pathoflifedevotions Devotions, January

January 22

Reality

Some realities are beyond detection by the five senses; they cannot be seen, smelled, heard, felt, or tasted. Despite these sensual limitations, the realities of the spirit dimension of life are powerful in their effect on us every day. Realities of the senses will pass away as we do. Realities of the spirit will last forever.

A Spiritual Reality
Prayer, although it can be seen, heard, and even felt, is essentially a spiritual reality. The Book of Revelation suggests that the prayers of the saints of God are stored somewhere in heaven. We add to that supply each time we pray.

Think of it.

  • Our praise is collected before the Lord.
  • Our adoration accumulates in the presence of the Lord.
  • Our intercessions are invested with interest in the power of the Lord.

When the sensual reality of how we feel as we try to pray threatens to defeat us, we need to remember the heavenly container with our name on the label. Even when we don’t feel like praying and we pray anyway, those prayers add to the collection:

  • Our praise collection grows.
  • Our accumulated adoration of the Lord Jesus increases.
  • Our intercessions in behalf of those in need increase by the power of another day’s interest.

Daily prayer and Bible reading arm us in spiritual realities, preparing us to walk in the Spirit during the coming day.

The Sense of the Spirit
Like everyone else we live in the real world, the world of the five senses. Like everyone else we also live in the spiritual world. Most people are unaware of this dimension of reality, thinking that what they see, hear, touch, smell, and taste is all there is. Not so. When the Lord Jesus reigns on the throne of our lives and with daily communion with Him through prayer and His Word, we are spiritually prepared. We can live with a very real sixth sense, the sense of the spirit.

  • We can see the spiritual realities beyond physical realities around us and engage the full truth of each moment.
  • We can hear the voice of the Lord in the sounds of nature and in the voices of those around us.
  • We can feel the embrace of the Lord deep in our hearts in quiet moments of peace.
  • We can sense the sweet aroma of the Peace of the Lord in the clamor stressful moments.
  • We can “taste and see” that the Lord is good.

The world delivered to us by our five natural senses can be anything from delightful to terrifying. The spirit world made real to us by the Holy Spirit, is more dependable. It is a secure realm, ruled by the Prince of Peace.

Scriptures:
Revelation 5:6-9; 8:3-4
Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders… Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand.
1 Corinthians 15:44-47
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.
Ephesians 6:11-12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Galatians 5:16; 25-26 NKJV
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You are the ultimate reality. You created me so I am real, too! My problems are real problems and so are my potentials. My joys are genuine, and so are my tears. You have provided us with powerful imaginations but life is not imaginary; it is very, very real. Our five senses tell us about realities, and, we have another sense, a spiritual one, to help us recognize realities beyond our physical world. Thank You, Lord, that You have sent the Holy Spirit to abide in our souls, to guide us, inform us, inspire us, embolden us, and fill us with spiritual power. Tune my ear to hear the voice of the Spirit. Quicken my mind to comprehend what the Spirit says. As Your Spirit bears witness with my spirit, I am assured that I am indeed a child of God. Father, I choose to walk in Your Spirit today, fully aware of seen and unseen worlds and the reality of Your nearness. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Song:
Open My Eyes, that I May See
Words and Music: Clara H. Scott

1. Open my eyes that I may see glimpse of truth Thou has for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp, and set me free.

Refrain:
Silently now I wait for Thee, Ready, my God, Thy will to see;
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!

2. Open my eyes that I may hear voices of truth Thou sendest clear;
And while the wave notes fall on my ear, Everything false will disappear.

Refrain

3. Open my eyes that I may bear gladly the warm truth everywhere;
Open my heart, and let me prepare love with Thy children thus to share.

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Uncategorized

January 19

Time

Existing in the three dimensions of past, present, and future, time is the irresistible force propelling us through life. Time never has to breathe, to regroup, to re-aim, or to rest. When we stop for those things, time leaves us behind.

Time Management
Time management is a life skill that some of us master and others do not. In many ways the thought that we can harness time and make it do our bidding is a grand illusion. We are at the mercy of time and it has no mercy.

What we can do is respond to time in productive ways.

  • We can deal with the pains and pleasures of the past by learning from them.
  • We can deal with the present moment by determined obedience.
  • We can deal with the fear of the future by washing the mind with the truth of scripture.

While the future is a clouded dream and the present moment is only a vapor, the past hovers over us like a storm cloud heavy with rain. We must deal with the past. Constant rumination over the good memories seems to improve them so that no current event can ever match them. Relentless recall of the pain of the past does nothing to heal the wounds we gained in those battles; it only keeps them bleeding.

The Grace to Forget
There is a gift from God, a grace that is so amazing. It is the grace to forget those things which are behind and to reach forward to the future God has planned for us. Only the Holy Spirit has these filing skills:

  • He can help us put memories in a place where we can access them but not be hindered by them,
  • He can empower us to seize the present moment and redeem it for the Kingdom of God, and
  • He calls us to and fearlessly prepares us for the future.

No one knows how the Spirit does this. It is a secret safely held within the mind of God. What we can do is cast our cares on Jesus because He cares for us. In a single touch each day, Jesus can heal the past and school us in its lessons, empower us for the day ahead, and prepare us for the future.

How do we cast our cares on Him? We do this in prayer. In communion with the Lord,

  • Name your pain.
  • Forgive those who have hurt you,
  • Seek His forgiveness and renewal
  • Thank God for your blessings,
  • Confess His promises, and
  • Intercede for those in need.

When you are worshiping the Lord, He covers you with His wings—all of you—past, present, and future.

Scriptures:
Psalm 144:3-4
O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.
Ephesians 5:15-16 NKJV
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Psalm 55:22
Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
Philippians 3:12-14
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I thank You that my life is in Your capable hands. You have graciously forgiven my past. You have called me to this moment—this day—to serve You with all my heart. You have provided for my future both in the days to come and in the eternity that begins at the end of my days. Let these truths infuse me with courage today, the courage it takes to do what You have called me to do. May my awareness of Your complete mastery of time, give me patience when things go wrong and praise when You make them right and peace whatever else may happen today. My life is in Your Hands! Thank You, Jesus! Amen!

Song:
Day by Day
Words: Carolina Sandell Berg; Music: Oscar Ahnfelt

1. Day by day and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best—
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

2. Every day the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me.
He whose name is Counselor and Power.
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
“As your days, your strength shall be in measure,”
This the pledge to me He made.

3. Help me then in every tribulation
So to trust Your promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation
Offered me within Your holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach the promised land.

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, January

January 15

Pain

There is no escaping pain.
From annoying aches to agonizing ailments to the sharp arrows of antagonists, life hurts sometimes—often, in fact.

For many the morning requires an inventory of stiff muscles and joints, a rubbing of sore eyes, and a deep draw of air to resupply the blood with oxygen. All of this gaping and stretching and bending and flexing needs to be chased by a good cup of coffee to get us going.

It wasn’t that way in Eden.
Adam and Eve must have sprung from sleep to consciousness with ease. Surely there were no stiff joints, aching muscles, or wounded minds to hinder the beginning of their day. Then one day Adam and the Mrs. had the wrong breakfast and pain registered its enrollment in the human experience.

In the normal course of things, pain increases with age. We are blessed with pills and ointments to fight its effects as the years pile up. In other cases, the young suffer pain and it hurts us to watch them. We don’t understand why it must be so.

Sometimes

  • the strong are struck down to weakness,
  • the able are reduced to disability, and
  • the good are afflicted by evil in ways that defy logic.

Sometimes we can see the cause of the effect and other times there is no cause but the effect remains terrible.

As each day begins, we must do something about our pain.
Whether it is the pain of wear and weakness, the pain of disease and disability, or the pain of the human heart, we must deal with it.

  • Has Jehovah Jireh (“The Lord Who Provides”) provided a place for our pain?
  • Does Jehovah Rophe (“The Lord Who Heals”) send healing and help flowing in our direction?
  • Does the Great Physician still make house calls?

The Balm in Gilead
Better than pills or ointments—though God is not offended when use the healing power of His creation—is His lovingkindess. It is better than life, the Scripture says.

  • He entered this wounded world precisely to feel our pain.
  • Just as the suffering crowds moved Him when He walked this earth, He is compassionate toward us.
  • His wounded back, striped with the Roman whip, took our pain.

By those stripes we are healed. Oh, there is no doubt of this. The only details unknown to us are when and where.

  • Now and here? Many, many times—Praise the Lord!
  • In heaven for sure!

There is no cancer there, no festering wounds, no brokenness, no weakness, no debilitating disease of any sort. We leave the annoying aches and agonizing ailments behind when we cross that river.

But what of the sharp arrows of antagonists? Does he care about them?

It is most amazing to think that our undeserved pain is a point of relationship with Christ.

Completely innocent of all cause, He suffered the pain of the effects of all sin. If we follow Him, this will inevitably cause us pain. Unlike the affliction of the body, the pain of ministry is a strange privilege, a way of identifying with Christ.

So, stretch those sleepy muscles, sip that sumptuous air and swill that simmering coffee! Even with pain you will greet this day with the strength of Jesus. Remember those who suffer greater pain than yours. Pray for those who seek to hurt you and hide safe within the wounds of the Savior.

Scriptures:
Jeremiah 8:21-22 NKJV
For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning;
Astonishment has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead, Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery For the health of the daughter of my people?
1 Peter 4:12-17
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. … if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.
Philippians 3:10-11
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, because of fall of mankind into sin, life is a painful experience. Sometimes the reasons for pain are clear and sometimes suffering is a mystery, adding to the pain. Whether I know the reason for the pain of the day or it is beyond my comprehension, I know I am not alone. You do not know pain from a distance or in theory only. Like us, You were born in pain. As a child you hurt Yourself like any other child. You worked until Your muscles ached like ours do. You identify with my pain. Thank You, Lord. It is good to know that You are with me when I hurt. I know Your tender touch. Someday You will dry all our tears. Until that day, Your nearness is comfort in times of pleasure or pain.

Song:
There Is a Balm in Gilead
Traditional

Refrain:
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.

1. Sometimes I feel discouraged, And think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again.

Refrain

2. If you cannot preach like Peter, Ify you cannot pray like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus, and say, “He died for all.”
Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, January

January 14

Mission

Each of us has a mission, a mission from God. Every day we make a list of “Things to do Today.” If we don’t write the list down, we try to keep it in our head. As a work week progresses, it is good to review the mission.

  • Do our plans for today flow from the call of God on our life?
  • Does today’s mission advance our life’s mission?

The God who created the vast and expanding universe is also the Creator of this day, this moment, and of our hearts. Just as “the heavens are telling” us the glories of God, the Spirit of God within each of us is telling us about God and what He plans for us today. He is not a random God; He has a plan and we are a part of it. He is the God of detail, large and small, from the movement of the planets to our actions between breakfast and lunchtime.

The grand scheme of things is His call on our lives. This is the central fact of our existence.

  • It is the guiding revelation for the choices we make—does this advance the call or hinder it?
  • It is the basis of our judgment when we stand before the Lord and give an account.
  • It is the source of joy and strength, tenacity and determination, faithfulness and effectiveness, for the lives we live.

God’s agenda for today is just as specific as his grand scheme for our lives. We face a choice.

  • We can charge into this day without listening to the Spirit, following our own agenda, or,
  • We can listen to the voice of God within us, tuning our spirit to His Spirit so that we live this day in holiness, love, and power beyond our natural abilities.

People will cross our path today. Questions will come our way. Our prayers will be sought by those in need. Deeds of creativity and mercy will be expected of us. There will be words of truth that we must whisper in the ears of some and other messages that we must shout from the rooftops.

We have a story to tell with details of our lives.  We have a mission that is ever with us–“Your Kingdom, come!  Your Will be done!”

Scriptures:
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.
Colossians 3:16-17; 23-24
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.
Psalm 89:15 NKJV
Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.

Song:
We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations
Words and Music: H. Ernest Nichol

1. We’ve a story to tell to the nations that shall turn their hearts to the right,
A story of truth and mercy, a story of peace and light.

Refrain:
For the darkness shall turn to dawning and the dawning to noonday bright,
And Christ’s great Kingdom shall come to earth, the Kingdom of love and light.

2. We’ve a song to be sung to the nations that shall lift hearts to the Lord.
A song that shall conquer evil and shatter the spear and sword.

Refrain

3.We’ve a message to give to the nations that the Lord who reigneth above
Hath sent us His Son to save us and show us that God is love.

Refrain

4. We’ve a Savior to show to the nations Who the path of sorrow has trod,
That all of the world’s great peoples might come to the truth of God.

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, January

January 5

Justice

Justice: when we are in the wrong, we fear it; when we have been wronged, we seek it. Justice confronts the sinner and comforts the one who has been sinned against.

When we see the blue and red flashing lights of the State Trooper’s car in the rear view mirror, we react in one of two ways:

  • If we are speeding, or if our tags are expired, the pit of the stomach rotates 360º.
  • If we are stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire, we are relieved that our help has arrived.

Justice is the foundation of the Throne of God. Continue reading “January 5” →

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, January

January 3

Rhythm

God lives in a constant moment called eternity.
We live in a constant flow of moments called time. One of His greatest gifts to us is rhythm. Just as a piece of music is formed by small units of time called measures which are equal groups of pulses called beats, life consists of small units of time called hours, days, weeks and years.

A music teacher once said, “In the beginning was rhythm.” He was right. The rhythm of the creation story is obvious—day and night, day and night. The universe God made is filled with rhythm:

  • the daily rotation of the earth,
  • the orbit of the moon around the earth, and
  • the movement of the earth and her sister planets around the sun.
  • Perhaps the ever expanding universe is moving to a beat too large for the devices of man to detect.

Continue reading “January 3” →

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, January

January 2



Next

The Second Day, the Second Step
The first day is easy. The clock strikes the hour. The calendar turns the page. The New Year begins—a fresh start—a grace gift from God’s amazing mind.

You step out with new promises and renewed dreams of victory over old and stubborn foes. The first day is one of enthusiasm and optimism as old failures fade in the light of another chance.

Then, the clock continues to tick and the pages of the calendar turn again and it is the second day. The impulse that was so strong yesterday is not so powerful today. The second step on this journey is not as brisk and forceful as the first.

But you still make it, that second step on the second day. Continue reading “January 2” →

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, January

January 1

Tomorrow

What Lies Ahead?
We don’t know what lies ahead. Or perhaps, we do know.

  • We will be surprised by good news we never expected and by setbacks we did not foresee.
  • Friends will come through for us in ways that draw them closer to our hearts and others will fail us requiring a special, painful kind of love called forgiveness.
  • We will sense the will of God and form a plan of action that will succeed beyond our dreams.
  • Other plans we were sure were the will of God will fizzle and die or blow up in our faces.

Continue reading “January 1” →