HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Vol 2 No 41 THEO'S DEVOS

PSALM 50:1 I don’t need the bulls you sacrifice;

I don’t need the blood of goats.

¹⁴ What I want instead is your true thanks to God;

I want you to fulfill your vows to the Most High.

This week millions of people will gather together for Thanksgiving. They may not know it but, when they do, they will be observing an activity that warms the heart of God. We do a lot of things and often believe that God is happy when we do them. You know like attend church services, sing hymns, pray and other well intended activities. Now don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with doing these things. In fact God is moved when we do. But we must understand that you can do those things and not have a heart that is aligned with God.

Our verse implies that Thanksgiving is a sacrifice but not like the sacrifices we normally think of. A sacrifice is something that costs. It takes effort. God puts a lot of emphasis on thanksgiving throughout the Bible. Have you ever wondered why? The answer to that question is that in order to be thankful you have to have received something. Someone has given you something and you are thanful for it. The fact is that, every day, you receive something from God. The fact that you are breathing right now is because God gave you breath.

This does not mean that you should go through life being thankful simply because you are told to. Have you ever met people who have a simple smile on their face and act thankful when, in your heart, it seems so insincere? Some people are just good actors. They can't paint a smile on ther face and pretend really well. Not does God expect you to be thankful for bad things. He doesn't expect you to say “Oh I am so thankful that my car was totalled last week. And thank God my son ran away from home.” No, that is not the things that God wants us to be thankful for. It isn't those kinds of things that are reasons for thankfulness. However, those kinds of things can reveal a God who cares for us and can strengthen us on the inside in spite of what is going on around us and we can be thankful for that. In the middle of the worst catastrophe there will always be something for which we can be thankful to God..

When we look for reasons to be thanful, no matter what the circumstance, we “ fulfill your vows to the Most High.” You see a vow is something you make freely of your own volition and when you are thankful to God it fulfills a vow to Him. If you have trusted God as your savior, you know in your heart that you are endebted to Him. How do you pay that debt? You can't. The closest you will get to paying Him back is to look for Him in your life and thank Him when you see His fingerprints. Where are they? Open your eyes, look around. He has given you life, friends, family. He loves you more than you can imagine. Thank Him for that love. This Thanksgiving be sure to let someone else know that you are thankful to God for what you have and where you are headed. Someday you will be glad you did. Do you have email? Then send an email to someone special and give them something to be extremely thankful for.

May God bless you and your family this Thanksgiving. I trust it will be an excellent day for you.

Theo

LOOK AROUND

Vol 2 No 47 THEO'S DEVOS

John 1:3 He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make.

Where are you right now? At home? Work? Take a moment and look around you. What do you see? Does it strike you as rather mundane? Just the stuff of life? Or do you see the touch of God? If not, maybe you are not looking close enough. What will you be doing later today? Climbing a mountain? Sitting on a surfboard? Filing reports? Maybe watching football like I will be. In the middle of all this normal life we can easily miss some very important things. You know the old saying that we need to slow down and smell the roses? Well, when you do that, remember who made them. The same one who made all that there is: Jesus.

Our verse for the day, taken in its context, tells us that it was, and is, Jesus who makes everything. You were made by Him and so was the paper clip you will use at some point in your life. Oh, you say that some man made the perperclip. Sorry but that guy simply assembled that paper clip out of the materials that God made. I am told that the scientists all got together one day and decided that, if there was a god, they no longer needed Him. So they assigned one of their own to go to g/God and tell Him that man no longer required Him. The scientist bowed down and said. “God we no longer need you.” Startled he heard a reply: “Fine, if you can make a person out of dirt, I will go away.” The scientist agreed and went outside. When he knelt down to scoop up some dirt he heard the words: “Oh no, get your own dirt.”

That apocryphal tale illuminates the reality that when you swim, you swim in God's water. When you eat, you eat God's food. Not Bhuda's food, the almighty God's food. Not Allah's food, but Jehovah God's food. When you fly, you fly in a plane assembled with material that Jesus provided us. Now look up and see the sky, the clouds. If it is at night the moon and the stars. Jesus made them as well. Get a microscope and delve into the innerwokings of a plant. There is Jesus' handiwork. From the subatomic particle to the universe, Jesus gets the credit for its existence.

