pathoflifedevotions Devotions, February

February 8, 2017

Craftsmanship

Craftsmanship is a characteristic of the people of God.
Since the time of Moses it has been noted that God’s people do good work. In the days of the Old Testament, God used slavery in Egypt to transform His people from herdsmen to craftsmen. Under our blessed New Covenant, God’s people are still commanded to do good work because our craftsmanship is both worship and witness. Using the most inclusive of all terms, “whatsoever,” Paul declares that our work can and should be done as worship to the Lord. Jesus said that our good deeds (our work ethic) would be a constant witness to our Father in heaven.

The Image of God in Us
A biblical term for work is craftsmanship. It is part of imago dei, the image of God in us. God is The Maker and he has made each of us with a deep desire to make something out of our lives. Just about anything we do can be described in terms of “making:” homemaking, making repairs, making scholars, making musicians, making disciples, making sales, making deals, making an organization, etc.

Each kind of work has its own set of basic skills that must be mastered if one is to become a true craftsman. Each craft also has its own language and laws, principles and processes that must be learned. This process establishes an intergenerational structure of teaching, mentoring, and apprenticeship. The training time is as important as the lifetime we will spend making things.

Today, work has often been severed from worship and witness.
We tend to see our jobs as just a means to a paycheck or a career. In truth each of us has a calling, a life’s work that God has chosen us to do. We may make a living at it, or it may be a service to God and Mankind done after hours, but we have something God expects us to do.

Not for salvation, but for praise.
It is clear that we do not enter into this craft to earn our salvation. Judgment day will not being a balancing of our good works against our sins to gain entrance through Peter’s heavenly gate. That balance was done at a place call Calvary. If we have repented of our sins and confessed the Lordship of Christ, His perfect record has been applied to our name in heaven’s books.

We have holy work to do for better reasons than getting into heaven:

  • We want to please the Lord every day.
  • We want to obey Him in every way.
  • We want to advance His Kingdom.
  • We want to see His mercy, grace, and healing flow like a healing stream through this hurting world.

Today, whether you are in the training stage or you are a productive craftsman, do your work well. It is an act of worship and the work of your life is a shining witness to the love of the Father.

Scriptures:
Exodus 31:1-7; 35:35
Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel… and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts–to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab… to help him. Also I have given skill to all the craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you… filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers–all of them master craftsmen and designers.
Romans 12:6-8
We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Colossians 3:17; 23-25
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, the Psalmist prayed the words of his mouth and the meditation of his heart would be acceptable in Your sight. I echo that timeless petition and I add this: let the work of my hands be pleasing to You and speak well of You to others. Give me such an integrity deep in my spirit, that it would be seen in my work. If there are problems, the Holy Spirit knows the solutions and He lives in me. Show me the answers so that I might be a problem solver in my work and not a problem causer. Guard my heart from pride in my work, for I would be misguided and mistaken to think that I am more than I am. I am Your servant, sent among men to do a work for You. I am awed by this privilege. In the Holiest Name, Amen.

Song:
In the Service of the King
Words: Alfred Ackley; Music: Bentley Ackley

1. I am happy in the service of the King. I am happy, Oh so happy;
I have peace and joy that nothing else can bring, In the service of the King.

Refrain:
In the service of the King, Every talent I will bring;
I have peace and joy and blessing in the service of the King.

2. I am happy in the service of the King. I am happy, Oh so happy;
Through the sunshine and the shadow I can sing, in the service of the King.

Refrain

3. I am happy in the service of the King. I am happy, Oh so happy;
To His guiding hand forever I will cling, in the service of the King.

Refrain

4. I am happy in the service of the King. I am happy, Oh so happy;
All that I possess to Him I gladly bring, in the service of the King.

