How Are You Spending Your Life?

 How Are You Spending Your Life?

Scripture Reading: James 4:13-17

Focus Verses: James 4:13-14

"Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.  How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog. It's here a little while, then it’s gone.”

I’ve met some people, even Christians and they tell me their plans for their life like God has no say in what they are going to do.  Apparently they are not familiar with the verse in John 15:5 where Jesus said, “without Me you can do nothing.  We are dependent on God for our very next breath, and our very next heart beat.  Yes it’s good to plan for the future, but we should be in the mindset that we make plans and they will come to pass if it is God’s will.

God has the days numbered for every person on earth.  You may be in perfect health, but you could die today.  I see people living their lives like they are going to live on this earth forever.  The truth is they will live forever but not on this earth.  Every person will live forever in heaven or hell. That is our choice.

Life passes by quickly.  I will have a birthday next month when I turn 65 years old.  It seems like the older I get the faster the years go by.  Our focus verse says our life is like the morning fog.  It’s here and then it’s gone.  How are you spending your life?  For the majority of my life I have chosen to tell others about Christ. Some people listen and some don’t.  That’s what I’ll do until I leave this earth.  There is really nothing more important that I could do because the eternal destiny of every person hangs in the balance. Do something wise with your life and tell someone about Jesus.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Love Your Enemies

Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:43-48

Focus Verse: Matthew 5:43-44

“You have heard the law that says, love your neighbor and hate your enemy.  But I say, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.”

In Jesus sermon on the mount found in Matthew chapters 5-7 we can learn most everything we need to know about our relationship with God and with others.  In our passage Jesus is saying that we should love our enemies.  That might sound really strange.  To love our enemies means that we need to forgive our enemies.  Do you know doctors will tell you that if you refuse to forgive someone it can be bad for your health.  It can give you high blood pressure, depression, problems with anger, stress and anxiety.  If you spend any time on social media you will see that there is a lack of forgiveness.  Maybe you find it even within your own community, church, family or even your own heart.

 

If you are a Christian then Christ has forgiven you, so you should be able to forgive others.  Sometimes it’s really hard to forgive someone when they have wronged you.  Try praying for them and for yourself that God would help you to forgive them for the wrong they have done to you.  There are stories in the Bible of forgiveness.  Remember how Joseph’s brothers wanted to kill him.  Then when Joseph saw his brothers in Egypt years later he treated them with kindness and loved them.  There's another story: Stephen was the first Christian martyr in the New Testament  and he prayed for those who were stoning him.  Jesus is the best example.  As He was hanging on the cross, He prayed to God and said, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”

God can help you to love, pray and do good to those that want to do you harm.  Let’s love our enemies, and this kindness may bring them into a closer relationship with God.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

The Choice is Yours

 The Choice Is Yours

Scripture Reading: Joshua 24:14-28

Focus Verse: Joshua 24:15  " But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.”

In America this week we will vote to elect a new President.  The two candidates and their values are very different and for me the choice is clear who I will vote for.  What if I went to vote and I decided I wanted to vote for both candidates?  My vote would be disqualified, and my vote would not count.

There are people today that live their lives as if they vote for God and the world.  And this does not work.  You must choose.  You can’t sit on the fence trying to live for both.  Deuteronomy 30:19-20 says, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  

Every person makes a choice.  You will either make a choice for the gods of this world and what the world has to offer,  or  you will choose to serve God Almighty the one true God in heaven.  The choice cannot be more clear.  And you must choose.  Maybe you're saying you won’t make a decision, you’re not going to choose.  That in itself is a decision to choose the world.  And that decision will leave you separated from God for all eternity.  Don’t make that decision.  The choice is yours, choose The One True God and serve Him.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Can Anyone Be Saved?

Can Anyone Be Saved?

 Scripture Reading: Acts 26:9-18

Focus Verse: Acts 26:9  “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.”

I went to a conference where our speaker shared some of his testimony on how he came to Jesus.  He mentioned how he was involved in drugs, alcohol and sexual misconduct before his salvation.  As I listened I thought how unlikely it seemed that he would come to Jesus and be saved. 

