of her faith even though she did not live to see God’s promise fulfilled through her son Isaac, as described in Hebrews 11:13-16:
All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.
What do we learn from this dramatic story of faith? We learn that God is trustworthy and true, worthy of our trust! God keeps His promises and provides for that which He promises! God is consistent to His own character and will never violate the integrity of His character, as revealed to us in His Word and through His Son Jesus Christ. If we had time, I could share with you literally dozens of other Bible stories that testify to these truths about God. If we had all day, we could have testimony after testimony that this is true about God. Instead, let’s move to the next action step so we can learn how to live our lives according to this truth.
STEP #3 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CARE FOR THE MATURING PLANT
This next step, the step of life application, is the hard one! If you believe that God is trustworthy, then what do you do when all you have left is your faith in a trustworthy God? This is the climax of Abraham and Sarah’s transforming story with God. They have been on amazing journey, chasing after God’s promise and the fulfillment of that which caused them to leave their homeland in search of God’s Promised Land, found in Genesis 12:1-3:
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
For forty-five years, Abraham and Sarah spent time with God causing them to know His attributes and character (read Genesis 12:4-21:34). When God asked them to return to Him the precious gift, which He had given them (Isaac), they trusted God for who they knew Him to be – trustworthy in character and true to His promises!
The Bible doesn’t say it was easy for them; it just records them doing it! At the heart of this story is a man and woman who had a personal relationship with God. This elderly couple said “yes” to a painful offering: they offered their teenage son to God because He asked it of them; they did not understand His command or know if they would ever get him back. They trusted God, which allowed them to make a painful offering!
Have you ever made a painful offering to God? Maybe God wants you to give your kidney to someone else who needs it. Maybe God wants you to donate blood on a regular basis. Maybe God wants you to give your extra car to someone who needs a car. Maybe God wants you to give your time to visit lonely people or help those who can’t do what you can. Maybe God wants you to move, sell your house, quit your job, use your talents more, be generous with what He has provided for you. Maybe God wants you to help someone in need. God asks of you because He knows more than you do. He knows what you need, and He knows what is for your good!
King David said, “I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24). Obedience is an outflow of trust! The good seed of faith begets faithfulness and putting your faith into practice causes you to know God more and trust Him for who He is and not for who you wish Him to be. Christianity is not about your choosing when to obey, calculating when to make sacrifices, or doing religious activities like putting coins in a vending machine, hoping God will give you what you want. That is self-serving. We must live with a constant willingness to obey, ready to respond when God asks. It is about trust!
Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7:24-27, making this specific point:
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell – and great was its fall.
CHAIR ILLUSTRATION Speaking of falling, allow me to share one of my favorite evangelistic illustrations in hopes of bringing this together: SHOULD I PUT MY FULL WEIGHT IN THIS CHAIR?
John Paton (1824–1907), a Scot, had travelled to the New Hebrides (a group of islands in the south-west Pacific) determined to tell the tribal people about Jesus. The islanders were cannibals. Nobody trusted anybody else. His life was in constant danger. He had come to tell them the good news about Jesus. He wanted to translate John’s Gospel into their language, but he discovered that there was no word in their language for ‘faith’, ‘belief’ or ‘trust’. One day, when his indigenous servant came in, Paton raised both feet off the floor, sat back in his chair and asked, ‘What am I doing now?’ In reply, the servant used a word that means, ‘to lean your whole weight upon’. This became the expression that Paton used. Faith is leaning our whole weight upon Jesus.[1]
You don’t trust God until you have had to put your full weight upon Jesus! You can’t proclaim the faith that “God is good all the time” until you have found Him good in your own life and circumstances! Otherwise, it is truth divorced of reality. Your life of putting your full weight upon Jesus gives meaning to words such as faith, belief, or trust, which have lost meaning in today’s cancel culture. Your trust in God proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ! This takes us to our last action step.
STEP #4 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: REAP A HARVEST OF PRAISE
God did for Abraham and Sarah what they could not learn on their own; He gave them an opportunity to put their full weight onto Him! We know God for how He has revealed Himself to be to us – His character, His attributes, His actions, and His judgments. But the only way we can discover that God is who He says He is, trustworthy and true in all that He says and does, is by putting our trust in all that we know about Him as being true! This is what we learn by watching Abraham and Sarah as the people of the promise. As Genesis 22:8 quotes Abraham responding to Isaac, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Here is where our text from Hebrews 11:19 helps us understand the depth of Abraham and Sarah’s faith: “He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type [it foreshadowed the resurrection of Jesus Christ].”
