Trust and Obey

“Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the Lord’s army.”

At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. “I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?”  (Joshua 5:14 NLT)

As Joshua faced the man in this story, most commentators believe none other than the Son of God--Joshua showed he had learned to trust and obey.

Joshua had spent many years serving Moses, who was gone now.  Many a Christian leader has chafed at being second in command.  They are annoyed or impatient because of being restricted or inconvenienced.  When the commander of the Lord’s army told Joshua to take off his shoes (v.15), he obeyed.  Where did Joshua learn this radical obedience?  He acquired this during the many years when he felt restricted or inconvenienced by Moses’ orders.  Joshua had discovered the secret of Moses’ leadership—trust and demonstrated obedience to God’s commands.

The commentator Matthew Henry once wrote, “for it is those know how to obey who best know how to command.”  There are many natural-born leaders, but there are never inherited leadership traits; the foremost of these are trust and obedience.  You may be in a position where you are chafing at the bit.  It appears you are spinning your wheels.  God never misses an opportunity to teach you no matter what your situation.  If you are where God has placed you, he is always at work.

All Christians, whether leaders or not, must take to heart the words of the old song.  “Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.”  Obedience is always the proof of our trust in Christ.

The image is used with permission by Microsoft. 

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing

and “Broken Vessels” KDP
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Memory

Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands.  (Deuteronomy 8:2 NLT)

Some say that the Book of Deuteronomy could be called the book of remembering.  Over and other again, before he departed from this earth, Moses told Israel to remember.  The past is always the key to the present and future.

Memory is a fantastic thing. Recently I connected on Facebook with an acquaintance that I had not seen or even thought about for over sixty years.  He mentioned us playing basketball together, and instantaneously, I remembered him in that context—and retrieved stored data from the recesses of my mind. God wants us to recover information from our past to help us navigate present or future situations.  

Moses knew his people's tendency for their hearts to stray, their minds to wander, and their emotions to deceive them.  When trials and temptation come our way, and they always do, we engage them by remembering God's faithfulness in the past.  When the Prophet, probably Jeremiah, was afflicted, he said this, "Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning (Lamentations 3:21-23 NLT).  Embedded in the memory of this Prophet were experiences that made these statements true. In his time of need, his memory of God's faithfulness sustained him.

If we choose to dwell on God's faithfulness in the past, he will turn perplexities into peace and fear into faith.

The image is used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing

and “Broken Vessels” KDP
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Forgiving Yourself

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (1 John 1:9 NLT)

 

When we confess our sin, God always forgives us.  Even people we have sinned against will sometimes forgive us, but the real problem may be forgiving ourselves.

 

There is an incident in my life that I chronicle in my book “Broken Vessels.”  I said something very hurtful that my daughter overheard.  God forgave me as soon as I asked—my daughter almost as soon—but forgiving myself has been a process.

 

Some of you reading this devotional, like me, have said or done things you regret. You may have hurt others very deeply.  You wish you had a rewind button on your life—where you can go back to your transgression, delete it and record it with the proper action or response. Unfortunately, life is not like that. You cannot rewrite history. 

 

Hurting people hurt others, but that is no excuse for our actions.  All we can do is repent and take responsibility for our actions and live our lives openly before God and man.  Transparency can help others never to make the mistake we made.  In this way, even flaws in our character can be redemptive.

 

Our scriptural reference tells us that if we ask, God forgives us.  Should we not do likewise for ourselves.  God has the ability to forget sin, we don’t, and that is not always bad.  It reminds us never to do it again.  Nevertheless, morbid guilt is never productive.  Christ died to take away our shame and guilt; holding onto them can be unbelief and a slap in the face of God.

 

The image is used with permission by Microsoft. 

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing

and “Broken Vessels” KDP
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

 

The Love of Money

 

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priest and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:14-15 NLT)

Thirty Pieces of Silver

 

The Bible says. “For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil (1 Timothy 6:10 NLT). We always follow what is first in our lives, be it money or Christ.

 

Context is critical in understanding the Scriptures.  Directly before Judas’s betrayal is the story of the woman who brought the expensive alabaster flask to anoint the feet of Jesus.  In John 12:2-6, the Bible records that Judas objects to Mary wasting the precious ointment, not because he cared for the poor, but because he stole from the disciples’ funds. It appears he determined that he could gain more wealth by betraying Jesus than serving him. You always follow your heart, be it for evil or good.

 

You cannot serve two masters; you will hate the one and love the other, or vice-versa (Matthew 6:19-24). Judas chose who he would serve.  Paul warned us that we should not imagine that godliness is a means of financial gain (1 Timothy 6:5).  Conversely, it is not about being rich or poor. As the commentator, Matthew Henry, once said, “It is not the lack of money but the love of money that is the root of all evil.”

 

How much money is enough?  Just a little more than what we have.  The problem is, a little more is never enough.  Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth (1 Timothy 6:6. The wealth of contentment is always the solution for the love of money.

 

The image is used with permission by Microsoft.

 

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

 

Knowing God

I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.” 

(Job 42:5-6 NLT)

Knowing about God is not the same thing as knowing God.  It was not until Job had experienced the painful circumstances that he saw God through his own eyes. Will it be any different for us?

For some strange reason, it appears that you can only fully understand God's character by some form of pain.  Yes, you can know God intellectually without God's dealings in your life, but if you want to know him; personally, it always comes with a cross you must bear.  Even the son of God, Jesus, learned obedience by the things he suffered (Hebrews 5:8). 

Down through Christian history, people have embraced a suffering theology and tried to inflict it on themselves.  It never works this way.  Wanting to suffer is a bit sick.  Humility is never accomplished in our lives by what we do but by what God does.  If we try to bring it about by our human effort, we will eventually become proud of our humility.

 

So, what part do we play?  It's called obedience, which keeps us in the place that God can work in our lives. Human nature causes us to run from adversity, but also will bring about our fleeing from God.  You can't know God by running in the opposite direction. Jonah learned this the hard way.

 

When we see God for who he is and see ourselves for who we are, the natural response is humility, which is always demonstrated by repentance. Suffering enabled Job to know God in his heart and not just his mind.

 

The image us use with permission by Microsoft. 

 

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

God is Good All the Time

But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

(Job 2:10 NLT)

 

Believe God's Word

Amid Job’s trials, his wife asked him if he was still trying to maintain his integrity.  She said to him, Curse God and die (v, 9). In the midst of the worst possible circumstances, Job knew that God was good all the time.

 

The strategy of the enemy of our souls has always been the same.  It has been to distort the character of God.  From the Garden of Eden to Job and our trials today, the satanic plan has always been the same.  It has been to lead us to believe that God is not who he says he is in his Word.  In the Garden, the Serpent led Adam and Eve to believe that God was deceitful.  Job’s wife’s words tempted him to think that God did not care about his circumstances.  In your situation today, the voices in your head scream at you that God has abandoned you.  The endpoint is that you believe a lie.  The antidote is always to believe the truth.   “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 20:28b).

 

Never judge God by your circumstances but judge your circumstances by the character of God.  The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings (Psalms 145:17 NRSV).  If God is not good all the time, he is not good at all.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

 

The image is used with permission by Microsoft.

 

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

 

Come Lord Jesus

If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha!

 (1 Corinthians 16:22 NASB)

 

2020 has been a perilous year.  The world has been devastated by an unseen virus.  Our country seems to be divided more than ever along racial, political, and cultural lines.  We have just finished an election cycle where many are questioning its validity.

A President appears to have been elected that does not champion the value of human life in the womb. Despite all of this, Jesus will return and will make all things right.

 

Life is a battle.  That is why we are told to use every piece of God’s armor to fight the battle (Ephesians 6:13).  We lose a few of the encounters, but we continue to engage. We stay in the fight because we know we win the war.  Read the end of the book.  The offensive weapon we have is prayer.  We are told to pray at all times (Ephesians 6:18), in good times and in bad.  When we see the answers to our prayers and when we don’t.  Our heroes of faith of old saw things as done before they were done.

 

It is never over until it is over.  In Psalms 98:9, we are told that Jesus is coming to judge the earth with justice and fairness.  We will never have peace on earth fully until the Prince of Peace returns. Until that time, we must not shrink back but must maintain.  Only prayer, spiritual warfare, and the preaching of the Gospel to all nations will hasten the return of the King.

 

We must storm the very gates of hell with the mantra on our lips like the first century Church, Maranatha, come Lord Jesus.

 

The image used with permission by Microsoft.

 

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

 

We All Have a Story

One generation will praise Your works to another,
And will declare Your mighty acts. (Psalms 145:4 NASB)

 

We are all in debt to Christ for his marvelous grace and the previous generation who told us about that grace.  We, in turn, pay our indebtedness by telling the next generation about God’s unmerited favor.  We all have a story to tell.

 

As I wrote my first manuscript, I was plagued by recurring thoughts.  Reflections would linger in my mind; Who are you to write a book?  What do you have to say?  Nobody is going to want to read your book.  As I dwelt on these notions, I didn’t feel like I could write a sentence, much less a book.  Despite these mental images, I still had a desire in my heart to tell of God’s faithfulness in my life.  I decided to write it as a love letter to God.  If no one read it, yet, if I wrote it with love in my heart for him, I was pretty sure God would read it.  Also, I wrote it for my grandchildren and those who would follow, as a remembrance of life, but more importantly, about the God that I served.

 

The main problem we have is that we think we have no story to tell.  C.S. Lewis once said that “there are no ordinary people.”  We think that we have nothing to say because we have never been a pastor or a missionary.  We conclude that because we have never been delivered from a great sin—just a bunch of little ones, that we have nothing interesting enough to share. Wrong.  God most often shows up in the small details of our lives.  It is in the fine print of our lives that God proves his faithfulness.  If God is not real in our everyday lives, then he is not real at all,

 

If God has redeemed your life and given you beauty for ashes, you have a story to tell.  An experience is never really fully enjoyed until it is shared with someone.  Some may communicate it verbally, others through written language, but we all must praise God's works from one generation to another.

 

The image is used with permission by Microsoft.

 

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

 

No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets

Don’t put out the Spirit’s fire. (1 Thessalonians 5:19 GW) 

William Bordon, after he graduated from high school in 1904, was called to be a missionary. At different points in Bordon's short life, he wrote in the back of his Bible, no reserves, no retreats, no regrets. 

Though he came from a very wealthy family, wealth did not possess him. Early on in his life, a friend expressed that he was throwing his life away by becoming a missionary—he wrote in his Bible, no reserves. After he graduated from Yale, he was offered very lucrative positions—he penned, no retreats. His missionary call narrowed to a Muslim group in China. After doing graduate work at Princeton Seminary, he left for Egypt to study Arabic before arriving in China. In Egypt, he contracted spinal meningitis and within a month was dead at age twenty-five. Before his death, under the other two notations he had made in his Bible, he wrote—no regrets. 

 William Borden's seemingly untimely death a waste of human life? Absolutely not. Thousands of people have read his story and have been encouraged in their missionary call. God never wastes any of our sorrows. 

Things happen to Christians. We experience what we don't expect, and some expectations don't come to fruition. The Christian life often entails disappointments that we can't understand, but God uses them for his ultimate good. God lives in the eternal now. God makes decisions based on past, present, and future considerations. Humans remember the past imperfectly, know what is happening now, and nothing about the future. God dwells on eternal priorities, man on temporal ones. Our heavenly Father always knows best.

Church history is littered with people who have done great things for God yet had become sullen and cynical at the end of their lives. Things happened to them that may have seemed unfair or unjust. Some ended their lives in unbelief rather than faith in God. We, like William Borden, at the end of our journey, need to be able to say, no reserves, no retreats, no regrets. 

The image is used with permission by Microsoft. 

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

A Call to Fasting, Repentance, and Prayer. 

This election is a fork in the road. If the Democrats are elected, this country will become a nation with only a secular mindset. From its founding, this country has been an experiment in what can happen if people put their trust in God and follow His commands. The Democrat Party has blatantly ignored God’s command, “Thou shall not commit murder”, in their platform supporting abortion rights. 

If the Democrats take the Presidency, The House of Representatives, and the Senate, secularism will become the state religion. The result of this election will bring about persecution of the Church. Light does not co-exist with darkness. Darkness hates the light, and by nature tries to snuff out the light. If sin persists, and we continue to call good, bad, and bad, good, God will have to bring judgment on this nation. When judgment comes, it rains upon the just and the unjust. 

Some of us in my Facebook Group, “Pray for POTUS”, have been fasting every Tuesday. I invite anyone to fast tomorrow (Sunday) through Tuesday (election day at 3 PM). There are many different ways to fast. I ask you to repent for the sin of abortion in this nation—the taking of 62,0000 lives that God created. I also ask you to pray for Christians in this nation. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has said that if all Christians would just vote it would determine the outcome of the election. Pray that Christians will see the ramifications of Biden and Trump’s policies and not just their personalities.  

Lord, I pray in the last days before this election, you would find a reason to be merciful. I pray that you raise up your people to pray and fast and turn from our wicked ways. Lord, you said that if you found ten righteous people that you would not have destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Lord, have mercy on the United States of America.

Never Look Back

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,

(Philippians 3:13 NLT)  

 

The Miracle Mile

In 1954 Englishman Roger Bannister and Australian John Landy, who were the first two men to break the four-minute mile, met in a race in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, called the "Miracle Mile." With ninety-seconds remaining in the race and Landy ahead, he glanced back over his left shoulder to see his opponent's location.  At that moment, Bannister surged past Landy on his right side and won the race by eight-tens of a second.  Many observed that if Landy had not looked back, he would have won the race.

 

The Apostle Paul had learned what John Landy had not, that taking our eyes off the prize is never good.  There is a principal in life that what you focus on, you tend to achieve. Paul knew that the key to success was to forget the past, both good and bad. 

 

Many have noted that rarely are people defeated in their faith by today's problems alone, but by also dwelling at the same time on yesterday's failures.  We are not designed to multi-task present and past struggles.  Looking back on past failures, other than for redemptive purposes, is always counterproductive.  Paul knew that he had "not achieved" or become perfect, but he must press on, looking forward, to become more like Christ.

 

Conversely, considering past successes can limit our future vision.  Every new movement of God has been resisted by the previous one.  Good can become the worse enemy of best.  Certainly, if anybody could have rested on his past achievements, it was the Apostle Paul.  He had suffered and achieved more than any man alive, yet he knew that he had to continue to strive until he arrived in the presence of Christ in Heaven. John Landy dominated the race until the very end when he took his eyes off the prize.

 

Are you, like Landy, going to lose the race because you are looking back? Keep your eyes on the prize, heavenward.

  

The image is used with permission by Microsoft.

 

Ken Barnes, the author of  “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com