 

All of us can probably think of someone that we know who is unlikely to become a Christian. Our scripture reading today is about one of those people.  The apostle Paul was actually chasing down Jesus followers, putting Christians in jail, having them punished and voting for their death. A very unlikely person to become a Christian!  But then he had an encounter with Jesus as he was traveling on the road and that changed his life forever. Jesus appointed him to be His servant and witness so that people would turn from darkness to light.

You might say you don’t have a testimony of being saved from all kinds of rough sins like drugs, theft, and murder.  If you’re a born again Christian, it doesn't matter if you had big sins or small sins, you have a powerful testimony of how you came to Jesus.  Your testimony is not about "you", but it's about God's saving grace in your life.  There is someone out there who needs to hear your testimony of how you came to Jesus!  Who knows, but they may be the most unlikely to be saved.

 

  Lastly, I want to answer the question asked at the beginning of this devotion.  YES, anyone can be saved, but only through the grace of God through Jesus and a repentant heart toward God.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Holding On

 Holding On

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 13:1-4

Focus Verse: Deuteronomy 13:4  “Serve only the Lord your God and fear Him alone.  Obey His commands, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him.”
 

How can we think rightly about what our life is supposed to be for.  We really count on a lot of things around us, but some things can fail us. What are some things that you depend on in your life?  

We all depend on the sun to rise each morning.  We depend on gravity to hold us here on the earth.  Maybe you would say you depend on your job, or you depend on your money, or your government.  Do you depend on God as much as you depend on these other things?  

This world is always changing. Just like shifting sand at the beach, the waves move the sand around and it is not secure.  Nothing in this world is 100% dependable.  But God has never changed, and He never will.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  His love and mercy for us is never changing, no matter how we change.  God is my Rock and he wants you to put your anchor into the rock that can never move.  God will never let you go.  There is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from the love of Christ.  So hold on to the things that never change in this world, God and His Word.  Our focus on Him can keep us secure from getting wrecked or lost.

Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries

Forgiveness: The Delete Key

Forgiveness - The delete key
Bible reading: Matthew 6:9-13
Focus verse: Matthew 6:12 – Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

I must admit that my typing skills aren’t all that good so I frequently use the delete key to help me write and pass accurate information to other people. It’s possible that we will never be very accurate every time we write or pass information.  I try to imagine if this key was missing in a computer or phone; communication would be difficult. Accumulation of mistakes would make your work, information or paper to present to be senseless, lacking in meaning hence low or no grading. People would present information they didn’t intend to. So the delete key is the key that helps your writing be on course. It is a key you can’t avoid no matter how accurate you try to be.

Our lives have so many keys but forgiveness represents the delete key. It is the button we can’t avoid clicking daily if we want to stay on course with our walk with God and be presentable to God and to the people around us as imitators of Christ. Imagine if all the unedited work full of mistakes is what you could present for awarding, what grades could we get? That’s what happens when we don’t click the delete key in our lives. We should click it each time we make mistakes to others or whenever others do mistakes to us. Unfortunately, for some people this key is either dead, rarely used or just ignored in their lives. Jesus knew the importance of this key in our lives and instructed us to click it in our daily prayers. He said each day we need to ask for forgiveness as we also have forgiven others who trespass against us. He further states that if you don’t forgive then you too will not be forgiven, Matthew 6:14-15. Paul further states that, “You yourself are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” 

Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptists Church – Mfangano Kenya

Our Shelter In The Storm

Scripture Reading: Psalm 46

Focus Verses: Psalm 46:1-3   "God is our refuge and strength,

    always ready to help in times of trouble.
2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come
    and the mountains crumble into the sea.
3 Let the oceans roar and foam.
    Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! “

Last April, Kenya experienced widespread flooding.  Now flooding has come to America.  More specifically to my state of North Carolina.  About 250km from my home in the mountains of North Carolina hundreds and maybe thousands of homes and businesses have been swept away by flood waters.  This all happened one week ago.  There are over 250 confirmed dead and still hundreds are missing.  We are sad to see such devastation happen to our neighbors to the west. We would ask you to please pray for these people who are suffering.

Psalm 46 tells us that natural earth disasters will take place.  Even Jesus told us that in this life you will have trouble. Even if we don't know why bad things like this happen, we must trust that God knows what He is doing.  Since this tragedy happened last week I have seen how neighbors have come together to help each other.  I have driven my vehicle out to the affected area to take much needed supplies for hurting people.  Psalm 46:1 says “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble."  Some people have lost their home, their business, they even have lost family members.  Sometimes you may lose everything that you have in this world and you realize God is all that you have.  And He is willing, ready, and able to help in our time of need.  God will receive glory from every tragedy.  He can take the worst of circumstances and turn it around for His good, and our good.  Maybe you’re going through a very difficult time in your life.  As the Psalmist says “do not fear, God is our refuge and strength and ready to help.  God alone is our shelter in the storm.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Seeing and Witnessing

Seeing and Witnessing

Scripture reading: Matthew 28:1-8

But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” 8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.  

 When an accident or crime takes place and the matter is taken to a court of law, a witness (one who saw it happen) would be needed to testify about it. The witness would then give facts of what he saw happen and would be asked to swear in before the court that he is not giving false information. The court would then rely on the witnesses to give a ruling in accordance with the rule of law. It is worthless to see a crime or incident and refuse to give a testimony of what you saw.    

Jesus had just risen from the tomb and the ladies who went to anoint His body were ushered into an empty tomb by the angel of God. The angel showed them the empty place where the Lord was laid, thus making the ladies be witnesses that Jesus is indeed risen. He was no longer laying dead in the tomb. The angel then instructed the ladies to go and tell (share with) the disciples that Jesus is no longer dead, He is risen! The ladies did exactly as they were told; they ran and told the disciples about the same. 

Seeing is one thing but sharing/witness about what you saw is another thing altogether. Believers are not just called to see God work in their lives or around them but must be ready to go and witness to the person about Jesus...and to the world. Not many believers are ready to witness to the world about what God has done to their lives and as a result it denies others the opportunity to hear about Jesus and come to Him. When we read God’s word or hear God’s message, we should not just keep what we heard or saw but should go out and witness to the world about the same. God allows us to see or experience his work since He wants us to be His witnesses. The women in the scripture did not just see the empty tomb and the risen Christ but went out and witnessed to the others about the same and as a result more people came to believe in Him. Are you ready to be a witness of the risen Christ to the world today? What opportunities have we had to share about Him but we have kept quiet? Did we ever put off His voice instructing us to do something for His kingdom? Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 

Eliazar Wambo Nyakwadah
Director Bethesda Faith Ministries & Pastor Makira Baptist Church

Fruitful in the midst of weeds

 Fruitful in the midst of weeds
Scripture reading: Matthew 13:24-30
Focus verse: Matthew 13:28-30 - He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” 

Weeds are very bothersome! We may love for our fields to stay without weeds. They not only compete for nutrients with our crops but they also can carry disease or can strangle our crops so that they don’t produce harvest. One funny thing with weeds is that they time your planting season and will come out as soon as your crops have begun to grow. We may use many methods to control them but still it’s so hard to take them all out completely.  
Jesus gives a parable of a man who sowed good seeds in his field, unfortunately the enemy came at night and planted tares. As the grain grew, the tares also grew with them. The servants of the man came to him and asked him to grant them permission so they could uproot all the tares but the man declined. Instead, he tells them that lest they uproot the good crops in their attempt to uproot the tares. Again, he tells them to wait until harvest time when good crops were to be distinguished from the tares. Tares would then be gathered and burnt while good crops are harvested and taken to the barn.
Tares are works of Satan and they are his efforts to make you unproductive in your life as a believer. They can be life storms that one encounters in his walk with Christ and we all must go through them. We may want to do away with them as the servants’ of the man had wanted, but God is saying He has the best time and solution for each tare. Believers should still produce a harvest in the midst of tares. Challenges will always be part of our life experience since we have an enemy who is fighting against our new life in Christ. We need to keep being the light of God in the dark world and our light needs to shine where there is darkness. God will surely sustain our fruitfulness as long as we keep relying on Him.

