Weekly Devotion - "Our Wise Creator" - June 27, 2011

from Lenae - GEMS Training Manager

Hello! This will be the last weekly devotion until the week of July 18. Lord willing, much will take place between now and then including Canada Day, Independence Day, and the 42^nd Annual Counselors’ Leadership Conference in Fort Collins, Colorado. If you’re attending Conference, I look forward to seeing you there! If not, please keep all of us in your prayers. That would be such a gift to all who attend.

Wherever you’ll be in the next few weeks, open your eyes to the beauty of His creation and respond with fear, worship, and praise to our all-wise Creator.

OUR WISE CREATOR

By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.

Proverbs 3:19-20

Did you know that the Colorado Rockies are part of the North American Cordillera, which stretches 3,000 miles from Alaska, through western Canada and the United States, into northern Mexico? The peaks of the Colorado Rockies are over 14,000 feet and dubbed “Fourteeners” by those who climb them. There are 52 Fourteeners in Colorado.

Did you know that bald eagles, sand hill cranes, shore birds and water birds nest and migrate to Colorado? This state is the second in the nation for variety of birds.

Did you know that there are nearly 20 rivers whose headwaters begin in Colorado, with the Continental Divide directing each river’s course?

Did you know that the tallest sand dune in America is in Great Sand Dunes National Park outside of Alamosa, Colorado?

How did God create such majestic and awe-inspiring segments of creation within the state of Colorado and the place that you call home? By wisdom!

By wisdom the LORD founded the earth; by understanding he created the heavens. By his knowledge the deep fountains of the earth burst forth, and the dew settles beneath the night sky (Proverbs 3:19-20, NLT).

By wisdom, God made galaxies and grapevines, people and porcupines, oceans and orangutans, mountains and molehills. When you see, hear, touch, smell, and experience His creation are you overcome with awe and a divine wow of who God is?

It’s through creation that God has made Himself plain to all peoples. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Romans 1:20).

It’s through creation that God reveals Himself to us – His might, His power, His unfathomable bigness, His creativity, His strength, His supremacy, and His wisdom.

R.C. Sproul writes, “Men are never duly touched and impressed with the conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.”

Wisdom Step: Take a walk, study a flower, watch cloud formations, worship and fear the all-wise God, creator of heaven and earth.

Whatever God’s reasons for such diversity, creativity, and sophistication, on earth, and in our own bodies, the point of it all is His glory. God’s art speaks of Himself, reflecting who 

He is and what He is like.

Francis Chan

Weekly Devotion - "Welcome Discipline" - June 20, 2011

From Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

WELCOME DISCIPLINE

My son (daughter), do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son (daughter) he delights in.

Proverbs 3:11-12

Last weekend when we were out with friends one of the dinner topics was discipline. I shared a thirty-five year old story about when I disobeyed my mother. Although I have no recollection today of the wrong I committed, I still remember what followed. My mom commanded me to stop; I ran. I dashed around the corner and was halfway up the stairs, when she grabbed my foot. A bit surprised that my mother was so fast, and mostly panicked at what was coming next, I screamed, “Child abuse!” There is no way on this planet that my mother is capable of abuse of any sort. Shocked by my reaction, she looked at me, I looked at her, and we sat on the steps and laughed.

Proverbs has a word for anyone who is running from God’s discipline, rather than stopping to receive His teaching and correction. My child, don’t reject the LORD’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the LORD corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights (Proverbs 3:11-12, NLT).

The word “discipline” within these verses of God’s Word primarily speaks to God’s teaching, correcting, and training, rather than His punishing His children. The single motive behind His fatherly discipline is love.

The Old Testament book of Hosea illustrates God’s love for His wayward, sinful children. Hosea 11:4 reads, I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them. The NIV commentators shed wisdom on this verse. “God’s discipline requires times of leading and times of feeding. Sometimes the rope is taut; sometimes it is slack. God’s discipline is always loving, and its object is always the well-being of the beloved.”

There’s a temptation to write off God’s loving discipline, rather than to welcome it. That’s what the foolish do and the book of Proverbs gives us repeated reminders of their destiny. He  (She) will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his (her) own folly (Proverbs 5:23).

If the LORD is correcting you through His Word, Spirit, or the words of a brother or sister in Jesus, rejoice! God hasn’t written you off! His willingness to discipline us means He hasn’t given up on us. Accept His correction and receive its blessings. Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding (Proverbs 3:13, NLT).

Wisdom Step: What word of correction have you recently received from God? Be wise by welcoming and applying it to your life.

Be much with the solid teachings of God's word, and you will become solid and substantial men and women: drink them in, and feed upon them, and they shall produce in you a Christ-likeness, at which the world shall stand astonished. 

C. H. Spurgeon

Weekly Devotion - "Trust in The Lord" - June 13, 2011

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manger

TRUST IN THE LORD

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

One of the sermon illustrations about trust that I learned early on was a picture of a young child at the edge of a swimming pool. His father is in the pool with outstretched arms coaxing his child to jump in. “Trust me,” the father says. “I’ll catch you!” Some children jump in immediately without fear. Some are a bit hesitant, but do so. Others walk away and refuse to try. Although the children’s reaction to the situation is varied, the father’s promise remains the same. If they jump he will catch them. Guaranteed. You can trust the father.

My husband Mike and our oldest daughter Elizabeth were both born with a “tease” gene. They are forever teasing one another and anyone else who crosses their path. One summer when Elizabeth was a teen and they were both fully dressed, they went to the end of the dock to check out the water. Mike pretended to push Elizabeth into the water. She screamed and teased right back, “You’d never do it!” That’s all the encouragement Mike needed and he pushed her into the lake. The shock on her face was a KODAK moment.

