Devotions updated

Here are a few of the devotions I have written while on the road. If there are any mistakes, please notify me at papadave2@cox.net. I appreciate it.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

We're Planning A "Planning" Meeting; At Least That's The Plan!

"The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives. Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established" (Proverbs 16:1,2).

Barb and I are currently on the "extended" camping vacation I have been planning, and planning, and planning for some time now. We originally planned to pull our travel trailer to Seattle, Washington from Surprise, Arizona and then drive down the Pacific Coast Highway and just stop wherever we wanted to and enjoy the beaches of the West Coast. Well "the best laid plans of mice and men" huh? Looks like we may make it to Astoria, Oregon and THEN down the coast for some beach time. It just became harder and harder to try to go that far away with my medical situation.

You know, I hope we get to reach all of the places I have "planned" for us to go to, but really, we just need to plan to live each day (even on the road) living for the Lord. We need to plan to do nothing more than take the next breath and exhale praise to our Lord Jesus Christ.

While we travel across this land and stop here and there, we need to enjoy each other's company (and Jack, our dog). We need to wake up each morning and know that He is right beside us, helping us take each step. That's our new plan. It's a "clean" plan! It's a "doable" plan! But mostly, it's God's plan.

So maybe we'll end up in Colorado, who knows? God knows! And it is He who stretches our His arms of love as we travel up and down these roads.

How is your planning coming along? Are you planning anything in the near future? If not, can I suggest that you plan to share Christ with someone as you go? We are trying to do that, as we go! "Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established."

Dave

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Where's Your "Bubble"?

How is your level of "Peace" today? If you were able to put a "level" on your peace today, where would the "bubble" be? Things are so "CRAZY" out there today. Wars and rumors of wars, natural disasters all over the place, nations fighting against nations. If you have even the smallest spiritual understanding, you have to be asking yourself "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON"?

Jesus Christ had just finished explaining the role of the Holy Spirit in John 14 and then in verse 27 He says, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." How can we expect to have peace with all we see taking place in the world today? How can we start each morning peacefully when we wake up to all of the sadness and decay in the world? Well for starters, the Bible tells us that "the world IS passing away..." (1 John. 2:17). So Jesus helps us to understand that we are not to build our treasures in this world but rather in the world to come. Jesus also says in John 16:33 that He has "overcome the world" so there is really nothing to fear in this world.

Jesus sums it all up very nicely for the disciples in John 14:1 when He says, "Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me." This peace can only come from God.

So, get your "level" out (your peace meter) and place it in the palm of your hand (I suggest using the Bible as your level). Where's the "bubble" on your meter? Are you leaning too heavily to one side or the other or is your "bubble" right in the middle of the gauge where it should be? Not enough peace to keep you "level"? Spend more time listening to and talking with God.

Dave

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Lord Keeps All Who Love Him!

Psalm 145: 17-21 says, "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. The Lord keeps all who love Him; but all the wicked, He will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord; and all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever."

I especially appreciate verse 20 because here is yet another promise that He "keeps all who love Him" and He saves them from an eternal damnation. And it is just as important to understand that He will destroy the wicked of the world. Our God is a loving and kind God, however, He is also a "just" God and has to punish unrighteousness or "the wicked".

We have been graciously granted a "choice"! Do you love God? Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior today? Can you confirm your reservation in heaven today? He has made a promise to you that only He can keep. If you haven't given your life to Christ you may want to think more about it. I have a link on my blog that will lead to "The 4 Spiritual Laws" and it will give you a very good understanding of "How to come to Christ"!

Today's world is "spinning" wildly out of control. He could choose to come back at any moment. If your reservation has not been confirmed at that point, it will be too late. Don't miss out on heaven because you may be too busy living like hell!

Dave

Monday, May 25, 2009

Momentary Light Affliction

There are a couple of verses in 2 Corinthians that are very precious to those who's bodies are "giving out". Listen to what the Apostle Paul had to say here: "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (vss. 16-18).

Since the beginning of our own medical difficulties, Barb and I have been given some tremendous opportunities that most people never get in life. And of course, our bodies are decaying, as Paul rightfully explains. However, with these illnesses have also come blessings from God. We have been able to minister to some who have cancer and are frightened out of their minds over the possibilities. One day we received a call from my chemotherapy nurse and she was asked to contact us with another patient's phone number. She had been in a chemotherapy session with us previously and knew our hearts. She was very afraid and since the office could not give out my information, she asked the nurse to give her phone number to us so that we might call her.

Of course we did, and eventually had another chemotherapy session together and had the sweet, sweet opportunity to pray with and counsel with this woman in her pain and fear. She had breast cancer and was two weeks away from being "cancer free" for five years when the doctors informed her of its return. How devastating it was for her to hear this news. But Paul has reminded us of our "decaying bodies" and even the "momentary, light affliction" that was producing an "eternal weight of glory..." for us. She was a Jewish woman, and did not have the love of Christ in her heart and so we shared the reason for our joy in the "middle of this momentary, light affliction" and she began to understand a little better.

We do not know how it has all turned out for this precious woman but we do know that she received the message of Jesus Christ and His love as a direct result of my cancer. And so we can better understand the saying "you can't see the forest for the trees!" Sometimes you don't know why but as you lay these burdens at the feet of Jesus, He always finds a way to help you understand!

Sometimes you "can't see the forest for the trees" in your life but you can look "not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen" and know that Jesus Christ is there. It is up to you to invite Him into your "Forest"!

Dave