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, February

February 7, 2017

Breath

It is more than air, this breath we breathe.
There is something in us, the breath of life, that was imparted to us at the moment of the creation of Adam, that is different from the breath of animals. With this transfer from the being of God to the lifeless form of Adam, freshly fashioned from earth, Adam became a living being, a living soul, as the Old King James Version says. This was a separate act of creation; God spoke everything else into existence but Adam and Eve were handcrafted by Him. One of the definitions of “breathed into” is “inflated.” Spiritually, Adam was like a deflated balloon, flat, useless, full of nothing. But the breath of God changed all that. This is so personal, this personal inflation of a created being with the breath of its Creator.

Why? Why a separate creative process? Why so personal an impartation of life from God to mankind?

“The One Most Beloved”
There is a biblical term that has found its way into common use meaning for “the one most beloved;” “the apple of my eye.” God calls Israel this and expects us to consider His Word to be the apple of our eye.” “Most beloved” status in the heart of God is the result of this moment in the Garden of Eden when Adam came to life. This breath of life has been passed down to each of us, the children of Adam and Eve. We are designed to thrive on the breath of God, the Holy Spirit. One of Hebrew words for spirit is ruach, meaning the breath of God—His very life!

ruach OT:7307, “breath; air; strength; wind; breeze; spirit; courage; temper; Spirit.” (Vine’s Dictionary)

The breath in us is God’s living Spirit!

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” the Psalmist says. Praise is our purpose, the reason we have breath to breathe. We praise Him with:

  • Our songs of praise and worship,
  • Our witness to His story and His grace in our lives,
  • The integrity of our hearts,
  • The work of our hands, and
  • The obedience of our walk with Him.

So, when the music starts and you are given a song to sing with the Saints—go for it! Give it all you’ve got.

This is the reason you have breath within you!

Scriptures:
Genesis 2:7 NKJV
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Psalm 150 NIV
Praise the LORD.Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.
Mark 12:29-31 NIV
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I will praise You today! I will praise You whether I like or even know the songs we are asked to sing. My praise shall be as authentic in me as my breath. At Your holy inflation, my life was filled with Your life. When sin had caught me and left me struggling for air, You rescued me and returned me to Your Holy Presence, where I can breathe the clear air of heaven. I will not waste my breath on curses, or vile words, or empty musings that do not smell of Your sweetness. I will use the breath of life within me to sing of Your virtues, to proclaim Your excellence, to shout Your praise and to tell Your story! All for You, Lord Jesus! Amen.

Song:
Let Everything That Has Breath
Words and Music: Rich Gomez
(from Ron Kenoly’s album  “Lift Him Up”)

Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord
And let the living proclaim
Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord

Let every instrument Sound His praise
As all His people adore
Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord

I will open up my mouth And He will fill it with praise
I will magnify His name The name that stands
Above all names is Jesus

High sounding cymbals and trumpets of brass
The sound of one accord
Let everything that has breath
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord

My Lord has put a new song in my heart
It’s a song of praise to my God
And everyone who hears it will rejoice
Let everything that has breath
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord.

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, February

February 6, 2017

Boundaries

Life is organized by boundaries.
Borders define nations. Standards of behavior define morality. Boundaries express and enable covenantal agreements. Think of traffic lanes on the highway. On a two-lane road a thin boundary divides the road into the two lanes. Even if the white line is broken into short stripes, it rules the road. Because of this agreement, we are unafraid of traveling nine miles above the speed limit (ten miles over might get us a ticket) with oncoming cars just inches away. Covenantal boundaries and rules make our highways safe at amazing speeds.

This is the power of boundaries.
Even in these “anything goes” times, teens are able to manage their hormonal surges When they have behavioral boundaries—there are things they will not do. Perhaps the boundaries are set from an internal sense of propriety or by carefully taught moral principles from the home or the church, but these unseen borders can keep youth sexually pure until a marriage contract draws delightful new boundaries for them.

Boundaries are necessities on the Path of Life.
The ancient words of Psalm 16 praise the Lord for the life-boundaries His covenant people enjoy.

