Devotion.al

Tag: Holy Spirit

  • Aiming to Change

    Aiming to Change

    Psalm 30; Lamentations 2:1–12; 2 Corinthians 8:1–7

    The implication of today’s reading in Lamentations is that this came suddenly, or that all the preparations were annihilated. The sad reality is that sometimes things that came “suddenly” were actually quite predictable. God sent multiple prophets. Before the Israelites even entered the Promised Land, Moses had warned them. It shouldn’t have been a surprise.

    We can look around us and see plenty of people who follow this same pattern. Whether they make bad relationship decisions, money decisions, career decisions, education decisions, or something else, they continue to make the same mistake and wonder what went wrong.

    God wasn’t upset with the Israelites for making mistakes or even wandering away, except that they continued to do it until it became the lifestyle.

    God knows that we all will make mistakes. That’s part of the current condition. That wasn’t supposed to be, but we chose (and choose) to go our own way.

    We are embraced, , adopted, and as we are. We aren’t supposed to stay that way. The world understands this Truth. If you were to actually visit a bookstore (yes, they still exist) or look at the slate of newly published books, the biggest movers and often the greatest number of published titles are all “self-help”. The world knows that we are to improve and grow. We are not to stay the same.

    Despite that, when the (or the -following community) us to account to change, we push back. We say, “no” or “God made me this way.” And before you think (too late, I’m sure) that “they” should know that too (“they” being whomever many progressive or conservative Christians oppose), it isn’t about “them” or “they”, it is about us.

    Paul calls on the Corinthians to be “the best” in regard to , speech, , commitment (there’s a really hard one these days), and love (okay, maybe this one’s harder). The best. Not okay. Not good. Not satisfactory. The best.

    We don’t start out as “the best”. As individuals, we may never be “the best” at any or all. Collectively, as the church, we have the potential to be “the best” at them all, but only if we are willing to be changed and work in partnership with the Holy Spirit and our fellow believers.

    ※Reflection※

    • What struck you about the passage in Lamentations? Do you see yourself or your circumstances anywhere?
    • What areas of your life have you had the greatest struggle surrendering to Jesus? What areas of your life do you think need the greatest amount of change to be in line with the character and nature of Jesus Christ?
    • “The best” is a high mark. Why should we aim at a mark we probably will never hit? How do we keep from being discouraged when we miss?

    ※Prayer※

    As we seek to do your will, may we be transformed. As we pursue holiness, may we not be discouraged. As we fail and err, may we recognized that it is you who picks us back up. Amen.

  • The Fruit We Yield

    The Fruit We Yield

    Psalm 52; Jeremiah 22:1–9; Luke 6:43–45

    Have you ever been somewhere with a beautiful bowl filled with fruit, then picked up a piece of fruit, and realized that it was fake? It looks pretty and improves the ambiance, but beyond that, it is useless for .

    Christians have a discrepancy (okay, we have many). We understand the “heart” of following Jesus. We also have a general understanding that we cannot earn our way into Heaven (i.e., “works righteousness).

    Yet, here we are stuck in words of actions. There is the reality that actions can form us. This is why the ancient focused so much on disciplines of behavior (bible reading, confession, etc), not because they, in and of themselves, reformed us, but so that the pattern of lives became set. Through that setting, we are more ready and willing to let the Holy transform us.

    Despite those intentions—we see this in Jewish and traditions—the rules intended to guide the heart became rules to follow. By following the rules, people were able to appear transformed, but their hearts were anything but.

    Jeremiah’s to live a just continues from yesterday’s (Jeremiah 21:11–14). The battle being waged upon the hearts of Judah is about living life versus following rules. When we only follow rules, rather than live, we are only going to die unfulfilled (Romans 7:5, Romans 8:2). We also will be no better than the fake fruit in the bowl.