So, when you think about it, thank God for the breath you take. He gave the air to you to breathe. It is His way of saying, among many others, “I love you.” Three of the most powerful words in the English language and words that appear in one of the most important verses in, not only the Bible, but in any book ever written. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Yes eternal life. It appears that Jesus is capable of more then mere life. He can give eternal life.

Have you believed in Him? Do you trust that Jesus died on that cross for your sins and mine? If not, why not trust Him right now. Tell Him that you no longer trust in yourself to get you to heaven but that you believe that His death on that cross saved you from your sin and that, when He rose from the grave that He proved His power over death. Believe in your risen Lord and it will change your life and fill you with His presence. May God bless you all.

Theo

THE KING'S HEART

Vol 2 No 46 THEO'S DEVOS

Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the LORD; he turns it wherever he pleases.

Last week was certainly an historic one. This last presidential campaign was probably the most important one in the last several. The outcome has put Americans into two distinct groups that seem slightly different in makeup this time around.

 

On the one hand you have a large group of people who act as though the Messiah has arrived. Did you see the Obama supporter who said she was so happy because Barack was going to pay for her mortgage and car. Hollywood got what they thought they wanted and I saw a letter from Michael Moore stating that "...today we celebrate this triumph of decency over personal attack, of peace over war, of intelligence over a belief that Adam and Eve rode around on dinosaurs just 6,000 years ago. What will it be like to have a smart president? Science, banished for eight years, will return. Imagine supporting our country's greatest minds as they seek to cure illness, discover new forms of energy, and work to save the planet. I know, pinch me."

 

On the other hand you have a group of people who believe that we are on the verge of socialism, if not Marxism. That Obama will surround himself with the most liberal of the Washington elite and take this country down the road to financial ruin. They see Russia putting missils in Eastern Europe as a test of the new presidency and fear that we will embolden our enemies because they see us as having gotten weaker militarily overnight.

 

So what are we to believe and what are we to do? Do you find yourself in one of these camps? If so what does that say about the placement of your faith? We know from the scriptures that when God wants to punish a country, He gives them bad leaders. Is that what just happened? Or has He given us a new perspective on govering and that what was termed 'redistibution of wealth' is really an opportunity for those who have to help those who do not. Are higher taxes patriotism and if you don't like higher taxes, is that selfishness?

 

I don't know the answer to those questions and that is one of the many reasons I have never thought to enter politics. There was enough of that in the churches that I served. I am happy to not be a part of the political scene. What I do know is stated in our verses for this week. We are not called to put our faith in guns and swords. We must never think that, as wonderful as this country is, it is the final solution to our problems. Do you know what the best form of government is? The Bible tells us that the best form of government is a dictatorship. That's right. Now don't start sending requests to unsubsbribe just yet. When God sets up the Milennial kingdom, assuming you belirve that He will, do you know what kind of government that will be? It will be a dictatorship with God as the benevolent dictator. Christianity is not a democracy. Democracies are crucial whenever you have humen beings in control Checks and balances are required to stop our depravity from becoming a terminal operating system.

 

Listen, no matter what you think of the election, God is still in control. Only time will tell whether Barack Hussein Obamam was a good choice or a bad one. God is blessing those who love Him in the worst places on earth and He will continue to bless and guide those who trust Him here. I hope and pray that Mr Obama turns out to be a great president. But, one way or another, I know that God will keep us in the center of His will. So don't put your faith in a government. Keep your faith in God and understand that there is no need to worry and no cause to gloat.

 

Our God reagns. He reigns in my heart and yours. May He bless you and keep you and may you follow Him no matter what the cost.

 

Theo

Honesty Before God

Vol 2 No 45 THEO'S DEVOS 110608

1 John 1:8-10 If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. ⁹But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

Sin is a difficult concept is a few ways. Someone has said that sin is simply stupid. If we sin it is almost always to get what we want without God. To do that is to act in a way that is just plain stupid. God wants what is best for us and is in position to give it to us but we, like many characters in the Bible, try to take shortcuts to the goal and often end up short. We may then start to justify our actions by stating that what we did was really not a sin at all. It just didn't work and we have learned from it. However to try and dodge the obvious, John tells us, is to fool ourselves. Confessing our sin brings about cleansing and that heals a broken relationship with God. It frees Him to open blessings to us.