“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.”

Boundaries are born in reality. I grew up in a small Delta town on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River–now there is a boundary! For more than a century of civilization people of the town of Helena had to cross the River by boat. When I was about 11 years old a magnificent bridge was built to span the mighty stream in all seasons of the year from the highest spring floods to the winter days when the temperatures and the waters were low enough for the river to freeze. Cars no longer needed to ride on the slippery decks if a dangerous ferry boat called The Pelican.

Another Dangerous River
When sin entered the human story, a wide and raging river carved a deep and dangerous boundary between our heart and the heart of God. For centuries the world had the nation of Israel as a witness to the One True God. The nation of Israel had the Law and a system of worship wherein the blood of innocent animals paid the high price of transit across the river. This ancient grace stood on pillars of the promise of some future Redeemer Who would come and build a bridge.

A Better Bridge
Jesus is that Redeemer. He has bridged the raging river for us and now we have ready access to the heart of God. Sin no longer needs to separate us from the God we need and love.

“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”

Indeed.

Scriptures:
Psalm 16:5-11 NIV
LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 74:12-17 NIV
But you, O God, are my king from of old; you bring salvation upon the earth. It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters. It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert. It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever flowing rivers. The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon. It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.
John 14:6 NIV
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Hebrews 10:19-22 NIV
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith…

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I owe You so much! My life, my salvation, my destiny, all come from You and through You. You are the bridge spanning boundary of my sin. Your Word gives me clear boundaries of behavior. Through the Bible I know what pleases You and blesses me and I can clearly see the sins that would grieve You and harm me. Your binding covenant marks the lane in which I should travel, warning me of curves and hills and hazards of all kinds. Your faithfulness to Your promises is my security. Yes, the boundaries of my life do occupy good and pleasant places. Thank You, Father, in Jesus’ Name.

Song:
Nothing Between
Words and Music: Charles A. Tindey

1. Nothing between my soul and the Savior,
Naught of this world’s delusive dream;
I have renounced all sinful pleasure,
Jesus is mine; there’s nothing between.

Refrain:
Nothing between my soul and the Savior,
So that His blessed face may be seen;
Nothing preventing the least of His favor,
Keep the way clear with nothing between.

2. Nothing between like worldly pleasure,
habit of life, though harmless the seem,
Must not my heart from Him ever sever,
He is my all, there’s nothing between.

Refrain

3. Nothing between, like pride or station;
Self or friend shall not intervene;
Though it may cost me much tribulation,
I am resolved, there’s nothing between.

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, February

Feruary 5, 2017

Unity

Such a simple concept, unity—many as one.
The motto of the United States of America is E pluribus unum-“ meaning “out of many, one.” Musicians have adapted a French word, ensemble, meaning, “together” or “all at once” to express the idea of many voices or instruments achieving an artistic unity of expression. Not a difficult idea to grasp, but a challenging reality to achieve. Most of the time in musical or theatrical rehearsals is spent trying to become an ensemble—many functioning as one.

It is important to remember that Jesus prayed for our unity.
His prayer is recorded in John chapter seventeen. After His detailed teaching about the events crowding close upon Him—the week of His passion—and the more distant event of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would begin His New Covenant ministry in the hearts of those who would follow Him, Jesus prayed for our unity.

Yes, our unity. He prayed for the Apostles and for all who would come to know Him through their witness. So Jesus prayed for us!

And what did He ask for us? That we would be one—an ensemble of the spirit—singing one story in many languages until everyone has heard the tune.

Paul used another analogy, the human body.
It is made of many parts—and He didn’t know about the cell level of the human body!—but is really a unity, a unity with diversity. The human body had many members all functioning uniquely together as a single individual. There was to be no envy of one member for the position of another because all were equally vital to our health.

We live in a world beset by division. Markets depend on identifying separate groups and feeding the wants and needs of those people. If we are on the verge of being conquered, it is because we are being so thoroughly divided.

