Beware the Charlatans
Father, I am grateful for Your love and forgiveness, for Your mercy and grace. And those words and the reality of those words are not just concepts to be tossed about. I have experienced them and continue to experience them. I surely don’t deserve it but You day after day lavishly bless me with these things and so much more. Praise Your Holy Name! Amen!
2 Peter 2:1-3 (<<click here)
Lord, another reason that we must be diligent in reading Your word and speaking with – and listening to – You is to assure that we are not led astray. Most definitely those who proclaim Your word are not infallible, we have our struggles, we make mistakes. Because of this, Your people must be discerning. We should pray for and lift up Your servants.
But another reason we should pray for discernment is that for millennia there have been charlatans who have not been driven by desires to further Your Kingdom but instead are all about fulfilling their own agendas of power or prosperity – some, at their core, have as their goal to undermine Your Kingdom. They are all about discrediting Your Church and Your name.
I’m sure some started with their hearts in the right place but those first tastes of power and control moved things from their hearts to their heads. They were in charge. They deserved their portion of the “profits.” They, little by little, came to see themselves living above the Law.
Lord, first of all, may we all be diligent in keeping ourselves true to You – striving to immerse ourselves in the Bible and spending quality time in Your presence. Then may we fervently pray for those who lead us. May we pray for their purity of heart. May we not hesitate to come to them if realignment is necessary for their lives. May we do so in Your love but may we not shy from the responsibility. And Lord, if they will not change may we not hesitate to remove ourselves from their influence of our lives.
Help us to seek Your face and to live pure and holy lives in Your power and strength. Amen.
Mar 17th, Fri, 6:33 am
Chased in My Dreams
This is my day for getting things done, Father. I would ask that You would place Your hand upon my shoulder. Direct my thoughts and actions to what You would have me do. Amen.
I’m not exactly sure what triggers them but quite regularly I have very realistic dreams…and last night was one of those nights. Something I ate may have caused me to dream but I have no idea what caused me to dream what I dreamed.
I guess it could be considered a “horror” type story line in that I was trying to escape from others trying to get me. One scene involved Karen and me in a fairly large, dimly lit room where we were sitting at a table with lots of other people sitting at tables.
Suddenly I jumped up and told Karen that we needed to get out of there. Others in the group were deceptively dressed in white attire and I heard voices saying, “We are dark, we need to get the light!” It was very obvious that they wanted me “dark” and not “light.” And then even more alarming was the fact that Karen was after me, too!
Now, it sounds quite silly but lying in my bed in the darkness of night, I couldn’t shake the feeling of foreboding. And to be honest, I looked over at Karen’s sleeping body more than once. It actually came to the point where I needed to pray about it because that was all I could think about!
Lord, as my fears began to diminish, I began to think of how in reality I am in a contest of sorts where I am a representative of “Light” (You) in a very legitimate battle against the “dark.” I don’t necessarily have people trying to convert me to the dark but my world sure does put forth a lot of effort and many of those things, as I’ve referred to many times, are not “flesh and blood enemies” but we are “fighting against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12
Lord, today and in the days ahead help me. Sometimes I am weak. And even when I am strong, they can still get me. Help me to stand with my hand in Yours. That’s the only place where I am sure to be victorious!
Mar 16th, Thurs, 7:01 am
The Importance of His Word
Father, I may have a general idea of what this day may hold but only You know the specifics. Whatever this day brings may I follow Your lead. May the relationship I have with You show through and may those around me know I am Yours. Amen.
2 Peter 1:16-21 (<<click here)
The Bible…Scripture…Your Holy Word. Lord, has there ever been a time when it has not been a point of contention? There have been so many attempts to discredit it from so many angles. It is not a collection of “clever stories.” It is not a bunch of fables and fairytales. For many, because they feel that parts are unbelievable they discard the entirety as unreliable. Others instead just pick and choose what they will or will not believe and adhere to.
