LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

One early morning several years ago I stopped at the hospital to visit a good friend who was succumbing to the ravages of cancer. I had previously met with the family after they had heard the options from the doctor. After careful thought and prayer, this is what my friend posted on Facebook the morning that I went to visit him…

I am having a hard time trying to figure out when or how to make a final announcement to all my friends and family. I guess now is as good as it gets. As most of you know I have been fighting stage IV prostate cancer for almost 3 years now. Last Monday the 25th I was admitted for respiratory distress. My cancer has taken a serious turn and involved my liver and lungs. I am now experiencing liver failure and told I have 1 to 4 weeks left. I will be going into hospice care and letting the Lord Jesus take the wheel from here. I Love you all and just want to thank you for being part of my life and having impacted my life by being there. Everyone of you are special to me. I will monitor FB as long as possible but probably will not have a lot interaction from now on. Again I Love you and thank you for your love and friendship. God bless you all!

As I parked the car at the hospital the Holy Spirit led me to the one-hundred seventh Psalm. After some wonderful conversation around the bed with him and his wife, I read the first nine verses to him.

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

When I was done reading, we talked about how the longing of the soul is completely satisfied by the love of God. God’s love is not a response to our actions or attitudes. God’s love is not a response to our work to earn it. God’s love is not limited by circumstances. God’s love endures forever.

God loves us while we have cancer. God loves us while we suffer for any reason. God loves us no matter what the condition of the world or the economy. God’s love endures forever, and it satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good things. God doesn’t promise to remove physical problems, but He promises to satisfy the longings of our hearts during the problems we face.

While everything around us may appear harmful, hurtful, and hateful, God’s love endures forever. God’s love is not delivered through any external event. Solutions to problems is not the means of receiving God’s love. Fixing issues is not the means of experiencing God’s love. His love is delivered through the life-occupying Presence of the Holy Spirit. Love comes from the heart of God into the soul of man to flow out of man. God’s love endures forever, not matter what is going on around us, because His love is within us.

What a joy to know that my friend understands this. What a blessing it is to watch his life influence so many others to discover the truth of God’s love. What hope it gives us all to know the truth of God’s enduring love as expressed by the Apostle Paul when he wrote in Romans chapter 8 –

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death…But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you…Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God’s love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, September 9, 2019

Babies cry. It’s the only way they can communicate for the first few months of their lives. It’s God’s gift to them and to the baby’s parents. It’s hard for the parents to accept this gift at 3:00 AM, but nonetheless it is a gift. The love that the parent has for the baby hears the need not the annoyance. Love focuses on the person not on the imperfections of the communication.

This truth thrills my soul when I meditate on it from a spiritual perspective. To my Father in heaven I can be a crying baby, vocalizing nothing but murmurs and groanings. Yet with ears of love He hears my deepest need. He answers me according to His lovingkindness.

Psalm 119:149 Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;

Charles Spurgeon writes this in his classic work entitled The Treasury of David, of which I am so blessed to have an 1884 second edition printing of all seven volumes in my office. Thank you, Grandpa.

When God hears prayer according to his lovingkindness he overlooks all the imperfections of the prayer, he forgets the sinfulness of the offerer, and in pitying love he grants the desire though the suppliant be unworthy. It is according to God’s lovingkindness to answer speedily, to answer frequently, to answer abundantly, yea, exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or even think.

Our hearts long to know the full extent of the Father’s lovingkindness. Questions arise in our minds to help us understand.

• When are we ever worthy of asking the Lord for anything?
• When have we earned the answer we seek?
• Are not all our prayers to be voiced with this attachment – answer me according to your lovingkindness?
•  Is this not the only way we can be assured of any answer at all?

Father, teach us to pray with the humble cries of a child. Teach us that it is not in our abilities and perfections that we receive your grace and love, but in our brokenness that you hear us and extend your lovingkindness. Grant us the faith to understand that your love surpasses our weakness and inabilities. Show us that only good answers come from your heart, and only answers that come from your heart are good for us. Thank you for hearing us with your ears of love! Amen.

Pastor John

LIFELINK DEVOTIONAL

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

I have a hard time imagining life back in the days of the early church. There’s no way we can really relate to what it must have been like almost 2,000 years ago. At least from a lifestyle argument this is true. But it is not true from a faith or philosophical view. The same beliefs that exist today in people’s hearts and minds were prominent back then. People’s thinking has not changed. Culture may have changed, and technology has certainly changed, but the heart of man has not.