Eliazar Wambo Nyakwadah

Little Things Make a Difference

Little Things Make a Difference

Scripture Reading:  James 3:4    1 Samuel 17:40   Matthew 13:31-32

Focus Verses:  Matthew 13:31-32  He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

My father has a piece of property that consists of a few acres of land.  Many years ago he was generous and gave me an acre to build my house.  We purchased a farm tractor to help maintain the property.  Today I was doing some maintenance  work on that tractor.  I changed the engine oil, and changed the fuel filter.  These are important things to do if I want the tractor to work properly.  What if I thought to myself “I don’t have time to change the oil, I’ll just keep using the same old oil.  And the fuel filter, I don’t think I need to change that because the tractor is running fine.”  If I continued to think like that one day I would go to use the tractor and it wouldn’t want to run anymore.  It would be broken down.  The fuel filter is a very small part and only costs a few dollars, but it is a very important part of the tractor.  It helps the fuel to be clean without dirt in it.  

Our lives can be the same way physically and spiritually.  Physically, if you eat the right kinds of food you can be strong and healthy.  Spiritually, if we read God’s Word that can keep us strong to stand against the devil.  We might think that regular Bible reading is a small thing and not very important, but it can make a big difference in our lives.  Just think about how the tractor is turned on with a very small key.  Even if you have a very large tractor if you lose the key the tractor isn’t going anywhere.   A mustard seed is so small you can hardly see it, but it grows into a large tree.  How much will your faith grow if it starts small? You might think your life is not very important to God.  Let’s not forget the story in the Bible of the little boy who had one lunch that he gave to Jesus.  Then Jesus fed over 5000 people from that one small lunch!  The little things in your life can make a big difference when you let God use them.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

A Life of Worship

 Bible Reading:  Colossians 3

Focus Verse: Colossians 3:23  "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men." and also verse 6 "Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts."

Colossians 3 instructs about the life that we have in Christ.  There are many things that we are supposed to put away, but also things to begin doing.  Some people come to church with great expectations of what they can get out of it.  But they fail to realize that God wants them to contribute to the service.

Something that I want to focus on today is verse 16. "...Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts."  If people have not been worshiping God the other 6 days of the week, then they cannot effectively worship Him on Sunday.  They need to be in a right relationship with God for worship to take place.  The word worship comes from the old English word meaning "worthship."  This means you worship something because it merits (or is worthy) of our worship.

Many people in the world today are worshiping the wrong thing.  I see people worship money, success, other people, their home, their business, sports teams, maybe even themselves.   It's not wrong to have these things, but if it is more important than God it is wrong.  Only God is worthy of our worship.

We worship when we glorify God with our lives in all we do and say.  We all have different gifts from God.  Maybe you cook, build homes, fish, operate your business, or you do your school work well.  If we do all these things well for the glory of God, then this is a form of worship to Him.  Don't do just enough to get by, but do your best as unto the Lord.  Keep in mind who we are serving.  Even if you have a boss, ultimately you are doing your job for Jesus, because He gave you the ability to do it.  This will be a testimony and a witness for Him.  We can live an effective life of worship to Him every day.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Training for Service

 Scripture Reading: Daniel 1

Focus Verse: Daniel 1:5  They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service.

Training is important before entering service.  Even a blade of steel needs careful attention before it can slice through a piece of meat.  Just as the knife needs sharpening, our spiritual skills need to be sharpened before God can effectively use us.  Maybe you don't have the resources to attend Bible college or go to seminary, but you can gain a great deal of biblical knowledge through your church and personal Bible study.  It is wise to prepare, instead of rushing off unequipped to serve.

Daniel and his friends did not compromise their conviction in God.  Even as they trained under ungodly authority, they held to their Godly instruction from their youth.  God still worked His purposes in their lives.  Sometimes the training process is not always pleasant.  Hebrews 12:11 says, "No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening, it is painful.  But afterward there will be a quiet harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way."

Most importantly stay in the training process so you can be a better servant for God.  He will see you through.  He is training you for the task He has planned for your life.

Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries

True Riches

 True Riches

Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 6:6-21

Focus Verse: 1 Timothy 6:6  “True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.”

The books of the Bible, first and second Timothy, were written by Paul to Timothy.   Paul has some good advice about being wealthy.  Possessions can have a strong pull in someone's life.  It doesn’t really matter whether you are rich or poor.  What matters is the condition of your heart.  A desire to make money should not be put above our desire to know God.  Paul says if you love money it can bring all kinds of evil into your life.  We are to put our trust in God and not in our money.  Paul said God will give us all that we need.  We should also enjoy what God has given us.  Our focus verse says if we are content with what God has given us, that in itself is great wealth.  Someone that has a lot of money has a big responsibility to manage that money well. And Paul says that person should be generous and share with those in need.  You see some day you’re going to die, then what will happen to your money.

I was reading in the news just this week that one of the richest men in the UK was sailing on his big beautiful boat in Italy with his family and friends.  The boat was at anchor for the night and everyone was asleep when a storm suddenly arose and capsized the boat and sank.  This man lost his life along with five of his family and friends.  I’m sure this man had no idea he would lose his life this week.  It really didn’t matter how much money he had because he left it all behind.  I hope that he knew Jesus because that’s what matters most now.

Jesus talked a lot about money while He was on this earth because He knew how money can take control of our lives.  Money can be a wonderful servant because it can do a lot of good when used wisely and with humility.  However, money can also be a terrible master.  When money controls us, many bad things can happen.  Let’s remember how to experience the true riches of being content with all that God has given us to enjoy.  

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Trust and Choose God Always

Trust and Choose God Always

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 26:1-15

Focus Verse:  Isaiah 26:8  “Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws, our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.”

I read a quote by Vance Havner that says,   “You can’t break the law of God.  Nobody ever broke the law of God.  You break yourself against the law of God.”  That is true.  When we disobey God we are the loser, not God.  Our focus verse says, “we show our trust in God by obeying His laws.”  Yes we can choose to disobey God, but then things are not going to go so well for us.  Deuteronomy 30:19 says, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!"   We have been given a choice between life and death, blessings and curses.  I don’t know why so many people in the world today are choosing death and curses.

I also think about 1Kings 11 where King Solomon was given a choice.  When a rich person has a heart to compromise, that's a dangerous combination.  That usually means they have the resources to get deeper into sin.  Solomon's spiritual compromise grew over time into a rampage of sinful behavior looking for pleasure.  Yes, he found some temporary pleasure.  He had so much money he could build any size home he wanted.  He could have any woman he wanted. He did not deny himself any pleasure.  When he came to the end of all that he said “it was all emptiness, like chasing after the wind.”  He wrote in Ecclesiastes “here now is my final conclusion, Fear God and obey His commands, for this is everyone’s duty.”  He went on to say, “Here’s what I’ve learned in life. Don’t fight against the laws of God.  They were given to us for a reason.”

Whether you are rich or poor, you have the choice to trust and obey or to follow your own desires.  Maybe you're saying to yourself, “I’d like to find this out for myself.”   Someone once said, “a wise man learns for the mistakes of others.”   Choose God and His ways for this is the path to a satisfied life of trusting God. 

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Sadness Turned To Joy

 Sadness Turned To Joy

Scripture Reading:  John 16:16-33

Focus Verse: John 16:33 “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Jesus has just told His disciples about the suffering He will go through, but at the end of that suffering there will be great joy when they see what was accomplished.  We know that the whole world has an opportunity to be saved for all eternity because of Jesus' suffering.

Jesus tells us that we also will have suffering and problems on this earth.  We may go through sickness in our bodies.  Our houses have problems and need repair.  We may have broken relationships with our neighbor.  The list is long of the problems that we experience in this world.  Even though this world was created perfect with no problems, sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden then our problems started.  So we have nobody to blame but ourselves.   

 

It seems like every year that goes by the world is in a bigger mess than the year before.  This makes me look forward to heaven even more.  This world with all its problems is not my home.  This world will always disappoint us.  And there is no political government that can fix all these problems.  Only God can fix this world and He will do it one day.  But while we are still here God has a purpose for us to do, and that is to tell others to get ready for Jesus' return.  Jesus is coming back.  He made that promise to His disciples over two thousand years ago.  