I myself believe in You with all my being and so believe what You have said with the same fervency. Peter very strongly asserts that Your word is undeniable. He experienced You, Lord, first hand and with Peter and James on the mountain heard the Father’s voice proclaim, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” (Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35) He goes on to assert, “Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets.” 2 Peter 1:19a
Your words, Lord, “are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until”…You “the Morning Star shines in [our] hearts.” And Scripture is very clear that we “must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.” vs.19b-21
I love how you bring so many things together to show me the truth of who You are. In my reading of my devotional Our Daily Bread for this day, the closing Insight for this day had this to say,
The truth of God’s intimate care for us is grounded in God’s self-revelation, the Bible. In the Discovery Series booklet, How Can I Know God through His Book? David Egner writes, “Although the Bible was written by men like Moses and Luke and Paul, it is the self-revelation of God. He is the Author behind the authors. And what He says reflects who He is. To know God we have to read His book;…to see Him on every page, above every event, in every place and circumstance, and overseeing the choice of every person who makes his way into the sacred pages of biblical history.”
Lord, may I cherish and honor Your word and live out its precepts every day. Amen
Mar 15th, Wed, 6:57 am
Keep Us Charged
What a blessing it is, Father, to set aside time to be with You. I know that You never leave my side and that You are never more than a thought away from consciences – and I am so grateful for that but there is something very special about setting aside a block of time when I can focus on my relationship with You.
Every day I run here and there, going to and fro in a dark, dark world. Your light, Lord, is ever so bright within me. I do my best to not keep it hidden. I want to let the light you have given me to pierce the darkness about me.
Something we tend to forget is that we are incapable of generating the power we need to sustain our light. We must spend time with You. And it can’t be a hit or miss kind of thing either. One of the many things I sell at work is solar watches. Basically, they never need a new battery but to keep functioning they must be exposed to light on a regular basis. Occasionally someone will bring one in for a new battery because it has stopped working. I’ll ask if it has been kept in a drawer for a while and 99.9% of the time it has. I instruct them to set the watch in a window with direct sunlight and it will recharge in a couple of days.
As followers of You, Lord, we cannot avoid being with You and expect to have the power we need to let our lights shine. And truthfully it needs to be an every day connection. Sunday worship is of vital importance but daily contact is vital, too. Constant exposure to Your power and light keep us charged.
Lord, I am here. Charge me. Empower me. May my light shine forth brightly for You.
Mar 14th, Tues, 6:19 am
Back to the Basics
Good morning, Father. Right at the onset of a new week, I want to have the mindset that I am giving myself over to You. You see the big picture. You know me best and can direct me in the way I should go. When I was in college one of the verses I had on a sticky note posted at my desk was Proverbs 16:9, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” I am so grateful for Your presence in my life.
2 Peter 1:12-15 (<<click here)
In the previous verses, Peter laid out a course of action that we as followers of You, Lord, should be constantly in pursuit. They are the basics of the faith that we have in You. My study Bible once again puts forth a solid application. (It is a Life Application Study Bible after all!)
I am not athletically inclined whatsoever. Those who know me well know this to be the case. I did not participate in athletics growing up and for the most part, I am not one to spend a great deal of time even watching athletics. But I am not totally disconnected from the important role that athletics play in the lives of many individuals. One thing we hear regularly is the fact that to be a good athlete you must always be about the basics. No matter how good you are, you are never too far along to not have to go back to the fundamentals of your particular sport.
As believers, Lord, we “must not neglect the basics of [our] faith, even as [we] go on to study deeper truths. Just as an athlete needs constant practice, Christians need constant reminders of the fundamentals of our faith and of how we came to believe in the first place.”
“Coach” Peter realizes that his time is short and he is determined to make sure his “team” is ready for the “game” ahead – the game we call life. As every good coach knows, in order to have a team that gets the job done, you have to have a team that has a solid foundation of the core disciplines of the game.
Lord, may I be more and more like You. Challenge me. Stretch me. Grow me. But I would ask that You would help me to realize that I am never too far along to not have to go back to the fundamentals of my faith. Amen
Mar 13th, Mon, 5:11 am