Their faith allowed them to trust God in the worst of circumstances! With Isaac being taken from them, trust in God was all they had left… Not trust that God would give them what they wanted or fix their circumstances; but trust that no matter what may come, God was with them. Did you know that Willow is our fourth child? When my wife and I went through the miscarriage of our third child, Skyler, it was heart wrenching, but God was true to His promise: Immanuel – “God is with us!” His presence comforted us and assured us. He still does today!
I am inviting you to join with me in trusting God! I am asking you to believe and putting your faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is scandalous in today’s world; just as trusting another person is risky business, but that ends up being the point: you must risk trust to learn how to trust! You don’t really know what you think you know until you live it! You must pass the test of faith to experience the promises of God, then you reap the harvest of praise!
CHAIR ILLUSTRATION: Can you really know what a chair is unless you have put your full weight into a chair? It’s just an abstract concept until it is tested! Just like faith, which is exactly why James says, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26). That’s like saying there can be a plant without a seed being planted! As Paul said in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”
Do you know God as trustworthy and true? Jesus gave it all on the cross so that whosoever puts their full weight onto Him “shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Will you trust Him with your life and circumstances? Will your faith pass the test of trust?
Only God knows the next step:
- For the middle-aged woman who just found out she has cancer
- For the older man who just lost his job
- For the teenager who is lonely and lost
- For the young couple who lost their baby
- For you and your circumstances
Bring chair down to response area: I invite you to symbolically come down and take a moment to put all your weight in this chair. Jesus invites you today from Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Let’s pray and ask God, “Lord, help me to respond to Your gracious invitation so that I can put my full weight onto You today. I come to You today and confess, ‘I trust You. Help me with my mistrust.’ In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
You can watch this message by clicking HERE.
FOOTNOTE:
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Seize the Moment – Day 1173
Today’s modern hymn focus will be
Jesus Messiah
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB95)
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
The initial lyrics and melody from this song came from Chris Tomlin’s guitarist, Daniel Carson, that he shared with Chris and his team of Ed Cash & Jesse Reeves. This song uses the name “Messiah”, declaring that Jesus’ Name is the Name above all names – that He is the Christ, the Son of God, the Chosen One, the Savior of the world. They drew their inspiration from the Scriptures that were very specific in describing Who Christ truly is in our lives.
Jesus Messiah, Name above all names. Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners, the ransom from Heaven Jesus Messiah, Lord of all
This is a message that everyone needs to hear. With so much in the world that is trying to divide us, we need to wake up to the fact that there is only One who will bring us together…Jesus! He is our Living Hope and the One who bring us life, joy and peace.
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Ken reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:
Jeus Messiah
Who knew no sin
That we might become His Righteousness
He humbled himself and carried the cross
Love so amazing
Love so amazing
Blessed Redeemer
Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners
The ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah
Lord of all
His blood the wine
Broken and poured out all for love
The whole earth trembled
And the veil was torn
Love so amazing
Love so amazing, yeah
Name above all names
Blessed Redeemer
Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners
The ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah
Lord of all
All our hope is in You
All the glory to You, God
The light of the world
Name above all names
Blessed Redeemer
Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners
The ransom from Heaven
Lord of all
You’re the Lord of all!
The Lord of all
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Seize the Moment – Day 1172
The Deep Wound of Deception!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, June 2.
As a West Pointer, then as an officer in the US Army, I learned a lot about planning military operations. One of the essential steps that goes beyond an honest assessment of your army’s capabilities, is to know the strengths and weaknesses of your enemy. In Sun Tzu’s sixth century BC work, The Art of War, he wrote, “If you know your enemy and yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”[1] It should not surprise us that centuries before Sun Tzu, the great military leader King David wrote extensively about his enemies, accurately describing them in Psalm 64:2-6:
Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers, from the tumult of those who do iniquity, who have sharpened their tongue like a sword. They aimed bitter speech as their arrow, to shoot from concealment at the blameless; suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear. They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly; they say, “Who can see them?” They devise injustices, saying, “We are ready with a well-conceived plot”; for the inward thought and the heart of a man are deep.
In this short passage, David provides an illuminative study of evil, specifically about its nature, weapons of choice, methodology, and attack plans. Glaringly, we find evil within our own hearts. Jeremiah 17:9 confirms this reality, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” Don’t be deceived; to be at peace with God, you must confront the evil that is in your own heart – the enemy within must be defeated!
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 64, meditating upon the victory of Jesus Christ over evil (Colossians 2:15) – “The righteous man will be glad in the Lord and will take refuge in Him; and all the upright in heart will glory” (vs 10).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Trans. Lionel Giles (Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg, 1994, updated 2021) http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/132 (Accessed May 20, 2023).
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Seize the Moment – Day 1171
Yearn for God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, June 1.
David was yearning for God! Followers of Jesus can ask God for this deep longing in their own souls, but often we are too easily satisfied by lesser things, distracted with cheap substitutes that do not satisfy for long. In today’s world there are so many options to choose from for how we can pursue satisfaction. It reminds me of how easy it is in today’s fast-food world for a child to never cultivate the hunger for fresh food, but only craves after processed fast food. James Montgomery Boice described how this deep yearning for God has grown rare in today’s churches:
How little this is found today! Most people do not even know that it is God their souls truly desire. They are seeking satisfaction in other things. Others know God but do not cultivate his presence; they do not long after him. Is it not this above everything that explains the weakness of the contemporary church? Is it not this that makes us so hollow spiritually?[1]
Cultivate Jesus as the deepest longing of your soul – “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 63, meditating upon the sufficiency of God to satisfy your deepest longings – “O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (vs 1).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] James Montgomery Boice, Psalms 42–106: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 518.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1170
Wait in Silence!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, May 31.
I live in a loud household. I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way; we are just loud people! Our kids get it honestly. With that said, I must confess that the older I get the quieter I get, and the more I enjoy silence. As a boy who used to blast 80s rock as background music by which to study, I now prefer to read in silence. David taught us the importance of silence in Psalm 62:5-8:
My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.
I was recently in the New Castle Correctional Facility with a group of fifteen men whom the Lord has graciously allowed me to disciple through my book, Live Like a Champion Today. We were talking about the importance of having a “trellis” in our spiritual lives to be able to manifest the promised fruit of John 15:1-8. Jesus concluded in verse 8, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” Fruit bearing can only happen if you abide in the vine, which is your personal relationship with Jesus. Through times of silence, when you abide in God through Bible study and prayer, the Holy Spirit enriches your life and empowers you for fruit bearing. Make space for God’s grace in your life today.
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 62, meditating upon the presence of God as you prioritize times of silence – “My soul waits in silence for God only; from Him is my salvation” (Psalm 62:1).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1169
Prayer from Anywhere!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, May 30.
Did you know that you can never be too far away for God to hear your prayer? God’s ear is attentive to those who sincerely call upon His name, who seek Him for shelter and sanctuary. God can rescue and deliver you, as David expressed in Psalm 61:1-4:
Hear my cry, O God; give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy. Let me dwell in Your tent forever; let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah.
No matter how low you go, or how weak you feel, God is waiting for you to call upon Him. There is nowhere you can go that is too far away for God to hear and respond. David emphasized this by posing the question in Psalm 139:7, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” This points to the attributes of God’s omnipresence and His omniscience – God is simultaneously present everywhere and knows all things. Nothing in all of creation can escape His embrace, nor run beyond His reach. As Hebrews 4:13 explains, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” No matter what you are going through today, cry out to God because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 61, meditating upon the power of prayer – “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Seize the Moment – Day 1168
Raise up God’s Banner!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, May 29. Happy Memorial Day – never forget that your freedom is not free!
Whose banner are you flying over your life? Who gets the glory for the victories in your life? Psalm 60 was written in a time of national expansion for Israel, under the rule of King David (title; 2 Samuel 8; 1 Chronicles 18). Under his successful command, David not only unified the twelve tribes of Israel, but he also secured the borders of the Promised Land. With this context in mind, it’s interesting that David started today’s psalm with a clear description of defeat in verses 1-4:
O God, You have rejected us. You have broken us; You have been angry; O, restore us. You have made the land quake, You have split it open; heal its breaches, for it totters. You have made Your people experience hardship; You have given us wine to drink that makes us stagger. You have given a banner to those who fear You, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.
There is a great battle waging within every human heart: whose banner will fly over your life? To participate in the victory of God, you must first surrender by taking down your own banner of self-sufficiency and then raise up the Lord’s supreme banner – “the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15; cf. 1 Samuel 17:47)! The greatest victory is the one Jesus came to win for you – freedom from sin so that you can live for God!
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.
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