 

Let us live in such a way that we will be ready for His return at any moment.  If you are not ready for His return, put your faith and trust in Him today.  We have God’s promise that our sadness will be turned to joy.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries

Distraction of Contempt vs. Thanksgiving

Bible Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5

Focus verse: "Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt."  PSALM 123:3

 

What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. “Take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously” (Malachi 2:16). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into our soul and distracts our mind from God. There are certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives.

Beware of “the cares of this world…” (Mark 4:19). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by “the cares of this world.”

Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.” Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul’s faith in God. Don’t say, “I must explain myself,” or, “I must get people to understand.” Our Lord never explained anything— He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves.

When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.

 

The above is written by Oswald Chambers in his book "My Utmost for His Highest".

 

I want to focus on Thanksgiving, the attitude that is the cure for contempt.

On this American holiday of Thanksgiving, we realize that being thankful is a good step away from contempt.  We must be aware of keeping our mind trained on heavenly attitudes as we go through life.  

 

We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.  "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."2 Corinthians 10:5

 

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

 

I will end this devotion with asking that you read again 1 Thessalonians 5.  We much give thanks in all things. 

 

~Page Johnson

Interlocking Ministries, Kenya

Influence Your World

Influence Your World

Scripture Reading:  Matthew 5:13-16

Focus Verses:  Matthew 5:13-14  “You are the salt of the earth.  You are the light of the world.”

In our passage of scripture Jesus is telling His disciples and us today what our responsibility is as we live in this world.  He is referring to two things that are very common, salt and light.  We use salt to preserve food or to make food taste better.  Light is used to help us find our way in the darkness.  

 

As we share our faith with others, Jesus says we are to be like salt and light.  We need wisdom in doing this so we get this wisdom from God through prayer.  How much salt and light are needed?  Have you ever eaten something that had too much salt added?  It doesn’t taste very good.  Or eaten something with not enough salt? You say "oh this needs more salt" so it will taste good.  Perhaps you have looked at the sun before.  Which is not a good idea because it can cause blindness because it is so bright.  Or maybe you have walked a path with your torch that had a weak battery and you could not see where you were going.  When we share our faith with others we need to use the right amount of salt and light so that others will be attracted to Jesus.  Many times the Holy Spirit will guide you as you talk with others about their lost condition.  So as a cooking recipe calls for the right amount of ingredients, today let’s use our salt and light in the right amounts that will attract people to Jesus.

Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries

God Sees Everything

Scripture Reading: Psalm 139

Focus Verses: Psalm 139:11-12

“I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night, but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.  To you the night shines as bright as day.  Darkness and light are the same to you.”

The United States Military has a new technology.  It’s called “Enhanced Night Vision Goggles.”  These glasses enable the soldier to see the enemy at night just as if it was day.  The enemy might think he is moving under the cover of darkness, but he is being watched.  You don’t want to lose these glasses because they cost about two million shillings.

Some people think that darkness covers up what they are doing.  They think that God doesn’t see in the dark.  But God sees.  There’s no secrets with God.  Night and day are the same to Him.  I don’t think anyone fully understands the awesomeness and power of our God.  God is all knowing.  As our scripture says God knows every detail about you.  He knows what you’re going to think before you think it.  God is ever present.  There is no place you can go that God is not there.  If you travel to the farthest star in the universe, God is there.  God is all powerful.  There is no one more powerful than God.  God controls the whole universe, yet He cares about you individually.  You might be facing a big mountain in front of you, and you don’t know how you can continue on.  Just remember you have an all knowing, ever present, all powerful God on your side.  And He already knows how He’s going to get you over that mountain.  

There’s an element of fear in knowing a God like this, but when we realize just how much God loves us then there’s an element of peace that should come over us.  Romans 8:38  says, “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.  Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.”   Knowing that God sees everything should help keep us on the right path, and when we get off the path we can have peace in knowing that He’s there to guide us back.

Bobby Johnson

Interlocking Ministries