LifeLink Devotions for Friday, November 15, 2024

As we mentioned yesterday, the Israelites are near the end of their 40 years of wandering the desert. Most of those responsible for the choice to not enter the Promised Land when God directed them the first time have now died. The next generation of people is ready to begin their advance towards God’s promise. But for the first time recorded this new generation also complains about things not going their way. 

When Moses and Aaron approach God with the complaints of the people there is something different about His response from previous instances of grumbling. God gives Moses a solution to the problem without any consequences to the people. That’s God’s grace in action.

Numbers 20:6-8 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. The LORD said to Moses, “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” 

God graciously provided for the people. Moses did not. Moses allowed the hurts of the past to be resurrected and his pride to become the motivator of his actions. Look at what Moses did:

1.      He directly disobeyed God by speaking to the people and not to the rock. He had been given no permission or authority to use this opportunity as a time to correct the people. He was simply told to speak to the rock and let them observe the power of God. How many times do we overstep our boundaries with people by attempting to correct them from the outside rather than letting the Holy Spirit correct them from the inside. They need to see God’s grace in us.

2.      He also directly disobeyed God by striking the rock rather than speaking to it. Moses seemed to think the people needed to see the justice of God rather than the grace of God, and that is not what God wanted them to see at this time. There is a place for that, as the last generation had experienced, but not with this new group of people. God knew that they needed to see His mercy and grace, not judgment. In his arrogance, Moses thought he knew better than God. He reacted emotionally rather than with sensitivity to the people and to God’s plan. I know that we do the same in our relationships with people. We judge and condemn quickly, when God would have us show the world His grace and love.

3.      His pride was the cause of his choices. God tells Moses what he did wrong:

a.      Your faith in Me is still too small in that you did not trust My way as being the best way to bring these people along in their faith.

b.      You did not honor Me in the sight of the people by claiming power for yourself that is rightfully Mine. It was God who would bring the water out of the rock, not Moses.

c.      You did not give the people a proper perspective of My holiness because you skipped the grace and mercy and went right to the judgment.

As a result of this, after over 40 years of faithful leadership of the people, Moses was told that he and his brother Aaron would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. Moses was judged by God by the same standard he had used to judge the people. God had not called the people “rebels”, Moses had, when in fact Moses was the rebel. Those guilty of rebellion were not allowed to experience the Promised Land. Let’s be careful that before we look at the speck in someone else’s eye we make sure we don’t have a log in our own. Let’s be people of obedience, honoring the holiness of God before people, and understand that it is grace and love that win the hearts of man.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, November 14, 2024

When I read the history of the Israelites, I am amazed at how visible God was and how rebellious the people were. In my pride I think, “If I could have seen the mighty works of God the way those people did I would never have doubted or grumbled.” Just look at their past experiences. They refused to enter the promised land because of the faithless testimony of ten spies, and they watched as God wiped them from the earth with a plague. Then, in Numbers 16, several key leaders began a mutiny of sorts against Moses, and 250 people formed a committee with the sole purpose of overthrowing Moses’ leadership. In response, God judged them severely and they were killed with the fire of the Lord. The very next day the Israelites grumbled against Moses and blamed him for the deaths of the leaders, and God again demonstrated His power by bringing a plague that killed 14,700 people.  Then, to affirm His call on Aaron’s life as the spiritual leader of the priesthood, God had each tribe’s leader place a staff in the tabernacle and declared that the chosen one would bud. In the morning, not only had Aaron’s staff budded, blossomed, and produced a harvest of almonds.

At this point I would have been on my face before God with thanksgiving for His love and repented of any doubts I had that He could provide for my every need.  Or would I have? The Israelites didn’t.

Numbers 20:2-5 “Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! Why did you bring the LORD’S community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

What makes me think I would be any better than they were? The first time something went wrong again, they grumbled. They didn’t have any water, and they blamed God. It’s been over forty years at this point since they left Egypt, and most of the people who had refused to enter the Promised Land were dead by now. Those alive were the ones who were not held responsible for the rejection of God’s plan, but they looked back at their youthful days in Egypt and wanted to go back. All they could think about were the luxuries of life – figs, pomegranates, and grapes – rather than the way God had sustained them and provided for them for the past 40 years. I would like to think I would never do that, and I bet you do too.

But let’s look honestly at our own history. Take some time to do this exercise. Reflect on your past 40 years if you are that old and make a list of all the wonderful and powerful ways that God has worked on your behalf: physical protection, physical and emotional healing, financial provision, answered prayers of numerous varieties, loved ones saved, needs met, and so on. Your list will be a long one. Now look at the latest entry on the list – maybe it was yesterday or the day before. Have you complained since that event? Have you doubted since that direct experience with God? Has some circumstance of life caused you to turn inward instead of upward? I have. I’m ashamed. We are no different than the Israelites except we’re worse.

Why are we worse? Because the Israelites only saw the effects of God on their circumstances. We have the abiding presence of God living within us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Every moment of every day is a direct experience with God, and we still doubt and grumble. Something needs to change, and it is our faith. We must finally admit that our faith is not weak it is just misplaced. Our faith quickly turns from the invisible God to the visible self. Knowing the limitations of self, we soon turn from faith to doubt. We must return to faith in God. We must not look at the seemingly endless hardships of our life but rather we must look at the enduring love of the Father. He will not fail! He cannot fail!  Let’s fall on our faces today in repentance, confessing our doubts and grumblings and our need for faith in His everlasting love and care. He has done it in the past. He is still doing it!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, November 13, 2024

In our study of the life of Moses, we have reached the fifteenth chapter of Numbers, which is an interlude from the action in which God gives some more specific instructions about the sacrifices that were to be made when the people entered the Promised Land. I want to just take one thing from this, and then give you a short list of things God will never ask.

God has made it clear throughout Scripture that all things are His, and everything we have is to be at His disposal. As a fundamental of our faith, we are with gratitude to sacrifice the first and best of everything we have for the Lord’s work. This may mean that we live at a lower financial standard than our neighbors, but the value of our lives is not determined by our financial wealth but rather by our spiritual wealth. God made it clear to the Israelites, and to all of us, that our hearts condition is directly connected to what we consider the treasures of our lives. May our treasure never be earthly, but may our treasure always be heavenly.

Test your attitude about this with the following list of things God will not ask you on the Day you see Him in glory.

1… God won’t ask what kind of car you drove. 
He’ll ask how many people you drove who didn’t have transportation. 

 2… God won’t ask the square footage of your house, 
He’ll ask how many people you welcomed into your home. 

 3… God won’t ask about the clothes you had in your closet,  
He’ll ask how many you helped to clothe. 

4… God won’t ask what your highest salary was.  
He’ll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it. 

 5… God won’t ask what your job title was. 
He’ll ask if you performed your job to the best of our ability. 

 6… God won’t ask how many friends you had.  
He’ll ask how many people to whom you were a friend. 

 7… God won’t ask in what neighborhood you lived, 
He’ll ask how you treated your neighbors. 

8 … God won’t ask about the color of your skin, 
He’ll ask about the content of your character.

Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Make sure your treasures are eternal so your heart is following Jesus.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Missed opportunities. It’s the story line of our lives. The story is much larger than we know. We remember with regret the times we should have gone right instead of left or the times we should have stopped instead of proceeding.  But there are so many other missed opportunities of which we are not aware. We know that we have spent many days listening only to self and have missed untold numbers of opportunities to listen to God’s direction. We are by nature sheep that have gone astray, and to compensate we have become fixers. We attempt to go back to where we went wrong and create another opportunity for correctness, hoping that this will soften or eliminate the consequences.

As we can see from today’s story, this doesn’t work when it is our own attempt to make up for sin. Our attempts to correct the consequences of sin are futile.

Numbers 14:39-43  When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. Early the next morning they went up toward the high hill country. “We have sinned,” they said. “We will go up to the place the LORD promised.” Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the LORD’S command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.” 

There are stories in the Bible where God directed the people to try again under His direction and they were successful, but this is not one of those times. It is our responsibility to always listen to God’s direction, even if that means suffering the consequences of a previous disobedience. Two wrongs never make a right.

This is why daily fellowship with God is so important. Several things are accomplished when we daily spend time with God:

1.      We train our heart and mind and spirit to listen to God and not the world, thereby becoming servants rather than self-serving.

2.      We come to a deeper understanding of God’s involvement in every detail of our lives.

3.      We move to a deeper level of love and trust as we see God’s heart of good in all that is done.

4.      We experience the thrill of being a partner with God in accomplishing His purpose, which motivates more listening and fewer missed opportunities.

If you are going through a time of hardship and suffering right now because of a missed opportunity or a disobeyed direction, only go back and try to do it over if you’re convinced that God has asked you to. And you will only know that if you are spending quality time with Him. There may not be any going back, but there is definitely a future based on the forgiveness of God. The strength of the Lord is His patience, love, and forgiveness. Fall on your knees before Him right now and ask to be restored. He will do it, and He will show you the direction to take today to get you back on His path. There may be consequences to endure, but there is fellowship to enjoy, and His Presence gives peace and strength. 

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Friday, November 8, 2024

How many times a day do you use the word “but”? Probably many more than you realize. It is one of the most influential words in our vocabulary. It has the power to kindle a fire of fear while extinguishing the flames of faith. It is a word of transition from assurance to apprehension. It creates compromise rather than confirmation. It results in reconsideration rather than risk.

This one word spread negativity throughout the nation of Israel and impeded their progress when they should have positively accepted the invitation of God to invade.

Numbers 13:27-31 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large…” Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”

Two times in the story ten spurious spies argue from fear rather than faith and convince the people of Israel to doubt God’s direction. To their credit, the spies did report that the blessings of the land were incredible. They brought back exceptional fruit. To their culpability, they were convinced that the personal risk was far too great for the material benefit. They had forgotten that the foundation of God’s promise to them was not material blessing but spiritual blessing. Their focus shifted from God’s covenant promise that they would be a blessing to all the other nations of the world to the personal benefits that they should receive for their obedience. They did what any of us would do when our focus shifts from God’s purpose to man’s perspective – they saw only man’s power and not God’s omnipotence and they became afraid. From their human vantage point, they saw insurmountable obstacles. From a vantage point of faith, they could have seen opportunities for God’s intervention.

The fear that overcame them was so powerful that they began to assume facts not already in evidence. Take a look closely at Numbers 13:33 – “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”  It was one thing for them to admit an insecurity about their own stature and status, but it was totally wrong of them to believe that they knew what the inhabitants of the land were thinking about them. In fact, if they were still thinking with a mind of faith, they would have remembered the promise of God when He said, “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.”  God had already promised to make the very people of whom they were afraid to be afraid of them and conquer them.

This story has so many applications to our lives today. We use “buts” to renegotiate God’s purpose for our lives. We use “buts” to validate our personal desires and ambitions. We use “buts” to reduce personal risk. We use “buts” to defend our fears. We use “buts” to justify our insecurities. We have shifted our focus from the spiritual to the material, and we have embellished the facts to defend our position. We must admit that in areas of our lives we are walking by the sight of man’s perspective rather than by faith in God’s promises. I pray that God will use these insights to challenge a particular area in your life today and that you will become a Joshua or Caleb and proclaim with bold faith, “we can certainly do it!”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Have you ever regretted saying something because the wrong person heard it? I’m sure we all have. But is the regret caused only by the consequence? If so, then there is a heart problem that must be addressed. If we feel regret and shame only when we are caught, then there is a purity issue in our character. This kind of shame is indicative of a person who is self-focused. They feel guilt only when the consequences of their actions are detrimental to their personal image, status, or agenda. This person’s morals are situational and not Godly. There is a need for humbling and brokenness before a righteous and holy God.

Miriam and Aaron had become such people. They were gifted by God to serve alongside Moses. They had demonstrated God’s presence and power in their lives by the performing of miracles and the speaking of prophetic truth. Yet they were not getting the recognition that Moses was, and jealousy invaded their hearts.

Numbers 12:1-2 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard this.

What an incredibly powerful and convicting statement – “And the LORD heard this.”  

It is obvious that their attack on Moses was not really about his new wife. What correlation is there between a Cushite wife and their desire to be recognized as people through whom God also spoke? Obviously there is none, unless they were thinking that being the recognized spokesperson for God gave Moses an exemption for moral purity, and they desired that. I do not believe that is accurate, but I do believe that there have been spiritual leaders who have believed this and have lived that way, much to the embarrassment and dishonoring of God.

No, it is obvious that the attack of Miriam and Aaron on Moses was about recognition. In the previous chapter there were 70 additional people who were empowered with the Holy Spirit to assist Moses in the leading of Israel. Aaron has not really been mentioned since the production of the golden calf by his own hands. Miriam has been silent since the day of deliverance from the Red Sea. Both are still qualified and capable of serving, and probably were doing so, but they were jealous of the recognition that others, especially Moses, were getting. God’s anger burns against them, and there will be punishment.

The desire for personal recognition is a deadly trap of Satan, and we must guard our hearts against it. Jealousy has no place in the heart of the Christian or the Church. When Miriam is punished as the instigator of this attack, God’s punishment is swift and serious – leprosy. When Aaron repents for their sin, God demonstrates His grace and forgiveness by providing a path of restoration. But within the context of that plan God reveals the seriousness of a jealous heart with the analogy of the punishment. He compares what Miriam did to what a daughter does to her father by disgracing him with her behavior. Jealousy is disrespect for the authority of God, and it disgraces His Name and His people.

Let’s take seriously the warning against jealousy, and let’s learn to live in the contentment of serving God humbly. No matter what your position in the body of Christ, take to heart the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:58 – “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, November 5, 2024

In the United States this is presidential election day. I have a word of God’s wisdom for all of us who are followers of the Eternal King Jesus Christ. It comes from God’s Holy Word in 1 Timothy chapter 2.

“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.”

It is embarrassing to watch Christians behave just like the world. We complain about, criticize, and condemn those disagree with our political positions. It contradicts everything the Lord teaches us about the attitudes we should have and how to act towards those who we consider wrong.

GOD SAYS:

1. Pray for them.
2. Give thanks for them.
3. When you are thankful you will live peaceful and quiet lives.
4. Your life will be marked by godliness and dignity.
5. This is what pleases God.
6. This is what God uses to draw more people to salvation.

I want to challenge you with this. We do NOT pray for our leaders so they will do things our way so we can live peaceful and quiet lives. We do NOT pray for our leaders so we can be godly and dignified. Peace, quiet, godliness, and dignity are NOT the responsibility of the government. They are the product of a thankful heart that trusts God as the Sovereign Ruler of all, including politicians who are opposed to Him. When we are thankful that God has granted them their authority to accomplish His bigger plan, then we can live peacefully and quietly because we are pleasing God. We can live godly even when we are opposed because our confidence is in Him not in man. We can be dignified, which is something the world needs to see rather than the anger and emotional outbursts that seem to come from us. And people will be drawn to Christ when they see us live thankfully.

My friends, guard your hearts. Guard your tongues. Be thankful no matter the outcome of the election. Jesus Christ is on the throne, and all these things are preparing the world for His return.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Monday, November 4, 2024

Obstacles to faith abound. There seems to be a common obstacle to faith in the heroes of the Bible. Whether we are studying the life of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Nehemiah, Mary, Peter, or Paul, just to name a few, there is a particular element of a growing faith that is emphasized over and over by God as He teaches His children to trust Him. It is what separates the faith of the followers of God from all other so-called faiths. Simply stated it is this: nothing is impossible with God!

Numbers 11:21-23 But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?” The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’S arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”

As we grow in our faith in God, we discover that God works in two main arenas to meet our needs and accomplish His purpose:

1.      He miraculously employs and empowers the resources that are visible to us; and

2.      He miraculously employs and empowers the resources that are invisible to us.

Earlier in the chapter from which we just read God specifically addressed the concerns of Moses that the burden of leadership was too great for one man, and He employed and empowered 70 men to come along side of Moses and help him manage the nation. Those resources were visible to Moses, but he needed a faith adjustment to see them. Maybe the burdens you are carrying today are unnecessary, and you simply need to ask God to provide you with a resource that is available to you. It is amazing what we can see when we change our focus from self to service. His Spirit will open our eyes when the decision is made to see God’s plan rather than our problems.

Sometimes, and I believe more often than we realize, God employs and empowers the invisible to accomplish the humanly impossible. In this story of Moses, God promises to feed two million people (600,000 men on foot figures out to around 2,000,000 when counting the women and children) with meat for a month. Moses knows that there is no way to do that based on their current resources. They do not have enough cattle and sheep to make that happen. But God’s arm is not too short to reach out and meet the need of anyone or any church. By the power of the wind, which He controls, He brought enough birds from the sea to cover the ground to a depth of 3 feet for a distance of 15 miles in every direction from the camp. The people gathered 60 bushels of birds each and had far more than they needed to be fed meat for a month.

What area of your life is lacking because you believe the only solution is based on your resources? Is God’s arm too short? NO! Do you believe that He can provide? YES! He has promised to meet your every need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus. Start moving forward. Step outside the camp of your comfort.  Walk a day’s journey if necessary and gather up what God will bring you to accomplish His glory.

Pastor John