Note that verse nine says that He can cleanse us “from every wrong.” This cannot mean that we become sinless because right after saying those words he goes on to say that claiming to have not sinned calls God a liar. So what are we to do? It is clear that we are not supposed to sin. And yet it is apparent that we cannot avoid it. This is the great dilemma of human existence that can only be rectified by the entrance into heaven at the end of life. Until then we struggle with the sin problem and must be sure to heed the guidance of 1:9. We must be quick to confess our sin, or sins, to God so that he can cleanse us. The forgiveness has already occurred. “To forgive” is an aorist verb and indicates that upon confession of sin, they are forgiven; once for all. We do not confess to get forgiven over and over again. We confess because the words “to cleanse” is a present perfect and indicates that we must confess over and over in order to keep up to date and so the cleansing continues.

Note that, in these verses we are not told to confess to some person granted the power to forgive. We confess directly to God. None of the gifts of the spirit are given to grant forgiveness of sin. That lies in the hands of God. Asking forgiveness of a person when you have harmed them may be necessary and, in that case, it is in the hands of the person wronged to forgive but that is so human relationships can be healed. In those circumstances it is best if we offer forgiveness whether or not it is asked. To not forgive someone is to allow the lack of forgiveness to dwell in our hearts and minds like a social cancer, eating away at us and causing us to harbor sin in our hearts.

To try and justify what is sin is to call God a liar and that, my friend, is a dangerous thing to do. It certainly does not endear us to Him nor does it make the thing done anything less than sin. It falls into the 'lipstick and pigs' realm. Listen, God knows your actions and your thoughts. There is no advantage to pretend that something you have done was not a sin when you know that it was. Live your life open before your God. Talk to Him and confess those things that you know are sin. The fact is that you will do things that are sin and you may not even realize that you have done them. In those cases the Holy Spirit will talk to God on your behalf. Jesus will defend your case and you will stand 'in Christ.'

Sin is an important thing to avoid but since it cannot be totally avoided, be sure to keep in touch with God and confess those things that you know He wants you to. You may not be perfect but you can be heading in that direction. Please remember something we noted a while ago and will mention again. God loves you just the way you are but He loves you too much to let you stay that way. Confessing your sins to Him allows Him to help you progress along the path of Christian growth.

I am praying for you and asking God to fulfill your hopes and dreams. May you place a blessing in your life today.

Theo

Spare His Life

Vol 2 No 44 THEO'S DEVOS

Job 2:4-6 Satan replied to the LORD, “Skin for skin—he blesses you only because you bless him. A man will give up everything he has to save his life. ⁵But take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!”

⁶“All right, do with him as you please,” the LORD said to Satan. “But spare his life.”

I have always been fascinated by the book of Job, the oldest book in the Bible. It amazes me that a nomad, riding on a camel, in the middle of the desert would write such mind blowing words. It is one of the proofs that scripture was not written by man but by God. Some of the statements written therein would have been impossible for a human to write and we will look at them at another time. For now let us take comfort in this amazing passage. To put these words in their context, something I always do, you need to read Job 2:1-8. We have looked at this before. It is the awesome confrontation between Satan and God where God makes a divine wager, a bet, with Satan and one human is the target with many others suffering collateral damage.

You know the story. It is one of the most well known in the Holy Book. The aspect of this story that I am interested in has comforted me throughout my life. It is a statement about the sovreignty of God that has made some people think that I knew no fear at times. I have always been thanful to God for these verses. They have brought me great courage and I hope they do you as well. What I am going to write here does not mean that we will be safe from danger. Far from it. But, in the middle of danger, we will find the courage that we need in order to face anything. It is where the martrys of old got the strength to face lions in an ampetheater and go to their death as a testimony to God. It is where missionaries have gotten the boldness to serve God under any and all circumstances. It is where you will find the courage to live your life no matter what gets thrown at you.

Satan wanted to go after Job. He hated Job as he hates all who worship the true God. When Saten says “But take away his health.” he is asking to for access to Job himself. Not just his possessions but his humanity. Up until now God has allowed Satan to take things away from Job that meant everything to him. But now God is allowing Job to move in closer. To attack him physically. “All right, do with him as you please,” Now those are harsh words but there is something extremely important about them. God goes on to say “But spare his life.” Let's think about this for a minute.

We already know that there is a war going on behind the physical scene. This story is at the heart of that war. We also know that humnakind is the battlefield and that there are two classes of humans in the war. Those who trust God and those who do not. Those who trust God have shown it by accepting the truth about Jesus and have accepted Him as their personal savior. Those who do not may say that they do all day long, but prove that they do not by rejecting the offer of salvation that God has provided. We see in these verses that even Satan must bow to God's sovreignty and cannot do whatever he wants. This tell us that when things happen, they must pass through the sovreign will of God whether by His decision or permission. Either way it is by His divine plan that things happen and not simply happenstance.

When I was in the US Army Security Agency, I worked for the National Security Agency and had no idea, at the time, just how secrective that organization was. It hasn't been until the last several years that their activities have come to light. When I think about how people argue over politics these days I often have to smile because I know how little we really know about what is going on behind the scenes. What I do know is that the US government is not in as control as it thinks it is and qutie often our plans do not work out like we thought they would. This is why we can only guess about the final outcome in Iraq or what the Wall Street bailout will accomplish. We humans are simply not in control but God is. He knows the end from the begginning. He is the sovreign Lord and we can trust Him.

Since nothing happens without His knowledge, and permission, we can know that if we place our faith in Him all will work out as He plans and that will, in the end, be the best. Remember what I wrote in the begginning of this devo. ' What I am going to write here does not mean that we will be safe from danger.' No we may face danger and we may be hurt or even die but after everything has been said and done, we will find that we have had the awesome opportunity to be a part of God's plan and, as I have said so many times before: you will only be in heaven for less than a minute and all of this will fade away into obscurity. You will never regret serving God and, in fact, you can know that nothing threatens you unless it gets His permission and, if it does, you can face it without fear.

What are you afraid of today? Are you honestly trusting God? If you are'nt then you have a right to be afraid. Fearing God is a healthy thing and I don't mean having an awe of Him. I mean being afraid. His is not a God to mess with. He let His son die for you. But if you do trust Him then have no fear. He is in control. Even Satan has to answer to Him. You are in good hands with God.

May He bless you today. He loves you and so do I . I am asking Him to give you a blessing. Let me know if I can pray for you in any way.

Theo

TO DO GOOD WORKS

Vol 2 No 43 THEO'S DEVOS

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

There is a common misconception in this world that going to heaven depends on our 'good works.' That, when we die, God puts everything we have done on some kind of balance beam and if our good works outweigh our bad works we get in but, if not, we stay out. Notice that our verse today places an importance on good works but it puts them in their proper place. If going to heaven was dependent on our good works, how many works would that be? Could we ever know how we stood before Him. Now many would tell us that you cannot know but John tells us, in his first letter, that 'I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:13. John clearly places the issue on where our faith is and not on works.

But what about works. Surely they have an important place in the life of a Christian. Our verse tells us that good works are the result of saving faith. That saving faith produces these good works. It is in this light that Paul calls us 'His masterpiece.' He does that because the word workmanship is a word poem. God is putting Himself on display through the lives of Christians. We are His workmanship, His poem of wonder before a lost and dying world. A masterpiece also brings to mind a painting. God is painting a masterpiece in order to show how wonderful He is. It is our good works that should be that display; Our compassion, love, devotion and kindness, among many other descriptive words, displays His incredible character and love.

And notice something very important here. He has 'planned these things for us a long time ago.' If you look carefully, you will find many times in your life when opportunities for these kind of good works are laid before you in such a way that you almost trip over them. We do not always take advantage of them but they are there nonetheless. Every time there is an opportunity to serve in some way: in the church or community, we have a chance to demonstrate good works. We can, in the name of Jesus, do good things for others. Senseless acts of beauty and random acts of kindness display parts of the masterpiece that God is revealing to the world.

I have seen missionaries all over the world give their lives to demonstrate God's love. I was amazed at the dedication I saw while visiting India. People from other cultures gave up all they had to go and live with the people of Calcutta, and other Indian cities, because they wanted to show the love of God to those who lived there. We have not been as good at this as we could have. Sin in our lives gets in the way, to be sure, but sin does not stop us from doing our part. We are His masterpiece and we must live like that.

Do you look for those times when you can show your appreciation for what God has done in your life by performing good works in His name. If you pay attention, you will see lots of them. They have been planned for you for a long time. They lie in wait for you to act. God walks by your side to encourage you in this direction. It is the reason you live. To be the expression of Jesus to those around you and to share His love by telling them about the good news of the gospel.

My prayer for you is that you discover more and more times to display God's good works today, tomorrow and the next day for as long as you live. May God bless you.

Theo

God Is Enough

Vol 2 No 41 THEO'S DEVOS

Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.”

I don't know about you but I have come to a conclusion about my life. I have not always made the best decisions and have a hard time trusting my instincts. Now many of you may not have that problem but I would bet that most of you would admit that all of your decisions in life have not been the best. It is those times when you have made a less than the best decision that you wish you could go back and get a second shot. That is the problem with being human. We rarely have all the information we need when making life decisions but they have to be made anyway. Someone in the marital counseling field made quoted an unhappily married woman: “I married an ideal, I got an ordeal and now I want a new deal.” There are way too many people who feel that way but marriage is just one of the decisions that have to be made before we know exactly what we are getting into.

Abram had learned that by the time this verse was written. He knew that he was not the best at making decisions when God spoke to him and revealed an important aspect belonging to God alone. He told Abram that He was “ God Almighty.” El Shaddai which means: 'the God who is sufficient.' What that boils down to is that God is enough. You really don't need anything more when you have God. God is sufficient in all areas of your life but you may not have been living as though that were the truth. You may have been making decisions, for instance, without even consulting Him. This is one of our major malfunctions. We say we are Christians. We believe all the right things but we often live as though we were atheists. We live as though God had no real interest in us and must not think that He acts in our lives. So why pray? Why include God? Isn't that sort of like talking to ourselves? Well Abram may have lived like that for some time but by the time Genesis 17 was written he was ready to learn a crucial fact about his God.

This is the kind of thing that the Bible can teach us and that we need to learn as soon as possible. The Pennsylvania dutch say that we are “Too soon old and too late smart.” That is true across the board but it is tragic in the life of a Christian. Wouldn't it have been great if we all had put to practice things we learned from the Bible the minute we learned them? Well it isn't too late as long as you are breathing. Understand that God has given you a mind and wants you to use it but He doesn't want you to trust it without considering Him and His plan for your life. God is sufficient for you. He is enough. You can trust Him and you will never regret talking to Him and following His guidance. He wants the best for you and you have not always given the best to yourself.

So what happens when you finally realize that God is enough for your life. You will serve Him faithfully and you will live a blameless life. Does that mean that you will be perfect? Well that would be nice but it isn't going to happen as long as you are alive. John tells us that 'if we say we are without sin, we are lying.' So what does it mean then? The base meaning of the word blameless, or perfect as some translations put it, is 'wholehearted.' Live wholeheartedly. Put you whole heart into what you are doing. Don't live a half hearted life. Whatever you do, do it all out. Oftentimes sin creeps in when we are living as though our lives don't mean much so it doesn't matter how we live. This is not true. Our lives have meaning that impacts eternity. What you do in this life has an effect on eternity. You are being prepared for an eternal life with God. Live each day as though it counted for something beyond yourself. Serve a greater goal than the mundane. Walk with God and let Him be your guide.

El Shaddai walks with you. Every day. All the time. He loves you. He will never let you down. He cares about your life and loves it when you talk to Him. May you be greatly blessed by the All Sufficient One today. I am praying for you to that extent. God bless you.

Theo