The Kingdom of God requires unity, unity with diversity.
Each of us is an individual with a path of life that God has promised to show us. We each have good works laid out for us to do in this world. But we are intended to operate from a common base, a community of faith wherein all our work adds up to the work of God in the world.

There is an anointing in unity that is destroyed by division. The Psalmist speaks of the anointing oil flowing on each one until we are all one.

This is necessary. It is the answer to the prayer of Jesus.

And it is, indeed, good and pleasant.

Scriptures:
Psalm 133 NKJV
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!  It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing — Life forevermore.
Ephesians 4:1-6 NIV
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to one hope when you were called- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 NIV
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
John 17:20-22 NIV
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Prayer:
(BCP) (adapted)
O God our light and salvation, who makes all free to worship you: May we ever strive to be faithful to your call, following the example of those faithful ones who have gone before us that we may faithfully set our hands to the Gospel plow, confident in the truth proclaimed by your Son Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Song:
We are One in The Spirit
Words and Music: Peter Scholtes

We are One in The Spirit, We are One in The Lord.
We are One in The Spirit, We are One in The Lord.
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, By our Love,
Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

We will walk with each other, We will walk hand in hand.
We will walk with each other, We will walk hand in hand.
And together we’ll spread the News that God is in our land.
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, By our Love,
Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, February

February 4, 2017

Tranquility

There are three kinds of tranquility:

  1. The kind we imagine when life is anything but tranquil,
  2. The kind we enjoy when living is easy, and
  3. The real thing, a tranquility based in the facts of faith.

God gave each of us a powerful imagination.
As children we commute from the real world of grownups and ordinary things to the world created by our imagination with its surprising shapes, colors, characters and happenings seen only through our childish eyes. Grumpy adults call it day-dreaming and continually require us to awaken and come back to the world of their reality.

Why are we grumpy?

Life—reality—called us one too many times and we never found our way back to the tranquility of our day-dreams. Our imaginations were forced to live on in symbols in our dreams, dancing with our fears or celebrating our hopes, but forgotten when the alarm clock sounds.

Sometimes stories, in print or on the screen, beckon to our long-neglected imaginations to live vicariously with

  • heroes and anti-heroes,
  • maidens in distress and strong women making it big in a man’s world,
  • animals so familiar in their four-legged humanity that we understand them perfectly, or
  • even monsters and villains we love to hate as they trample the cities of our imaginary worlds or threaten to topple the fail-safe structures of our imaginary civilizations.

But none of the tranquility of escapism is really ours. Soon the book is closed, or the credits roll and it is back to real life and its troubles still there waiting for our return, problems still unsolved, dilemmas still undecided, pain never soothed, bills unpaid, and conflicts still raging.

We long for more than this.
In quite moments before sleep overtakes us, we think of tranquil places we have known, images of home, of yesteryear, of childhood or school days when life was simple and fun. Those memories lull us to sleep where dreams deal with our fears in more fantastical ways. It is strange that memories of peace give way so readily to frightful dreams, but this is the fleeting, shadowy world of tranquility as a sleepy time exercise.

The Real Thing
There are days when real tranquility is our lot for a day. No conflicts threaten the peace we feel. Bills are paid. Pain is gone. Work is going along nicely, thank you, and the ones we love appear to love us right back. We want to memorize moments like these so we can hold them in our minds forever and recall them when we need them.

Going Deeper
There is a tranquility that does not spring from either the circumstances of life or our imagination; there is a real tranquility of the spirit. This tranquility speaks from the deepest part of us regardless of what our list of “things to do today” may hold—disasters, dreams, or delightful prospects.

This tranquility is based on the facts of our faith in God.

  • God loves us just as we are.
  • God has redeemed us as He found us and is transforming us into His likeness.
  • God has hemmed us in behind and before and has laid His hand on us.
  • No weapon formed against us shall prosper.
  • He knows the future and is already there.
  • God is One who keeps His covenant promises.

