LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

God is in control, and all things are working out exactly as He has planned for His glory and for our ultimate good. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to not be critical complainers but rather to be filled with hope.

Maybe you missed the preliminaries from Isaiah that led up to me making that statement. God spoke directly to the issue of our past and our present and gave us a vision of our future. He declared the past to be forgotten and hidden from His eyes (Isaiah 65:16). He declared that anything and everything about the past and the present will be wiped away in a new creation so that we will no longer remember the former things (vs. 17). Now, in place of complaining there can be rejoicing: in place of sadness there can be gladness (vs. 18).

Isaiah 65:18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create…

Eight years ago, while in the Philippines, I was introduced to the new Dean of Men at the Bible College that serves as the headquarters for the Evangelical Christian Outreach Foundation Incorporated (ECOFI), a ministry supported by missions giving to our church. His name is Christopher Bocboc. We talked for a few minutes, and then he helped me remember something from nine years earlier. I had been invited to an all-night prayer meeting with the students at the college, and he was one of them. I had spent an extended period of time counseling him about his spiritual life and God’s call on his life to full-time ministry. Now, nine years later, there he was as the Dean of Men at the Bible College.

One day on Facebook, Chris posted this, and I wanted to share it with you to encourage you to become people of praise.

Most of us give praise quite naturally. For example, we love watching our favorite sports heroes perform magnificent feats of athletic brilliance. Then we praise them to our friends as we share in their secret wish, just for a moment, that we could feel what it’s like to be in their spotlight! We also praise musical artists and bands when their music entertains or moves us.  Do you praise your friends? How about a boyfriend or a girlfriend? There’s nothing wrong with giving praise to others or even receiving some well earned praise. Yet the one we often forget to praise is the One who is the most deserving of it—God. No person is totally praiseworthy in the same sense that God is praiseworthy. We’re all human. We make mistakes. We let others down. We let ourselves down. But God is faithful. He is always true to Himself and to his word. When was the last time you paused to give praise to God? Is it something you do naturally?

THINK ABOUT IT! David recognized all God had done for Him and paused to praise Him for His faithfulness. Second Samuel 22:4 says” the Lord should be praised.” The next time you hear a great song, instead of praising the band, praise God, the creator of music. The next time you watch an exciting sporting event, praise God, the giver of all talent. Set aside each day to praise God for who He is and what He has done for you.

Be glad and rejoice in what God has created, and to Him alone be all the praise and glory.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, March 2, 2020

Isaiah 65:18 “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create”

Ah, the joys of a Monday morning. I love Mondays. I’m still invigorated with inspiration from yesterday’s worship of God in the company of people I love. I’m still basking in the blessing of spending quality time with my wife on Sunday. I’m rested and restored because I choose to use Sunday afternoon and evening as a Sabbath day. I’m energized with enthusiasm about the week’s ministry opportunities and waiting with wonder on the work God is going to do.

I know for most people Monday is a drag. But may I suggest that the reason for Mundane Monday is monocular: you know, looking only through one eye rather than two.

When I was first learning to shoot a rifle as a young boy, I was taught something very important by the man who was training me. When I put that .22 caliber rifle up to my shoulder for the first time and looked down the barrel at those open sights, I shut my left eye so I could focus completely on the target. Before I could pull the trigger, he stopped me. He told me to open my left eye and learn to focus on the target with both eyes open.

I had a lot of trouble with that at first. By nature our eyes are separated by space so we can see in stereo, making depth perception possible. In addition, one of our eyes is more dominant than the other, and when trying to line up two objects in a straight line we need to use the dominant eye. Lining up a rifle on a target is very difficult when both eyes are open.

But I did what he said, and kept practicing. Now, when I hunt, both eyes are always open. In that way, I never become so focused on one target that I miss another potential target that may be just left or right of the first one. On several occasions I have been looking through the scope of my rifle at a deer when out of the other eye I see the movement of a bigger deer to one side. Monocular vision limits potential.

One morning last spring, as I checked out all the latest news, weather, and sports, I noticed movement through the window on the other side of the house. I looked up and a bluebird had landed on the top of my birdfeeder. I had been trying to get bluebirds to nest at my house for years, yet they never seem interested in the houses I put up. But this was not about bluebirds nesting, it was about the Lord revealing Himself to me and reminding me not to get so monocular about life that I forget to see His presence around me.

Mundane Mondays are the result of monocular vision. We are so focused on the fun we had over the weekend, or the stresses of life in the week ahead, or the disappointments of life, or any other issue that exists, that we miss the blessings of the Lord’s presence. We have closed the eye that can see the movement of the Lord and we are seeing only the targets visible through the scope of self.  We are so intent on what we can create for ourselves that we are missing the splendor of what God is creating in and around us.

This is not a Mundane Monday – this is a Magnificent Monday. It is a Marvelous Monday. I rejoice that I enter this day and this week with both eyes wide open to see the splendor of God’s presence. I have already seen the bluebird of happiness.

Pastor John