    When Jesus talks about “good” fruit—kalos—there is actually a play on words that our translations miss and thus we do not connect other phrasings. Kalos (the Anglicization of καλός) has a focus on the outward appearance, which is similar to Jesus’ accusation of the teachers and Pharisees about being whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:27). At the same time, there is also the implied meaning that there is still some use for the fruit despite the focus on outward appearance. A lot of big supermarkets have buyers who view the outside of the fruit, because they know what will sell at the market, and it is pretty fruit. That doesn’t mean that the fruit is necessarily really tasty, nor does that mean that there are not hidden issues. You, too, may have experienced buying a “nice to look at” piece of fruit, and then found something less than appealing after a bite or two.

    We have to be careful when we draw too much on the good/bad dichotomy as (for example) good fruit goes rotten, too (thus becoming bad). The agricultural aspect of the “bad” fruit is more along the lines of being grown from a seedling (or volunteer) rather than controlled grafting.

    The fruit from such trees is often inedible and so good for nothing but fertilizer. These trees will always produce fruit that is not edible. There is nothing to be done about it. A good tree will not always produce good fruit. The bad tree will always produce bad fruit.

    Another way to think of this is ornamental fruit trees. They are beautiful. Their fruit is often beautiful to look at (weeping cherry comes to mind). The fruit, though, is not good, nor is there much fruit to go with the seed and skin. The tree is good as an ornament. It is not good for providing life- food.

    ※Reflection※

    • What challenges you regarding good fruit and good trees versus bad fruit and bad trees?
    • How is the appearance of good fruit similar to a whitewashed tomb? How is it different?
    • How does living a strictly law-abiding life lead to “death” (as Paul calls it)? On the other hand, how can it lead to life?

    ※Prayer※

    , only you can transform us from bad trees to good. We you permission and we ask for your aid to become good trees producing good fruit beyond measure. Amen.

  • Changing Diapers

    Changing Diapers

    Psalm 74; Isaiah 26:16–27:1; Luke 11:14–28

    When Joni (my wife) was pregnant with our first (to be born) child, we had an odd conversation with another couple. They told us (almost mockingly) that soon our conversation would change to include the color and consistency of our child’s poop. We chuckled. That was ridiculous. Who would talk about poop so much that a couple would bring that up? A few months after our first was born, we had to laugh at ourselves when we realized that was exactly what had happened.

    Before our first was born, we could read lots of books and received lots of advice. Nothing prepared us for being a parent. Conversing about poop was only a minor change. A weird one, definitely, but only a minor one.

    For those of us on the other side of pregnancy, we tend to forget what we were like before it. When Isaiah talks about pregnancy and childbirth, we envision that, but we neglect the before. Just like we could never imagine talking about baby poop as a topic of conversation, we couldn’t understand the life change of having a child…until it happened.

    The same really can be said of Israel. They didn’t understand. There were a few who got it, but they were (it seems) very few indeed: Moses, Joshua (mostly), maybe a couple of judges (though most were a mess), Samuel, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the other prophets (major and minor). To round up, that’s maybe 30 over 1500-ish years. Granted, these are the ones about. So, if we round up even more to 300 people, every 5 years of Israel’s history (prior to ), a single person gets it.

    Before someone proverbially smacks me, most of the Israelites are followers (and, yes, the numbers are hyperbole). They followed where the leaders led (sometimes). Sounds kind of like us.

    So, when we get to Jesus, we get the and questioning and just flat out not believing. Yes, we think we would better to Jesus than “those” people obviously did. Except, we are on the other side of the pregnancy.

    We have the Spirit. For us, looking back we see where God was moving. The Jews to this day also see where God was moving, as do the Muslims. We, however, see Jesus. That is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    That is the gift that people pre-Pentecost didn’t have (even the disciples). It is the gift of those who know Jesus or who have responded to the nudging of the Holy Spirit through prevenient (that which goes before salvation) grace.