Let the seasons of life change the color of the landscape before us. Let the leaves bud, wave green in the summer wind, dry and die in autumn, and huddle to the ground in winter. We are blessed evergreen trees flourishing throughout the years of our lives. This reality is our tranquility, safe from storm, stealth, and savagery, because its source is the unchanging, unassailable character of God.

Scriptures:
John 14:27 NIV
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Matthew 7:24-25 NIV
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
Isaiah 26:3-4 AMP
You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You. So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].
Colossians 3:15 NIV
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Song:
Wonderful Peace
Words: W.D. Cornell; Music: W.G. Cooper

1. Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight
Rolls a melody sweeter than psalm;
In celestial-like strains it unceasingly falls
O’er my soul like an infinite calm.

Refrain:
Peace! Peace! Wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above;
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray,
In fathomless billows of love.

3. I am resting tonight in this wonderful peace,
Resting sweetly in Jesus’ control;
For I’m kept from all danger by night and by day,
And His glory is flooding my soul.

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, February

February 3, 2017

Advancement

However it is measured, daily progress is to be desired.
It is important to us to feel that we have advanced the cause of our lives, the purpose God has for us, and the dream or vision the Holy Spirit has given to us. At the beginning of the day we pray for advancement in these things. At the end of the day we look back, hoping to measure the advancement of the day. If we see progress, we can go to sleep dreaming of tomorrow’s tasks. If the day has been one of setbacks or frustrations, we worry ourselves to sleep searching our memories for unseen flaws of technique or hidden causes of the random nonsense that robbed the day of measurable progress.

Give it time.
Advancement isn’t always easy to judge. Many times what we need is a greater time reference than a single day. What may seem like a setback today may prove to be a necessary course correction in a few days. With time, frustrations can lead us to new understandings of the task we are attempting. Even people who we think have hindered our advancement may turn out to be friends not enemies, helpers, not hinderers.

To gain this more accurate perspective, we must pull the camera of our analysis of our work back to a wider view. It is possible that the energy we pour into worrying about an unproductive day may be wasted. Things can look completely different from a longer viewpoint. Tossing in bed and constant adjustment of our pillow can be relieved by reflecting on how the Lord Himself might judge the day just past.

Paul encourages us to ruminate, not on the possible setbacks of the day, but on the final victory in Christ that is guaranteed in the Covenantal Promises of God.

“…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose”

Remember the Promises.
As we meditate on the promises of God, the energies wasted on worry can be more profitably spent on

  • praise in advance for what God has promised to do,
  • thanksgiving for what God has already done,
  • anticipation of what tomorrow may bring, and
  • confidence in God to see us through.

Perhaps it is time to replace our hunger for advancement with a quiet confidence in faithfulness.

We cannot always sense advancement, but we can always be faithful. If we have been faithful, we have advanced the cause of Christ.

It may be that we have to look to the right or the left to judge our progress. This is useful, but all we need is a glance or two. Keep looking up

  • to the vision,
  • to the dream,
  • to the prize, and most of all,
  • to the Lord.

True advancement comes only from Him.

Scriptures:
Psalm 75:6-7
No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt a man. But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.
Proverbs 4:25-27
Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
Isaiah 30:19-21
O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Galatians 6:9-10
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I take a constant delight in You. As I do You shape the desires deep in my heart. I long for each day to be one of progress, ever higher, ever deeper, ever greater and all of this in Your will and love for me. Help this day to be one of advancement—advancement of Your splendid Kingdom. Help me move in Righteousness for Your cause does not advance through sloth or wickedness. Help me operate from a base of profound Peace with no anxiety in my mind or fear in my heart. Strengthen me with the Joy of the Holy Spirit which gives me Your power for the tasks before me. For Your Kingdom’s sake, Amen.

Song:
Higher Ground
Words: Johnson Oatman; Music: Charles Gabriel

1. I’m pressing on the upward way, New heights I’m gaining everyday;
Still praying as I’m homeward bound, “Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

Refrain:
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith on heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

2. My heart has no desire to stay Where doubts arise and fear dismay;
Though some may dwell were these about, My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.

Refrain

3. I want to live above the world, Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has heard the joyful sound, The song of saints on higher ground.

Refrain

4. I want to scale the utmost height, and catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till Heaven I’ve found, “Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, February

February 2, 2017

Deep

Beneath the glittering surface of our lives there is the deep of who we really are, who we were, and there are dark tidal forces taking us where it seems inevitable that that we will end up. Most people passing by us see only the glitter and never the deep.

We like it that way.

The deep is private stuff, like the ocean’s floor covered by tons of water, beyond the penetration of the sun’s light and effciently obscured by the silt and sand collected in our hearts.

So distant is the deep, that we seldom dare explore it ourselves.

Just a glimpse of the monsters that may lurk there or the mysteries that linger there is enough to send us searching for the shallows and the friendly splashes of air that welcome us back from the deep.

What Is the Truth?
How much energy do we spend in self-delusion pretending the surface is the true story? Concentric relationship circles radiate out from us with only a very few people in the closest ring and there are secrets we must never tell even them. There is no need. It is all under the blood of Christ, long ago forgiven and stricken from the heavenly ledger. We know this, of course, but even these forgotten and forgiven things erupt in strange images in our dreams setting little fear fires that burn in the night and leaping to mind at odd hours during the day.

The Deep Things of God
Who is there that we can trust to dive deep into the hidden, neglected caverns of our historical hurts and lingering fears? Is there a “Deep” that can speak to our “Deep?”

The good news is this: The Holy Spirit dives as deep into us as we go. At conversion, our sins were cast from us into a sea that is so much deeper than we are. Thank You, Jesus!

And the Spirit within us is an abiding Spirit. He does deep work. At the surface it may feel like an emotional tug, or we may feel nothing at all. But when we open our depths to the Lord whose dimensions are deeper still, He is faithful to do the deep work only He can do.

  • Hurts are healed.
  • Painful memories are managed, filed away someplace too deep to disrupt our joy.
  • Despair is dislodged and hope installed in the empty space left behind.

No matter how deeply we have been hurt, no matter how deep our shameful secrets are buried, no matter the terror that crouches deep in us, the Spirit of God goes deeper.

We are deep but the Spirit dives deeper. Trust Him with your deep places today

Scriptures:
Psalm 42:5-8 NIV
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. … Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me–a prayer to the God of my life.
1 Corinthians 2:10-16 NIV
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Prayer:
Search me, O God, and know my heart today;
Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts I pray;
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.

I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin;
Fulfill Thy Word and make me pure (and whole) within;
Fill me with fire where once I burned with shame;
Grant my desire to magnify Your name.
from Cleanse Me J. Edwin Orr

Song:
Deeper, Deeper
Words and Music: C. P. Jones

1. Deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus Daily let me go;
Higher, higher in the school of wisdom, More of grace to know.

Refrain:
O deeper yet, I pray, And higher every day,
And wiser, blessed Lord, In Thy precious, holy Word.

2. Deeper, deeper! Blessed Holy Spirit, Take me deeper still,
Till my life is wholly lost in Jesus, And His perfect will.

Refrain

3. Deeper, deeper! Though it cost hard trials, Deeper let me go!
Rooted in the holy love of Jesus, Let me fruitful frow.

Refrain

4. Deeper, higher, every day with Jesus, Till all conflict past,
Finds me conqu’ror, and in His own image Perfected at last.

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions February

February 1, 2017

Tenacity

“Hanging in there” is more than just a handy report in times of stress; it is a life skill. As this new day begins, each of us is making the attempt to “hang in there.”

The power to hang in there is deep within us.
Sometimes it gets covered up by layers of discouragement or disillusionment, fear or fatalism, but as we discard those things in prayer and confession of scripture, the power beings to flow unhindered from our inner depths to our outer disciplines. That power of the Spirit is resident in us because Jesus lives in our hearts and the Father surrounds and permeates us with grace.

Heroes of the Faith
The heroes of the faith possessed tenacity—the ability to hang in there day by day.

  • Noah used gopher wood and tenacity to build the boat that saved the world.
  • Abraham built altar after altar and made daily sacrifices, hanging on to his faith in God in spite of conventional wisdom’s prognosis. In time he held Isaac, the incarnation of God’s promise, and Sarah’s laughter was justified. Abraham even held on when God commanded another altar and his son as the sacrifice. It took an angel’s hand and a ram caught in a thicket to stop the tenacious man of God from obeying the Lord’s command.
  • Moses tenaciously unlearned the leadership techniques of Egypt and learned how to be a shepherd, a forty year plan of study, so he could lead the flock of God.
  • Jesus did carpenter’s work for most of His life waiting for the time to come for him to “set his face” toward His Father’s altar in Jerusalem all the while knowing there would be no rescuing angel and that He was the inevitable and final Lamb.

Jesus encouraged us to be continually faithful in so many ways:

  • “Love me and keep my commandments.”
  • “Build your house upon the rock.”
  • “Pray in the secret place and the Father will reward you openly.”
  • “Ask and keep on asking.”
  • “You are my friends if you do what I command.”
  • “Take up your cross daily.”

His Cross; My Cross
The cross was the Father’s will for Jesus. He carried it every day, not just on the road to Calvary. The every-day nature of the Christian life is crucial to each of us. For most of us, our daily cross is not an instrument of torture and death, but a structure for life—the will of God for us—the reason we were created and called out of darkness. Never does a day dawn for us to forego our cross and let it lie in the back of our minds.

In the daily, personal will of God for each of us dwells these powerful things:

  • the light we need,
  • the strength the day will demand,
  • the wisdom the tasks ahead of us will require, and
  • the seeds of the harvest that we must sow today.

Tenacity Exercises

  1. Take a deep breath of the Spirit’s oxygen in praise.
  2. Stretch your sleeping muscles with adoration.
  3. Massage your mind and heart with truth.
  4. Bend down in prayer and take up your cross.

Be thankful that Jesus carried His cross of pain so yours can be a burden of joy and service.

Scriptures:
Isaiah 50:7 KJV
For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
Luke 9:51-52 NKJV
Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face.
Matthew 16:24-26
…”If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
Galatians 6:9 AMP
And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for the gift of tenacity. Thanks also for the amazing example You set for us in Your life among us. As I begin another day of work, I know that You will be with me, strengthening me, encouraging me, and empowering me. Thank You for meeting me here in this place of morning prayer. You deserve my complete attention, my whole heart and mind. I remind You of the covenant You have made with me—You will be God and I will be Your partner. I will give You my life and You will give me Yours. I will live in You and You will live in me. From such a position of strength, I will hang in there! Thank You, Jesus! Amen.

Song:
Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand
Words and Music: Jennie B. Wilson

1. Time is filled with swift transition, Naught of earth unmoved can stand,
Build your hopes on things eternal, Hold to God’s unchanging hand.

Refrain:
Hold to God’s unchanging hand, Hold to God’s unchanging hand;
Build your hopes on things eternal, Hold to God’s unchanging hand.

Refrain

2. Trust in Him who will not leave you, Whatsoever years may bring,
If by earthly friends forsaken Still more closely to Him cling.

Refrain
3. Covet not this world’s vain riches That so rapidly decay,
Seek to gain the heav’nly treasures,They will never pass away.

Refrain

4. When your journey is completed, If to God you have been true,
Fair and bright the home in glory Your enraptured soul will view.
Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved