​Jesus said to them “Come and have breakfast.” John 21:12
 
Imagine having breakfast with Jesus. How awesome would that be!
 
Christ’s disciples dined with the Lord on the beach early one morning after fishing all night (John 21:1-14). What a breakfast it turned out to be, especially for Peter (John 21:15-22).
 
Peter. A seasoned fisherman spent all night fishing for fish, when in his heart, he wished he was fishing for men (see Matthew 4:18-20). This was the third time Jesus appeared to His followers after His resurrection. When Peter recognized the Lord, he was so excited to see Jesus that he jumped out of the boat and sprinted to the beach. He wanted to be with Jesus so bad, but something was not right.
 
Peter was experiencing a major confidence crisis.
 
Before Jesus went to die on the Cross, Peter, sharing in the Last Supper, adamantly declared that he would never deny the Lord (see Matthew 26:30-35). Jesus said he would, and Peter did (Matthew 27:69-75).
 
Peter’s denial devastated him, dealing a near death blow to his character and confidence.
 
The Lord knew Peter was deeply disappointed with himself. Jesus knew Peter was embarrassed and ashamed. Jesus knew it was hard for Peter to face Him and his fellow disciples.
 
So, the resurrected Savior arranged a breakfast. Breakfast on the beach to help Peter save face.
 
Peter, do you love Me? Lord, You know that I do. Then Peter, feed and tend My sheep. Get up off the ash heap of depression and despair and get ready to minister the Good News I called you to proclaim in My name.
 
 Imagine what the Lord’s restoring words meant to Peter! Relief. Refreshing. Renewed hope that better days were on the horizon. The Lord still believes in me and plans to use me. What a breakfast!!!
           
Observations about this breakfast at the beach with Jesus.
 

• Jesus filled the disciple’s empty nets with a boatload of fish.
• Jesus provided the fish and bread for the meal.
• Jesus restored Peter completely: Three “Yes Lord, You know that I love you” confessions erased the three denials.
• Jesus’ restoration restored Peter’s shattered self-esteem and self-confidence.
• Jesus restored Peter in front of Peter’s closet friends. Their confidence in Peter was restored.
• After being filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter became the first preacher of the church and authored I and II Peter.

 
Main Point of this breakfast meeting: The Lord restores those who love Him.
 
Let me shoot real straight with you. Have you messed up in some way? Are you disappointed in yourself? Do you feel embarrassed or ashamed? Have you lost your confidence? Is your self-esteem shot because you feel you failed God and people you love?
 
Now this question is the one that really matters. Despite your shortcomings, mistakes, and even sin, do you love Jesus? I want to say it again. Do you love the Lord? If Jesus asked you right now, smack dab in the middle of your confidence crisis, “Do you love Me?...... how would you answer? If your answer is “Yes Lord, You know I love You,” then there is hope for you
 
If you have messed up, but sincerely and wholeheartedly love the Lord, He will forgive your mess and restore you to Himself.
 
Honestly, there will be times in all our lives as Christians when we are hurting, questioning, wondering, even doubting. That is when we need to hear and heed Jesus’ gracious invitation “Come and have breakfast.”
 
The fish and bread will be cooking on the barbecue. Serving you with a smile, Jesus will ask you if you love Him. Tell Jesus you love Him with all your heart. Then humbly and joyfully receive the healing, restoring and renewing power of God’s forgiving love!
 
Then you can enjoy a moment of sweet fellowship, and who knows maybe even a meal, with the One who loves you unconditionally and eternally!
 
How about breakfast with Jesus? I would like that. How about you?
 
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my load is light.”                    Matthew 11:28-30
 
 
“For I will restore you to health and I will heal your wounds” declares the Lord.”                                                                                            Jeremiah 30:17
 
A Word for Your Week: Jesus restores us when we need restored.   

​Doubting Thomas.
Imagine being remembered throughout the ages as the disciple who doubted Jesus. If I had been Thomas, I think I would have rather been called Trusting Tom or the believing one instead of the doubting one.
No doubt Thomas struggled from time to time with doubt. Before we judge Thomas too harshly, if you and I are honest, we need to remember that we battle with unbelief and have bouts of doubt from time to time too.
John 20:19-29 records an encounter Thomas had with Jesus after the Lord’s resurrection. Read the passage to understand the context of what Thomas experienced.
Jesus appeared to the disciples. Thomas was absent. Jesus greeted His faithful followers with “Peace be with you” and then they received the Holy Spirit. Jesus left.
When Thomas arrived, the disciples greeted him with “we have seen the Lord.” Thomas doubted. He remarked “Unless I see in His hands and the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand in His side I WILL NOT BELIEVE.”
Guess what Jesus did? Eight days later, door locked, the Lord appeared to Thomas and the other disciples.
 Verses 27-29 state “Then He said to Thomas “Reach here your finger and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it in my side; and be not unbelieving but believing. Thomas answered and said to Him “My Lord and my God.” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? BLESSED ARE THEY WHO DID NOT SEE, AND YET BELIEVED.”
Oh my! I love what took place. Two things that Jesus did that warm my heart.

1. Jesus knew that Thomas struggled with doubt. So, He showed up just for him. Personally, for the doubting one. Tom, here are my wounds. Touch them. They are real and so am I. I have risen from the dead.

Thomas’s confession “My Lord and my God” was on point for what he witnessed. But his confession fell short. Jesus asked a question that must have pierced Thomas’s heart. Have you believed only because of what you have seen? Chew on that one Thomas. You and me too!

1. Teaching time. Here it is Thomas and the rest of you. The Lord declared that blessed are those who did not see but believed.

For all time, Jesus declared that faith does not have to see. My followers walk by faith, not sight. Jesus ministered to Thomas in a personal, caring, kind way then dropped the truth bombshell Thomas and all Christians need.  
In the future, I have an inkling Thomas doubted a lot less! What do you think? He ministered the Good News of Christ across India and Asia and died as a martyr for his faith.
What To Do When Doubting

• Understand doubt is natural and normal for us human beings, Christians included. We all have a little bit of “Doubting Thomas” in us.
• We do not have to doubt, but when we do, the Lord helps us out.
• Fight doubt with faith. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world that doubts God (I John 5:4).
• Do not pout. Push through doubt. Fight through doubt to faith.
• Saturate your spirit with scriptural examples of faith (Hebrews 11) and promises of the power of faith (Mark 11:22-24).
• Surround yourself with fellow faith fighters who will help you stamp doubt out.
• When you win over doubt shout praise to the Lord for helping you out.
• Share with others who are struggling with doubt the way out through to victorious faith in Jesus.

Faith gives us clout over doubt.
Faith believes without seeing and acts accordingly. Hebrews 11:1-2 states “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.” Then the writer recalls the faith of men and women of God in the Hall of Fame of Faith throughout the rest of the chapter. Every person believed before they received. Each saw with the eye of faith before they held the object of their faith in hand.
Reading and meditating on their faith stirs my faith, challenging me to “believe without seeing” as Jesus told Thomas and the other disciples  
Struggling with doubt? Having trouble finding your way out? Wondering what is wrong with your faith? Do you wrestle with believing without seeing? How about learning believing about not seeing and still believing?
God is so good when we have a bout with doubt. He will not condemn us. He will send His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit to comfort, minister and teach lessons us about trusting in Him.
Take heart my friend. With the Holy Spirit’s help, take doubt out with simple, childlike, sincere, scriptural faith in Christ. Call doubt what it is. It is an attack on your faith. Hit it hard head on with God’s Word about faith. Confess faith over your doubt and it will have to take a hike!
Believing without seeing sends doubt down the road!
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6   
A Word For Your Week: You can win your bout with doubt!

​Sometimes you and I make the Christian life more difficult than it needs to be. (I heard a few honest sighs in the background).
One of the many things I love about Jesus Christ is how the truth He taught in the Bible makes the Kingdom of God and salvation simple. Simple enough for a thick-headed, self-centered, questioning, stubborn guy like me. It is too easy to make walking by faith difficult, to overthink belief, to complicate what is simple, to try and figure out why God does what He does.
I wonder if our heavenly Father sits on His throne and shakes His head in bewilderment as to why His followers make living for Christ difficult. Just a thought!
For instance, what about prayer? You and I can be tempted to turn praying into a spiritual ritual, a dogmatic exercise, a complicated dialogue of do’s and don’ts when conversing with the Lord.
Jesus cuts through the proverbial mustard regarding prayer in Matthew 7:7-11.
“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find, knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it shall be opened.
Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to them that ask Him?”  
Wow! Prayer and God’s response is profoundly simple.

1. Jesus declared that if we ask, seek and knock we will receive, find and things will open up. Receiving, finding and things opening from God happens when everyone (including you and me) asks, seeks and knocks. Profoundly simple!
2. Jesus said no man will give his son a rock when he asks for bread or a snake when he asks for a fish. You and I as earthly fathers would never give our sons or daughters a rock or snake when they asked for bread and fish.
3. Jesus made it clear that if we give good gifts to our children when we are “evil” (sinful, imperfect beings), “how much more” will God give good things to all who ask Him.
4. The key to this passage: ASK God for good gifts. “How much more” is the flipside of asking.

“How much more” is based on God’s great love for us!
I am a father and grandfather. I love to give good things to my children when they ask. Warms my heart to bless them. Of course, I would never give them a rock when they asked for a Ding Dong! Or a snake if they asked me for some salmon.
You and I are sinful, imperfect human beings. Certainly not very godlike at times. But we still give good things to our kids. Why? Because we love them.
“How much more” does God love us who are His sons and daughters through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
God is a God of more, not less.
Worth thinking about.
If you and I would give good things to our children, why is it hard for you and me to believe that God wants to give you and me good things even more than you would to your kids? God is not stingy with His love and goodness. He lavishes, pours His everlasting love, mercy, grace and abundant goodness upon those He loves and those who ask. I like that! I hope you do too!
Today there is a trending phrase that goes like this. “I love you. I love you more!” Nice. Guess what? As God’s kids we love Him, and you guessed it, He responds I love you more.
Out of His “I love you more” flows “How much more.”
How is your prayer life? Are you asking, seeking and knocking? Jesus said to ask. Put your faith in action to ask God for the good things He promises in His word.
I challenge you this week to ask, then receive “how much more” God has planned for you.
Keep prayer simple. Believe God has your best interest at heart and will give good things to you because you ask!
“You do not have because you do not ask.” James 4:4
“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in all things, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” II Corinthians 9:8
A Word For Your Week: Expect God to do much more than you thought He would.

As a Christian, what does God want from me?
The Lord does not want anything from me. He wants…ALL OF ME. Fully, completely and unconditionally surrendered to His good, acceptable and perfect will.
“My Utmost For His Highest” has been the number one best selling Christian devotional for the past one hundred years. Written by Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) it is rich with scriptural treasure based on the Bible’s truth and principles. When you read Chambers devotions you feel you are drinking from the bottomless well of God’s wisdom.
I highly fully endorse and highly recommend every Christian read, study, meditate upon and apply the timeless teachings of “My Utmost For His Highest.”
While I was reading his October 23rd devotion entitles “Not A Bit of it!”, the Lord put on my heart to share it with you. Chambers uses some archaic terms of his day which I kind of like. But you will get the picture he is painting.
So here it is.
“Not A Bit Of It!”
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away.” II Corinthians 5:17
The Lord never nurses our prejudices. He mortifies them, runs clean athwart them. We imagine God has a special interest in our particular prejudices; we are quite sure that God will never deal with as He has to deal with other people. “God must deal with other people in a very stern way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are quite all right.”
We have to learn-----“Not a bit of it!”. Instead of God being on the side or our prejudices, He is deliberating wiping them out.
It is part of our moral education to have our prejudices run straight across by His providence, and to watch how He does it.
God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us and that is our unconditional surrender.
When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is not a bit of the old order left; the old solemnity goes, the old attitude to things goes, and “all things are of God.”
How are we going to get the life that has no lust, no self-interest, no sensitivity to pokes, the love that is not provoked, that thinketh no evil, that is always kind? The only way is by not allowing a bit of the old life to be left; but only simple, perfect trust in God, such trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only God Himself.
Have we come to the place where God can withdraw His blessings and it does not affect our trust in Him? When once we see God at work, we will never bother our heads about things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in Heaven Whom the world cannot trust.
When I read this and let it soak in, it is as if the Holy Spirit lowered (lovingly of course) the boom on Steve.
I have chewed and prayed over this for days. Am I fully, unconditionally surrendered to Jesus? I have been a Christian for nearly fifty years. Thinking I have been all His. I believe I am according to the Word of God. But that question of coming to the place where God can withdraw His blessings would not affect my faith? That is one to not take light.
Jesus gave His all for me on the Cross. Have I given my all to Him? Have I denied myself, taken up my cross and followed Him wholeheartedly without reservation? Has Steve surrendered everything to the One I call my Lord and Savior?
The Holy Spirit is working me over. It is a good thing. I will come out on the side where Jesus is everything and I am who and what I am because of Him.
How about you? Has this devotional poked your spirit? Challenged you to take inventory of your relationship with the Lord when it comes to unconditional surrender?
God loves us you and me so much that He does not want anything from us but our unconditional love, undivided devotion and joyful obedience.
Let’s do this. You pray for me and I will pray for you that we will come to grips with unconditional surrender to God and go forward with faith as more than mighty conquerors in Jesus. So be it!  
“Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on yielding, presenting the members of your body to sin and unrighteousness; but yield, present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members of instruments of righteousness to God.” Romans 6:12-13
A Word For Your Week: Trusting God means fully surrendering to Him.

​America.
Land of the free and the home of the brave. Someone put it this way “Land of the free because of the brave.” I like that.
I love and honor my country. I am a respectful, law-abiding patriot like many of you. I proudly served in the military and am wholeheartedly committed to defending our Constitution and the freedoms that Americans hold dear.
 But like many of my fellows Americans, my spirit is grieved, my heart is broken and my mind is troubled over the state of our beloved nation. I am gravely concerned about the direction of our republic. The United States of today is not the United States of America I grew up in.
Maybe you are like me, asking the question: What is the problem with America, and most importantly, what is the solution to our nation’s problem? I have often pondered this question in light of our country’s current wayward, downward course.   
It seems like anyone and everyone is eager to espouse what they think is wrong with America.  Search social media to validate my observation. Politicians and political pundits, religious leaders, talking head journalists, academic professors, idealistic students, radical reformers, protestors, social watchdogs, social media junkies and you-name-it proclaim their vaunted opinion as to what they think should happen to right America’s sinking ship. 
 But few, if any, can pinpoint the real problem, let alone write a prescription for the healing of our land.
In the midst of breaking bad news happening across our country daily, I have good news! Good news that will encourage you and me, inspiring hope for better days in America. 
Through Solomon, the wisdom writer in the Bible, God, our Creator and Redeemer, is crystal clear about our problem and its solution.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish; but happy is he who keeps the law.” Proverbs 29:18
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a sequestered monk in a monastery to understand this simple, life-transforming truth. Vision means to see, the act or power of seeing, sight.  What we see is who we will be. 
Solomon says men and women will be happy when they keep the law. Whose law? God’s law! You and I are happiest and most fulfilled when we have a vision for living life the way our Creator sees it. God’s way is best for us and is the basis for His blessing our lives.
On the flipside, no vision (no sight or view of God’s way to live life) results in perishing. The word perish also means unrestrained, out of control. Does that sound like America today?
Without vision people perish; with vision people prosper.
Perishing looks like this: Disunity. Division. Disrespect. Indecency. Immorality. Disobedience. Disorder. Defiance. Contention. Strife. Rebellion. Corruption. Lying. Prejudice. Discrimination. Accusation. Insecurity. Tear down. Fear. Hatred. Violence. Chaos. Anarchy.
Prosperity looks like this: Unity. Togetherness. Cooperation. Respect. Dignity. Deference. Obedience. Morality. Decency. Order. Safety. Security. Build up. Acceptance. Tolerance. Faith. Peace. Love. Happiness. Joy. Purpose.
I don’t know about you, but I vote for happiness and prosperity. Perishing, lack of restraint, out of control living is not on my list of life objectives!
America’s problem: No vision. America’s solution: Get God’s vision.
God, who loves us and sent His only Son Jesus to redeem us from sin (Ephesians 1:3-8). Sin boils down to an arrogant, self-absorbed, godless, visionless lifestyle. God has a purpose and plan for our personal lives, our marriages and family life, our nation, our careers, our churches, our ministries and for the world.
America is perishing because we as a people have turned away from God’s vision for our lives.
Many Americans are willfully rejecting the Lord and His holy Word. People across our country are unrestrained, out of control, seeking to impose their will on others instead of lining up with God’s good, acceptable and perfect will for all of us.(see Romans 12:1-2).
Spiritually, morally, emotionally, mentally, physically, relationally and financially we are perishing. Imploding. Lack of vision of God’s purpose for our lives is hurling us down the slippery slope of self-destruction.
VISION MATTERS.  
People pontificate that they have a vision for America. My question is “What is the source of your vision for our nation?” I suggest we look to God for His vision for our country.
”Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.” Psalm 33:11. “
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to a people.” Proverbs 14:24
Biblical vision is about doing what is right in God’s sight, not what we think is right in our sight. How do we discover God’s vision? Humble ourselves and study the Bible. God’s vision is laid out for us in the sacred pages of scripture. God’s vision for our lives matters for us, our children and our grandchildren.
Do you have God’s vision for your personal life? Your family? Your career? Your ministry? Your church? Your nation? The world of men and women for whom Christ died?
 What we believe is how we behave. Our character determines our conduct. Being who God designed us to be (vision) will make us good citizens who can turn the United States around before it is too late.
Prosper or perish as a nation is up to you, me and everyone who loves America.
Oh gracious and merciful heavenly Father, may Americans recapture a vision to glorify You and make the best life possible for every one of our citizens. Amen.  
A Word For Your Week: Restoration of a nation begins with vision.