    Being aware and recalling what we were like before knowing Jesus through the Holy Spirit will help us reach the world. There is a caveat to this. For those who knew Jesus as a child, this may be very hard, unless there was a significant spiritual crisis of some sort in later years (based on my witness of this). So, if you don’t know the pre-pregnancy (i.e., pre-Holy Spirit) life, that’s okay. God will still use your life and story to reach others.

    Many people will question our , not because it is unbelievable (though many will use that word), but because the Holy Spirit has not been ignited in them. We are to that almost all of humanity was like that. We were no different. We give them grace and in this, for God did the same for us.

    ※Reflection※

    If you were a teen or adult when you came to know Jesus, what life like before then? If you were a child when you came to know Jesus, what spiritual “desert” or “wilderness” did you experience that transformed your faith into something greater?

    ※Prayer※

    Holy Spirit, help us to recall what transformed our with God through you so that we are able to translate that into the lives of those yet unsaved. Amen.

  • Skies and Hearts Aflame

    Skies and Hearts Aflame

    Psalm 74; 1 Kings 18:17–40; Revelation 20:7–15

    Being made a fool of for Christ is something that Christians have had to deal with through the ages. Whether it’s because of beliefs and practices that go against the norm, or the reality that Christians are just as fallen as the rest of humanity. There is, however, the question of making a fool of Christ by our actions. Bluntly, do you have the of Elijah?

    Do you have the , resolve, and faith to believe that God will down fires from Heaven to burn up an offering? You could quickly dissemble this question by saying, we don’t do sacrifices anymore. Except, that isn’t the point.

    We say things such as, “lighting strike me…” or “…catch on fire…” (literally, not spiritually) when we say or do things against God. We don’t really believe it, though. If we did, then being more like Elijah would actually be possible.

    However, we often mock people as Elijah did. Yes, there is a contextual part to Elijah’s mocking, but there often isn’t for us. We just try to make people beneath us by our responses.

    Often we view ourselves as the ones that are suffering the wrath of Gog and Magog, when in fact we are the ones acting like it. We think we are like Elijah, when in fact we are the priests of Baal.

    Just so we’re clear, I put myself in that same place. I recognize my own tendencies and failures. I recognize when I put on the clothes of , but behave in ways that are unrighteous.

    We have two paths before us. We can be Elijah, or we can be those deceived (Gog and Magog) and/or destroyed.

    Elijah did have a unique with God, and a unique responsibility given to him by God. We cannot, theoretically, call down fires from Heaven. God does not seem to work that way anymore. This also doesn’t mean that God won’t. God does work in many ways far more mysterious and wonderful (think of the ).

    Calling upon God for healing of people, hearts, and nations will more than a few hearts for a short time (the Israelites, unsurprisingly, returned to their old ways). We are indeed to be this era’s Elijah. Instead of the fire of worship (which is really what Elijah called for), we are called to bring the fire of the to first purify ourselves, then through the furnace of love, bring the fire of God into the lives of others…not to burn them.

    ※Reflection※

    • What other responses do you have to the story of Elijah? Where else do you see yourself in it?
    • What are your thoughts regarding the fiery lake in Revelation? How does that fire contrast (if it does) to the fire of Elijah?

    ※※

    Lord, you have refined us through the fire of the Holy Spirit. Help us to carry that refinement into our lives and into the world. Amen.

  • Sighting Evil

    Sighting Evil

    Psalm 74; 1 Samuel 16:14–23; Revelation 20:1–6

    Evil spirits or the “spirit of evil” has a in human culture throughout the ages. Even for those who have no deistic belief, there is an understanding that something is completely evil.

    There was nothing positive about the Holocaust. In fact, most people would state that the men and women (for there were both) who created and perpetuated it were evil. There seems to be no question that there was a “spirit of evil” when it came to the Holocaust. The primary spirit of evil took the form of the other. Jews were the others (along with gypsies, we often ignore). Jews were blamed for the punitive consequences of World War I, which destroyed the German economy and culture (in some ways). This allowed a person such as Adolf Hitler to become the leader.