Sometimes life feels more like Mike pushing Elizabeth into the lake than it does jumping into a tender father’s arms into the pool. Hard stuff happens that we can’t stop or understand . . .

• The family business fails.
• The doctor confirms that the cancer has returned.
• A husband walks out on his family.
• There’s been a fatal accident.
• A young mom suffers from depression and anxiety.

We hear about or experience the news firsthand and through tears cry out, “God! Where are You in this story?” It hurts. It doesn’t look like there’s a happy ending. We look for an escape route from the pain, a quick fix, something – anything – so life can return to what it used to be.

And in all of this, God is reaching out His hands to us in the storm. “Trust me,” the Father says. “I’ll catch you!” Some of His children move confidently into the heartache with trust. Some have doubts, but do so. Others walk away and reject the path that He promises to make straight.  Although His children’s reaction to the situation is varied, the Father’s promise remains the same. If we trust Him, He will catch us. He’ll not only catch us, He’ll tend to our needs like a shepherd, He’ll gather us into His arms like a lamb, and carry us close to His heart (Isaiah 40:11). Guaranteed. You can trust the Father.

Wisdom Step: What heartache do you need to trust the Father in today? Will you do so?

I can only lie still in God’s arms. I am so weak that I can hardly write, I cannot read my Bible; I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in God’s arms like a little child, and trust.

Hudson Taylor, during his final days

Weekly Devotion - "Love and Faithfulness" - June 6, 2011

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

LOVE & FAITHFULNESS

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.

Proverbs 3:3-4

At day’s end, I have a bad habit of taking off my necklace and earrings in random places through out my home. Sometimes they end up on the bathroom counter, sometimes by the kitchen sink, on my desk, or the lamp stand. Occasionally they even end up in my jewelry box where they belong!

Just the opposite is true of my rings. I never take them off. Ever. They feel as much a part of me as my God-given, natural body parts!

Proverbs 3:3 says, Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. When you think about the character traits of love and faithfulness in your life does it look more like the inconsistency I have with putting jewelry away or is it as bound to your neck and the tablet of your heart as my rings are to my fingers? Are you and I faithful or inconsistent in taking every opportunity to love and serve, talk about God, pray, and give thanks? Are we diligent or erratic servants of the King? Is our faith walk and talk consistent or contradictory with God’s Word?

God says through Solomon, Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find? (Proverbs 20:6)

Jesus knows how prone we are to the temptation to be unloving, lazy, and faithless. When He spoke about His return He urged His followers to remain alert and watchful. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him (Matthew 24:44).

When love and faithfulness are bound to our actions and attitudes we will be faithful and wise servants who won’t need to fear or be ashamed when Christ returns. Jesus said, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns” (Matthew 24:45-46).

It was the Good Samaritan, not the religious priest and Levite, who let love and faithfulness never leave them (Luke 10:30-37). Jesus points us to the Good Samaritan and says to you and me, “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37b).

Wisdom Step: Is there an area of your life that is not marked by love and faithfulness? Ask God to help you reflect His love and faithfulness in every part of your life today.

 The reward of being ‘faithful over a few things’ is just the same as being ‘faithful over many things’; for the emphasis falls upon the same word; it is the ‘faithful’ who will enter ’into the joy of their Lord.’”

Charles S. Robinson

Wekly Devotion - "Search For Wisdom" - June 2, 2011

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

SEARCH FOR WISDOM

Search for it as for hidden treasure.

Proverbs 2:4b

One of my grandmother’s favorite stories about my dad was his high school study habit. She’d point to the kitchen chair by the front door. “Do you see that chair?” she’d ask. “When your dad came home from school he’d put his books on that chair and when he left the next day for school he’d pick them up again. I don’t know why he even bothered to take them home!”

Proverbs chapter one is an invitation to study: Take the books home. Chapter two is a call to begin: Open the books and study! Chapter one includes warnings to those who refuse the invitation; chapter two includes promises to those who accept the invite to search for wisdom.

Solomon, the primary author of Proverbs, understands that we always have a choice. In the first four verses of chapter two he uses the word “if” three times: IF you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and IF you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and IF you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure. 

It’s an active, strenuous search. We must call out and cry aloud as if our lives depended on it! We must search for it like we do lost cell phones and car keys. It demands diligence and hard work. Jim Rohn said, “For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward.” That certainly holds true for the search for wisdom.

Here are the promised rewards:

1. Brings one to “the fear of the LORD.” Wisdom goes beyond the practical life lessons in Proverbs. It’s about the relationship – knowing, fearing, and loving God! Then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God (2:5).

2. You will receive wisdom. Wisdom is a gift from God that’s only given to those who are persistent in the search. For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding (2:6).

3. You will experience victory. Wisdom gives you the ability to live life well! You’ll successfully walk God’s way. He holds victory in store for the upright (2:7a).

4. You will receive protection to walk God’s way. Wisdom protects us by enabling us to say no to sinful choices. He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you (2:7b-8, 11).

Wisdom Step: How much effort have you put forth to search for God’s wisdom? God wants to be known and loved by you. Search for wisdom today. It’ll lead you straight to God!

 What are our worst sins? They are chiefly our lost opportunities to grow in wisdom and in nobility of character. They lie in our failure to develop our fullest and best powers given to us by God. 

Charles Shulman