LifeLink Devotions for Monday, October 28, 2024

One of the blessings of the way God equipped me for ministry is that He gave me a memory for names and faces.  As I have gotten older the ability to remember the correct name that goes with the face has diminished, but if I work at it I can usually do it after just one conversation. Whenever we go somewhere, even out of state, the consistent theme of my grandchildren’s conversation is, “How long will it be before we run into someone grandpa knows?”

Exodus 33:12 Moses said to the LORD, “You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 

This ability to know a person’s name is quite different from how God knows us by name. There is a much deeper meaning and significance to how we can be known by name to God than how we are known by name to most people. It is the same in the reverse, for there is much more to knowing God than simply knowing His Name.

In the Bible, the name of someone was a representation of their character. Some characters were able to be named before their birth because God knew what their lives would represent – like Jacob. Others had their names changed later in life because of what their lives grew to represent – like Abraham. Others simply earned a reputation that was attached to their name because of how they lived their lives. That is what is true of most of us.

When God told Moses that He knew him by name, He was stating that He knew and understood his character and reputation, and it pleased Him. When God dug into the deep parts of Moses’ life, he found favor with him. What an incredible thought: Almighty God, perfect and holy, found favor with the way Moses was living his life. Moses was far from perfect, and none of us will ever measure up to the perfection of God. But God saw in Moses the integrity of a maturing character and informed Moses that he was qualified to lead the people.

Our challenge today is two-fold:

1.      When God looks at the deep parts of our lives, does He find favor with us? Can He say that He truly knows us by name? What is the reputation that is attached to our name because of the way we live?

2.      Are we following the leaders God has placed over us so that we may attain full maturity in Christ? Paul says it this way in Ephesians 4:11-13, “It was he(Jesus) who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Let us move from simply being known to God by name to being known to God by reputation and character, How much more precious is the relationship when we get beyond face and name recognition and move to heart understanding. 

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Friday, October 25, 2024

If we are going to be people of faith who follow God into the future, then it is vital that we truly know and understand God and His plan. Moses understood the importance of this, and his priority to know God was a model for the rest of the Israelites and for us.

Exodus 33:7 “Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp.”

The first thing Moses did was to establish a specific place where he and the people could go to meet with God. Moses put a tent outside the encampment where people could go to personally inquire of the Lord. This is a great statement of God’s intention to establish every believer’s right to enter the throne room and talk to the Father personally. The death of Jesus Christ made that possible when the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom as God opened the way for all His children to meet with Him face to face.

Since the resurrection of Christ and the sending of the Holy Spirit to dwell in us we always have God’s presence with us, but I think the principle of setting aside a time and a place to meet with God still holds true today. Many of you are doing that right now as you read this. You have set aside the spot you are in as a place to meet with God, and reading this devotional is part of hearing from God and knowing Him better so you may follow Him more faithfully.

Exodus 33:8-11a “And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.”

Moses had a unique relationship with God at that time and would go to speak with God face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. What an incredible statement of intimacy! That is the potential for all of us and should be our passion.

When God spoke with Moses, His glory was visible to the people, and they responded by standing and worshiping at the entrances to their own tents. In other words, each person made his own home a place of worship. The fact that we have a specific place called a church where we come to meet with God and hear from him is not an excuse to disregard the daily worship of God when we experience His presence and glory. Let us make the worship of God the priority of our homes.

Exodus 33:11b “Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.”

Finally, notice the young man Joshua, who has taken on the responsibility of guarding the tent of meeting. Here was a young man who had a passion to know the God of Moses and to hear from Him intimately. He sacrificed everything to pursue God’s presence in his life. What a dividend was later reaped by Joshua when, based on his relationship with God and faithfulness to God’s plan, he was chosen to replace Moses as the leader of Israel. His leadership success is directly traced to this passion to be in the presence of God always.

May God’s Spirit make these truths powerful in our hearts and change us into people who passionately pursue intimacy with God.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, October 24, 2024

Years ago my wife and I had a great time with a missionary family that our church supported. After the morning worship service and lunch,  they came to our house and we loaded up the boat and headed for the Chippewa River for some tubing fun. We had a fabulous time getting everyone worn out hanging on for dear life. The river was crowded so there were plenty of waves to navigate, and there was some serious airtime being experienced by the tubers.

At the end of the day, after driving the boat for everyone else, one of the other families invited me to get in a three-person tube for one last run. I agreed, and it was obvious from the start that the boat driver had it in for me. Everything was done to throw me from the tube, including putting me in a faulty portion of the tube. Finally, after hanging on for dear life, the tube collapsed under me, and I was gone. It was a great tumble, but I came up laughing.  

The next day my shoulders and neck were sore. I must have hit my head funny when I fell into the water at breakneck speed. I have a definite understanding of being stiff-necked. However, mine is for a very different reason than the stiff-necked Israelites. Mine is muscle stiffness: theirs was moral stiffness.

