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As I write today (October 18th) dark, ominous clouds of uncertainty hover over humanity.
Anxiety. Fear. Terror taunt and haunt the hearts and minds of men and women everywhere on planet Earth. Why? The prospect of a possible world war is on the table. The war cry is eerily loud. Modern sabers are rattling, instilling uncertainty and confusion in folks like you and me. People of all stripes are troubled, wondering and worrying about what may be next. As a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian, what should Steve Roll do in a time such as this? I believe I should stand firm in faith as to what I am convinced of. To be convinced means to be certain, persuaded, without any question or doubt. There are people in our culture and world who are convinced of wrong things. Evil things. I choose to be different. In II Timothy 1: 12 the Apostle Paul shares with us what he was certain about. “For this reason I also suffer, but I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed and am convinced, completely persuaded, that He (God) is able to keep what I have entrusted to Him against that day.” Paul was a convinced, committed, confident Christian. Paul suffered for his faith (see II Corinthians 11: 22-31). The faithful messenger of the love and grace of God never sucked his spiritual thumb or threw a personal pity-poor-me party. On the contrary: I have suffered. I am not ashamed. I know who I have believed. I am convinced. I like the personal pronoun “I”. Paul’s “I” meant he was an-all in guy. Being convinced in my and your Christian faith is powerful. Do you believe that God will guard your commitment to Him every single day, no matter what?
RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD TIME Are you convinced the world system is your security? Think again. Are you convinced the government will always protect you and your loved ones? Think again. Are you convinced that the economy is your supply? Think again. Are you convinced some political figure, celebrity or popular pastor is your savior? Think again. Are you convinced that fellow humans could keep you safe from Satan? Think again. Look up Romans 8:31-39 in your Bible. Paul’s Holy Spirit inspired pen records incredibly motivating words of unwavering commitment to Jesus Christ in verses 38-39. “FOR I AM CONVINCED that neither death or life, or angels, or principalities, or things present, or things present, or powers, or height, or depth, or any other created thing, SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD, WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.” Paul nailed it down for himself. Even though he bore in his body evidence of suffering for Christ, he knew without a single question or doubt what he was convinced of. Nothing, absolutely nothing, could ever separate Paul from God’s love in Jesus. I do not know about you, but I want to be like Paul in the way he followed Jesus. How about you my fellow Christian? Are you convinced, fully persuaded, that absolutely nothing can separate you from God’s love? Are you completely convinced that God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do? Seriously, are you on board 100% with unwavering faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? No matter what happens? Even if others around you are uncertain about their faith? Even if the world chooses to go to hell in a hand-basket? I challenge you in these uncertain times to be convinced. Make this your confession of faith. ‘I (Your Name) am not ashamed; for I (Your Name) know in whom I have believed and I (Your Name) am convinced that He is able to guard what I (Your Name) have entrusted to Him until that day. I will be unwavering in my personal devotion to My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who laid His life down for me through the shedding of His precious blood so that I could be saved for time and eternity.” THANK YOU LORD JESUS FOR WATCHING OVER ME EACH AND EVERY DAY! “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Who shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life. Who shall I dread? When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, MY HEART WILL NOT FEAR. Though war rise up against me, in spirt of this, I SHALL BE CONFIDENT.” Psalm 27:1-4 A Word For Your Week: Conduct your daily life as a convinced Christian. An astute observer of baseball remarked “You will never steal second base with your foot on first.”
