Category: Scripture

From the Holy Bible

The Goal Is Restoration

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

Many Christians today think that their mission in life is to point out the sins of others and insist vocally and emphatically that the sinner needs to get back on the right track with God. Now, I am not against evangelism, but the goal is always restoration, not turning the person against God for all time. In the same way, when we see Christians sinning, we are not to get that haughty “holier than thou” attitude, being supercilious in our approach to them. Rather, the goal is restoration!

There are some really important words in this Scripture verse, most notably another believer, gently, humbly and careful. Let’s examine these words together. This verse is directed towards helping out another believer, not evangelizing and striving for new converts. It is almost impossible to get someone to follow Jesus by pointing out how sinful they are. Generally, their response is to walk away. But when talking to another believer, you should be honest about the sin you have noticed and I think what you should be pointing out is how it is affecting them mentally, physically and emotionally as well as spiritually. But you have to do this gently, with a kindness and love that only comes from the Father after many days of thoughtful prayer. Finally, you have to be careful because the temptation to sin is there for everyone, so you don’t want to fall into the trap of sin while you are trying to restore your brother to a right relationship with God.

We don’t forgive the sin; God does. We are called to forgive the person who sins, thus restoring our relationship with them just as they need to restore their relationship with God. Our relationships on earth are vertical (with God) and horizontal (with each other). Thus the cross is an excellent symbol of the restored relationships that we are supposed to always have.

It isn’t hard to see the sin in others, but it is very difficult at times to see your own shortcomings. That’s why it is imperative that you spend time in prayer, clean yourself up from your own sins and then, when God tells you the timing is right, approach your fellow Christian in humble love and tell them what you see happening. Remember that the goal is restoration, not to chase them farther away from God!

A Prayer to Start the Day

On By vickleaIn praise, Scripture2 Comments

Before I pray each day, I praise and worship, so let’s start with giving God the honor and glory due His Name.

Just take a few minutes to sit quietly in God’s presence and worship Him, not for what He has done but because of who He is.

My prayer for you today is from God’s Word. May it touch your heart and soul and burrow down deep into the places that you need it most.

Understanding all that God has done for you is key to establishing a relationship of glorifying Him. We can have confident hope that we are His!

But there is more! So much more! The same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead is there for us to tap into once we understand it. We can only get that understanding by spending time with Him. I pray that an urgent desire to spend time with God, understanding His great power and love for you, fills you today. Time with God is precious. Spend it wisely and well, and have a great and blessed day!

Be the One

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

This is a phrase that is popular on school message boards around here. What they mean to say is to be the one who makes a difference. But after my devotional today, I have a new view of who that “one” is.

Ten lepers went to Jesus for healing. All received a touch from the Savior but only one returned to thank him. He is “the one” that I want to emulate. I never want to take Jesus’s blessings for granted. I always want to give Him the thanksgiving and glory. Jesus Himself noticed that only one came back.

If we are going to take the time to pray to God and expect answers from Him, then we also need to take time to give thanks to Him when the answers come. We want to be the one who acknowledges that all glory belongs to God…all we have, all we are and all we will be all come from Him. So, let’s pause in our struggles with life and the daily things that take our focus away from what is really important. Let’s thank God for at least five things today and every day. (There should be a lot more thanksgiving on our list, but we can start small and build up a needed habit.)

Lord God, I come before you today with a heart filled with gratitude and love. You have created me and know all about me and all of my failings. Thank you that you show your love for me by being patient with me. Thank you that you give me the strength to get through the task for each day. Thank you that you have given me a husband, a mate fit for me, who walks beside me in this journey called life. Thank you that you have given me a church with good friends there. And finally, thank you, Lord, that you are still working on me and in me to make me what you want me to be so that I can better serve you. May today be a day of blessing for all who read this. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

The Godless

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

As we look around today’s increasingly sinful world, it is sometimes easy to get discouraged and think that God is not paying attention. Oh, but He is! He sees the things that we cannot see and His Word tells us the fate of the godless, those who appear to be prospering and destroying the morals of our world with their own sinful desires.

