LifeLink Devotions

Friday, September 8, 2023

The next few weeks are going to be fantastic, at least from my perspective. The weather is still warm enough to golf and go fishing. The weather is getting cool enough to feed my appetite for sitting on my tree stand waiting for the elusive monster buck. The one thing that affects my participation in any of those activities is rain. It seems like the weather plays a role in many of the decisions we make.  

Often our lives are like a rainy day. Circumstances are cloudy. Our plans and pursuits are put on hold by pouring rain. Our emotions are saturated with negativity. We see only the inconvenience of the present and miss the blessing of seeing the abundance being produced.

God uses Isaiah to remind us of a simple truth – the rains that fall in the form of hardship and suffering are bringing God’s righteousness and salvation.

Isaiah 45:8    “You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the LORD, have created it.”

God reminds us that as the Creator of all things, He has eternally connected the physical and the spiritual. Every element of nature brings God spiritual glory. Jesus said that if we didn’t praise Him, even the rocks would cry out to the glory of God.

Every event of life has spiritual implications. The circumstances of our lives that we pray to end are the very events God planned to bring us the water of life. The clouds of despair that we believe stop us from seeing the sun are the very clouds that God is using to deliver His righteousness so we can see the Son. The cracks in the ground that shake the foundations of our lives are the evidence that God is preparing to grow something new and wonderful in us.

Life can be hard, especially if we believe that this life is all we get. But for those who see the spiritual in the physical – the supernatural in the natural – there can be joy even in the storms. The clouds that roll into our lives are to be embraced and enjoyed, because God is delivering righteousness in the rain. Open up wide and receive it, and let salvation spring up in your heart.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, September 7, 2023

Isaiah 45:4  “For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me.”

We all have different ideas of how things should get done. Not one of us has a corner on the solutions market. The process market is up for grabs as well. Our experience has taught us some lessons we can pass along, but anything we have learned from experience is confined to the scope of our experiences, and that scope is limited.

When committees or teams are formed to initiate programs they can be either productive or problematic, depending on the attitudes of those involved. It only takes one person in a meeting who believes that their solution is the only solution to cause a major problem. The assumption that their experience exceeds the experience of anyone else, and that their wisdom demands recognition puts them near the top of the arrogance scale.

One key element of truth that is ignored by such prideful people is that there is only One who has complete knowledge, experience, and wisdom – Almighty God. And whether we agree with His methods or not, He is in control and He is getting it done. (By “it” I mean His divine will and eternal purpose.)

Let’s put ourselves in Isaiah’s time for a moment. God is revealing to him and then through him to the nation of Israel that there is a time of political unrest coming. Babylon will invade and the people will be taken captive. I’m sure as they heard this news that their minds were spinning with possible solutions. They had been given the one and only solution from God – repent of your sin and submit to God’s control. They didn’t like the crimp that would put in their lifestyle choices, so they rejected that possibility and turned to their human wisdom instead.

• Are there political alliances we can form that will protect us?
• Are there resources we can use to buy our way into peace?
• Are there other gods we can worship that will save us?

I wonder what Isaiah was thinking. His human mind had to consider all sorts of options. Then God gave him His solution – He will anoint the ruler of Persia, Cyrus, who doesn’t acknowledge God as God, to bring restoration to the people.

WHAT!?!

God is going to use a pagan to accomplish His purpose? What a crazy idea. Why is God on this team anyway? We can come up with better solutions than that, can’t we?

No, there are no better solutions than God’s. He will do it!

Not only will God bring about the restoration of His people, but He will show the pagans that He is in control and that He alone is worthy of worship. (Read verses 5-6) God is getting it done.

So next time you are in the human mindset to demonstrate against the political powers that be, or proclaim your dislike for decisions that are being made, stop and evaluate your trust level in God and whether or not you really believe that He is getting it done according to His divine will and eternal purpose. It may not look like the way we would have done it, but we must humbly admit that our way has failed far more than it has succeeded, and God’s way NEVER has.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Nehemiah as he leads the people of Jerusalem in the rebuilding of the city walls. In fact, that story became the basis for the leadership training program I developed in my ministry. It is a story of redemption – from ruins to restoration. It is the story of our lives.

Isaiah prophesied the literal restoration of Jerusalem some two hundred years before it happened.

Isaiah 44:24, 26  “I am the LORD, who has made all things,  who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself…who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’ of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be built,’ and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them,’”

He named King Cyrus by name in verse 28 and again in chapter 45, about 150 years before he took office in Persia. Many scholars believe that Cyrus read this prophecy when He was in office and was so moved by it that he chose to fulfill it. We know that it was God who moved Him.

When Isaiah wrote this, Jerusalem had not even fallen captive to Babylon yet, so the people must have thought Isaiah’s prophecy of their flourishing city standing in ruins to be absurd. But God was revealing His plan to Isaiah, and it has implications to our lives today.

First, the things you say to people today on behalf of the Lord are the very words that God will use later in their lives to restore them when they have made a mess of things. It took two hundred years for Isaiah’s words to come true, but at just the right time in God’s plan his words were used to move Cyrus to action. Your words today will either hurt or help others. May what we say be words God can use to move them to action according to His will.

Second, even though everything seems great with your life today, there may be a time coming when it’s not. It may be the consequence of your own choices, or it may be the result of unforeseen circumstances, but either way a time is coming when you will consider your life to be in ruins. When that moment hits, and it will hit hard, remember the word of the Lord. Fill your mind with it right now so you are prepared. God said of your ruins, “I will restore them.”

Third, maybe everything is already in ruins. Trust the God who loves you and sent His son to die for you. He will restore you. Already there is a Cyrus in your life who is the agent of change. God has sent an Ezra and a Nehemiah to facilitate the rebuilding. God does not intend for you to fix your own life by yourself. He has sent you an incredible gift – people who love Him and serve Him – and they are there to help you rebuild and to experience God’s restoration. Let them help you.

“God, we acknowledge that you are LORD, and have made all things. By your mighty power that brought everything out of nothing, you are also able to restore our ruins. Let the rebuilding begin. Amen.”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

During our greatest joys there can be heartbreak. That is how we tend to look at life. But what if we turned that around and so that our first thought was that during our greatest heartbreaks there can be joy?

I was overwhelmed with that thought as I read from Isaiah 44 and saw these words:

Isaiah 44:2-3   “This is what the LORD says—he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid… For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”

The God who made me will help me, so I do not need to be afraid.

When I am thirsty for relief from the anguish of my trials, God will pour water on me.

When my emotions are drying up because of the heartbreaks of life, God soften my heart again with streams of grace and mercy.

When I tend to worry about the outcome of my offspring, I hear the promise of God that He will pour out His Spirit upon them.

He knows what I need and when I need it. What an awesome God He is.

Now I must trust Him.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, September 4, 2023

Psalm 145:1   “I will praise you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.”

Several years ago, my brother gave me a Bible. It had been our mom’s personal study Bible. It had been given to him as one of the personal items we divided up after mom died. He handed it to me and said that he would like me to have it and use it. I accepted and said that I would.

As I opened the Bible one morning I was immediately taken to Psalm 145, where my mom had written some extensive notes on praise. There is an old outline of the chapter written in the margins of her Bible, and then there were notes on paper expanding on the outline. The notes in the Bible were old.  I can tell from the quality of the paper notes that they were made not long before her death, probably after she had been diagnosed with her terminal cancer. That’s what makes them so meaningful. The notes are entitled “Reasons to Praise.”

Imagine that – my mom’s focus during her dying days was on praising God. I started to cry. They were tears of loss mixed with tears of shame. I am embarrassed that I don’t praise God more, especially when according to my expectations things are going wrong. I suppose you can relate. We have an expectation about how the circumstances of our lives should result in good, and we get discouraged and annoyed when they turn out wrong. Yet from God’s perspective there is nothing wrong. There is only the expression of His grace as He trains us to have more faith and to be more faithful.

Here’s my challenge to you today. Read Psalm 145. Use my mom’s outline as a tool to let the Lord teach you how and why to praise God. Then consider this – how bad do things have to get before we let go of our need to control and complain? When will we start praising God who is in control of all things and working them out for His glory and our good?

Reasons for Praise (by Ruth A. van Gorkom)

1. God’s Greatness – vs. 1-3
2. God’s Majesty – vs. 4-6
3. God’s Mercy – vs. 7-9
4. God’s Kingdom – vs. 10-13
5. God’s Grace – vs. 14-16
6. God’s Holiness – vs. 17-20
7. God’s Name (His Character) – vs. 21

I will praise His holy name for ever and ever! Thanks for modeling that to me, Mom, even when in my opinion everything was wrong.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Friday, September 1, 2023

As a young boy I never got to drink soda pop. Then one day, when I was in sixth grade, I was at my grandpa’s house for a visit. I loved going there because of the creek and big trees behind the house where I could spend time alone in the woods. As I played there, I wandered along the creek and came to the house of a friend from church. His dad owned a business, and outside was a pop machine – a coke machine to be specific.

My friend Tom asked me if I wanted one. I said yes, and he took two dimes out of his pocket and bought us each a six-and-a-half-ounce real glass bottle of coke. It was cold, and the bottle began to sweat as the humidity in the air condensed on it. I took my first swig. How refreshing! To this day there is no better way to drink soda than from a cold bottle.

But there’s a life lesson in this as well. I’m not saying that the bottle of coke was transformational for me, but it does illustrate something that developed in my life as I grew up – I love new things. I love going to new places, meeting new people, experiencing new things, eating new foods, and trying new methods. I love change. Sounds weird I know, but I love the risk and rewards of new things.

I remember my dad telling me over and over again as a kid to be content. This idea of looking for new things and new ways was a problem for me. The Lord has helped me bring it under control through the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but I still like new things and new ways of doing things, and that’s okay. In fact, if we define contentment as never wanting anything new, we will miss some of the obvious things God is trying to do in and around us because He does new things.

Isaiah 43:18-19  “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”

In the beginning, God created new things. New living beings. New people. When Noah and his family got off the ark God told them they could eat meat. That was a new thing. Sometimes, as the nation of Israel was conquering the Promised Land, God told them to watch while He fought the battle, and other times He guided them as they fought. Sometimes they simply marched around a city and the walls fell down. New methods each time. Same God.

What have we been missing because we want things to stay the same? How many opportunities for walls to come tumbling down have been passed up in favor of traditional battle tactics? How many cold, sweating, refreshing bottles of coke remain unopened in favor of lukewarm Kool-Aid?

Come on. Open up to the new things God is doing. Your wasteland of tradition will soon turn into a beautiful garden watered by the new streams God put there just for you.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Football season is here. Fans are speculating about how great their team is going to be. Much of their speculation is based on past victories, that really have nothing to do with the present reality.

Many people pride themselves on their past victories, and they have a right to. I have trophies in my office from days long past and skills long lost. But to dwell on the past and believe that there is nothing more to be done is to put ourselves on the road to a meaningless existence. Resting on past accomplishments minimizes the chance of any future ones.

Don’t get me wrong – God requires memorials of His past victories in our lives. He told the Israelites to set up memorials at key times of their history. But now He tells them to forget those things and press on to the new things that He is going to do.

Isaiah 43:18-19  “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”

This teaching of the Lord has a spiritual and a corporal application. From a personal perspective many people, especially those of us who have surpassed the age of fifty, sixty, and now seventy, tend to spend far more time looking backwards at what we did and how we did it than we do looking forward to the adventure that God has planned for the future. We get stuck in our ways, and then we get critical and bitter towards new people doing new things. This must not be!  God says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”

It happens corporally in the church as well. Too many times we hear the phrase “But we’ve never done it that way before.”  God says “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”

Do you think for one iota of a nano-second that when God told the people to forget what He did at the crossing of the Red Sea that He was telling them to devalue it and consider it unimportant? No way! To do that He would have had to devalue Himself and admit He was wrong. God did what God did, and at that time it was great and good. But He would not do it that way again. He used part of the method the next time at the Jordan River, but not all of it. He adapted to new situations with new methods. That doesn’t mean the way He did it the first time was wrong. In fact, it was just the right way to do it for that time. Now it was a new time, and God was going to use new methods to reach His people.

This really speaks to me, both personally and pastorally. I need to meditate on this today and let the Lord show me if there is anything from the past that I am still holding on to because I believe for some reason it validates my life. I need to let the Holy Spirit tell me if there is any accomplishment or method from my past from which I receive my affirmation. Then I need to confess the idolatry of that and surrender to the new things He wants to do in and through me.

Will you join me in that process of growth and healing today?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Isaiah 43:10  “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD…

I want to continue with some thoughts on witnessing.  Let me take you to the story of Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman at a well in John 4:1-30. Let me share with you the first three points that the Lord taught me about the model witness Jesus was.

First, as you may remember from the story, Jesus was on a trip from Judea to Galilee. Instead of going the traditional Jewish route which avoided any contact with the region of Samaria and/or Samaritan people, He intentionally went into the “forbidden” territory. Jesus was travelling, but His itinerary was scary.

It’s scary to intentionally go out witnessing. It’s scary just answering spiritual questions people ask us. But early in His ministry on earth and in the training of His disciples, Jesus modeled the priority of doing the Father’s will, which is to be a witness. It is what we have been called to do. It is our divine purpose. We are the ambassadors of Christ, bringing the message of reconciliation through the cross to the unsaved people of the world.

Jesus intentionally went to where the unsaved were. Not only did He choose to go into dangerous territory, but He put His own reputation at risk by communicating with a Samaritan woman – and an adulterous Samaritan woman at that. That was totally contrary to anything that a respectable Jewish man would do, let alone one who was proclaiming Himself to be the Jewish Messiah. But risk meant nothing to the Savior of the world when compared to the mission He had been assigned by the Father. Obedience to the Father and trust in His Sovereign grace was the priority of His life.

Are we willing to accept the call the go wherever God leads us to bring the Gospel to the lost? What does your itinerary look like today? Is it comfortable and controllable, or does it include something scary like sharing Jesus with an unsaved person?

Second, Jesus went to the well at a time of the day when He would meet someone who was rejected by the rest of society. The traditional time for the women of the city to go out to the well and draw water was early in the morning. They might also return in the evening. They never came at noon because it was too hot. Only the people who weren’t a part of the “in” crowd went to the well at other times. So it was with the woman Jesus met. Because of her marital and sexual immorality, she had most likely been excluded from the circle of fellowship with the other women. Jesus went to a place where He would meet the worst that society has to offer.

How about us? Are we only comfortable sharing our faith with our peers, or will we intentionally go out of our way to meet the spiritual needs of the people commonly rejected by those in our social strata?

Third, Jesus asks the woman for a drink, fully intending to steer the conversation to the living water He had to offer her. I was blown away by something so simple yet so profound in this section of the story – Jesus NEVER got His drink of water. He was thirsty, but her thirst came first! He completely set aside all His fleshly desires for the sake of fulfilling His purpose to be a witness to the woman of God’s salvation.

So again the questions pop into my mind. What desires do I have for my life that I have made a higher priority than being a witness? What am I thirsty for, and how many opportunities to be a witness have I missed because I am pursuing my physical or emotional thirsts rather than seeing the spiritual thirst of others?

CONVICTION…followed by repentance…followed by forgiveness…followed by a renewed commitment. That’s the plan for today.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

When I was young I took lots of notes in my Bible. I don’t do it as much as I used to, but when the Lord teaches me something from His Word, it is appropriate for me to make a note of it in the margins. As I look through my Bibles from the past, I realize I should have been doing something more – I should have been writing down when and where I was when the Lord revealed that truth to me. It would be helpful to have the context of the Holy Spirit’s teaching to give me a deeper connection to it.

Such is the case this morning as we come to Isaiah 43:10-15. At some point in my study of this prophetic book the Lord showed me something very special that I have written down, but I don’t know when it was or what the circumstances were. Oh well. Such is the memory of an aging man.

Isaiah 43:10  “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.”

Next to this verse I simply wrote down three words – wonder, worship, and witness.

Notice first the wonder of who God is. There is no other God, nor will there ever be. There is no other Savior, nor will there ever be. He has revealed Himself, He has saved us, and He has proclaimed His purpose to us. Then as if it isn’t enough for us to see His splendor and majesty, He has told us that we can know Him, believe Him, and understand Him. What a wonder that is!

Then notice the worship of God. When we know Him, we worship Him. We worship Him as our Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. We worship Him our Lord and King. We worship Him as the eternal one, the ancient of days. Our worship is personal and intimate as God reveals Himself to us. He is our God, not just a god. The more we understand the wonder of God the more we will worship Him in the splendor of His majesty.

Finally, notice the witness for God. Worship is a witness. Worship motivates witnessing. God calls us witnesses. He calls us to witness. We are witness of who He is and what He has done. He calls us to be unashamed to tell others everything we know about Him.

The wonder of God produces worship to God which produces witnessing for God.

Let that be the flavor of your life today and every day.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions

Monday, August 28, 2023

Someday.

That word defines our perspective most of the time. When we are young life is all about someday as we dream of what we will grow up to be. As adults we have lots of somedays.

• Someday I’ll meet the right person to marry.
• Someday I’ll get rich.
• Someday I’ll own a home.
• Etc. Etc.

Some of our somedays have to do with the trials and tribulations of life.

• Someday I’ll get better.
• Someday I’ll change him/her.
• Someday I’ll get out of this mess.
• Etc. Etc.

Don’t get me wrong – dreams are okay. Goals and ambitions are fine. But we tend to live in a wishful world of denial. We are always looking for the better that’s ahead when the very best may be right here right now. In fact, where God is working in our lives right now is the most important place for us to be and invest all our attention and energy.

This is especially true in regards to our salvation. Yes, there is a futuristic reality to our salvation when Jesus returns to complete our redemption by completing His work of sanctification in our lives. We will be like Him when we see Him face to face. However, far too many of us are satisfied to live in that Someday when God wants us to see His saving and keeping power in our lives TODAY! We are missing the best this life can offer when we live for the someday instead of realizing that God has given us His best for today.

Constantly looking to Someday makes us self-dependent in the realities of today. When trouble comes, we have to fix it because Someday hasn’t arrived. When the circumstances of life, finances and relationships test us to the limits of our strength and resolve, we have nowhere else to go because we only believe in Someday. That’s not what God intended for us. If we are living that way, we are living beneath our privilege.

Read these words of the Lord carefully in Isaiah 43:2-3  –  “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

Do you see the Today in those promises? Not Someday, but Today when you are experiencing the torrents of tribulation or the flames of fear, the Lord you God is your Savior. WOW!!!!!!! The power of Christ’s resurrected life in you is a very present reality and not reserved for Someday.

So go ahead – live for today. That’s where God is doing His greatest work in your life. You can see it, know it, and experience it.

Pastor John