To go forward in life we must move from where we are. May people, Christians included, desire to round the bases of life and score a winning run. But they never will with their feet firmly planted on first base. In Matthew 14:22-36 Jesus walked on the water. The disciples witnessed with their own eyes the Lord gliding on top of the sea. Peter was very impressed. He also desired to be with Jesus. So, he asked the Lord to command him to come to Him on the water. The command was issued: “Come!” “And He said “Come!” and Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” Matthew 14:29 Without hesitating, Peter took a step of faith, got out of the boat, and walked on the water toward Jesus. What was that like Peter to walk on water? Pretty awesome! As you read the rest of this miraculous story, you will discover that Peter’s faith faltered. He started sinking when he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the wind and waves. “But seeing the wind Peter became afraid, and beginning to sink cried out Lord, save me.” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Peter’s initial, courageous, gutsy faith turned into a bout with doubt. Fortunately for Peter, Jesus rescued him. Then came a word about faith and doubt. The disciples learned a lesson about faith and marveled at who Jesus was. Our emphasis today is on Peter’s getting out of the boat. I applaud him for doing what the other disciples did not do. Peter left the safe border of his boat, venturing into a whole new world while his brothers stayed on board. People today are BORED and BORING because they stay on BOARD their boats. Let’s be honest. It is so easy and so boring to stay on board our little boats. A vast ocean of God’s blessings and miracles await those who will step out of their boat and step into God’s opportunities for their life. It seems so safe and secure to stay in the boat. But safe and secure does not move anybody forward. Staying on board our boat keeps us from experiencing new things. It is traditional for sailors to name their boats. So, let’s name a few or ours. How about comfort, security, safety, sameness, rut, familiarity, laziness, excuses, procrastination, and so forth. Some of these boats ring a bell in your life? They do in mine. I heard Joyce Meyer say “Jesus did not come on board the boat and take Peter’s hand to lead him across the wind-tossed waves. When Peter took a step out of the boat, then God met him on the water.” What an incredible insight! Too often we want the Lord to meet us on the boat when He is inviting us to get out of the boat and meet Him where He is. Meditate on that thought for awhile. Walking on the water is where Jesus is. How about you? Are you sitting still on the sea of life or are you walking on the water by faith in Jesus Christ. We say we have faith. That’s good. But when is the last time you stepped out of your boat on to the sea of God’s faithfulness? If we want a bigger boat, we must get out of the boat we are in. If we want to do more for Jesus, we have to step out in faith and leave our little boats behind. Is the Spirit of God challenging you to make some changes in your life? Is there some water the Lord wants you to walk on by faith? Is Jesus calling you to draw closer to Him? To go where He is and wants you to go? Is He commanding you to come? You will have to get out of your boat. You will never walk on water while sitting in your boat. So, why not get out of your comfort zone? Every one of the heroes in the Hall of Fame of faith in Hebrews 11 and many other saints throughout history got out of their boat at some time to meet God in a new way. They stepped with faith on the water before them. Maybe it is time for you to step out of that rut you have been spinning your wheels in for days, weeks, months or years. Break away from that bad habit that holds you back from greater usefulness for God’s Kingdom. Take a prayerful, careful, faithful risk and walk toward Jesus who is outside your boat. Jesus’ call is the same: “Come!” Coming to Jesus when He calls is an act of faith and obedience. Can He count on you to get your be-hind out of your boat and answer His call? “Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.” Ecclesiastes 11:1 A Word For Your Week: You will never know if your faith will float until you get out of the boat. In the late 1970’s a television commercial for a home emergency paging system made the phrase famous “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” Some of you remember this. I can still see the elderly lady calling out for help from the living room floor.
Fast forward to 2023: many people are falling and not getting back up. What a tragedy that people today in our culture and world have adopted this ad slogan as their excuse for not coming back from setbacks and succeeding after falling or failing. “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” can become a cop out, an easy excuse to stay down in life’s journey. Truth be told, all of us fall down because we take hits in life. Living in a fallen world no one is exempt from taking a fall from time to time. From out of nowhere life hits take the wind out of our sail, knocking our feet out from under us. None of us like to fall. But falls happen. It is sad and disheartening to watch people take a fall and not get up to stand tall again. Staying down when we have fallen down is not a steppingstone to success. Solomon has something significant to say about the righteous man who takes a fall. “For a righteous man falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in time of calamity.” Proverbs 24:16 Life tends to trip up even the best of us. Note that a “righteous man” will fall. Good, godly people fall how many times? At least seven. I am sure I have fallen more than seven times in my lifetime so far! How about you? You and I must nail this down as God’s children: It is inevitable we will fall down from time to time. There is no fall-free life. Believers in Christ are not granted an exemption from falling. If you think Christians are free from falling, read your Bible and think again. From cover-to-cover righteous men and women of God took tumbles and stumbled in life. BUT THEY GOT UP! The righteous man falls. But every single time, he gets up. The righteous man rises above Satan’s hits and his own shortcomings, mistakes, missteps, flops, fumbles, and failures by getting back up. EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!!!
The unrighteous person (“wicked”) also falls in a time of calamity (testing, trial, or difficulty). But instead of rising up to run another lap in the race of life, his stumble crushes him and causes him to crumble. He lies down and wallows in the misery of his fall. Without faith in God, he falters and fails in his self-centered pursuit of success.
What is your attitude to falling down? Winner or quitter? Falls and even failure is neither final nor fatal for those who brush the dust off their britches and get up and go again. Do not, I repeat do not, let the devil keep you down. Boldly and confidently rise up in Christ’s righteousness. Take back what the enemy has tried to steal from you. Remember: What God has given you, belongs to you, not anyone else! Fight the good fight of faith! Overcome in Jesus’ mighty name! Have you fallen lately? Need some motivation to get back up? Adopt Micah’s inspiring battle cry for success. “But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; Though I fall I will rise, though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.” (Micah 7:7-8) I love Micah’s fighting words! Makes me want to charge hell with a water pistol! Micah made his decision. The prophet is telling us from personal experience that if you tumble you do not have to stumble. When life trips you up, get up and get on with living. The Lord will lift you up and light your way. Tell the devil you are ready to rumble in Jesus’ name! Victory over the enemy is not in never falling. Getting up after a fall is! Getting back up after a fall is not always easy, but it is the path to victory! Recovering from a fall in life requires fortitude, faith and a relentless resolve to rise above adversity every time calamity strikes. Those who fall (that is you and me) are promised victory over falling through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (I John 4:4, 5:4). My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, let us stop whining about life and start winning. Let us stop complaining about falls and conquer them instead. We overcome when we get up after a fall and get right back in Satan’s face in Jesus’ mighty name! 2023 is the time for Christians to grow up, step up and lead the way in getting back up after a life fall. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” II Corinthians 4:7-10 A Word For Your Week: If you want to stand tall, get right back up after a fall! If you could choose, what would be the DAY of days for you?
I mean the DAY of all days. In 1976 I experienced one of those DAY of days. Jo Ann and I had been married for just nine months when Uncle Sam and the United States Navy separated us for thirteen months. Back then in what my adult children call the dinosaur days, there was zero technology. No computers. No cell phones. No texting. No Facebook. No Facetime. Only slow, slow snail mail. Kodak photos. Overseas phone calls were super expensive. So, our attic stores many, many boxes containing hundreds of love letters we wrote across the Pacific Ocean. I have forbidden my children to read them! Jo Ann and I cherished a few pictures of each other. But I tell you, pictures are one thing. Anticipating seeing her again was another. What we looked forward to was day 397, THE DAY when I borded the Freedom Bird, swooping out of Kadena Air Force base on Okinawa to land in San Bernadino and see my sweetheart in person, face to face. Oh my! Indescribable joy overwhelmed my emotions as I took her in my arms, looked into those sparkling blue eyes, kissed her and said “I love you” in person. That day with Jo Ann was absolutely awesome! But there is a DAY THAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO LIKE NO OTHER. An off the chart day. A day, THE DAY IS COMING when the bride of Christ (the church) will see the bridegroom (Jesus) in person when He returns to earth to take His people home to heaven. Paul tells us “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.” I Thessalonians 4:16-18 John writes “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. “Beloved, now we are children of God, and is has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies Himself just as He is pure.” I John 3:1-3 Did you get what Paul and John said? God’s sons and daughters will see Jesus in person. Face to face when He, with the heavenly host, splits the eastern sky to take His followers home. What a day that will be! No more manmade pictures of Jesus hanging in Sunday school classrooms. No more actors portraying the Lord in blockbuster movies. No more speculation about Christ’s appearance. We, we who personally know Jesus through faith in Him, will see, yes see, His face. Just as He is. Oh my goodness! Can any day ever compare to THAT DAY WHEN JESUS COMES TO TAKE US HOME!!!! My friend, are you ready to see Jesus face to face? Just as He is… the Lord of glory, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Savior of the world, Son of God who sits at the right hand of our heavenly Father? Have you surrendered yourself to Christ? Have you repented of your sin and confessed Jesus Lord of your life? Have you opened the door of your heart and welcomed Jesus in as Lord and Savior? If you have you are ready for THE DAY OF DAYS! If you are not ready to meet Jesus in person, get ready. Get ready now. Now is the day of salvation, not tomorrow (II Corinthians 6:1-2). Repent. Turn from sin and turn to Him. Receive Jesus into your heart as your Lord and Savior. I cannot speak for you. But I get spiritual and emotional goose bumps thinking of THE DAY when I see Jesus face to face! Whether I see Him in the clouds of the air or I see Him when I have died a natural death (“To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” II Corinthians 5:8) I will shout Hallelujah like I have never shouted Praise the Lord before! How do you feel about seeing Jesus fact to face? Honestly, I can only imagine what I will do when I see my precious Lord and Savior. It is going to be really, really good!!!! My fellow Christian, spend some devotional time this week focusing on seeing Jesus. Study the Word regarding His return for the saints. Welcome the Holy Spirit to stir your soul with joy unspeakable and full of glory as you anticipate the return of the Savior!!! Jesus is coming back. Soon. Any day now. We will see Him as He is. I hope you are ready and excited to see Him! “For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.” I Thessalonians 2:19-20 “And though you have not seen Him you love Him; and though you do not see Him now but believe in Hiim, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” I Peter 1:8-9 “He who testifies to these things says “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22:21 A Word For Your Week: Look forward with expectant faith to seeing Jesus face to face one day. Glory.The word glory, according to Webster, means “renown, praise, honor or distinction extended by common consent.”
The world you and I live is intoxicated with extending glory to men and women we highly admire. Academy award winning actors/actresses, brilliant business leaders, charismatic politicians in power positions, outstanding athletes and even popular pastors and ministers have glory attributed to them through awards, trophies, plaques, monuments, statues and many other forms of recognition. Admittedly, in many quarters of America, celebrities are worshipped. Adoring, awestruck (may I add fickled!) fans pour glorious accolades upon them…. and the recipients soak it up. Who doesn’t desire to be recognized for their achievements? Who hasn’t dreamed of being recognized as Most Valuable Player, Olympic champion, world’s best, business person of the year, salesperson of the month, and on and on. Glory is something that appeals to our flesh. Appropriate recognition and rewards are honorable and important. All of us need love, acceptance and approval strokes that contribute to positive, healthy self-esteem and self-confidence But I wonder if sometimes we give glory to men above glory to God? We praise and honor talent, gifting and human performances. But where did the abilities to stand out above others come from? Who is the real one behind man’s glory, the One who deserves all the glory? Most of the psalms (scripture songs) are attributed to David. In addition to his musical and lyrical gifts inspired by the Holy Spirit, his resume’ includes serving God as a shepherd boy, a giant slayer, warrior and king of Israel. As king, he received adoration, admiration, accolades and glory for his many victories over God’s enemies. But David knew who the real King of glory was. “Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.” Psalm 24:7-10 David is saying two things. 1. The Lord of hosts, the Lord mighty in battle, the Lord strong and mighty, He is the King of glory. The God of the Bible is holy and full of glory. No one is renowned like Him. 2. King David declares that Almighty God, the sovereign Creator of the universe and redeemer of creation, that He alone should be revered and worshipped as the King of glory. He talks about gates and doors being opened. For what purpose? To welcome the King of glory in. Lift up your heads refers to looking up to the Lord. You and I are to focus our faith on the King of glory by opening the door of our heart to Him. In Philippians 2:9-11 Paul writes “Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Chris is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Jesus’ name is above all names. Every tongue will confess and knees will bow, acknowledging His lordship. Sounds like Jesus Christ is the King of glory, doesn’t it? At least He shares the glory of the Father. If you want to have a good day…..
Sad fact: People who glory in people will always be disappointed and let down. Maybe, just maybe, our sad, sin-sick world would be a much better place if we glorified people a little less and glorified God a whole lot more. Just a thought. A historic hymn of the church says it just right. “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” “Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength; ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name, worship the Lord in holy array.” Psalm 29:1-2 “And in His temple everything says, “Glory!” Psalm 29:9a How about you? Do you say “Glory?” to God. A Word For Your Week: Daily open wide the gate of your heart to the King of glory. |
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