Seize the Moment – Day 976
Stay in your Lane!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, November 18.
Josiah was a faithful king who brought Judah back to right worship with God. But even he made bad decisions that came with terrible consequences. We need to learn that just because we have a right relationship with God doesn’t mean we are automatically correct in all that we think, say, and do.
If you were to look at a map, it quickly becomes obvious why Josiah did what he did – the Egyptian army was marching through his land on their way to a battle up north. Josiah was protecting the borders, but, ultimately, the Chronicler, in 2 Chronicles 35:20-21, makes it clear that God didn’t want him to fight this battle:
After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt came up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to engage him. But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has ordered me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is with me, so that He will not destroy you.”
Josiah ignored Neco’s words and marched his army to Megiddo, as described in verse 22, “However, Josiah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the plain of Megiddo.” [emphasis added] It was in this unnecessary battle that he was killed.
Do you decide to get involved in situations that aren’t yours to meddle in? Proverbs 26:17 warns, “Like one who takes a dog by the ears is he who passes by and meddles with strife not belonging to him.” Instead of getting yourself or others hurt by meddling in things that you shouldn’t, here is some godly counsel for you – stop meddling and start praying!
Seize the moment and stay in your lane – “lead a quiet life and attend to your own business” (1 Thessalonians 4:11)!
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 975
No Half Measures – Be All In!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, November 17.
Will you be successful at work if you only do part of your job description? Will you thrive in your marriage if you only keep your vows part of the time? Will your team win the championship if you and your teammates aren’t fully committed to practicing together to learn how to work as a team? We all know that’s not the way it works.
We learn from Josiah, the last good king of Judah, that there can be no half measures when it comes to your worship of God – you must be all in to be faithful! Josiah demonstrated that he and his kingdom were fully committed to the pure worship of God by his removal of all idolatry from the land, as summarized in 2 Chronicles 34:2, “He did right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.” Josiah’s kingship demonstrated being in the yoke of covenant faithfulness to God – he was all in! He took no half measures when it came to his obedience to God (1 Samuel 15:22).
Are you all in with Jesus? He said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Obedience to Jesus isn’t burdensome (1 John 5:3); in fact, it’s the life of taking on His easy yoke and finding true rest with God through submission to His ways of living your life (Matthew 11:28-30). Being all in protects you from the consequences for lukewarm living (Revelation 3:16).
Seize the moment and be all in with your worship of God! There can be no half measures; therefore, don’t allow yourself to be pulled between the yoke of the world and the yoke of Jesus – you are either in His easy yoke of freedom or you are in the heavy yoke of sin (Galatians 5:1).
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 974
Hope for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels!
2 Chronicles 33
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, November 16.
Are you a dirty rotten scoundrel? If so, I have good news for you… Hard to believe, but what I have to offer you is even better than what the first two hundred customers were gifted at Culver’s on Monday. You may be asking, what’s better than a free meal every week for a year? I’m glad you asked…
King Manasseh was a dirty rotten scoundrel (2 Chronicles 33:1-11; cf. 2 Kings 21:1-18). He was the worst of the kings of Judah. This guy gives Paul a run for his money for the title of “worst of sinners” (ref. 1 Timothy 1:15). Though it was not recorded in the 2 Kings account of his story, the Chronicler emphasized Mannasseh’s conversion later in life, in 2 Chronicles 33:12-13:
When he was in distress, he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
The Chronicler emphasized his conversion to illustrate to the remnant of Judah, after they returned to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon, that God would keep His promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14, “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land”
Just like they were with Manasseh, God’s promises are true for you and for me – this is good news for sinners, including a dirty rotten scoundrel like you and a wretch like me. This is amazing grace!
Seize the moment and receive the grace of God for the forgiveness of your sins through faith in Jesus Christ – “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).
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 973
The Greatest Test of your Life!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, November 15.
Hezekiah continued to shine in his kingship, but as he neared the end, he faced the greatest test of his life, just as each of us must. As Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 15:26, “The last enemy that will be abolished is death.”
Not surprisingly, in response to the Assyrian’s invasion of Judah, Hezekiah organized the people of Jerusalem and encouraged them in 2 Chronicles 32:7-8:
“Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria nor because of all the horde that is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with him. With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
The king put his wholehearted trust in God, and his people followed him to victory (9-22). In his words of encouragement, Hezekiah quoted from Joshua 1:9, “be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed,” and he alluded to the presence of the heavenly host, just as Elisha had done in 2 Kings 6:16. His words were salted with his faith in God.
While Hezekiah demonstrated great humility to pass the test of this great national calamity (31), he struggled with pride when it came to his own mortality (24-26). Therefore, God confronted Hezekiah’s pride, and the king passed the test – he repented of his sin. Never forget, that God loves you and will use all things to purify your heart so that when you stand before Him face-to-face, He will see His image (1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 John 3:2).
Seize the moment and put your wholehearted trust in God – “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3).
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.
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Seize the Moment – Day 972
Lead by Example!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, November 14.
Whose example are you following? In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul invites, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” Similarly, in Philippians 3:17, he exhorts, “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.” Paul is being very clear about following leaders who are walking in the way of Jesus. If a leader is not first following Jesus, then that leader has nowhere good to take you!
King Hezekiah is a leader I would follow. He led by example so that when he asked anything of his people, they knew that he was leading them in the right direction. A powerful example of this, then and now, is how a leader handles his or her money. Hezekiah followed the example of King David, as described in 2 Chronicles 31:3-4:
He also appointed the king’s portion of his goods for the burnt offerings, namely, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths and for the new moons and for the fixed festivals, as it is written in the law of the Lord. Also he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord.
Seize the moment and follow the example of Jesus Christ – “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” (1 John 2:6). Be a person worth following!
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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Train to Live on Mission – Week 36
Battle Drill #36:
Learn Discernment to Make Wise Decisions!
Proverbs 26:16 (NAS95)
Pastor Jerry Ingalls, First Baptist Church of New Castle, Indiana on November 13, 2022
Today, we are going to walk through the four action steps of a soldier’s training routine to learn the next battle drill – “Learn Discernment to Make Wise Decisions!”
It is my desire to train you to make wise decisions in a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual way, no matter the pressure of the situation or the stress you’re under. It is for this reason that I went through the rigors of the US Army Ranger School, to learn how to apply the military decision-making process (MDMP) under duress and in extreme situations. I wanted to be the very best leader I could be to accomplish the mission. While I learned MDMP in a classroom environment first, it had to be trained into me so that it was reflexive, instinctive, and habitual. That does not happen by accident! I needed to be able to lead soldiers in ways that defeated the enemy and accomplished the mission, just like we need to be trained to heed God’s wisdom and make wise decisions based upon it. I can’t put you through a spiritual ranger school, but I can open your eyes to the reality that God is using your everyday life as just that – the ranger school of life to teach you discernment. Let’s give our pain and suffering meaning for the glory of God (James 1:2-4 and Romans 5:1-5).
Discernment, according to the Bible, is the capacity for rational thought and the ability to make wise decisions, to understand what is right and true, and to act upon it. In other words, the discernment that we are to cry out for is not that God should make the decision for us, but that He would give us the capacity to know what is right, to understand truth, and to act upon that information to make good decisions that glorify Him and manifest the good fruit of His Spirit.
When people approach me to seek counsel on the will of God for their lives, I teach them that discernment is more about how you make the decision, than about what decision you end up making. While I do believe what we do matters (of course it does!), I believe discernment is the why and how of the what. If you learn how to discern God’s will, then you will more times than not choose life and blessing. This is the exact opposite mindset of the “Magic 8 Ball” understanding of God’s will that so many people use in their prayer life, which, by the way, is the complete absence of the wisdom God entrusted to you with a brain to learn how to use and apply to your everyday life. Quite the opposite, discernment is the ability to apply the wisdom of God to real life decisions, using the agency and faculties God has commanded you to steward as one who is wise – Don’t be a fool, learn discernment to make wise decisions!
Let’s turn to the Field Manual and take the first step of a soldier’s training regimen.
Action Step #1) Know the Field Manual.
Action Step #2) Train together as one unit.
For each soldier to be on the same sheet of music with their Commander, if that is even possible on this side of Heaven, we must strive towards the goal of wisdom by reading from the same field manual – the Bible – and by training ourselves for godliness according to the same training regimen (1 Timothy 4:6-8). Today, we are learning that we must prioritize the urgency of making right decisions as individuals and as a member of a spiritual community called the body of Christ.
The word translated “discreet” in today’s battle drill is more often translated discernment, as in Psalm 119:66, “Teach me good discernment and knowledge, for I believe in Your commandments.” Another time it is used serves as a beautiful illustration of today’s battle drill, from 1 Samuel 25:32-34, when David praised Abigail for being wise and admonished her husband, Nabal, for being a fool:
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, and blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand. Nevertheless, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one male. [emphasis added]
Abigail applied wisdom to her situation by assisting David and his men who had protected her husband’s flocks, even though her husband refused to help David, and, in fact, was so foolish as to offend David and throw gasoline on his burning anger. If it wasn’t for Abigail’s discernment all her husband’s household would have been destroyed that day.
Remember, discernment is the ability to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in a rational decision-making process which seeks to apply God’s wisdom to your specific everyday circumstances. As we learned from this powerful illustration from God’s Word, we learn that there is a life-or-death reality to our need to learn how to apply today’s battle drill. Solomon made this urgency clear in how he gave multiple examples to the importance of “giving a discerning answer” in Proverbs 26:17-28:
Like one who takes a dog by the ears is he who passes by and meddles with strife not belonging to him. Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows and death, so is the man who deceives his neighbor, and says, “Was I not joking?” For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down. Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts of the body. Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross are burning lips and a wicked heart. He who hates disguises it with his lips, but he lays up deceit in his heart. When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, For there are seven abominations in his heart. Though his hatred covers itself with guile, His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly. He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him. A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth works ruin.
The urgency of learning how to apply God’s wisdom to our everyday lives in a reflexive, instinctive, and habitual way, no matter the pressure of the situation or the stress you’re under, brings us to the third action step of a good soldier of Jesus.
Action Step #3) Seek the Commander’s approval.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
We must first decide to gather around the Commander, Jesus Christ, and set our ambition on becoming like Him, gentle and humble in heart, before we can do or decide anything else – this is your spiritual service of worship, being transformed into His image through the renewal of your mind. To emphasize how this renewal of the mind process works, I want to emphasize an important teaching on discernment from Proverbs 2:1-9:
My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice, and He preserves the way of His godly ones. Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course. [emphasis added]
When you examine Proverbs 2:1-9, you see that it is one large conditional statement, an “if-then” proposition:
IF you:
- Receive My words (1)
- Treasure My commandments in your person (1)
- Make your ear attentive (2)
- Incline your heart to understanding (2)
- Cry out for discernment (3)
- Lift your voice for understanding (3)
- Seek wisdom as silver (4)
- Search for wisdom as hidden treasure (4)
THEN you will be able to:
- Discern the fear of the LORD (5)
- Discover the knowledge of God (5)
- Discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course (9)
Why is this important? The passage explains that this “if-then” conditional statement holds true in life BECAUSE doing the IF’s puts you in the pathway of God, who:
- Gives wisdom (6)
- Speaks knowledge and understanding (6)
- Stores up sound wisdom for the upright (7)
- Shields (“He is a buckler” in KJV) those who walk in integrity (7)
- Guards the paths of justice (8)
- Preserves the way of His godly ones (8)
This is the logic loop of God’s Word and just like in computer code, a conditional statement determines the path on which you will walk in life. But unlike computers, you have free will – the responsibility to make wise choices and deal with the consequences of your choices. If you stop at a red light, then… If you look both ways before you cross the road, then… There is a rationality to an IF-THEN statement that you can train into your life to live on mission for God.
This battle drill must become instinctive, reflexive, and habitual. You must make learning discernment to make wise decisions a daily habit of your life. Every promise of God comes with this choice – choose obedience, which leads to life, or choose disobedience, which leads to death! These were Moses’ parting words to God’s people before they entered the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 30:19-20:
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.
Either consequence – “life and death, the blessing and the curse” – is a promise of God! That’s why the Commander calls us to learn how to “give discerning answers” as today’s battle drill. This leads us to the final action step of our soldier’s training regimen.
Action Step #4) Live on mission.
We are unified by our commitment to be transformed in Christ’s presence through the work of the Holy Spirit so we can discern and do the will of God as we are guided by the Spirit. We participate in Jesus’ prayer “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done” in our own small corner of the world.[1]
If we are going to be a people who live on mission for God, then we must be a people who “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” as our greatest priority (Matthew 6:33). As we just learned from Proverbs 2:1-9, only by God’s grace can we receive wisdom (6), speak knowledge and understanding (6), store up sound wisdom for the upright (7), shield those who walk in integrity (7), guard the paths of justice (8), or preserve the way of His godly ones (8).
To make any one of these things the purpose in and of itself, is to risk losing focus on God’s mission. That is why we must prioritize our spiritual formation and seek the transformation through the renewal of the mind that only comes by walking closely with God in the easy yoke of Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:28-30; Romans 12:2a). We must be the ones who receive God’s words (1), treasure His commandments in our person (1), make our ear attentive (2), incline our heart to understanding (2), cry out for discernment (3), lift our voice for understanding (3), seek God’s wisdom as silver (4), and search for His wisdom as hidden treasure (4).
When we do this, then we will be able to discern the fear of the Lord (5), discover the knowledge of God (5), and discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course (9). Just as Psalm 119:9 simply teaches, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.” We train discernment by abiding in God, hiding His Word in our hearts, and prioritizing our lives around His mission! The more we invest daily time into the meditation upon and memorization of God’s Word, the more instinctive, reflexive, and habitual it will be to remain on the path of God’s “good and acceptable and perfect” will (Romans 12:2b).
Therefore, today’s battle drill of learning discernment to make wise decisions is you deciding to apply what you have learned from Jesus, doing what He would do in each of your circumstances and difficult situations. You learn to make wise decisions by walking with the One who is the author and finisher of your faith (Hebrews 12:2). This was Jesus’ promise for your life when He first invited you to walk with Him, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17).
It is the Holy Spirit at work in you to bring about God’s will in and through your life as you walk with Jesus, so keep on walking with Him (Philippians 2:12-13). John said in 1 John 2:5-6, “Whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
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Seize the Moment – Day 970
Today’s hymn focus will be
Is He Worthy
Psalm 145:3 (NLT)
“Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness.”
Written and recorded in the spring of 2018 by Andrew Peterson and Ben Shive and later recorded by Chris Tomlin on his album “Holy Roar”, this song came out of a season in their lives after attending a liturgical church. The word ‘liturgy’ literally means “the work of people”, implying a community service, not just listening to the pastor, but calling the people to edify one another by reaffirming what we believe.
Chris Tomlin said “When I heard this song it floored me, immediately tears just started coming over my face. I have not heard a song like that that makes me want to get on my face and worship Jesus.”
Is He worthy? Is He worthy?
Of all blessing and honor and glory
Is He worthy of this? He is
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.
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Is He Worthy
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Seize the Moment – Day 969
Focus on the Heart of the Matter!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, November 11. Happy Veteran’s Day!
Have you ever lost sight of the heart of the matter because you got caught up in the details? It is easy to get so focused on doing something that you forget why it is you started doing it in the first place.
Upon reopening the temple in Jerusalem and consecrating the priests and Levites, King Hezekiah called for a celebration of the Passover. He sent messengers throughout the lands of Israel and Judah, to bring together the remnant of God’s people. He called everyone home for a family reunion at Yahweh’s house. God favored Hezekiah’s efforts because of the purity of his heart to unify His people in right worship. Therefore, as we see in 2 Chronicles 30:18-20, God was willing to forgive and heal His people:
For a multitude of the people, even many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than prescribed. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord pardon everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary.” So the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
This is a powerful example of spiritual leadership. The Assyrian Empire had ravaged Israel and had made Judah its vassal state. After 250 years of civil war, with hatred and animosity between the northern tribes of Israel and the southern tribes of Judah, Hezekiah could have easily justified punishing disobedience to the letter of the law. But he remained focused on the heart of the matter – the healing of God’s people and their unity of worship at the temple (21-27). God was their only hope!
Seize the moment and keep a right perspective as you walk through difficult circumstances and uncertain times – Don’t lose focus on the heart of the matter!
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 968
The Top Priority of Godly Leaders!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, November 10.
When is the last time you responded to a call to worship in your life? It is usually the first thing that happens at the beginning of Christian worship gatherings. A leader stands before the congregation and invites them to participate in the proclamation of their faith through song. It may be simple, but it’s both urgent and important!
Hezekiah inherited the throne of David at the time of the Assyrian Empire’s destruction of the northern tribes of Israel. Judah’s future was being threatened by the dual dangers of foreign powers from the outside and idolatry on the inside. What would be the new king’s first order of business?
King Hezekiah’s top priority was to realign his people with their God by reopening the temple and restoring the priesthood. This strategic decision was reminiscent of King David’s priorities because God intends this to be the top priority of godly leaders – to lead the people in right worship!
Hezekiah’s willingness to act quickly upon his priorities was emphasized in 2 Chronicles 29:3, “In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.” Upon gathering the priests and Levites, he shared his heart with them in verse 10, “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His burning anger may turn away from us.”
This is still the top priority of every godly leader – to invite people to right worship of God! We cannot devalue our worship gatherings as just one of many things we do as His church; in fact, our worship of God is the first order of business of His people. This is your call to worship!
Seize the moment and worship God in truth and spirit as your everyday way of life, and as our top priority as His church (John 4:23-24; Hebrews 10:23-25; Acts 2:42)!
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 967
The Dangers of an Unrestrained Life!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, November 9.
What are the restraints you to choose to put upon yourself and your family to experience God’s best for your lives?
In 2 Chronicles 28:19, the Chronicler captures a nuance that is a necessary component of faithful living, “For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the Lord.” According to a commentator, Ahaz’s “lack of restraint” meant more “to favour licence [sic] rather than true liberty.”[1] It implies negligence and has connotations of unbridling something, like a horse or your tongue – to set it free, to let it go out of control.
As we learned in yesterday’s devotion, Jotham, the father of Ahaz, had a successful kingship because he “ordered his ways before the Lord his God” (2 Chronicles 27:6). Ahaz rejected his father’s faithful life. He closed the temple for right worship and set up altars throughout Jerusalem and high places throughout Judah for the people to worship wherever they wanted (2 Chronicles 28:24-25). Ahaz’s rebellion led Judah into apostasy, which led to God’s justice (16-22).
Don’t let your life get out of control! Jesus’ followers are called to demonstrate restraint, known as self-control, the fruit of the Spirit, which is God’s work in us so we can live in true freedom from sin (Galatians 5:16-25). Self-control is an important ingredient to your health and prosperity; it is necessary for success. We set bedtimes, put boundaries around certain relationships, have work hours and job descriptions, limit our online usage and media consumption, budget our money, and set diets for our eating and drinking. Without restraints, we live in grave danger to lawlessness and licentiousness!
Seize the moment and take on the restraint of the easy yoke of Jesus for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” – your true freedom is to live in submission to Christ (Matthew 11:28-30; Galatians 5:1).
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] Martin J. Selman, 2 Chronicles: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 11, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 502.
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