Notice that the verse says that the godless SEEM like a lush plant, thriving in the sunshine and spreading out. Just as the sinful seem to be doing, right? Their sin is spreading and becoming more acceptable. But look under the surface at what is really happening. Their roots are going down through stones, ending in a bed of rocks. They cannot survive there because they have no soil to feed and nourish them. The fate of the godless is to ultimately disappear. God looks, sees and is not concerned about their having a lasting effect on His kingdom because they will not be part of the eternity He has planned for those of us who believe. Rooted and grounded in His Word, we will stand and they will be as thought they never existed.

Although it seems at times that God has stepped back from the evil in the world and is just letting it run rampant, we have to remember that He has not abandoned us. He is just waiting for the godless to realize that their plans to destroy His good creation will come to nothing. Meanwhile, He encourages us to persevere in worship, studying His Word and prayer. All things work out for good in the end. That’s a promise that we can count on!

Solomon’s Prayer

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

Reading in II Kings today, I came to the part where Solomon is dedicating the temple and presents sacrifices to God. He also prays a rather lengthy prayer that encompasses a request for blessings for the present and for future generations. What struck me first about the prayer was that he acknowledged God’s power and His everlasting love.

Solomon, the king with hundreds of wives and concubines, the man who formed ungodly alliances for the sake of peace in his land and the man who penned the book of Ecclesiastes, knew without a doubt that God is the Lord of all. He knew that God makes and keeps His covenant with mankind. The part that touched me the most was that God’s love never fails. I have failed and I may do so again, but God’s love has never left me. My desire is to walk with the Lord with wholehearted devotion, but sometimes I fall short. Praise be to God that He never falls short, always loves and always sticks around waiting for me to straighten myself out! Truly, there is only One God worthy of our praise, our adoration and our total allegiance!

May you all be abundantly blessed by the Lord and then bless others in turn.

My Shield

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song2 Comments

Lately, I have been going on a “Doc Tour” (a phrase coined by my brother). That means that every week I have been to see at least one physician or to the hospital for a medical test as they ponder why I have been getting lightheaded and dizzy and sometimes even passing out. I must admit that this tour has been somewhat exhausting and discouraging, but God has been with me through it all.

My enemies are not the inhabitants of surrounding lands. Rather, it seems that my own body is in rebellion against me, but God is taking care of things for me, keeping me safe and secure in His loving arms.

I know that the victory is ultimately God’s and no matter what happens to me in this life, He has always held me close to Him and helped me to stay upright with His right hand…the Lord Jesus.

I remember being with young grandchildren and playing the classic game of “Hide and Seek.” It never failed to amuse me when the youngest would come to me and hide behind me, telling me I was their hiding place and I wouldn’t let their big brother or sister “get them.” God taught me through that simple game that He is and always has been my hiding place, the one place that I can count on for total safety and security when I am feeling anxious. Not only that, but He sings His songs of victory over me, giving me a feeling of calm that can only come from His presence.

It’s difficult to be thankful for these circumstances, but I am. I am thankful that God is teaching me to be more dependent on Him and to appreciate each new day as it comes. In the midst of all that has been going on in my life, a sweet friend online received a devastating diagnosis. Less than a month ago, Susan got pneumonia and was having real problems breathing. In the hospital, they did all kinds of tests and discovered that her breast cancer that had been in remission had spread to her lungs and other vital organs. Last week, when she was once again in the hospital, the doctors sent her home with hospice care and gave her less than two weeks to live. My faith cried out to God for more time for her to be with her beloved husband and daughter. However, on Tuesday evening, Susan went to be with the Lord. The odd thing is that I did not question or ask “why” as I am wont to do. Instead, I praised God that Susan is no longer suffering but is in the arms of our Lord and Savior. I prayed for comfort for her family as they grieve and for strength for them to get through these hard days. Susan knew the Lord and depended on Him to take her home when the time is right. That has been a lesson that I have needed to learn and that God is still teaching me. I am thankful that I am teachable and that He has patience with me, even as He shields me, protects me, delivers me and hides me. The doctors may never come up with an answer to this mystifying problem, but God already knows the number of my days and has them in His hand. Thus I don’t need to fret over the things that I cannot control; instead I choose to focus on God’s goodness, grace, mercy and love.

“Through It All”-Andrae Crouch

Changes

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

Changes in life are inevitable. Children grow up and move away. The temperature outside changes. Our bodies grow older and don’t respond as quickly or in the ways we would like. Change happens and we have to adjust to it.

I am so thankful that the one steady constant in my life is God. He never changes and He is always dependable. The standards of the world change, but God doesn’t. Mankind’s sins seem to get worse daily, but God’s love for us never wavers and never fails. I am so happy that in a world where things are constantly moving, changing and always in a flux of hurry, God doesn’t change. He steadfastly loves, steadfastly gives and steadfastly reminds us to turn to Him, the only constant in a world of change.

Have a blessed day as you ponder how constant and unchanging God is.

Holy Saturday: A Day of Rest

On By vickleaIn Quotation and Citations, Scripture2 Comments

I had to research why today is special. After all, it is the day after the crucifixion of our Lord and the day before He arose. So, why is Saturday special? I used to spend the Saturday before Easter at Easter egg hunts with my children or gathering the clothes together for everyone to get them ready for Easter Sunday. However, this article opened my eyes to the truth of the Scripture. Today is a day of rest. I will let the words from the article I found speak for themselves. It is enlightening for me to know that even in the death of the Lord, God continued His plan that He established in the beginning.

Article from: https://www.christianpost.com/news/why-saturday-before-easter-matters.html (Authors: John Stonestreet and G. Shane Morris)

And so, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Jesus reminded them—and us—how to rest.

The gospels describe this time period in several ways: Jesus was “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” All four gospels report that His resurrection took place on “the first day of the week,” which for Jews was Sunday.

There’s some dispute on this, but the majority of scholars agree that Jesus died on a Friday—”the Day of Preparation.” This means that He was not in the tomb for 72 hours, no matter how you slice it. The only full day He spent behind the stone was Saturday—the Sabbath—the day on which God commanded the people of Israel to rest, just as He had rested after His work in Genesis 2.

Here’s where it can help to take off our Western glasses and think more like the authors of the New Testament. They didn’t divide days at midnight like we do, but at sundown. And in the first century Jewish mind, part of a day counted as a whole day. So, because Jesus was buried on Friday evening and rose on Sunday morning, He was in the tomb “three days and three nights” by Jewish reckoning. By modern reckoning He was in the tomb only one full day: Saturday, the Sabbath.

Here’s that worldview gem I promised: After God incarnate had declared His work on our behalf “finished,” He honored the Sabbath once more, just as He had at the beginning of creation. In the tomb, God rested.

G. K. Chesterton writes in “The Everlasting Man” that this Sabbath Jesus spent in the earth was the last Sabbath of the old creation, which was marred by Adam’s sin.

“What [the disciples] were looking at” on Sunday morning, writes Chesterton, “was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but the dawn.”

When we rest on the Sabbath, we do so not in the old creation, but in the new—not in the world marred by Adam, but in the world being renewed in Christ. We trust not in politics or princes or earthly decrees, but in Him who became, Himself, our Sabbath rest.

Image from https://vicklea.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/d665f-remember-the-sabbath-day3.jpg

Sunday Is Coming!

On By vickleaIn Scripture, SongLeave a comment

Today is Good Friday and we will see crosses everywhere today to commemorate the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But the cross is not a symbol of death; rather, it is a symbol of new life and hope for each of us who has accepted Jesus into our lives as the Son of God.

If the Roman soldiers who mocked, flogged and spat upon Him can then recognize His deity, how can we deny it?

Jesus left His heavenly home and became a man so that He could die for our sins and destroy the power of Satan once and for all. Satan’s last stronghold is death and Jesus took that away from him. Jesus holds the power over death and the grave and by accepting Him and His power, the chokehold of fear that death has in our lives is vanquished. The last enemy of mankind was destroyed on the cross!

Jesus not only paid for each of our transgressions, purifying us once and for all before the Father, but He also was beaten, wounded horribly, so that we can be healed: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We are made whole because of His sacrifice!

No one made Jesus go to the cross. As he said, He could have called legions of angels to save Him. But He chose to go to Calvary, to die on that wooden stake of torture so that we could be saved. Jesus was obedient to His Father, even unto death. He trusted that God would do just as He said and He would be raised from the dead. Death is coming for each of us…it’s an inevitable fact of life. It is our choice to die knowing that we will live again with Jesus or to face eternity separated from our Creator. Jesus obeyed the Father because He knew and trusted Him. Can we do any less?

Sunday Is Coming-Phil Wickham