Exodus 33:3 “ Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”

The background of the word stiff-necked is agricultural, and comes from a term used to describe a stubborn ox or horse that won’t respond to the yoke or the reins. These animals have their own disposition and refuse to be broken to obey the master. That is how the people of Israel are described three times by the Lord because of their continual complaining and repeated return to their old ways of sin. So serious is this that God, in His mercy, refuses to accompany them on their journey to the promised land for fear that He will destroy them.  

It is a serious thing to have claimed to have taken the yoke of God’s leadership onto our shoulders and then replace it with the yoke of self-gratification. It is a serious thing to set our necks stiffly against the leading of God in our lives. It is a serious thing to set ourselves up as being more qualified to determine our outcomes than God. It is a serious thing to oppose the plan of God for our lives. It will lead to serious consequences and may end in the destruction of all that we once held dear.

But Jesus offers an alternative to that kind of burdensome living. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  This is the cure for a stiff neck that has been caused by the burden of guilt carried on the shoulders of a morally corrupt person. Come to Jesus for forgiveness and healing of the heart, for when the heart is overwhelmed with the love of God, the will is broken, and the surrendered soul finds rest.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Most of us don’t like reading stories like this one from the Bible.

Exodus 32:25-29 “Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him. Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”

We do not like to think about the brutality of men with swords piercing the hearts of men with sin and putting them to death. We certainly do not want to think about the screams for mercy from the dying and the cries of mourning from the living.  We avoid reflecting on the fact that men killed their own family members and the horror of such an action. But we must take the time to review these events and let this be a teachable moment for us as it was for the nation of Israel.

Since the beginning of their deliverance from Egypt, the people of Israel were being shown more than just a path to follow – they were being shown a God to follow. It has been God’s intention in all of creation to make Himself known and reveal His glory to us.  That requires more than just intellectual understanding: it must also be experienced. The glory of God can only be known through the full experience of God, and that means we must experience every aspect of His nature.

In today’s story, the people of Israel experience the holiness of God. They had seen His holy character manifested in the destruction of their enemy Egypt, but they did not yet understand that all sin is equally punishable. They did what we do – qualify sin and sinners into categories so that our sin is justifiable. God will certainly punish the rapist before the one who lusts and the murderer before the gossiper.  But God said that the breaking of any moral law is direct rebellion against Him, and is punishable by death.  

Isaiah experienced the holiness of God and tells us about it in chapter 6 of his book.

“I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple…“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips,  and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

Notice what Isaiah expressed as his condition of sin – unclean lips. Not murder, not rape, not adultery, not stealing, but unclean speech. Isaiah understood God’s principle that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”, and he knew his heart was unclean. It’s true of us as well.

Here’s the point – in our human flesh we are unclean before a holy God. We deserve the punishment of death, even for what we consider to be the least of our sins. In God there is no darkness. Yet the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross on Calvary can wash away the guilt of all such sin. Many of you have experienced God’s grace that saves you from death. And yet God may be dealing with you today because of your choice to continue to live under the influence of sin’s passions. Is it not time for us to get on our knees and surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and live in the promised land of victory? Is it not time to accept personal responsibility for the smallest of offenses against the holiness of God? Is it not time to fully know Him by fully experiencing Him and thus fully dwelling in His glory? To all of this I say an emphatic “YES!” and “AMEN!”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, October 22, 2024

When I was 6 years old I went with my mom to the local pharmacy in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. They had a toy section, and I knew there had to be something there that would make my life more fun and fulfilling. While mom was getting her things, I got mine. It was a red ball, about the size of a tennis ball, and it fit perfectly into my pocket. We walked out of the store, and it was mine…for a while. I couldn’t contain my excitement so on the way home I took the ball out and started tossing it in the air. Of course, mom noticed, and asked me where I got it. I lied. I said I had found it. Unfortunately, the price sticker was still on the ball, so that deception fell apart quickly. She turned the car around and marched me right back into that store where I had to confess what I had done to the owner of the store. I was humiliated.

At the time I thought about what I could learn from this, but I only thought in terms of how to not get caught. I thought about how to get away with it the next time: take off the price tag…scuff up the ball so it looks used…leave it in my pocket longer…and so on. But every one of those thoughts was a temptation by Satan to hide the sin and avoid the consequences. The real lesson I learned that day, even though I may not have learned it on that day, is this – I must take personal responsibility for my choices, and when I do there is forgiveness and restoration.

The real issue with lying is not the avoidance of consequences, but rather the protection of personal value and worth. When we really think about it, the consequences of our choices are not nearly so frightening as the thought of having a diminished value in the eyes of another person. That’s what really hurts, and that’s what causes our lying. Lying is an attempt at people pleasing, and the primary person we are trying to please is self.

Here’s how Aaron tried to maintain his image when Moses came down from the mountain and found the people dancing to a false God.

Exodus 32:24  “So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

Aaron told an incredibly stupid lie when he claimed that the golden calf created itself. Did he think that because Moses had just been in the presence of God that he would easily believe any miracle? When self-protection mode is engaged in our lives we can easily be convinced to do and say anything that appears to benefit us. Aaron feared that Moses’ opinion of his leadership qualities and spiritual maturity would be diminished, so he tried to protect his reputation with a lie. So blindingly powerful is this need for self-protection that logic is thrown out the window. It was so very easy for Moses to disprove Aaron’s statement simply by asking other witnesses what happened. But Aaron’s lie was so rooted in pride that he believed that his word was more influential and trustworthy than anyone else’s word. He thought Moses should have no reason to doubt him even though the preponderance of evidence was against him.

We have all been in this situation, and we have all been at the crossroads where the paths of humility and pride meet and bring us to a moment of decision.  Moses brought the people to that crossroad when he declared to them, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.”  He gave the guilty people a chance for forgiveness and restoration. Those who responded received both. You may be at that crossroad today and must choose between faithfulness to God and faithfulness to self. Be careful, the choice of pride will end in destruction. The choice of humble personal responsibility will honor God and bring life. Choose wisely.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, October 17, 2024

When was the last time you were speechless with awe? It happened to me this morning. I was speechless with awe when I read Exodus 19:4 where God speaks to Moses and says, “I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself”. I am having one of those moments when words are inadequate to express the overwhelming joy and gratitude that has come over my heart as I consider the incredible impact of that statement.  

The story of the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage is to be for us a picture of our deliverance from the bondage of sin. There are several important lessons for us to remember. These lessons may seem simple, and you may have heard them before, but my prayer is that the impact of God’s grace will overwhelm you as it did me and you too will be refreshed in your spirit.

1.      All of the glory for their deliverance goes to God, who did it all. Man receives no credit for playing any role in his freedom from bondage. We are unable to change our sinful situation. We may try to change our situation by thinking we can earn our way into a state of spiritual freedom through knowledge or good works, but this leaves us more desperate than before. We may try to alleviate the pain of the situation with the worldly aspirin of drugs, alcohol, sex, money, possessions, and relationships, but these all fail in the end and leave us more destitute than ever. It is only in complete surrender to Jesus Christ that we are carried into the eternal rest of God’s arms.

2.      This eternal rest involves the destruction of all that held us in bondage in the past. God chooses to use the analogy of being carried on eagles’ wings. The eagle was considered in biblical times a scavenger bird that fed on death. The Hebrew word means “to lacerate”, and is the same word translated “vulture” in other Hebrew literature. When Israel was delivered from Egypt, the enemy was destroyed, and the people were carried to safety by the same power that fed on the death of the enemy. When Jesus died on the cross, His offer of salvation to mankind includes a guarantee of death to those who reject it. The same power that carries me into the forgiving arms of the Heavenly Father will destroy all those who oppose Him.

3.      Now the point that emotionally overwhelms me – God brought me to Himself. He did not simply deliver the people of Israel from Egypt and start them on a new direction, leaving them to fend for themselves. He did not turn over their well-being to their own ability to provide for it. He did not leave them with only hope in their own wisdom to make decisions and complete the course. No, He brought them to Himself. He brought them into a permanent relationship that is defined by the picture of a perfect Father and His love and care for His children. His love sought me when I was lost because He bought me by His death on the cross. He picked me up and carried me into the security of His everlasting arms. His hand has folded around me, and He will never let me go. HALLELUJAH! I AM HIS FOREVER!

I pray that the Holy Spirit impresses on your heart today the incredible depths of God’s love and His deliverance from sin for all who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. He has carried us to Himself.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, October 15, 2024

There is something very addictive about authority and power, especially to a person with insecurities. Moses was a man with insecurities. He had run away from his people once because his actions were misunderstood and rejected, and he had fought God’s call to return to his people as their deliverer because of the fear of additional rejection. When God empowered him to accomplish the deliverance of the nation from Egypt, and when God empowered him to meet all the needs of the people during the exodus, Moses probably started to feel pretty good about himself. This authority and power that he had was satisfying, and it certainly felt a lot better than rejection. The people actually needed him, and he may have been enjoying the attention and sense of security it brought.

But just like any addiction, there was a serious price to pay. Moses’ price was burnout. All attempts to cover our insecurities and fears with human resources and pursuits end in destruction. Moses needed the wise input of a veteran leader to help him see the error of his thinking. This wise man was his father-in-law, who gave him some incredible leadership advice – delegate!

Exodus 18:13-14  The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”

If you keep reading that passage you will find that the advice was broken down into four elements. They give us some insights into how we can become better leaders of the people God has brought into our circle of relationships. Let’s look at the first one today.

1. Make sure everyone knows that God is the final authority, and you are just serving Him. Moses was told that “You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him.”  It is very dangerous to take personal credit for decisions and actions when God alone is responsible. Leading other people and helping them with their problems is not about gaining personal value or status with that person. It’s about honoring the only One who has all the answers. We have been called to intercede with God on behalf of people so they hear Him, not us. Don’t get in the way.

Tomorrow we will look at the other principles. But for today, spend some time evaluating your relationships with others and asK yourself this question – “Do I consistently direct their needs to the Lord or do I look for the honor that comes from doing it myself?”

Pastor John