pathoflifedevotions August, Devotions

August 14, 2017 “Faithfulness”

Faithfulness

The Coinage of the Kingdom of God
If there is a coinage in the Kingdom of God and it isn’t what people normally treasure: talent, physical beauty, intelligence, creativity, skill, or personality. The quality that holds the greatest value in the Kingdom of God is faithfulness.

Today a new week begins. Regardless of the demands our work places on us, whether they are physical, mental, or emotional, work of any kind requires faithfulness. Showing up and showing up on time is important. Faithfulness on the job has an air of predictability about it that enables us to keep a job when we are blessed to have one.

One of the most vital characteristics of God is His faithfulness.

  • He does not forget what he has promised.
  • He never loses track of His people.
  • He never sleeps nor does He slumber, so God is faithful through the longest night.
  • He is faithful and just to forgive us ours sins when we confess them freely to Him and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
  • He hears us when we pray, when we praise Him, and when we worship Him and,
  • He is always faithful to respond to our praise and gratitude with the gift of His presence and the comfort of His sovereignty.

God is a covenant keeping God who cannot lie and never has to reconsider a promise. Keeping Covenant is His nature. God has all power, so nothing can ever hinder Him from being faithful to His word. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is given a name, “Faithful and True.”

We are made in His image, so truth is of immense importance to us. We want to know the truth of things. We have an inherent expectation that life should make sense and that God should be true. When this does not seem to be the case, doubts about God and His faithfulness crowd into our minds. Sometimes life only makes sense to God and we can’t make heads or tails of it. Sometimes it seems the truth isn’t really true and we wonder if we have believed cleverly devised fables.

The enigmas and mysteries of life make our faithfulness important, too.

  • Let us be faithful in prayer, so that we can place the things we don’t understand before God’s throne.
  • Let us be faithful in reading the Word so the truth of God can continue to set us free.
  • Let us be faithful to God on the job so others can count on us and see in our faithfulness a reflection of the faithfulness of God.

Each faithful attitude and action adds a valuable coin of the realm to our heavenly account. In the words of Jesus, we can be “rich toward God.”

Scriptures:
Psalm 89
Your love, O Lord, forever will I sing; from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness. For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever; you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens. “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn an oath to David my servant: ‘I will establish your line for ever, and preserve your throne for all generations.'” The heavens bear witness to your wonders, O Lord, and to your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones; For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? who is like the Lord among the gods? God is much to be feared in the council of the holy ones, great and terrible to all those round about him. Who is like you, Lord God of hosts? O mighty Lord, your faithfulness is all around you. You rule the raging of the sea and still the surging of its waves. You have crushed Rahab of the deep with a deadly wound; you have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. Yours are the heavens; the earth also is yours; you laid the foundations of the world and all that is in it. You have made the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your Name. You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand and high is your right hand.
Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; love and truth go before your face. Happy are the people who know the festal shout! they walk, O Lord, in the light of your presence. They rejoice daily in your Name; they are jubilant in your righteousness. For you are the glory of their strength, and by your favor our might is exalted. Truly, the Lord is our ruler; The Holy One of Israel is our King.
Revelation 19:11
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.
Matthew 25:19-21
“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Romans 12:12-13
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Hebrews 10:22-24
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, the Bible says Your name is “Faithful and True.” I believe it and confess it again today. You are faithful to all Your promises to me. You are true in all Your ways. There is no shadow of turning with You, no hint of iniquity, no fraction of malice or even inattentiveness. Lord Jesus, I want to be faithful, too. I want to be good inside, deep in my heart. I want to do good outside as my life touches others. Your Holy Spirit abides within me empowering me to live a crucified life—the flesh under control and the resurrected life—the whole man free to serve and worship You. I would be “faithful and true,” as You are, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Song:
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Words: Thomas O. Chisholm; Music: William Runyan

1. Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee,
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not,
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Refrain:
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!

2. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above;
Join with all nature in manifold witness,
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

Refrain

3. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own great presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions August, Devotions

August 12 “Future”

Future

The Soon-to-Be
We deal with, or fail do deal with, the prospect of the future all the time.

  • In business it is called everything from a “to do” list to an annual projection.
  • In school it is the almighty calendar.
  • In church leadership it is a strange three-way dance featuring today’s demands, this week’s services, and the season of the year that has all the dancers out of breath.
  • In the home each child and adult has a personal agenda that combines with the others to create domestic chaos barreling like a runaway train toward the future.

It isn’t that we don’t know what to do about the future—we do!

We do basically four things:

  1. We ignore it.
  2. We fear it; this is another form of denial.
  3. We worry about it.
  4. We prepare for it.

We may not know the details of what will happen in the future but we have some promises from God that are as sure as the future is uncertain.

What will the future hold?
One must be careful predicting the future—one’s veracity as prophet is immediately put to the public test. I will venture three predictions—three things the future holds for sure.

  1. God has a future for each of us. The Path of Life deals with the past, enriches the present, and secures the future. This is the “Abundant Life” Jesus promised each of us.
  2. In the Last Days before the Return of Christ, there will be a great “Falling away.” The world which has never welcomed Jesus will so influence His Church that many will walk away from the faith “once delivered to the saints” in a fatal reenactment of the Babylonian Captivity. The Spirit of the Lord will be supplanted by the spirit of the age. The Bible calls this the spirit of antichrist, the spirit of iniquity. The love of many who once followed the Lord Jesus will grow cold.
  3.  Also “in the Last Days,” the Lord has promised to pour out of His Spirit “on all flesh.” This outpouring is greater than any human tradition or theological system. Nothing like this has ever happened before. It started on the Day of Pentecost and was renewed in the 20th Century. It spilled over the denominations formed by it. It brought the charismatic renewal and the rain of the Spirit has continued to fall beyond the 20th Century into this one as the whole church opens to the reality of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The Poet prophesies,

“Let this be written for a Future Generation…”

He describes an unprecedented move of the Holy Spirit—an outpouring of Grace like the world has never seen:

  • God will look down from heaven and hear the voice of a hurting humanity.
  • God will open prison doors, releasing people from the death sentence of all kinds
  • The name and fame of the Lord Jesus will be declare from every coast to every coast.

What triggers this Out Pouring of the Spirit? The answer is surprising:

“… when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord.”

True Worship is our privilege today and our hope for tomorrow.
We gather—not to deliberate or debate to confer or to complain—but to worship and serve the Lord!

Each day we face a choice: Will we fall away from faith in Jesus? Or will we experience the Outpouring?

  • As we walk the Path of Life each day we choose to follow the Lord Jesus, positioning us to receive our part of the Outpouring.
  • To ignore the future or to fear it or to waste energy worrying about it is to shrink back from the Outpouring and to join the Apostasy.

The daily disciplines required by the Path of Life equip us for today and prepare us for tomorrow’s demands.

The harvest of the future is found in the seeds of obedience we plant today.

Scriptures:
Psalm 102:18-22 NIV
Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord: “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.” So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord.
Psalm 16:11 NKJV
You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Acts 2:16-18 NIV
…this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 NKJV
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
1 John 4:3 NIV
…every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
Matthew 24:10-13 AMP
And then many will be offended and repelled and will ebegin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred. And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error. And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity, But he who endures to the end will be saved.
1 John 3:1-3 NIV
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, all my tomorrows are in Your capable hands. I don’t need to know what tomorrow will bring because You are already there. Today I will do what is given for me to do and tonight I will rest in hope. Show me the horrid details of a church that is falling away from the True Faith; keep me from this apostasy. Show me the wonderful details of the Great Outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that I can be a part of that tomorrow. Somehow, Lord, you live outside of time, equally present in past, present, and future. This is beyond my understanding. I will remember that You laid aside Your omnipresence and entered into time. You understand how we must live—step by step, day by day—and You help us find each tomorrow. Amen.

Song:
I Know Who Holds My Hand
Words and Music: Ira Stanphil

1. I don’t know about tomorrow
I just live from day to day
I don’t borrow from its sunshine
For its skies may turn to gray
I don’t worry o’er the future
For I know what Jesus said
And today I’ll walk beside Him
For He knows what is ahead

Refrain:
Many things about tomorrow
I don’t seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand

2. I don’t know about tomorrow
It may bring me poverty
But the one who feeds the sparrow
Is the one who stands by me
And the path that be my portion
May be through the flame or flood
But His presence goes before me
And I’m covered with His blood

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions August, Devotions

August 3, “Restraint”

Restraint

A Necessity
If human life depends the discovery of fire, and human industry flows from the invention of the wheel, human civilization is made possible by restraint.

If people were simply really smart animals with no spirit within and no soul to organize an inner life, we would be creatures of instinct alone. We might still be able to do remarkable things like animals can do—

  • perform long distance migrations like hummingbirds and butterflies,
  • build intricate construction projects like ants and wasps,
  • form complex societies like chimps and wolves, and
  • adapt to absolutely hostile environments like mammals who live in the water.

But none of these accomplishments would reflect the gift of a free will. We would simply be following pre-programmed instincts installed by the Creator and passed from generation to generation.

Captives to Instinct
We can see no evidence of any initiative of the part of animals to reform their conduct—they are captives to their instincts. Any restraint they my show, such as a lion crouching in the high grass stalking a calf straying from the heard, is merely a temporary tactic to complete the kill. It is never an action prompted by a stricken conscious laden with guilt over the lion’s innate taste for blood. Wild animals have been domesticated, but we should not be surprised if we see just a glimpse of the wolf in a friendly beagle.

The Will and the Restraint
For reasons known only to Him, God wanted people to have a free will—the ability to choose our own actions. When the world was a perfect place called the Garden of Eden, the first two people were also perfect. They enjoyed unbroken fellowship with God. This unrestrained voluntary righteousness did not last into a second generation.

The spiritual history of the world is one of possessing restraint or lacking it. The truth is that each of us cannot follow our every impulse. We cannot taste everything that looks like it tastes good. We have been given a mind and will that are intended to help us exercise restraint. In society restraint is called “the Law.” In the individual it is called “discipline.” In both arenas, a will informed with the truth can rule a soul and body filled with impulses and drives.

A Faulty Vision
When the will falls into sin, the mind operates on faulty information. In this post-modern society, young people are taught that they are simply really smart animals. It is unreasonable to expect purity of thought and deed—but it is profitable. Whole industries plan, promote, and profit from the lack of restraint in all things. This dim vision of who people really are makes morality a personal design springing only from base instinct. Thus, we have only the responsibilities we choose to have and there is no judgment to face when this life ends. We can cast off any restraint that does not suit our plans

A Better Vision and a Reason for Restraint
The Poet knew nothing of 21st Century life, but he faced the same challenges in ancient Israel. His wisdom still speaks to us today:

“I restrain my feet from every evil way, that I may keep your word.”

Because Jesus took on all the temptations we can ever expect to face and never gave into a one of them, His remarkable restraint is at work again in us.

Another Poet links the desire for restraint to a commanding vision for living.

“Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.”

The Christ-follower resists temptation because he/she knows that

  • Jesus will empower;
  • Jesus will be pleased; and that
  • Jesus will reward.

This vision of a Judgment Day filled with joy inspires restraint of all kinds:

  • Daily discipline,
  • Dynamic worship,
  • Determined, powerful prayer, and,
  • Delayed gratification—perhaps the greatest restraint of all!

Scriptures:
Psalm 119:97-104
Oh, how I love your law! all the day long it is in my mind. Your commandment has made me wiser than my enemies, and it is always with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your decrees are my study. I am wiser than the elders, because I observe your commandments. I restrain my feet from every evil way, that I may keep your word. I do not shrink from your judgments, because you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste! they are sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through your commandments I gain understanding; therefore I hate every lying way.
1 Corinthians 10:11-13 NIV
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Hebrews 2:16-18; 4:14-16 NIV
For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Proverbs 29:16-18 NIV
When the wicked thrive, so does sin, but the righteous will see their downfall. Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul. Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, restrain me! Put spiritual steel in my backbone so that I stand straight and tall in an bent and puny world. Help me restrain my eyes for seeing what should not be seen, my ears from recording what should not be heard, and my will from longing for what does not please You. Keep my sword in its sheath when the battle is not Yours. Put a Holy Ghost muzzle on my mouth when my words would injure or discourage. Keep me from the enticing bed of ease and give me Sabbath rest every night. Restrain the nagging remnants of my old self that sometimes plague me. Grant me an overpowering vision of You, Your Kingdom, Your People; a vision that justifies restraint. In Your Holy Name, Amen.

Song:
Show Me Your Ways
Words and Music: John Fragar

Show me Your ways That I may walk with You
Show me Your ways I put my hope in You
The cry of my heart Is to love You more
To live with the Touch of Your hand
Stronger each day Show me Your ways

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, July

July 27, 2017 “Hills”

Hills

We build castles and forts on mountains. On hills, we build farm houses and barns.
This is the relationship the Poet describes in reference to the nation’s King:

That he may rule your people righteously and the poor with justice.
and the little hills bring righteousness.

Metaphorically, mountains represent big ideas while hills represent the daily truths that occupy the details of our lives. It is said that we cannot live on the mountaintop and to a great extent it is true. Mountaintops are for pilgrimage and recreation and are useful when elevation is needed to see what is in the distance.

We come home from the mountaintop to dwell among the hills. Keeping the mountain in view through the bedroom window, we can rest in our hilltop home, secure and safe with all we own within easy reach.

The rule of our King is equally strong on the mountains as on the hills.

The Mountains
The righteousness of God is a mighty mountain, eternal—He has never been anything except righteous—and impervious to the erosive effects of time. It is the theme of worship in both the Old and the New Covenants—God is good and His mercy endures to all generations!

God’s love and His mercy form a mountain range of protection around those in Covenant with Him. No enemy can cross these mountains at any point. Out hilltop dwellings are safe in the shadow of the Almighty.

The truth of God is the highest peak of all. From the lofty heights of the Word of God we can clearly see to each horizon. We gain a perspective on the smaller issues somewhere down the mountainside that we could never see from the trails going up or down.

The Hills
Justice is the joy of the hills—truth, love, mercy, and righteousness at work in our homes and businesses.

It takes all the mountains to produce justice on the hills. Justice without mercy would not be loving. Mercy without truth would not be just. If these things are not all in order all at once the hills would not be safe for houses and barns.

Here is the redeeming order:

  • It is true that we have sinned.
  • It is also true that God made us and loves us.
  • In His mercy He sent His Son to bear our sins far away.
  • The righteousness of Christ has been credited to our record and the case is closed.
  • We have been justified by the Love of God in Christ Jesus!

We are free to build our lives on the gentle hills of daily discipline and obedience, praise and prayer, and with skillful hands and hearts.

In the shadow of the King’s Castle on the friendly mountain, we can till the fields on the hills, tend our flocks in the broad pastures, and rest each night in perfect peace in our hilltop homes.

Scriptures:
Psalm 72
Give the King your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the King’s Son; That he may rule your people righteously and the poor with justice. That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people, and the little hills bring righteousness. He shall defend the needy among the people; he shall rescue the poor and crush the oppressor. He shall live as long as the sun and moon endure, from one generation to another. He shall come down like rain upon the mown field, like showers that water the earth. In his time shall the righteous flourish; there shall be abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more. He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. His foes shall bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall pay tribute, and the kings of Arabia and Saba offer gifts. All kings shall bow down before him, and all the nations do him service. For he shall deliver the poor who cries out in distress, and the oppressed who has no helper. He shall have pity on the lowly and poor; he shall preserve the lives of the needy. He shall redeem their lives from oppression and violence, and dear shall their blood be in his sight. Long may he live! and may there be given to him gold from Arabia; may prayer be made for him always, and may they bless him all the day long. May there be abundance of grain on the earth, growing thick even on the hilltops; may its fruit flourish like Lebanon, and its grain like grass upon the earth. May his Name remain forever and be established as long as the sun endures; may all the nations bless themselves in him and call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous deeds! And blessed be his glorious Name forever! and may all the earth be filled with his glory. Amen. Amen.
Psalm 72:1-4;16 NIV
Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness.
He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor. …Let grain abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway.
Isaiah 55:12-13 NIV
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord ‘s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.”
Amos 5:24 NIV
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for the mountains, the towering truths that do not change. Thank You for four horizons lined with these comforting peaks. Thank You also, the hills, these present blessings that make up my life: home, family, work, prayer, health, and hope among so many others. Because You are the author of it, my life is multi-dimensional, mountains and hills and streams in the valleys, constant health from Your hand. Thank You, Jesus.

Song:
Peace in the Valley
Words and Music: Thomas A. Dorsey

1. Well, I’m tired and so weary
But I must go along
Till the Lord comes and calls me away
Where the morning’s so bright
And the Lamb is the light
And the night, night is as fair as the day.

Refrain:
There will be peace in the valley For me some day
There will be peace in the valley
For me, Oh Lord I pray
There’ll be no sadness
No sorrow, no trouble I see
There will be peace In the valley for me.

2. Well, the flowers will be blooming
And the grass will be green
And the skies will be clear and serene
Where the sun ever beams
In this valley of dreams
And no cloud will be seen.

Refrain

3. Well, the bear will be gentle
And the wolf will be tame
And the lion shall lay down By the lamb, oh yes.
And the beasts from the wild Shall be led by a child
And I’ll be changed,
Changed from this creature that I am.

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, July

July 22, 2017 “Muzzled”

Muzzled

The Holy Ghost muzzle is a grace, not a punishment.
We all need it from time to time. No exceptions. The Poet says,

“I will put a muzzle on my mouth while the wicked are in my presence.”

I had a beagle named Bailey.
He was my pal. Every night when we let him out before bedtime, he would station himself in the backyard to warn the neighborhood of some danger only he could sense. A full moon really set him off. I am sure the neighbors would have gladly supplied us with a muzzle for Him.

There isn’t another reason I can think of to muzzle a beagle; they are such gentle and playful dogs. They were, however, designed to make noise, to bay and howl on the trail of a rabbit and to warn of the approach of an intruder. He was a little dog but his “big dog bark” was impressive.

We also may be gentle souls; dutifully saved by grace and full of peace on earth and goodwill toward men. We can also, however, be noisy. Not everything that runs through our minds need to flow out of our mouths.

Edit yourself!
In simple words we need to watch what we say and sometimes shouldn’t say anything at all.
The metaphor for speech often used in the Bible is the tongue. James, the Lord’s brother, has the most to say on the subject

  •  “Keep a tight rein” on the tongue
  • “It makes great boasts,”
  • “Is also a fire,” and finally,
  • “No man can tame” it.

So, how do we know what to say? The answer is simple—edit yourself! Think before your speak. Ask questions like:

  • Is this true or false?
  • Is this helpful or hurtful?
  • Is this private or public?
  • Is this any of my business?
  • Where will this lead the conversation?

Another question is: when do we speak and when do we keep silent?

  • When saying something is kind, we should speak.
  • When saying nothing is kind, we should not speak.
  • When something must be said, we should speak.
  • When nothing needs to be said, we should not speak.

King Solomon proved this wisdom:

Eccl 3:1-8 NIV
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…
a time to be silent and a time to speak…

When it is time to speak we need the boldness of the Holy Spirit and when it is time to be silent we need the Holy Spirit’s muzzle.

The Holy Ghost muzzle is a grace, not a punishment. We all need it from time to time.

No exceptions.

Scriptures:
Psalm 39
I said, “I will keep watch upon my ways, so that I do not offend with my tongue. I will put a muzzle on my mouth while the wicked are in my presence.” So I held my tongue and said nothing; I refrained from rash words; but my pain became unbearable. My heart was hot within me; while I pondered, the fire burst into flame; I spoke out with my tongue: Lord, let me know my end and the number of my days, so that I may know how short my life is. You have given me a mere handful of days, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight; truly, even those who stand erect are but a puff of wind. We walk about like a shadow, and in vain we are in turmoil; we heap up riches and cannot tell who will gather them. And now, what is my hope? O Lord, my hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions and do not make me the taunt of the fool. I fell silent and did not open my mouth, for surely it was you that did it. Take your affliction from me; I am worn down by the blows of your hand. With rebukes for sin you punish us; like a moth you eat away all that is dear to us; truly, everyone is but a puff of wind. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears. For I am but a sojourner with you, a wayfarer, as all my forebears were. Turn your gaze from me, that I may be glad again, before I go my way and am no more.
James 1:26-27; 3:3-12
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
1 Peter 3:8-12 NIV
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
1 Peter 2:15-16 NIV
For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
Ephesians 4:29-32 NIV
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help me speak when it is time to speak and give me the words to say. Help me to hold my tongue when there is nothing right to say. Let my words be measured in grace. Help be speak the truth in love and never in hate or prejudice or petty nonsense. Somehow, may others hear Your voice in the sound of my voice. Let me speak peace and healing, comfort and challenge—just the things that need to be said! And, Lord, help me to really listen to others! Amen.

Song:
Be Still My Soul
Words and Music: Don Moen

Be still my soul. Be still my soul.
Cease from the labor and the toil.
Refreshing springs of peace await
The troubled minds and hearts that ache.
Be still my soul. God knows your way
And He will guide For His name’s sake.
Plunge in the rivers of His grace;
Rest in the arms of His embrace.

Be still my soul. Be still my soul,
Though battles round you rage and roar.
One thing you need and nothing more
To hear the whisper of your Lord.

Be still My child I know your way
And I will guide For My name’s sake.
Plunge in the rivers of My grace;
Rest in the arms of My embrace.

Be still, be still my soul

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, July

July 20, 2017 “Midnight”

Midnight

The darkness fell hours ago. The morning light is hours away.
Midnight—the suspended time in the middle, the dissonant chord without a resolution, the question as yet unanswered, the song without an ending, repeating, repeating.

Midnight.

Most nights we sleep through midnight, our long slumber breaths undisturbed, our eyelids dancing to a tune we will never hear in the daylight.

But there are those other nights when sleep is far away. The mind relentlessly runs a race to nowhere like a small animal on a cruel treadmill in some heartless laboratory. On nights like this there is usually another midnight in play, some unresolved dilemma robbing us of rest.

God knows about time—it is His invention. He created the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night. He knows the beginning from the ending and He also knows the middle. He is with us at midnight, whether we are asleep or awake, and He has something for us—a song!

A Song in the Night
Not an unending beat or an unresolved chord pattern, but a song of rest and peace, a song of praise. It is a song made for the midnight hour for it turns our unclosed eyes heavenward, away from the trial before us to the victory ahead of us, from the darkness of the unresolved to the promised dawn of resolution. It is a song about Him and not about us, about His power and not our weakness, about His success and not our failure, about His Word and not our worries.

The song in the night must be sung—it demands action—a deliberate transfer of thoughts from nightfall to morning light. As we sing of the faithfulness of God and rehearse in our minds the promises of God, a gentle smile will reassure us that all is well, even in the darkness.

“Why be downcast, O my soul? Put your hope in God!

The Midnight Cry
Soon, at some undisclosed midnight to come, we will hear a cry—not the weeping of fear, but the Midnight Cry of the Bridegroom. Jesus will return or His church. Then for us a day will break that will never end and the last midnight will have passed.

Scriptures:
Psalm 119:49-64
Remember your word to your servant, because you have given me hope. This is my comfort in my trouble, that your promise gives me life. The proud have derided me cruelly, but I have not turned from your law. When I remember your judgments of old, O Lord, I take great comfort. I am filled with a burning rage, because of the wicked who forsake your law. Your statutes have been like songs to me wherever I have lived as a stranger. I remember your Name in the night, O Lord, and dwell upon your law. This is how it has been with me, because I have kept your commandments. You only are my portion, O Lord; I have promised to keep your words. I entreat you with all my heart, be merciful to me according to your promise. I have considered my ways and turned my feet toward your decrees. I hasten and do not tarry to keep your commandments. Though the cords of the wicked entangle me, I do not forget your law. At midnight I will rise to give you thanks, because of your righteous judgments.
I am a companion of all who fear you and of those who keep your commandments. The earth, O Lord, is full of your love; instruct me in your statutes.
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. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon — from Mount Mizar. 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
Psalm 32:7 NIV
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.
Psalm 77:1-6 NIV
I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I mused, and my spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night.
Psalm 16:7-8 NIV
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.
Acts 16:25-26 NIV
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.
Matthew 25:6 NIV
“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, each morning the midnight hour seems far away, the one that is past and the one yet to be. Help me remember the song You gave me in the night all through this day. Let my song of praise be constant, just as is Your care. In Jesus’ Name! Amen.

Songs:
You Can Have a Song in Your Heart
Traditional Chorus

You can have a song in Your heart at night,
After every mile, after every trial.
Anyone can sing when the sun’s shining bright.
But you need a song in your heart at night.

The Midnight Cry
Words and Music: Charles and Greg Day

1. I hear the sound of a mighty rushing wind and
It’s closer now than its ever been
I can almost hear the trumpet
As Gabriel sounds the call
At the midnight cry we’ll be going home

Refrain:
When Jesus steps out on a cloud and calls God’s children,
The dead in Christ shall rise to meet him in the air.
And then those that remain will be quickly changed
At the midnight cry When Jesus comes again

2. I look around me and the prophecies fulfilling and
Signs of the times their appearing everywhere
I can almost hear the Father as He says son go get my children
At the midnight cry The bride of Christ shall rise.

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, July

July 10, 2017 “Near”

Near

When we know the Lord, it is natural for us to want to be near to Him.
We have confidence in His amazing grace. This confidence is faith not presumption. We trust that when we repented of our sins and confessed that Jesus is Lord, that the sin barrier between Him and us was removed. We believe His New Covenant promise that His Holy Spirit has come to dwell in us, not for an Old Covenant-type special visitation for a special task, but as the abiding Comforter, the Helper who enables us to serve and quickens our spirit to understand the truth about things.

We dare to approach the nearness of the Almighty because there is over us the shadow of a cross. The cross stood on a hill called Calvary, a place of Atonement where our sins were nailed to the cross by Roman soldiers with Roman nails through the hands and feet of Jesus, an innocent Man.

When they took Him down, the nails were removed and thrown back into the container to be used again but our sins remained on that cross, forever removed from our record, no longer separating us from God.

So we can say with the writer to the Hebrews, “Let us draw near!”
We can come boldly to the Throne of Grace because our sins are gone! They were cast into a sea of forgetfulness never to remembered against us again. We stand before God more innocent than newborn babies; we stand before as if we had never sinned.

How do we draw near?—In faith to be sure, but in a faith expressed. The expressions that bring us near to Him and Him near to us are these:

  • Thanksgiving
  • Praise
  • Adoration
  • Confessions of Faith

These are all forms of prayer.

There is a New Covenant promise we can count on.
If we draw near to God, God will draw near to us. When two objects are converging, the distance between is covered at twice the speed of each. In other words, it doesn’t take long for our thanksgiving and praise to become His dwelling place. Our submission to His Lordship brings us speedily to His Throne Room.

Each day at our private altar and each Lord’s Day in public worship drawing near to God should be the first order of business. We need not linger at a distance. The power of His blood calls us close, as the angel says to John in the Book of Revelation, to “come up higher.” We can lift our hearts with songs of praise and with the songs of heaven’ hosts. The Spirit will bear us up higher so that we, like Isaiah, can see the Lord “high and lifted up.”

To contemplate His nearness is to be changed from glory to glory. What joy! What a privilege?

When we know the Lord, it is natural for us to want to be near to Him.

Scriptures:
Psalm 148
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights. Praise him, all you angels of his; praise him, all his host. Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, heaven of heavens, and you waters above the heavens. Let them praise the Name of the Lord; for he commanded, and they were created. He made them stand fast for ever and ever; he gave them a law which shall not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea-monsters and all deeps; Fire and hail, snow and fog, tempestuous wind, doing his will; Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars; Wild beasts and all cattle, creeping things and winged birds; Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the world; Young men and maidens, old and young together. Let them praise the Name of the Lord, for his Name only is exalted, his splendor is over earth and heaven. He has raised up strength for his people and praise for all his loyal servants, the children of Israel, a people who are near him. Hallelujah!
Hebrews 10:19-20 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…
Psalm 73: 28; 145:17-18
The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.
James 4:6-10 NIV
That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, by faith I rejoice in Your nearness. I refuse to ruminate on my past for it is covered by Your blood and erased from my record in heaven. I will not entertain any fear of the future, for it is covered by Your New Covenant. You will make all things work together for my good because I am called according to Your purpose. My past and future attended to, I will live in the moment today, confident that wherever this day takes me, I will be near to Your heart. Thank, You, Lord. Amen.

Song:
Near to the Heart of God
Words and Music: Cleland B. McAfee

1. There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God;
a place where sin cannot molest,  near to the heart of God.

Refrain:
O Jesus, blest Redeemer, sent from the heart of God,
Hold us who wait before Thee near to the heart of God.

2. There is a place of comfort sweet, near to the heart of God;
a place where we our Savior meet, near to the heart of God.

Refrain

3. There is place a place of full release, near to the heart of God;
a place where all is joy and peace, near to the heart of God.

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, July

July 9, 2017 “Anointed”

Anointed

The words of the Poet are, beyond all doubt, true.

“Now I know that the Lord gives victory to his anointed…”

But what about…? You may ask and rightfully so. What about the times when the wicked win, the ungodly are unconquered, the devious defeat the righteous? How can these facts exist on the record of history and the proposition of victory to the Lord’s anointed also be true?

It is simple. The game isn’t over.
The battle is still raging. The truth will eventually come out. For the Christ-follower, to obey the Lord is victory, regardless of the immediate outcome of that obedience. We are his anointed—His chosen ones—His empowered ones.

  • We win because He is the Champion.
  • We are unconquered because He is the Victor.
  • We are true because He is the Truth.

To follow Jesus is to be on the path of victory,

  • in spite of deep valleys of the shadow
  •  or treacherous mountain steeps,
  • or searing heat,
  • or pounding waves,
  • or shifting winds.

These discomforts blasts us while they last but we keep

  • walking,
  • climbing,
  • hydrating our bodies,
  • sailing or
  • flying and

we get through the tests.

Why? Because we are His anointed.
How? Through the power of His anointing.

The Anointing is God’s choice and it is the flow of God’s power.

  • In the Old Testament people and objects were set apart for God’s exclusive use by anointing them with oil especially prepared for that purpose. The Hebrew word means “to anoint, to consecrate.”
  • In the New Testament, the Greek word is a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.

We are the Lord’s anointed—all of us not just the preachers and singers! We have all been set apart by the Lord for His purposes. We have all been empowered by His Spirit to serve Him in His power, not in our own.

So this word is for us—“Now I know that the Lord gives victory to his anointed!”

All set backs are temporary. All acts of obedience are battles won. The story isn’t over. Though the battles still rage, the outcome of the war is not in doubt.

  • We win because He is the Champion.
  • We are unconquered because He is the Victor.
  • We are true because He is the Truth.

We are his anointed—His chosen ones—His empowered ones.

Scriptures:
Psalm 20
May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble, the Name of the God of Jacob defend you; Send you help from his holy place and strengthen you out of Zion; Remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifice; Grant you your heart’s desire and prosper all your plans. We will shout for joy at your victory and triumph in the Name of our God; may the Lord grant all your requests. Now I know that the Lord gives victory to his anointed; he will answer him out of his holy heaven, with the victorious strength of his right hand. Some put their trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will call upon the Name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall down, but we will arise and stand upright. O Lord, give victory to the king and answer us when we call.
1 John 2:20-21 NIV
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
Isaiah 10:27 KJV
And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NIV
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Psalm 105:15 NIV
“Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.”
Psalm 28:7-9 NKJV
The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him. The Lord is their strength, And He is the saving refuge of His anointed. Save Your people, And bless Your inheritance; Shepherd them also, And bear them up forever.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, Share Your victory with me today. You have chosen me—anointed me—for the work I am doing. I know that I am not left to my own power and strength to do this work. The powerful Holy Spirit abides with in, this too, is my anointing. Let Your power flow through me today. May my life bud like Aaron’s Rod! May my shadow fall as a blessing on those who pass by me today, like the shadow of Peter. Anoint my words with wisdom, my hands with strength, and my mind with clarity. I am chosen and empowered today—anointed! Thank You, Lord.

Song:
Victory Ahead
Words and Music: William Grum

1. When the hosts of Israel, led by God,
Round the walls of Jericho softly trod,
Trusting in the Lord, they felt the conqu’ror’s tread,
By faith they saw the victory ahead.

Refrain:
Victory ahead! Victory ahead!
Through the blood of Jesus, victory ahead;
Trusting in the Lord, I hear the conqu’ror’s tread,
By faith I see the victory ahead!

2. David with a shepherd’s sling and five stones,
Met the giant on the field all alone,
Trusting in the Lord, he knew what God had said,
By faith he saw the victory ahead.

Refrain

3. Daniel prayed unto the Lord thrice each day,
Then unto the lion’s den led the way,
Trusting in the Lord, he did not fear or dread,
By faith he saw the victory ahead.

Refrain

4. Often with the carnal mind I was tried,
Asking for deliverance oft I cried,
Trusting in the Lord, I reckoned I was dead,
By faith I saw the victory ahead.

Refrain
5. When like those who’ve gone before to that land,
By death’s river cold and dark I shall stand;
Trusting in the Lord, I will not fear or dread,
By faith I see the victory ahead.
Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions Devotions, July

July 4, 2017 “Peoples”

Peoples

“Peoples” is word Bible uses for “nations.”
We Americans are a nation and we are a people. These terms carry similar bonds but also some different bonds unique to each one.

We are a nation because we live in the same geographical location and under the same set of laws. We are a people because we live with the same ideals, or at least with enough of the same ideals to give us

  • a shared character—the American Spirit,
  • a consolidated hope—the American Dream, and
  • an agreed upon ideal—American Freedom.

Guest Teaching at Continental Seminary in Brussels, Belgium, I visited the American Cemetery in Luxembourg, pictured here. This was my first missions trip to Europe and I was full of the missionary spirit. I am also a Baby-Boomer, the son of a WWII veteran, so I have always had an interest in the war. Inside the beautiful chapel I found an inscription that brought the missionary spirit and the American Character together for me. Beneath a cross it says:

GRANT US GRACE FEARLESSLY
TO CONTEND AGAINST EVIL
AND TO MAKE NO PEACE
WITH OPPRESSION

In that beautiful chapel the extraordinary truth of the American Spirit enveloped me—Who else goes across the seas to fight for the freedom of others? My father did, and my father-in-law, my pastor, and all my friends’ dads went. They are the greatest generation of a great nation and a great people. General Patton’s grave stands a lonely guard in front of the chapel facing row upon row of crosses and Stars of David.

On the grounds of a rural Catholic church in Belgium I also visited a memorial to Rev. J. W. Tucker among the names of missionaries from all branches of the church killed in the Belgian Congo in the early 1960’s. Heroes one and all, named and nameless, they sprang from a great nation and a great people to die in behalf of others on foreign soil.

Could they speak to us today, they would blush at our faint praise, and quickly remind us that the job isn’t finished.

  • There is still evil abroad in the world that someone must oppose.
  • There is oppression behind the high civilized walls of nations and violence walks randomly among the cities of the peoples of this earth.
  • We cannot make peace with wrong by calling it right.
  • There are nations and peoples bound in chains and in darkness. They sing empty songs, tell elaborate, meaningless stories, and trudge from day to night in hopelessness.

Our heroes would remind us that the nations and the peoples of need Jesus.
If there are seas to cross, let us set sail. If there are nations in bondage let us cry out as the prophet did, “Let these people go!” If there is darkness let us go there to shine our light.

Let this resolve be our pledge to our children and to their children and our prayer to God:

Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil
And to make no peace with oppression!
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scriptures:
Psalm 2
Why are the nations in an uproar? Why do the peoples mutter empty threats? Why do the kings of the earth rise up in revolt, and the princes plot together, against the Lord and against his Anointed? “Let us break their yoke,” they say; “let us cast off their bonds from us.” He whose throne is in heaven is laughing; the Lord has them in derision. Then he speaks to them in his wrath, and his rage fills them with terror. “I myself have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” Let me announce the decree of the Lord: he said to me, “You are my Son; this day have I begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall crush them with an iron rod and shatter them like a piece of pottery.” And now, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Submit to the Lord with fear, and with trembling bow before him; Lest he be angry and you perish; for his wrath is quickly kindled. Happy are they all who take refuge in him!
Isaiah 60:1-3; 62:10 NIV
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. …Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations.
Psalm 117 NIV
Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.
Psalm 102:18-22 NIV
Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord: “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.” So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord.
Mark 11:17; 13:10-11 NIV
And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: “‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.'”
And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.
Luke 24:45-49 NIV
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I will judge my life and work today, not by standards of success or wealth or influence but by the benefit of my being here on this earth. I do not serve you to the point of my comfort for you meet all my needs. I do not accumulate the acclaim of people for Your pleasure in me is my goal. Save me from a diffused life that accomplishing little. I temper my passions to focus them on Your plan for me, the steps You have laid out for me since before the foundation of the world. Help my solitary life to somehow bless the nations. Just as You multiplied the little boy’s lunch there in the wilderness, multiply my words and my songs and my deeds to bless the peoples of the earth. In Your holy name. Amen.

