Seize the Moment – Day 1075
Today’s song focus will be
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Galatians 6:14 (NASB95)
“But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
This ancient hymn was written by Isaac Watts in 1707, creating a hymn to be sung that would go along with the sermon of the day with this theologically based song. As we are in the season of Lent, we will focus on the songs that point us to the whole reason we recognize this season. We will reflect on how Jesus would be fulfilling what had been foretold by the prophets of old. Jesus knew that the time was approaching when He would have to give the ultimate sacrifice for all of mankind…His life!
When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died
My richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride
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 the link below:
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
save in the death of Christ, my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them through his blood.
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown?
that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 1074
To Listen and Obey is the Way!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, February 24.
Elihu believed Job’s suffering was the discipline of God, stating in Job 36:10-12:
He opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they return from evil. If they hear and serve Him, they will end their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures. But if they do not hear, they shall perish by the sword and they will die without knowledge. [emphasis added]
The Hebrew word translated “hear” twice in this passage is shema, which means to not only hear from God, but to heed His Word. It calls a person to listen and obey as the way! This Hebrew word is used in a couple famous passages, one of which is Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” The other is when the prophet Samuel said to King Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”
We must heed God’s reproof when He warns us or disciplines us. This is the only way of covenant faithfulness – to listen and obey! We are to accept God’s correction in the same way, and for the same purpose, that a child heed’s her parent’s discipline, as explained in Hebrews 12:7-11:
It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? … All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Seize the moment and receive God’s discipline as the concern and care of your loving parent.
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.
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 1073
The Power of Humility!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, February 23.
Pride is a popular trend in today’s world, but don’t be deceived – “pride goes before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18). In Job 35:12-13, Elihu argues that God will not respond to a person’s plea that comes from pride, “There they cry out, but He does not answer because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not listen to an empty cry, nor will the Almighty regard it.” In James 4:6-8, the half-brother of Jesus explains how pride breaks fellowship with God:
But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
There can be no place of relief apart from a “broken and contrite heart” because God will not turn away from true repentance (Psalm 51:17). In 2 Corinthians 7:10-11a, Paul contrasts a true repentance that comes from brokenness before God over your sin versus a prideful plea to God because you hate that you got caught in the consequences of your sin:
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.
A true repentance is motivated by humility before God’s presence and a love for His righteousness (e.g., Job 42:1-6). This leads to a new opportunity at life that demonstrates God’s mercy and grace (e.g., Job 42:10-17).
Seize the moment and “humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you” (James 4:10; cf. 1 Peter 5:6).
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.
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 1072
The Dust of the Earth!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, February 15.
Today is Ash Wednesday and we begin the 40-day journey of preparation for Holy Week. Every year on this first day of the season of Lent, church leaders call the people to reflect upon life and death, to repent of their sins, and to humble themselves by receiving a visible sign on their foreheads. As church leaders put ash on the forehead of each participant, they say, “From dust you came and from dust you will return.” They say this because God created us from the dust, according to Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
In the same way, it is based on this truth, and ones like it found in Genesis 3:19, that I pray the ancient committal prayer for a Christian at their graveside service, “In the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ we commend to Almighty God our sister/brother and we commit her/his body to the ground: earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
I invite you to join us in gathering tonight during our weekly prayer service, and do so in a spirit of humility, remembering Elihu’s words in Job 34:12-15:
Surely, God will not act wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice. Who gave Him authority over the earth? And who has laid on Him the whole world? If He should determine to do so, if He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.
Seize the moment and remember that the God who first breathed His gift of life into the dust, has now, through faith in Jesus Christ, breathed the gift of His Holy Spirit into our mortal bodies so that we may join Him in the resurrection from the dead (Romans 6:5: Philippians 3:10-11; Colossians 2:12f).
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.
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 1071
His Face Shine Upon You!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, February 21.
Have you ever seen how small children light up when their mom or dad walks in the room? Something powerful happens once they see the face of their loving parent. It is the power of being in the presence of the one who loves them. The same thing happens to us when we see the face of someone we love and want to be with. There is a joy that makes our face shine when we are in the presence of love.
Job 33:26 captures this powerful imagery and connects it to the promise of redemption, “Then he will pray to God, and He will accept him, that he may see His face with joy, and He may restore His righteousness to man.” What a rich and beautiful promise – there is salvation in the presence of God! In Psalm 16:11, David said, “in Your presence is fullness of joy.” Interestingly, the same Hebrew word for “face” in Job 33:26 is translated “presence” in Psalm 16:11.
When God sent His Son Jesus Christ to His beloved children, He sent His face to shine upon them – so that we might come face-to-face with God and be saved in His presence forevermore. This is why Jesus explained in John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” God’s desire is that when you look to Jesus, you will find that His joy is your strength, and experience both peace and grace through His presence.
Seize the moment and respond to the face of God the way a baby responds to her mother. Receive the ancient blessing given to God’s children in Numbers 6:24-26, “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.”
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.
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 1070
Slow to Anger!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, February 20.
A new and final character is introduced in Job 32, and his motivation to speak is made very clear from the beginning, as written in Job 32:2-5:
But the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram burned; against Job his anger burned because he justified himself before God. And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. … And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men his anger burned.
Elihu was motivated by an anger that burned within him. This was overtly stated four times alone in this short introduction to Elihu’s six-chapter rant. I have learned this lesson the hard way too many times– anger is not how we are to speak to ourselves or other people. Paul taught us in 1 Corinthians 13:1, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” Specifically, Paul taught in Ephesians 4:26-27, “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.”
Seize the moment and be slow to anger (Proverbs 14:29)! God does not desire for your life to be fueled by wildfires. Rather, God desires your life to be fueled by His holy fire, the Holy Spirit.[1] Speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15-16)!
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.
FOOTNOTES:
Read more...
Grow Strong in God’s Grace – Wk 2
Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!
The Focus of a Hardworking Farmer!
2 Timothy 2:6 & James 5:7-8 & 1 Corinthians 9:7-9 (NAS95)
What is the focus of a hardworking farmer? That’s right, you guessed it – the harvest! Everything a farmer does points ultimately to this one thing – the reaping of a large crop yield! Farmers research land characteristics and soil compositions so that they cultivate what has been entrusted to them properly, as good stewards. Farmers will research seed types and its characteristics in hopes of sowing the exactly right seed for what they envision reaping from their fields. Farmers will read the Farmer’s Almanac, listen and learn from other farmers, and look for any assistance in how to protect their young plants from foreseen and unforeseen threats to their well-being, as well as help nurture those young plants to maturity at the right time. Why? Because that’s what being a farmer is all about and that is how they feed their families and provide for their communities and make the world a better place. Farmers produce large crops of whatever it is they are planting! This is what hard-working farmers do and they do it for a reason. The same is true for disciples of Jesus Christ who Paul equates to being a “hard-working farmer”! C. H. Spurgeon, an English Baptist minister called, “The Prince of Preachers,” preached in 1871, “Preaching is sowing, prayer is watering, but praise is the harvest.”[1] He taught that his Acts 6:4 ministry was all about producing a harvest of praise to God! It is my desire, through my Acts 6:4 ministry, that First Baptist Church of New Castle, Indiana will bring God a large crop yield of praise! That we will be an epicenter of revival throughout our region and into our nation and the nations…
Let us now turn to God’s Word. Please open your Bible to today’s scripture lesson for a message called, “The Focus of a Hardworking Farmer” is 2 Timothy 2:6, “The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.” Let us pray.
Allow me to share some thoughts about what Paul is communicating to us in this passage:
Paul used the analogy of the farmer to show that the one who works hard has the first claim on the fruits of the work. The phrase “to receive a share of the crops” is not an appeal for a diligent worker to receive an adequate salary. It promises a spiritual reward from God for a job devotedly done. The time of this reward may be either in this life or at the last judgment. The reward may consist of honor and recognition from the church or a divine approval and blessing by God. Paul frequently used the verb for “hardworking” to describe the work of ministry (Rom 16:6, 12; 1 Cor 15:10; Gal 4:11). He was underscoring the fact that the farmer who works hard will be the first to enjoy the fruits, and the diligent Christian servant can expect the same. … This passage emphasizes the anticipation of a final reward from the Lord for earnest, steady work in Christ’s service.[2]
Ed Bell explained to me that he and Debbie always test their strawberries, to ensure the berries are of the best possible quality before they bring any to the church or put any out for sale. It would make no sense to give unto the Lord the “first fruits” (Exodus 23:19; 34:22; Leviticus 2:14; Numbers 18:12; Deuteronomy 18:4) only to give what is not their very best, and it would make no sense to sell what you’re not proud to put your name on by having enjoyed some with your own family first.This was clearly stated in the Old Testament, in Jeremiah 31:5, “Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the planters [“farmers” in the NIV] will plant and will enjoy them.” And that can only be done by being the first to receive their share of the crops as our passage is saying in 2 Timothy 2:6.
There are some important connections here that we need to understand about our spiritual walk with God and our calling to Christian ministry as members of the body of Christ. First, like hard-working farmers, we are to enjoy what we receive from the Lord. In other words, let us never forget that there must be a harvest of good fruit within our own lives before we are concerned with the harvest that comes from our witnesses (the fruit outside from our own lives). And this makes total sense when you realize that you will reproduce in like kind to what you are, as Jesus taught in in Matthew 12:33, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.”
So, what kind of fruit are we desiring within our own lives? There are two sources of fruit that can arise from within – the weeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Paul made this clear in Galatians 5:19-25:
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
It only makes sense that if a farmer is not producing something that is worth partaking in at home first, then they shouldn’t give or sell it to others. (I understand that in our world today there are commercial farmers that this may not apply to, but let’s keep our eyes on the prize with the subsistence farming model that has been the dominant image of farming for millennia.) Yes, it is the job of a farmer to produce from the land a harvest, but, as followers of Jesus, let us make sure that we are producing is the work of the Spirit and not the work of the flesh. I am going to say this very clearly and directly, the American church has become so addicted with buildings and numbers that we have become less discerning about the fruit quality of spiritual formation, and more concerned about the harvest size. In fact, we have changed the rubric of church effectiveness from the fruitfulness of Christian discipleship to the unholy trinity of buildings, bucks (in plate), and bottoms (in seat). We must repent or we will be a powerless people who look no different than the world with no light to shine in these dark days. Let us first work hard at ensuring we have the fruit of the Spirit to enjoy at home and with one another before we try to export it to other homes, communities, cultures, and nations.
If we are only driven by numbers of converts, and not the quality of converts, then we will unwittingly become part of the problem that Jesus came to address in the first place. Just asJesus warned about in His days with the religious workers in Matthew 23:15, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” This rebuke is unfortunatelynot limited to ancient Judaism of the first century because we have modern missionaries who have gone out in the name of Jesus Christ, according to the Great Commission, who havereplicated according to like kind of what they are and not who Jesus is. They have not produced disciples or emphasized the work of the Kingdom of God. The same is true in churches today, as Paul commanded his protégé to work hard in the ministry in 2 Timothy 4:1-8:
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
We must be like hard-working farmers and be sure we are producing something that is worth first having ourselves! Did you hear how Paul ended his exhortation to Timothy? With an incentive – a reward that God has established for all His hard-working farmers! This is where the eternal rewards of the harvest can anchor our souls in the hard work of discipleship and spiritual formation. We can break away from temporary benefits and keep our eyes on the eternal rewards of persevering through the hardships and uncertainties of farming. Paul, when defending his liberties as an apostle, emphasized in 1 Corinthians 9:7-9:
Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock? I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things? For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He? Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. [emphasis added]
Did you hear the key word from this passage, which every farmer must have to remain hard working, diligent to the tasks of a farmer? It is HOPE! Hope is the key ingredient when doing the following four steps that every hard-working farmer must follow:
We will learn more about these four steps of a hard-working farmer over the next five weeks of sermons. For now, allow me to emphasize to you that without hope, no farmer can diligently follow these four steps of farming season after season, year after year, generation after generation. Now, let’s cash in on some of our previous training we have done on the biblical concept of hope. What is hope really? Hope is the certainty that your faith in God is not misplaced or misguided. God will keep His promises on time, every time! Believers can take that to the bank, just as farmers literally take their hope in a large crop yield to the bank season after season when they buy more land, invest in better drainage and irrigation, and buy more seeds. Just ask a farmer’s banker! Hope is not for the weak of faith because hope requires patience – the fruit of the spirit defined as waitingon God well. A great example of this teaching is from Isaiah 40:31, “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” The Hebrew words translated “wait for” is also translated “hope in” – to hope in the Lord is wait upon the Lord! There is no distinction in God’s eyes, only in ours.
We see this made clear to us in the farmer imagery of the New Testament in James 5:7-8, when James exhorts all believers, “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”
Christian discipleship and the long slow obedience of spiritual formation requires hard work and diligence over time, simultaneously waiting for and hoping in God to keep His promises on time, every time. Just like a farmer follows the four steps of farming, knowing that it is ultimately God who has given us the ground, the seed, the weather conditions, and the mystery of the harvest that, like life itself, should only be explained with reverence and awe of the God who has given us life and has invited us to work alongside of Him as partners in stewarding His creation. As Paul emphasized of the hard work he engaged in as an apostle of Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”
Let us join with Paul and Timothy in learning how to grow strong in God’s grace, remembering that God wants to first produce a harvest of spiritual fruit within us so that as we go to make disciples of all nations, we may produce disciples in like-kind to the Holy Spirit who is within us. May we see a great harvest of praise to God as we join with hard-working farmers who do so well in the natural what we are called to do in the spiritual. Let us focus on the harvest fields of the Kingdom of God, as Jesus invited in Matthew 9:36-38:
Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
You can listen to this message by clicking below:
You can watch this message by clicking HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] C. H. Spurgeon, “The Joy of the Lord, the Strength of His People,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 17 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1871), 717.
[2] Thomas D. Lea and Hayne P. Griffin, 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, vol. 34, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 204–205.
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 1068
Today’s song focus will be
Take Up Your Cross & Follow Jesus
Matthew 16:24 (NASB95)
“ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
Performed by the fabulous and renowned Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir in 1990 and written by Jane Johannson Knoedler & Steve Millikan, this moving ballad challenges the believer to follow after Christ unashamedly. When Jesus spoke to His disciples, he was telling them that it was not going to be an easy task and they would have to set aside their own wants and desires and follow Him with everything they got.
Take up your cross and follow Jesus Take up your cross every day
Don’t be ashamed to say that you know Him
Count the cost, take up your cross and follow Him
We need to once again wake up and realize, just like last week’s challenge, that this is a daily choice. Counting the costs ahead of time and determining in our hearts and minds that we are going to follow after Jesus, no matter what, is what we have to do.
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:
Take Up Your Cross & Follow Jesus
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 1067
I Need God to Show Up!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, February 17.
Job finished his speech in Job 31, concluding the dialogue between him and his three friends, which started in chapter 3. All his talking throughout these many chapters came down to this one request made in Job 31:35, “Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature; let the Almighty answer me!” He wholeheartedly believed that he was innocent, and throughout his suffering he had not wavered from that conviction, but he knew that he couldn’t justify himself. He needed God to show up in his situation because he couldn’t rescue himself! None of us can!
Have you ever come to the place where you know that you need God to show up? We call this hitting bottom or coming to the end of yourself! I’ve personally experienced it as hitting the wall of pride and performance. I couldn’t go any further. I was done. I was ruined!
Hallelujah! What a scary and beautiful place to be, when you come to the end of your rope only to find that you weren’t sufficient to the task of rescuing you from yourself or your circumstances. This is when we cry out to God from a place of absolute surrender, hearing the same words Jesus gave Paul in his great struggle, found in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Job had lamented his circumstances and cried out to God! He attached his signature to his plea for redemption. It was now up to God to show up!
Seize the moment and “draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
Read more...
Seize the Moment – Day 1066
Glory Days!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, February 16.
Do you believe your best days are behind you? Job 30 is a heart-wrenching lament that is weighed down by Job’s profound loss of his glory days – “I once was all of this [read Job 29], but now I am not [read Job 30]!” In fact, his present sufferings are made even worse by his past achievements, as he emphasized in the following three verses:
- Job 30:1, “But now those younger than I mock me, whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.”
- Job 30:9, “And now I have become their taunt, I have even become a byword to them.”
- Job 30:16, “And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have seized me.”
Have you ever experienced the damaging effects of the comparison game? We often think of this in terms of comparing yourself with other people, but it can also be the crippling game of comparing your current self with what you used to be, or how you remember you used to be (even worse!). This can be either the universal struggle to grapple with the physical and mental effects of the aging process, or a unique struggle with a lost opportunity or broken relationship specific to your life.
Songs like “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen illuminate this phenomenon. Comparison is often the root of our discontentment! In the same way that your current conditions can feel worse when you are comparing them with your polished memories of days long gone, so can you fall into depression when you can’t envision a better future for your life. So, never forget, for those who are in Jesus Christ, the glory days are always in front of you!
Seize the moment by “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, … press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13b-14).
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.
Read more...