Hope In God

When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the multitude;
I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise,
With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.
  -- Psalm 42:4

This weekend I enjoyed an animated movie based on The Pilgrim's Progress. So, I had to search the NKJV for the word and only this one result was returned to me. However, Psalm 42 tells an interesting story of its own. One might fit the psalm into the Slough of Despond in Christian's story from the book. The story is told in the first person and this seeker after God is down, perhaps even depressed. The storyteller laments, "My tears have been my food day and night." Ouch! That is a down demeanor. While many of the 'down' psalms end on a high note, this one ends with a simple instruction: Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.

Yes, hoping in God is a great help for the countenance!

Bucky

A Brawny Strongly Life Story

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Philippians 4:5

An interesting article came a little while ago about the year various breakfast cereals were introduced. For the start of my brawny strongly life story, I was pleased to note that Superhero Masher Flakes and Tough Nails Vitamin Blasters both came out the same year I came into this world. What's that? You haven't heard of those? Making them up, you say? But, how can I start my brawny strongly life story with Cap'n Crunch and Froot Loops? It just won't work, I tell you! Actually, it's a good thing.

Paul may have shocked a few Galilean fishermen, Roman legionnaires, and other tough characters he ministered to when he wrote to the church at Philippi to let gentleness be one of our known characteristics. Gentleness, reasonableness, and other civil ways was the direction given by Brother Paul. It was not a command to be weak. 

Be strong in the Lord!

Bucky

His Will Be Done

Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
  -- Matthew 6:10

Looking out northwest from my house this morning, I noticed that between the efforts of a certain amateur lumberjack and the professionals, I have a lot more sky than I once did. Yet, one tree remains and I have zero control over its fate. None? Could I not pray for its wooden life to be spared? Oh, easily I could enter into that prayer! For the prayer to have my will done and to thwart another person's will comes so quickly to us. Looking back over my prayers, as much as my gettin' elderly mind can remember them, I have done this more than a few times. Our prayer lesson from Jesus was not for me to pray for my will or the other person's will, but that God's will be done. Now if both me and that other person will pray that God's will be done in the name of our Savior Jesus, well then, great things will come to us! 

Faith in God and His will!

Bucky

It's Not A Lot

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:17

On the social media authority I have seen doubts. Yes indeed, there are some who do not believe the Rapture is Biblical. It goes like that with several things of faith. Which is pretty much what faith means. If one could prove it by observation and experimentation, then faith would not be required. This verse for today is the origin of the term by one little Greek word, harpazo, that means to be caught up or snatched away. It's not a lot, but then faith doesn't require a lot. Jesus even compared it to a mustard seed for the amount we need.

Oh, but what a huge tree that little seed of faith produces in Christ!

Bucky

The Heavenly Things?

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? John 3:12

This question our Lord asked of Nicodemus, but it is for us as well. While we may want to skip on up to the heavenly things, we have a lifetime of learning the earthly things from our Lord. As we build an enduring faith in our Lord Jesus by learning with Him the earthly things, we also yearn toward the promise of those heavenly things. Jesus and His prophets gave us some clues about those heavenly things, but much of that remains beyond our knowledge. No worries though, we have much to learn yet about our Lord, ourselves, and all those neighbors around us we are to love. There is certainly enough for us to learn in this lifetime.

One heavenly thing to claim is the promise of Jesus that He will come again and take us there!

Bucky

That Worldly Blare

Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. Matthew 6:2

Now there goes someone who wants the entire town to know that he is going to work this morning. Think of the sound of an unmuffled exhaust with a big, rude foot mashing the gas pedal and you will have it. Not hard to imagine, is it? You may not even have to imagine since there are so many of these people and their machines around. The world tells us to 'blow your trumpet since no one is going to do it for you,' and we see (and hear) all around us those who desire the attention of their fellow humans. Jesus in His great sermon told us to withhold that trumpet when doing those good deeds. But, shouting it from the rooftops, and all that stuff? That's the good news, not your good deeds. The world has plenty of blaring trumpets in all forms of media. What the world could use is the good news of Jesus.

May the loving blessings of Jesus be with you this day,

Bucky

Think On Jesus

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18

There stands a good chance that you have felt the urging. Whether you desire another person to come into your bedroom, so to speak, or you desire to go to theirs, we feel that sexual desire as humans. We also have a veritable brigade of shows, books, magazines, and movies telling us that sexual immorality is the answer to many things. Paul admonishes us to flee sexual immorality. Was this from a personal experience Paul had? Not necessarily. There are plenty of examples in the Old Testament, from Joseph who did flee it to David who did not, that show us the value of taking to our heels in the face of sexual temptation. Mercy and forgiveness are ours in Christ Jesus, but this temptation is one we are encouraged and commanded to run away from, and that flight begins in the mind.

Think on the things of Jesus today,

Bucky

The Question Of Love

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5

When we have the answer from Paul in our verse today, the question becomes moot. Where does the love of God in us come from? The Spirit of God in us, of course. It seems obvious once the answer is given. The manifestation of God's love, our Lord Jesus, sent to live in us His Spirit, and by the Spirit comes the everlasting love of God. There are those times when each of us may not feel very loving toward one or more of our fellow humans. If that love were just a feeling though, it would then be as changeable as all of our feelings and based way too much on circumstances and happenstances. However, based in the Spirit of God, we have, as Paul writes, a hope that does not disappoint in the very love of God in us. So, even if the circumstance has you crushed down a bit today, let the love of God in you renew that hope we have in Jesus.

Have a loving and hopeful day in Christ our Lord!

Bucky

The Lord's Good Plan

But it was the LORD's good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
He will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the LORD's good plan will prosper in his hands.
--Isaiah 53:9

I am glad for the Lord God today! Why? Everything the Lord planned for today has been carried out perfectly. The Lord our God experienced no frustration on this day. The day is young though. Faith confidently says the same thing: God's plans will all come to completion. Naturally, a person wants to compare this with his own plans and projects. Frustration and disappointment abound throughout this life. My plans have often found failure. Look in our verse for today at what the Lord did to His Son! But then there is a change, from the good plan to crush Him comes the good plan to prosper in His hands. It may be that the Lord's plan for you and me will go through a similar time of frustration and failure for each of us, and then comes the change!

Rest your plans in the Lord's plans, and wait for that change.

Bucky

He Spoke The Word

But he answered one of them and said, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?"  Matthew 20:13

It wasn't just an advertisement, today is National Nude Day. Hmm, nope, ain't gonna participate in that one! 

Last night I watched a movie supposedly based on end times prophecies in the Bible, but their version and translation must have been the writer's own because it had to be the worst depiction I have ever seen. Does that make it wrong though? Alone, my opinion does not make anything right or wrong. Nope, sorry, but none of us will be saved, live, die, or be condemned based on my opinion. I'll bet that you even have one of them there opinions yourself! While each of us may think that our personal opinion numbers among the most important things in this world, most other folks will regard that opinion not so highly. Unless it agrees perfectly with their own, of course,  then that other person's opinion is among the finest and bestest in the world! 

This may be why many people, including His own, did not agree with Jesus. They thought He was just stating His opinion, when it was the very word of God that He spoke to them. 

Welcome the Word!

Bucky

Because Of The Grace

Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God. Romans 15:15

Why do we write to you? Several short messages of devotion have arrived in my inbox this morning, as they always do, and I am writing this one to you. My sister will write one this evening, and more brothers and sisters in Christ will write to you this day as well. What gives us the right, as rights are a big thing with folks these days, to write to you of God's Word? Well, I don't know about rights, but there is a compulsion, a leading of the spirit by the Spirit. But you mean by what right do we have since all of these writers have likely fallen to the very sins we may write to you about? Paul answered that question for us in our verse for today.

In all the world, there was likely to be found no one who had less reason for Jesus to come and visit him than the Pharisee known as Paul of Tarsus. Paul was out to destroy and demolish all those who followed the Way and of course the One who named Himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus of Nazareth. Yet, in a story famous among those Gentile heathens who came to believe in this same Jesus, Paul met Jesus and believed in Him. Paul's record as an antichrist did not lend itself well to bringing bold writing to the Roman believers, but there is that reason - because of the grace!

The grace we are given brings us boldly to write one to another. Rejoice in Christ Jesus!

Bucky

Grumbly Controllers

We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” Numbers 11:5-6

Easily do we consider the menu set before us in this scripture passage, but the key may lie in that one word, freely. We recall from the verses that manna had rules to go along with it. Gather only as needed each day, twice on the day before the sabbath, and keep none overnight. This spokesperson for the Israelites isn't above a little hyperbole as he complains that their whole being is dried up. It appears unlikely to us that God would have provided food that dried up the Israelites, so what must the real grumbly complaint be? It is that one word, freely. They want to be the ones calling the shots on their eating. Chafing at doing what God wants and no longer rejoicing in what He has provided, they bring an overblown complaint to Moses: 'We want to eat what we want and when we want it!' It is about control, same as with Adam and Eve and that forbidden tree.

So, when we pray this day, will it be one acknowledging God's will or one grumbling that our will isn't being done?

Love to you in Christ our Lord!

Bucky

Cast Down!

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.  Revelation 12:10

First I must admit that I cannot answer all of the questions that arise from just this one verse. We may all admit to some relief though that at the time of this event in Heaven, we lose a powerful enemy at court. We may not have grasped just yet how serious it is to have this voice accusing us before God day and night. As if our own record was not bad enough, to have it presented constantly before the Lord God does not appear to do us any good. However, there seems to be a dual celebration here: Christ's power, kingdom, strength, and salvation have come, and that accuser is cast down. We can only learn from this that one must have everything to do with the other since the celebration begins with 'now'. It is a new day in Heaven as the Accuser is cast down, and a new day for us as our Savior has won the victory. 

And for that we celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ!

Bucky

My Will In Congress Be Done

Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
  -- Matthew 6:10

In thinking up a title for this morning, I tried to be completely serious...

If you know anything about how our U.S. Congress is supposed to work, then you will get a mild chuckle from one person trying to get his way in that political body. If you go a step further to watch the news media for how our Congress has been working, you will know that my little title there is but the weakest of attempts at humor or an absurd delusion. Even the wealthiest of political donors have trouble working their will in Congress. Jesus had similar political and religious bodies operating in His time, but He did not lead us to pray for our will to be done in those places. Instead, we are to pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Praying that our political leaders would work for God's will to be done may be like asking for a miracle at times. However, submitting your will and mine to God and asking that HIS will be done, now that is a wonder of God's own Spirit in us! 

God's will be done,

Bucky

Present With You

These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. John 14:25

Some of us struggle with the past. Whether it be past failures, mistakes, humiliations, or sins, we tend to dwell on them, passing the reminder of a valuable lesson and into the realm of anxious dread and worry. Being present with us was so important to Jesus that He gave to us the gift of His Holy Spirit. So much does our Lord want us here in the present with Him that He gave us a new name by the prophetic word: Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14). Which was quoted and translated for us on the spot by the angel as "God with us." (Matt 1:23). The emphasis on the present in His presence points us to the laying down of the past, our past, at His feet. Those of us who fret over the past so much must learn to give it to our Lord. It is well said that we are to rejoice in His presence, and do it in the present with Him.

Love, joy, and peace in Christ Jesus to you here in the present with Him!

Bucky

Everything Is Ready

Again, he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: See, I've prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.' Matthew 22:4

The parable Jesus told startled those who heard it. "Not come to a wedding banquet? What sort of people would not come to the wedding feast?" they wondered. Not only was it rude then as it is now to stand up the host, but a rich wedding feast as this one must be to offer such a menu would cause envy among those not invited. And yet they refused to come even as the king's servants summoned them a second time, and then the unthinkable! They ignored, abused, and even killed some of the messengers, the king's messengers. Of course the king is going to be a bit upset.

As we believe in Jesus and His message of redemption and hope, we understand that this goes on to this day. We bear the invitation of the King of kings, and many refuse to believe it. Yes, the other things go on as well. Like the king in the parable, one day justice will be done. Please, accept the invitation, come to the Lord Jesus and be saved. This is one wedding that none can afford to miss.

Bear that message of loving invitation, dear brothers and sisters, the time of waiting grows ever shorter.

Bucky

As Surely As His Word

And they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”  Mark 10:34

Jesus made it known to the disciples three times or more that He would be dying in Jerusalem. And as we know from the gospels, He had a hard time getting them to believe it. Each time that Jesus foretold His death though, He let it be known that He would be right back. The resurrection seems to follow the crucifixion as surely as His word. Even in our mind today we do not want to think of the event that came first without also reviewing the story of Resurrection Day morning when Mary of Magdala and the disciples came to see the empty tomb. If we must study His death, then we also want to know about His new life. Meditating for a few moments on His suffering inevitably brings us to the joy of His resurrection. As surely as His word, which means that for all the sorrow and pain we endure now, there will be the greater joy when He returns! 

The surety of His word, and we believe it!

Bucky