Song:
America the Beautiful
Words: Katherine Lee Bates; Music: Samuel A. Ward

1. O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!

2. O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!

3. O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness And every gain divine!

4. O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood  From sea to shining sea!

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved

pathoflifedevotions July

July 2, 2017 “Between”

Between

“You send the springs into the valleys; they flow between the mountains.”

To be in between two things is neither always good nor always bad, but it can be a thankless position to occupy. The attention always seems to be on the things one is between; the valley between the mountains is made to be overlooked, yet in that valley the waters of life flow.

Of course, life is lived between.

  • The moments of arrival are far outnumbered by the years of travel.
  • The time we carefully manage with our hard-earned life-skills is the time in the middle, between the inception and the completion of any job.
  • Screenwriters and playwrights will tell you the second act is the most difficult to write. The crash-bang beginning and the thrilling climax practically write themselves. Act Two, where characters are developed and subplots and themes are explored, is the most taxing on the writer’s creativity.

Our lives are one big Act Two in which our character is developed, our life themes are discovered, and we work our way through one subplot after the other. It seems random characters come and go in our story and unexpected events happen while expected ones fail to happen.

All the time our hearts are faithfully beating, asking no questions, seeking no respite and our minds swell with more and more information, so many facts stored away for some future use. (Soon our supply of numbers is used up and we have start writing them down to remember them.)

But there is no surprise here—we are on track, on the journey between the beginning and the end. We don’t remember the beginning but we celebrate the date every year watching the candles crowd to the edge of the cake. We don’t know when the end will be so we don’t think about it.

Two Possible Endings
If we don’t know when, and it is a blessing that we don’t, we can be sure of one of two endings:

  • Jesus will return in our lifetime, or
  • We will, as the old preachers used to say, “Go by way of the grave.”

What these two outcomes have in common is that we must prepare for them. We can’t stop either from happening.

  • We are living in Act Two—between the beginning and ending of our lives and
  • we are living in the Church Age—Act Two—between the Coming of Christ and His Return.

If we properly prepare for them, either ending will be a graduation from earth to glory.

If we fail to prepare either conclusion will bring the curtain down on the most precious thing we human beings possess—our ability to choose. Dying without Christ or living without Him when He returns will be the end of our options. Before our coffin closes our chance to choose Jesus will have flown away forever. When the trumpet sounds and graves open and saints around us disappear, we will just be spectators, watching in wonder and regret that we did not prepare our hearts for this day.

Today is another day to be lived between the beginning and the end. If we did not begin well, or it we need a new beginning, we still have these choices. Remember it is between these two mountaintop events, that the waters of life freely flow. Worship the Lord today!

Scriptures:
Psalm 104
Bless the Lord, O my soul; O Lord my God, how excellent is your greatness! You are clothed with majesty and splendor. You wrap yourself with light as with a cloak and spread out the heavens like a curtain. You lay the beams of your chambers in the waters above; you make the clouds your chariot; you ride on the wings of the wind. You make the winds your messengers and flames of fire your servants. You have set the earth upon its foundations, so that it never shall move at any time. You covered it with the Deep as with a mantle; the waters stood higher than the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the voice of your thunder they hastened away.
They went up into the hills and down to the valleys beneath, to the places you had appointed for them. You set the limits that they should not pass; they shall not again cover the earth. You send the springs into the valleys; they flow between the mountains.   All the beasts of the field drink their fill from them … I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will praise my God while I have my being. May these words of mine please him; I will rejoice in the Lord. Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, and the wicked be no more.  Bless the Lord, O my soul. Hallelujah!
Psalm 51:5 NIV
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Hebrews 9:27-28 NKJV
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Matthew 24:36-47 NIV
“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;  and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.  But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.  “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, on this, the day that You have made, I will sing Your praise with all my might. I see that I am in the Second Act of my life’s drama. In Act One You found me, saved me, filled me with Your Spirit and anointed my life for ministry. In Act Three You will call me home to my eternal reward and to glorious things I can scarcely imagine. Today, I will worship You, serve You, and tell Your Story in public worship. Tomorrow Act Two will continue in my work. May it also be a witness to You at home and out in the world. Lord, You are with me in this in between time! Thank You! Amen

Song:
When Jesus Returns for His Own
Words: Herbert Buffum; Music: Robert Winsett

1. There’s coming a wonderful, wonderful day,
Its glory has never been known;
When free from our burdens we’re going away,
As Jesus returns for His own.

Refrain:
When Jesus returns for His own,
And carries us up to His throne,
There’ll be no more sadness,
But all will be gladness,
When Jesus returns for His own.

2. Then those who have suffered and toiled for His name,
Tho’ hated, rejected, unknown,
No longer shall suffer the world’s scorn and shame,
When Jesus returns for His own.

Refrain

3. Triumphant they’ll rise with their Lord in the air,
And sit with Him soon on His throne,
While those who once ridiculed weep in despair,
When Jesus returns for His own.

Refrain

4. No longer we’ll think of the trials down here,
The days when we suffered alone,
For God’s loving hand wipes away ev’ry tear,
When Jesus returns for His own.

Refrain

5. Then let us be faithful, e’en down unto death,
Nor ever our troubles bemoan,
But render Him praise, and rejoice full of faith,
That we may be counted His own.

Refrain

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved