Monday, September 20, 2010

Weekly Devotion - "NO COMPROMISE" - September 20, 2010

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego

Daniel 3:17-18

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego didn’t just feed the fire they walked in it. Their lives were marked by no compromise. Even though their Hebrew names were changed to Babylonian ones to assimilate them to the culture, they remained true to God alone. They rejected defiling food and wine from the king’s table for vegetables and water, and even when given a second chance to bow to the image of gold, they chose to be bound and thrown into a blazing furnace.

The church in Pergamum, one of the seven churches in the book of Revelation, knew the pressure to compromise. Their sophisticated city was center to four idolatrous cults: Zeus, Dionysius, Asclepius, and Athene. John called the city where they lived “where Satan has his throne” (Revelation 2:13).
Although Antipas, one of the faithful from their church who was martyred, did not compromise, there were those in the church who were and Jesus held it against them. You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolatians. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth (Revelation 2:14-16).
When Anne Graham Lotz visited the ruins of the old city she said the ancient church was attached to a pagan temple! She wrote, “Instead of making an impact on the world, the world made an impact on the church. [The church of Pergamum] became irrelevant, powerless, and, in the end, nonexistent.”
The Encarta World English Dictionary defines compromise as “a settlement of a dispute in which two or more sides agree to accept less than they originally wanted.” When living as aliens and strangers in this world (1 Peter 2:11), disputes will arise. God’s Word tells us if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone (Romans 12:18).
But peace must not trump godly living! Being tolerant and opened minded must not trump radical, wholehearted love and obedience to God alone.
The church of Pergamum chose compromise and their church’s building addition was a pagan temple. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego chose no compromise and when they were thrown in the fire, the Most High God walked with them” (Daniel 3:25).
PASSION Step: Identify places in your life that you’ve chosen to compromise. Repent and return to God.
If all church members were like you, would the church be more like the world?
Or, would the church be more powerful in its witness – making an impact on
our generation for the kingdom of God?

Anne Graham Lotz

Weekly Devotion - "FIRE IN MY BONES" - September 13, 2010

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager


But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.
Jeremiah 20:9

Have you ever been knee deep in ministry that you were certain God called you to when frustration set in? Everything that can go wrong does. You come against unforeseen obstacles. People gripe about things you thought they’d be grateful for. Maybe you even said to God, “Did I hear You correctly? Am I really supposed to do this?”

If that describes you, you have a kindred spirit in Jeremiah. His calling to be a prophet was certain. The word of the LORD came to him and said, “Before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5b).
Even with a sure call, Jeremiah questioned if he was the person for the job. The LORD countered his apprehension with assurance. “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 1:7-8).

God called Jeremiah and assured him that He would be with him, and Jeremiah obediently stepped into his assignment. It feels quite happily ever after, doesn’t it? Not even close. In chapter twenty of his book, Jeremiah lays out his complaints against God.
1. This isn’t what I signed up for! “O LORD you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed” (v 7a).

2. I’m being poked fun of and insulted! I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me (Jeremiah 20:7b). The word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long (v 8).

3. I’m ready to quit! But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot (Jeremiah 20:9).

Jeremiah was ready to quit, but he couldn’t. His passion to proclaim God’s Word was like fire burning in his bones. Although he experienced sorrow, persecution, insults, and contempt, he needed to do what God called him to do.
Has God given you a difficult assignment? Has He called you to do something that feels too difficult to complete? Follow Jeremiah’s example and go to God. Cry out your complaints to Him (Jeremiah 20:7-18). Claim His promises and strength, The LORD is with me like a mighty warrior (Jeremiah 20:11), and give Him praise, Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD (Jeremiah 20:13a)!


PASSION Step: What is the biggest challenge you face today? Thank God. He is greater than that challenge.

Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfill it.
Lilias Trotter

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Weekly Devotion - "PLUMP GRAPES" - September 3, 2010

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

PLUMP GRAPES
Jesus said, “Thus by their fruit you will recognize them.”
Matthew 7:20

My morning quiet time typically flows with this rhythm . . . prayer, a devotional from Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest, Bible reading, and prayer. On Thursday morning Chambers’ reflection was on Jesus’ words in John 7:37-38, On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
Chambers likened the streams of living water to grapes. He wrote, “God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us.”
Ponder the questions like I did. Am I a plump grape or a dried up prune? When I’m squeezed by conflict and troubles – whether in my relationships, health, finances, or ____________ ¬– what comes out of me? Sweetness? Or am I a sour grape?
Remember, there are no such things as coincidences, only God-incidences, and He obviously didn’t want the thought of being a grape to be fleeting. I opened my Bible that I’ve been reading in chronological order. The day’s passage was Isaiah 5. The chapter heading was The Song of the Vineyard. My mouth dropped and my ears opened. OK, God. I’m listening.

I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard; My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit (Isaiah 5:1-2). God looked at His vineyard, His chosen nation that was to bear a crop of good grapes, and for all his pains he got junk grapes (Isaiah 5:2b, MSG).

God loved His vineyard; He tended it and watched over it, yet it still bore bad fruit. He asked, “What more could have been done for my vineyard then I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad” (Isaiah 5:4)?
Let’s make that personal. Can you join me in testifying how much God loves us, how faithful He’s been to us, how He has carefully tended and watched over us through His Word, His Spirit, and through His people – including the sisters at GEMS? He can rightly ask, “Can you think of anything I could have done to my vineyard (anything He could have done for you and me) that I didn’t do?” (Isaiah 5:4a, MSG).
He not only knows our deeds (Revelation 3:15-16), He’s in the vineyard checking to see if we are plump or junk grapes.

PASSION Step: Honestly ask God, what kind of grape am I? Then surrender yourself to His pruning.


Trees have seasons at certain times of the year when they bring forth fruit;
but a Christian is for all seasons.
Ralph Browning

Weekly Devotion - "COUNT THE COST" - August 30, 2010

- From Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

COUNT THE COST
Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate
the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?
Luke 14:28


As middle daughter Stephanie and I were unloading her groceries into the pantry of a small on campus apartment she’s sharing with five other girls this school year she told her friends, “I’ve got food! I figured I better stock up while my mom was here with the checkbook!”
They laughed and identified. With tuition, books, plus the responsibility of purchasing and preparing their own food, they were indeed counting the cost.
When Jesus taught about counting the cost of being a disciple He compared it to tower building and military strategy. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way of and will ask for terms of peace” (Luke 14:28-32).
To be Jesus’ disciples we must also count the cost. True disciples that are feeding the fire do not coast into the Kingdom or compartmentalize their love for God into a 15-minute devotional time in the morning and their service into an every other week GEMS Club night.
To be a passionate disciple of Jesus comes with conditions. Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27).
“Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple” (Luke 14:33, MSG).
Oswald Chambers wrote, “The only men and women our Lord will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and with great devotion – those who have a love for Him that goes far beyond any of the closest relationships on earth. The conditions are strict, but they are glorious.”

PASSION Step: List the people, plans, and possessions that are dearest to you. Do you love these things less than Christ?


Our LORD was not referring here to a cost which we have to count,
 but to a cost which He has already counted.
Oswald Chambers