    However, the take on Hitler, as hard as it is, was that there was a possibility of for him (along with all the others). How one could, on earth, beyond what he led takes more than I could comprehend. The spirit of evil takes on many forms. Some of them seem benign. Some of them being obviously harmful. Christians over many years have argued over what makes something evil, or if something is indeed evil. A number of changes in American culture and law in the last few decades have certainly been at the fore.

    The spirit of evil that Saul had sounds similar to a split personality. In many places, we read that Saul cared for, respected, and relied upon David. Yet, Saul would try to kill David in many ways, including by chasing him down with an army. The divergence of thinking certainly sounds like modern mental illness. Which leads us back to evil. If someone is mentally ill, is it a spirit of evil or is it something else?

    Whatever guise or seeming, until all is over and we are at the throne of God, we will be dealing with a spirit of evil (or many spirits). While the Book of Revelation tells us the end (though God’s victory doesn’t really come as a surprise), what it means that evil is bound for a thousand years, but will have to be released for a time after that is beyond us. We can guess, but it would only be a guess.

    This not a suggestion for fatalism. If we believe that God is good, died for us, and that we have the in us, then evil’s presence is not pre-determined to lead to evil. It is our own thoughts and actions. Our actions, though, cannot be limited to our circle, but must also be part of our community.

    ※※

    • What do you think the difference is between evil, , and mistakes? How might understanding these 3 things adjust our interactions with the world?
    • When was the last time you used “evil” in ? Was the context actually that of evil, or was it something different? If it was evil, what made it so? If it wasn’t truly evil, what might have been a better way to phrase it?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, help us to guard our hearts against evil. Help us to understand your view of evil and to be those that bring upon it. Amen.

  • Getting Down

    Getting Down

    Psalm 130; Deuteronomy 1:34–40; 2 Corinthians 5:1–5

    If you’ve ever purchased a home using a loan, you usually had to come up with some sort of down payment. At least near me, a 10% down payment may be $70K or more. Part of that, of course, is the exceedingly high price of houses (and the prices continue to climb). The other part is the bank.

    The down payment exists to show that you have—so to speak—skin in the game. The bank is making money from the loan, yes, but that is also based upon your ability to actually pay off the loan. A loan that cannot be paid back is not really worthwhile, and often even when left with a valuable house from a loan default, the bank will still likely lose money.

    Down payments are usually from the borrower to the lien-holder. Yet, the use the down payment concept in reverse. God is making the down payment. Even in Deuteronomy, the concept is there. It’s buried in the reality that God would “hold onto” the inheritance of the Promised Land until the Israelites that were children could into their inheritance.

    calls the Holy a down payment. God is a down payment. It sounds strange, that’s for sure. However, if we think along the lines of God on the cross for our sins (i.e., ), is the that far out of line?

    ※Reflection※

    • What is the Holy Spirit a down payment for?
    • How does this down payment work in our lives right now?
    • Why does God holding onto the Promised Land for the generation imply to you about your ?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, grant us the ability to see what you have done and what you do for us. Help us to be fully enabled aides to your here on earth. Amen.

  • Worship Even Here

    Worship Even Here

    Psalm 20; Numbers 9:15–23; Revelation 4:1–8

    Trusting God is hard. Trusting that all things work for good is hard. How can COVID be good? How can a bad economy be good? How can not being able to be with our ones be good? A lot of this hasn’t been good.

    For the psalmist, that isn’t the question. For the psalmist, it is that God hears, , and remembers. This doesn’t mean that everything will be easy going . It means that God is with you.

    Assuming that this by or about David, note that there really isn’t a mention of rescue. Not really. David had experienced many hard times (some as a consequence of his own actions). God didn’t spare him hard times. God was with David and responded to David in the hard times. Much of this would seem to come from David’s rhythm of worship and with God. From what we can gather (which is, granted, limited), David had a regular practice of seeking God.

    The pattern that the Israelites had wandering in the wilderness was different. Most of us cannot imagine being wanderers, whether the Bedouins of the Arabian Peninsula or the homeless around the corner. The Israelites had a wandering pattern for 40 years.

    The pattern wasn’t fully predictable. For those of you have traveled with children, or been in the military, the ability to gather everyone and their stuff in a short amount of time is trying. Imagine trying to do that every day. Most nomadic cultures about seasonally, but the imply that more than once they got settled down for the night, and had to pack the next day.

    During pauses between travel time, the Tabernacle (or The Tent of Meeting) would be assembled, and worship would begin. While we can read the takedown and set up, what we miss is the worship that goes along with it. The cloud was the presence of God. We can assume that on the Sabbath that they would not travel (it’s a safe , at least).

    While this seems strange to us—especially for those that worship at the same building week after week—we can read in Revelation worship that is beyond our comprehension. 24 people praising God day and night, and saying the same thing. While this is really a vision, thus not necessarily exactly how it will work, the difference between the Israelites wandering and the people praising would seem to be stark.

    It is. It is, that is, only if you focus on the how. Worship of God is not limited to a building one day a week. Communion with God is not necessarily in that perfect time. Both can happen at any time. We just need to be looking for it.

    ※Reflection※

    • What do you think these different visions of worship and rhythms tell us about God?
    • What do you think these different visions of worship and life rhythms tell us about ourselves?
    • Do any of these cause to reflect on any changes that are possible for you worship rhythms?

    ※Prayer※

    , guide the worship rhythm’s of our hearts. Help us to find ways and places to worship God in the face of all circumstances. Amen.

  • Unity of Three

    Unity of Three

    Isaiah 6:1–8; Psalm 29; Romans 8:12–17; John 3:1–17

    In the current , the concept of the Trinity has been attempted to be explained by books such as “The Shack” (which acknowledges itself as an allegory and not as doctrine, a key to those who decry it), or an egg (shell, white, yolk), water (which, under special circumstances, can exist as solid, liquid, and gas at the same time).

    In older ages, the three-leaf clover, the sun (sun, light, heat), and the Triquetra and triples circles (the symbol on the featured image) were used in an attempt to explain the Trinity. All of these are allegorical (whether current or older). While, if used wrongly, they may lead to false theology, there is no adequate way to really describe the Trinity.

    The Athanasian Creed is an attempt to define the Trinity, but honestly is a theologian’s way to describe and cover all the bases and is really (overly) complicated. It is traditional in liturgical churches to read it today, as today is Trinity Sunday. It is long, so I will not include it in the devotion itself (you can read it here). While it is complicated, it is essential. Even in its complication and desire to cover the entirety of the Trinity, it cannot explain the Trinity fully.

    The reality is that the Trinity is indeed one of the hardest things to understand, and on this side of life barring perhaps someone at the theoretical physics level and higher plane theological level (there’s an interesting combination), none of us will fully get it. It is truly a matter of faith.

    It is also an important one. If you have been baptized, the baptizer should have said, “I baptize you in the of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Though in some churches they may eschew “the Father” for “the Mother” (which is an issue, but probably not one that is salvational, though that is up for discussion), or use “God” (which is definitely an issue, as Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God), the Trinitarian form is still followed.

    Much of the theology of the church (and thus orthodox Christianity) is built upon the Trinity. We can see glimpses of the Trinity in the , but it is (when we’re honest) threads woven through the tapestry of Creation and the Scriptures that we, as humans, try to codify and define in our constant attempt to understand God, Creation, and ourselves.

    Even devotionals (like today) get stuck in theology when talking about the Trinity, for we just want to understand.

    ※Reflection※

    • How would you explain the Trinity to ?
    • How do you explain to yourself, or understand for yourself, the Trinity?
    • Why do you think it could be an important part of your faith?

    ※Prayer※

    Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the of the Trinity, and in the of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. —Book of Common , 2019