Who is in charge?

“Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits stands by Haman’s house.  He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.”  The king said, “Impale him on it!”  So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai.  Then the king’s fury subsided.” Esther 7:9-10

I’ve been finishing up a Bible Study of the book of Esther by Chuck Swindoll and it got dicey in Chapter 7.  Queen Esther had invited both Haman and Mordecai to a banquet; and they weren’t close buds.  Haman was thrilled at the notion of him being honored with a feast in the presence of King Ahasuerus.  Then while going back home, Haman saw Mordecai and he was not a happy camper.  As we read in the above verses, his end was near.  This is a reminder during this season of Advent, that when God calls the shots, nobody can stop His plans.  Haman, the most powerful man in the land next to the king gets his hands tied and his mouth silenced by the pole.

After going through this book, I realized that it never mentions God, but He’s always there.  Does that sound familiar?  Pastor Swindoll suggested His presence was written in invisible ink; just like in our lives at times.  Have you ever been driving down the road and look up at the clouds and see them arrange themselves to read “Here I AM”.  By faith, you, these Haitian kids and me see Him, and inaudibly while reading His Word, we hear Him on a regular basis throughout the events and challenges of our lives; whether it be the crushing blows from inflation, or terror from evil gangs or those victories that seem to come out from nowhere.

This year, look more closely around you; who’s calling the shots.  Who is in control?  God is at work throughout your journey.  Are you letting God call the shots in your life or still going it alone?

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

We have a faith filled peace.

We have a faith filled peace.

"Because I live, you also will live."  John 14:19

There was a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Japan a few weeks ago that opened my memory bank back to Haiti.  At 4:45 PM on January 12, 2010 a strong earthquake struck below the mountains on the Southern claw of Haiti; bringing destruction from Port-au-Prince to the city of Leogand.  There were an estimated 350,000 lives lost and more injured and the majority of the survivors were left homeless.  A person from my home congregation in Lincoln asked me "What do people do at such a time when they don't have Jesus?"  We have peace and know that we are saved because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross; but what about the lost that died clinging to the lies of the vodou priest.

Following the quake, many Christians were glued to the internet and CNN watching video streaming live from PAP showing the desperation as search efforts were undertaken to rescue the living and later recover the dead.  What did the unbelievers do without a Savior to help them?  Haiti claims to be over 80% Christian but you need to factor in that an estimated 65% of the county actively practices vodou.  You cannot serve the Lord and the devil too.
In the days following the quake, stories began to make the news of Christians singing hymns of thanksgiving to their Triune God and praying out loud in the dark streets in the evenings.  Faith, their faith, was alive in the camps where they had found refuge.  Their faith was encouraging others to give thanks for their life as they had more work to accomplish for their Heavenly Father.

The vodou priests had no reply for the strong earthquake; the power of the Triune God silenced their efforts to bring people to continue to fear their evil spirits.  Their ‘religion’ could only bring additional fear, pain and suffering and could not bring any comfort for the vodou followers; all the priests could do was to watch as their followers limped through this tragedy.  Our Triune God has done so much for His children as they grieve, give thanks, survive and as they rebuild.

There are clear differences between Christianity and vodou; we clearly see and understand that we need a Savior and the vodou followers need another daily ‘miracle’ from the vodou priest; for a price.  We need a Savior who will rescue us from our pains and problems; who will forgive us for our sins.  In the Person of Jesus, our loving Father has given us such a Savior.  In Jesus we have forgiveness of our sins and the promise that there is a world where there are no tragedies like Haiti has seen; we have a mansion prepared for us in Heaven.  This message is being taught to the children attending Christian schools in Haiti.  Your prayers and generous donations to Trinity HOPE are helping these children to take the message to the lost throughout the neighborhoods in Haiti.

Today let it be our prayer that the people of Haiti may be brought to this Savior who can help them in this life and bring them to the next; you know the place where there is no darkness and no tears.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

How much time is left?

“And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.  The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.  So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.  Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.  Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” Romans 13:11-14

How many more grains of sand are remaining in the hour glass of your life?  Have you put your will in a place where your family will find it?  Have you shared your faith story with the angry next-door neighbor?  “Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” is another way of saying that the end of your journey is a lot closer now than when you were Baptized.  What kind of legacy are you leaving for your family?  What kind of footprint will you leave on your path?

What is your greatest desire for your children and grandchildren?  What is your hope for the coming generations; have you taken steps to finish well?  Has your time been spent sharing the Gospel within your family, within your city, within your State or been focusing on one of the ends of this earth?