Around the year 90 A.D., when the apostle John was exiled to the Island of Patmos, Greek philosophers abounded throughout the Roman Empire. They attempted to do what philosophers and scientists attempt to do today – explain life without recognizing the existence of God. One such philosopher was named Epictetus.

To Epictetus, all external events are determined by fate, and are thus beyond our control, so we should accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. As individuals, however, we are responsible for our own actions, which we must examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.

This philosophy is not much different than the humanistic philosophy of today. Man has not changed his thinking. Under the power of sin, man still thinks he can control his actions so that they produce good. People still believe that through self-discipline and self-affirmation they can produce their own happiness. How wrong they are!

Epictetus was convinced that attitude and perspective were the keys to managing the problems of life. He wrote, “It isn’t your problems that are bothering you. It is the way you are looking at them.” He was partially right. His problem was that he taught that we needed to look at our problems through the eyes of fate and human ability, rather than through the eyes of God and His Sovereign control of all things.

That’s what God was trying to tell the people of the world through the mouth of Isaiah the prophet. Chapter after chapter come warnings to nations and people about the consequences of not looking at life through from God’s perspective. In chapter 17, the people of Damascus are told about what will happen to all their hard work that has been done only by looking to man’s ability – it will be obliterated. When it is, then they will finally turn their eyes back to the Lord.

Isaiah 17:7-8  In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles and the incense altars their fingers have made.

Look carefully at these verses. In the past, the people of Damascus had their eyes wrongly focused on three things – religion (the altars), work, and pleasure (Asherah poles, representing the sexual focus of their culture under the false worship of the goddess Asherah). Everything they did in life was motivated by the pursuit of one of these things. They sought to find some kind of peace through a religious experience; they sought to find some kind of worth through the work they accomplished; and they sought to find an escape from the troubles of life through pleasure.

Man has not changed. We still look to these three things to fulfill the deepest longings of our hearts. It is only after we suffer the consequences of looking to these things four our value, that we finally turn and look to our Maker who knows how to satisfy our every need from the inside out.

So what are you looking at? Is it the things of the earth, or the things of God? But even looking at the things of God is not sufficient. Look to God Himself. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, and look full in His wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, September 6, 2019

I am so thankful for the time growing up living in a rural farm community. There’s something about the farm that captivates my heart. As I drive through our scenic state my heart is most often moved by the sight of a farmhouse with outbuildings nestled into a grove of trees surrounded by rolling hills of pasture and cropland. It brings a peace to me that only being on the water in a boat or in a tree stand can rival.

One of the visual images I have in my mind from some days on the farm in North Dakota is a scene that involves young calves. They have been penned up overnight in a small enclosure with adequate room to move and find water, but with not enough space to run and jump as calves love to do.

I arrived at the farm at dawn to help my friend move the calves to pasture. We re-positioned all the gates of the feed lot so that the calves would be funneled to the wide-open spaces of the pasture. The funnel was intentionally narrow to control the calves’ behavior. At the final gate, we did not have to coax them to go through the opening.

They proceeded quickly through the one-hundred-yard passageway, generating more speed with every step that drew them closer to what they considered to be freedom. They had done this before, and knew that very soon, in comparison to where they had been, there would be no more restrictions. Within five steps on exiting the last gate every calf started jumping and running and twisting and turning and leaping. They were exuberant. FREEDOM! That word exploded from every release of energy every calf made.

That is the picture that came to my mind this morning as I read the words of Psalm 119:143.

Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight.

What brought that picture to my mind was a verse used by Charles Spurgeon today in my daily promise devotional called Faith’s Checkbook. The verse is found in Malachi 4:2, and it says,

But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

Sometimes, and probably more often than not, we feel like those calves penned up in a stall. The troubles of life have us caged in. We are being nourished just enough to stay alive, but we are far from feeling free enough to leap for joy. But as we begin to recall the previous experiences of freedom found in the commandments of the Lord, the light of dawn begins to appear. Hope rises in our hearts when we hear the sound of Heaven’s voices coming from the mansion on top of the hill. The Son of Righteousness has risen, and He is coming to open the gates.

We quiver with anticipation as each promise and command of our soul’s Farmer is remembered. We delight in each one as they produce the sound of creaking and clanging as the gates swing open. Then, at last, the Master stands at the final gate that has locked us in, and with one word of permission he sets us free. We can see a passageway to the pasture where we can be fed again. We move towards it, not caring any longer that our movements are still restricted by the same barriers that seconds earlier had penned us in. There is now an opening in the cage, and our hearts and minds are fixed on making our way to it.

When the last barrier has been removed, we begin to leap for joy. We run and don’t get weary. We jump and don’t get injured. We have been released into the great pasture of God’s promises. FREEDOM! That word explodes from every part of our lives as we move about in the spaciousness of God’s grace.

Whatever has you penned up today, there is hope for freedom in the commandments and promises of God. The Son of Righteousness shall rise with healing in His wings, and you will soon go out leaping for joy if you pass through the gates He is opening.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, September 5, 2019

We tend to believe that the trouble we are experiencing right now is ours to handle and ours to resolve. We are fixers. We want the solution now, for we do not know how nor do we desire to know how to endure until God’s glory is seen. We believe that God’s glory is displayed in temporal blessings brought on by solutions, when in fact God’s greatest glory is displayed in resurrection which necessitates death. God’s glory is not revealed when there is still plenty of rope left, but only when we reach the end of it. God’s glory is not revealed when we can say we are satisfied, but when God says His will has been accomplished.

John 11:40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

We want immediate change, but God says our strength is renewed in waiting. We want the removal of stress, when God desires to teach us perseverance. We ask for peace, but do not pray for the faith required to trust God’s outcome that produces God’s glory. We ask for blessing without obedience. We ask for things to be done rather than ask for a deeper intimacy with the One who does all things according to His purpose for His glory.

We are conditioned for results, when God is committed to relationship. Reflect on that today – we are conditioned for results when God is committed to relationship. Begin to discover the incredible blessing of knowing God rather than just watching God work.

Jesus said in John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” It is in the knowledge of God – defined in Scripture as the personal experience of His eternal presence in your life – that we discover the glory of God. Such knowledge comes only by belief.

We want solutions: God wants trust. We choose to hurry our way through the valleys of despair and death: God chooses to comfort us while in them so we begin to see them only as shadows. We choose to get things done and take control: God lets us do it until our inadequacies force us to turn in humble confession and let Him do it. He wants us to learn that even though He may not solve it right away, the lessons of relationship have to be learned before the class is dismissed.

Believe Jesus. Trust Him. He promises that we will see the glory of God in the end. Let His end be the only end you pursue.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Several years ago I received word that a family member of a dear friend died. My day quickly turned into hours of mourning, but I was refreshed with the words of the Apostle Paul that reminded me that my grieving was not to be like those without Christ who have no hope. The tears I shed were not only from human loss, but also reflected the joy that comes from knowing the promise of eternal life based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We have a hope – a guarantee – that in Christ there is no death, but only resurrection to the eternal Presence of God.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-15  And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. ¹⁵ We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.

I want to share with you the email I received from the husband of the woman who died during the night.

She had a particularly bad day today, severe pain in her head throughout the day. I stayed home all day until about 7pm, gave her 7pm meds and went to feed the animals. When I got back home she was still in her chair and almost unresponsive. She opened her eyes twice. There was no fear, only recognition and fatigue. About the time the paramedics got here she just stopped breathing. We worked on her for about thirty minutes and then I told them to stop. It was her time. For the first time in years she is not in pain anymore.

Considering the intense pain she has suffered almost constantly for these past several years, my heat breaks, but not for her. She is so much better off now, so very much better. Of course I grieve, even though I’ve known I would see this day sooner or later. The Lord gave her twenty years more than the doctors did, and to this day I know she was here just for me. She was the one who added all the colors of the rainbow to my otherwise black and white life. Why God blessed me with such a passionately loving and devoted wife, I do not know, but I am satisfied that the Lord called her home at this time. I will certainly miss her; I do not know how to be me without her, but I know tonight she is so much better off, and I am totally confident the Lord Jesus will walk with me through whatever comes, just as he always did for me and her when we were walking through life together.

So, we do not grieve like men who have no hope, for we believe that Jesus died and rose again. In this same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

We mourned the loss of our dear sister in Christ, but we rejoiced in a life faithfully lived as a servant of her Lord. Her endurance through physical suffering is over, but the spirit of grace and love we all saw in her remains as her spiritual legacy for all to follow. She will be missed, but not for long. We will stand together in the Presence of God someday before the throne of Jesus Christ and He will declare, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

That’s the hope – the guarantee – of glory that all who are in Christ Jesus share.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

I spent the last several months being refreshed. At least that was the intent of my sabbatical. God accomplished His purpose. More than I expected.

For me, the best times of refreshment are those spent in the splendor of God’s creation. I camped, fished, golfed, and travelled to places I had never been to experience the majesty of God’s handiwork. It was refreshing.

But God wanted more for me. He desires for me, and you, that we get beyond fascination with what He has done and embrace intimacy with Who He is.

Psalm 73:25 And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

This is what God wanted for me – that there is nothing on this earth that I desire besides Him.

Besides God. It is essential that we understand this. God does not time share. God is not to be diminished to a place of equal consideration with other pursuits. We are not to declare ourselves spiritually healthy because we have put God ahead of other things. That is shallow discipleship. That is self-centered discipleship that leaves open the option to replace God with other things that provide more immediate benefit. We are to desire nothing other than God.

Oh how we live so much of our lives in the deception of Satan, who has us convinced that there are other good things besides God. They may not be as good, yet we believe they are still good. So we put them on our necessity list, but declare ourselves to be spiritual by placing God above them. Yet God is to be on the list alone!

God does not desire to be included in our other activities. God desires that we include all other activities in Him. It may sound more like semantics than theology, but these are profound truths. There is NOTHING on earth that we are to desires besides God! God is not to be asked to bring his blessing upon our choices, but rather we are to only make choices that already carry His blessing.

We live compartmentalized lives, and because we have given God the highest and largest compartment we think we are holy. But we are to be holy as He is holy, which means the elimination of all compartments so that there is nothing in our lives except Him.

So what do you really want? Some want a life that is their own, and reject God completely. Some want a life that is their own, yet has a portion of God that satisfies their need to be spiritual. Some want a life of spiritual vitality, yet continue to hang on to things that bring some form of personal reward. But there are some, one of whom I desire to be, that want nothing but God. We choose to declare all things of this life and world to be unworthy to coexist in the Presence of God. We desire to be one of those who truly know Him, and are known by Him.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, September 2, 2019

Proverbs 27:19 As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.

One morning as I scanned Facebook to stay connected to some of my friends from around the world, I came across this picture from one of my “adopted” daughters in the Philippines.

Live without pretending – that’s integrity. Every part of our lives integrated together in perfect harmony with no contradictions. Nothing fake. Nothing done to impress others. Just a life lived as a reflection of the character of God in us.

Love without depending – that’s identity. It’s knowing we have God’s approval rather than seeking the world’s approval. That’s accepting God’s definition of our being rather than seeking it from others. That’s giving to others out of security rather than to receive affirmation. The world’s love depends on a response and looks for a return benefit, but sacrificial love originates in the heart of God and flows freely from a Godly heart.

Listen without defending – that’s humility. Be able to be corrected. Pride defends the value we think is being attacked. Humility listens to the possibility of improvement. Pride protects personal choice. Humility submits to anything or anyone as being God’s instrument of perfecting our lives. Pride convinces us we are right and that we have rights. Humility sees the right in others. Pride cannot see a reason to improve because that would require admitting a weakness or fault. Humility can admit faults because value is not found in performance but in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Speak without offending – that’s grace. Speak the truth, but do it in love, with a pure and holy motivation to truly help the person to whom you are speaking. Do not speak to be heard. Do not speak to build up self. Speak to impart God’s wisdom so that it will be heard and applied. Speak to be an instrument of God’s grace to others.

Now those are four rules by which we all should live.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, August 30, 2019

Matthew 13:3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.

Jesus went on from this opening statement to tell the people a story about a farmer planting seed. You may have heard many teachings on this story, and most of them probably focus on the four types of soil that are mentioned. There are good lessons in such teaching. But today the Lord impressed two truths on me that I’d like to share with you.

First, in this parable there is no mention of soil preparation. Our human nature demands that we place value on our efforts, and we prioritize our efforts based on return and results. Where there is little chance of success there is little demand for investment. Yet in the example Jesus gives us of a true Kingdom sower, there is no concern for the type of soil into which the seed will be sown.

We tend to predetermine the worth of the recipient before we sow any seeds of truth in them. We make judgments about their fitness for fertilization and then hoard our seed until better soil comes along. Maybe we believe that the seed is limited when in fact there is an infinite supply. It could be that we believe the seed is too precious and cannot be wasted, when in fact the preciousness of it demands that it be spread all the more because of its power to produce fruit. Maybe we are more concerned than we should be about our image as a sower. We try to guarantee production so we can be declared a wise farmer, when the reality is that obedience is how God defines wisdom.

So the first point I make today is this – start sowing seed everywhere and to everyone with no exceptions. God alone is responsible for soil preparation and for results.

Second, nothing is ever said in the story about changing the seed. What if the story went this way? “A sower went out to sow…  After meeting together as sowers, the people decided that it would be more productive to produce seed that was resistant to birds, drought, and thorns, so they began to dissect the seed to see if it could be improved. They developed different varieties of seed to match the conditions of the soil and climate where it would be sown so that they could increase the harvest.”

There is one seed and only one seed – the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who grants salvation to anyone through faith in His work on the cross. He has paid for our guilt of sin and His resurrection from the dead guarantees us eternal life. There is no way to improve upon that. There is no greater harvest to be realized than the one God produces by faithfulness to that message. We don’t need to change it, compromise it, or condition it so it is more acceptable to the hearer. The truth of the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. It is NOT our responsibility to make the message acceptable to the hearer. We are only responsible to proclaim the message, and we are to do so with the compassion of Jesus, speaking the truth in love.

So the second point is this – Don’t try to change the seed you are going to sow. Just sow the truth, and sow it everywhere and to everyone, trusting God with the harvest. Every time you put your hand in your pocket or purse to remove keys, money, or anything else, just imagine that your hand is going into a seed bag hanging from your waist, and then scatter it on someone with words of truth spoken in a spirit of love with the expectation of a harvest.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional
Thursday, August 29, 2019

What exhausts you? For some it’s physical labor. Maybe it’s an emotional crisis. It could be the ups and downs of relationships. For many it’s just the constant struggle with the circumstances of everyday life. Whatever it is, we’ve all felt it. We’ve been at the end of our rope with barely enough strength to hang on. We consider that letting go might be the best option.
Maybe letting go is then best option when we intend to fall into the arms of God and be renewed with His strength.

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Jesus knew that life would exhaust us. But he also knew that what exhausts us most is probably something we had not considered. When Jesus looked around at the masses of people who were His contemporaries in Galilee, he saw beneath the surface of their physical conditions, their relationship issues, and their political and financial turmoil. Jesus saw the thing that truly exhausted them – their constant struggle to earn the approval of God.

Living under the corruption of a godless political system was nothing in comparison to living in the chains of a corrupt religious system – a system that manipulated and controlled people with laws that could only produce self-declared righteousness. Jesus saw people being suppressed and enslaved with the constant labor demanded by the law with only a glimmer of hope that they could ever achieve a relationship with God. Around every corner appeared a pharisaical inspector of their lives to tell them how they had failed.

It was to these people that Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

It is to you and me that He still issues the invitation. We still carry the burden of the need for approval. It weighs us down. It exhausts us. If only we could earn the approval of our spouse, our parents, our bosses, or our employees. If only it was possible to finally be content with who we are, rather than trying to measure up to the expectations of others. If only we weren’t so addicted to the need for affirmation.

We are exhausted from trying so hard. We are at the end of our rope, with no strength left to hold on any longer.

Now is the time to hear the invitation from Jesus – “Let go!” Stop all your efforts to affirm yourself. Drop all the masks you wear to earn the approval of others. Flop on your face before God in complete weakness and discover His rest, His peace, and His strength. He will prop you up with His promise of grace that is sufficient for every need.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
As I write this, the Lord is reminding me of a song that I heard dozens of time while growing up. Never before have the words meant more to me. I pray that they touch your life right now as well. They truly describe the end to your exhaustion.

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength as our labors increase; To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance, When our strength has failed ere the day is half done, When we reach the end of our hoarded resources Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure, His power no boundary known unto men; For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.