Has it been your hope and desire that your children and grandchildren will grow up and become men and women of compassion, honesty, morality, responsibility, selflessness, loyalty, discipline and sacrifice?  Our hope should be that they will become men and women of faith, trusting in Jesus Christ as their Savior seeking to follow Him as the Master of their lives each and every day.  While we cannot make this decision for others, we can show them the way by being an example of Christ’s love and of His power to transform every life that is submitted to Him.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

He came for me.

“The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee.  Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” John 1:43

This passage from the Gospel of John has always fascinated me and again drew me deeper into these words when a morning blog discussed these words of our Savior.  A couple of things grab at my question button; Jesus finding, Jesus saying ‘follow me’ and then our own free will.  Jesus found Philip, found you, found me and found this child in Haiti.  Our Savior who later called himself the ‘Good Shepherd’ came to earth to look for the lost sheep; came to seek and save the lost.  It should make each of us feel really special that the Son of God came to earth and looked for us and after a period of time found us.

We didn’t go looking for Him; we cannot on our own do that as too often we don’t know where to look.  Too often our ‘free will’ points us into directions away from Him and into places that are deeper and darker where we can hide from Him. 
Why do you suppose Philip dropped what he was doing and went with Jesus when told to ‘follow me’?  Perhaps he had nothing to do but probably because he realized Who this was who had found him, at that point in history.  Philip had heard about the coming of the Messiah and was waiting and what a ‘God moment’ in his life to have the Savior find him.
Jesus found you and is calling to you to ‘follow’.  You, me and this child from Haiti have been found and been told to ‘follow Christ’ and become shepherds and seek and save the lost.  Don’t let your free will tell you that your life is not capable of seeking lost souls or bringing them to Christ.  He is with you and the Holy Spirit is nudging you where you happen to be today.
And finally, there is that point in your journey when Jesus will call you home.  Your free will card will do you no good on that day.  He found you, He called you and He will take you home one day and you and this child from Haiti will sit at the feet of the Good Shepherd and bask in His glory.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

A Gospel light.

“You are the light of the world.  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14

There are those folks that really enjoy being in the spotlights of this world; they truly thrive on the applause and adulations from the crowd.  And then conversely, there are those that would rather work behind the spotlight; giving anonymously, serving quietly and living in the shadow of the spotlight.  Their work is important but they would not choose to build their ‘town’ on a hill so that all could see where they are located.  God has created each of us so very differently.

This small child attending one of the Lutheran schools in Gonaives is like us, a ‘Gospel light’ in this world.  She, like you and I were placed on this earth to serve the One who came to be the ‘Light to the Gentiles’.  Our Savior came so that we would not live in the darkness of this world.  He came to encourage us to share our ‘light’, His light, with those still living in darkness.

If you enjoy working in the trenches of this world and out of the spotlight and you find yourself being applauded for your service, don’t be dismayed; the adulations are for Him who sent you.  Give thanks for His nudging you to send this small child to do His work in Haiti.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

A special gift.

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Galatians 4:4-5

How much planning went into your Christmas shopping last year?  Did you give much thought when picking out a special gift for a family member?  My sister used to begin shopping for Christmas in July.  How important was it for you to get that ‘special gift’ for your child and be blessed to see them light up as they removed the wrapping paper to reveal a gift that brought about a huge smile and loud “WOW”!  Consider the gift that our Heavenly Father sent us.  It only needed to be given once as it keeps on giving through the ages. 

Our Heavenly Father waited until history reached the proper moment in time and then sent Jesus.  The timing was perfect; the Roman rule, Jewish ordination, passable roads, freedom, a degree of safety and a common trading language.  He sent his Son to be a woman's son.  From Heaven He sent His Son to earth to be the Savior of the world.  He did it so all of the inhabitants of His world could be called His children.  He gave the perfect gift of all time; for all time.

Thank you for sharing your gift of support for these children attending Christian schools in Haiti; enabling and preparing them to share the Gift of salvation with those still living in bondage to the vodou priests of Haiti.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

A willing spirit.

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalm 51:10-12

The last eight words of the above verses “grant me a willing spirit to sustain me” are words that should be in our daily prayers.  A ‘willing spirit’ needs to drive me in this sin filled, fallen world where we are often being told these days to mind your own business; don’t get involved.

How many people did your Heavenly Father place along your journey so far this year?  How many hurting lives brushed up against you at work?  How many lonely souls sat next to you at the doctor office?  How many broken relationships went past your grocery cart?  How many visitors sat in your pew at Church on Sunday?  How many lives searching for a Savior did you share the Gospel with yesterday?

This little boy from Cap Haitian who is carrying a chair on his head touched my life on the day this picture was taken years ago and today as well; he knows Jesus and lives in a neighborhood where many do not.  A willing spirit continues to move me to help him share the message with the people along his journey.  May a ‘willing spirit’ move you as well to finish well in the remainder of your days.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Answered prayers.

“[Elisha] said, "This is what the Lord says: I will fill this valley with pools of water.  For this s what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink." 2 Kings 3:16-17

There are probably a few times in your life when prayers just aren’t being answered in what we would consider to be a ‘timely’ manner; it has happened to me.  Seemingly unanswered prayers can bring a sense of helplessness and hopelessness.  The people that are being described in 2 Kings had no water.  No clouds in sight and not a drop of water could be found in the wells; hopelessness.  Where do you turn when your faucet is dry, when your marriage is breaking up, when you kids are fighting, when a bag of groceries went up $20 and the bag got smaller, when medical bills are mounting, when you are turned down for another job or when your doctor tells you that you only have a short time to live? 

The young boy in this photo attends the Bois Marchand School in Gonaives and there is no well at their school.  Before my visit there ended, he followed me to the door and asked if I could do something to get a well at their school.  He had been praying…but the cooks were still hauling water in buckets from the stream.  We need to be patient and remain faithful.  The people in 2 Kings were so certain that God would bring rain that they began to dig ditches…and continued to pray.  Children attending the Lutheran School in Thomassique brought kindling to school, knowing that a feeding program would come someday…and they prayed and it did come.

Our Triune God has a way of answering prayers, quite often in ways that we don’t understand at the moment but come to enjoy the blessing later on in life.  Our Heavenly Father’s timetable is not one that we are familiar with or can understand.  He provides in His time and in His way and we give thanks for taking care of us.  Have you started to dig any ditches recently?  Have you begun to store up firewood?  He is faithful.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Finish well.

“Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”  As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes.  All such boasting is evil.  If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” James 4:13-17

This is the first Friday of 2024.  How has the week gone?  Have you learned anything new about your journey in 2024?  What is your life’s direction?  The fallen world that we live in urges us to boast of our worldly achievements that ‘we’ have accomplished without help from anyone else; WE DID IT!  Please, strive to do better, finish well for Him.

Be the kind of person that when you sit up in bed and your feet hit the floor each morning, the evil foe shrieks out, "Oh Crap, they’re up!"  Life is too short to wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning with regrets; love the people who encourage and strengthen you and forgive the ones who don't; just because you can.  Believe that everything happens for a reason and if you are given a second chance, grab it with both hands.  When you feel your blood pressure rising and muscles growing tense take a few deep breaths, count to ten and think about how to finish well before you speak and when you are becoming angry; forgive quickly.  Our Heavenly Father never said life would be easy; He just promised it would be worth it and HE would be with you always.

There are over sixty-two thousand children like this child living in Haiti who are only receiving one meal a day provided by Trinity HOPE and that is at their school; that is a blessing.  There are thousands more who are not eating regularly at their homes and don’t know Jesus; that is an opportunity for you to finish well while on your life’s journey.  Please pray for these children and if the Holy Spirit moves you to feed a few of these children; contact Trinity HOPE.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Serving Christ.

“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?  Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” James 4:4

This verse reminds us that it is very difficult to serve our Triune God while we are following the delights that this fallen world has to offer; you know that and satan delights in those times when your most precious time is spent giving to the world instead of Christ. 

If you follow Christ, all the ‘friendly dogs’ of this world will be nipping at your heels.  If you are living in worldly ways and have decided that you will turn to Christ just before you take your last breath; you are taking quite a chance.  If you spend most of your time in His word and walk in His ways the eyes and tongues of this world will not speak well of you; you will be under attack daily.

Do what is right, finish well, and don’t be afraid of what the tongues of this fallen world will say about you or what stone they may hurl at you.  Be strong, be courageous; finish well.  Remain in His Word and pray without ceasing.  I close today’s devotion with the words from verse 7 of the hymn ‘If Thou but suffer God to guide Thee’ which was written by Georg Nuemark in 1640.

“Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving, perform thy duties faithfully, and trust His Word, though undeserving, thou yet shalt find it true for thee.  God never yet forsook in need the soul that trusted Him indeed.”

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay