Redeeming The Time

Ephesians 5:15-16 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, (16) Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

 

Time...it is the stuff that life is made of.  We all have the same amount of it each day but it seems that some people are able to do so much more in a day than others.  You can attribute this to organization or lots of other factors but it is the simple truth.  Everyone has the same amount of time each day as everyone else.

 

Sometimes we get caught up spending so much time on the urgent that we never get around to doing the things that are really important and sometimes we don't even recognize the different.

Time is a gift, a very precious gift that God has given us to use to fulfill his purpose.

 

As I get older (and my health continues to fail) I am more aware of the value of time than I have ever been.  I find myself trying to squeeze every drop out of every day trying to accomplish things because I know that I have just about used up the time that I have been given.

 

I have lost a lot of time, wasted a lot of time, and misused a lot of time in my life.  I realize now that I can never get it back.  Time is a precious gift from God and is only valuable when it is redeemed and used for His Glory.

 

 

Please feel free to contact me by email at

shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.

If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know.  Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.  I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.

NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT

Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

 

As I was studying these verses in Ephesians this one jumped out at me.  In this age of political correctness it just seemed to stand out. Whenever someone speaks out against sin (the works of darkness) today he is referred to as a bigot or a hater and this could not be farther from the truth.

 

That is like saying that you hate someone if you warn them that a bridge is out.  Would it be kinder to let them run into the river?

 

Sin is wrong.  It is dangerous and it is harmful to all those who engage in it.  As Christians we are to warn people of the dangers of sin and of sinful lifestyles.  We are not to tolerate them in our own lives, accept them in others, or embrace them in society.  This is a matter of caring and the reproof in no way signifies a mean or hateful spirit.

 

Regardless of what people think, it is possible to hate the sin and still love the sinner.

 

Please feel free to contact me by email at

shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.

If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know.  Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.  I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.

A CHILD OF GOD

Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

 

In my senior years sometimes I forget things that I was told, or things that happened recently but it seems that the older memories such as memories of my childhood are just as clear and maybe even clearer than they used to be.

 

I remember as a child the devotion and the awe and respect I had for my parents.  I tried to be what they wanted me to be and it pleased me to please them.

 

As we grow older we lose some of that fascination with our parents and we not only quit trying to please them in everything but sometimes we become defiant and go completely against their wills.  When we follow God it should not just be as children but it should be as "dear" children.

 

We should follow God with every intention of doing whatever we can to please Him and cause Him to be pleased with us.

Please feel free to contact me by email at

shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.

If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know.  Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.  I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.

SITTING IN HEAVENLY PLACES

Ephesians 2:5-6 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (6) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

 

When we come together to worship we should definitely be sitting in heavenly places.  We should clear our minds of the problems of the world and our every day cares as we sing, pray and listen to the message.  Our entire focus should be on Jesus and what He has done for us.  That will help us to create a heavenly atmosphere.

 

When we pray we should also shut out the world and actually recognize the presence of Jesus and turn our prayer closets and our family and group prayer sessions into a heavenly place.

 

No matter where we go we can represent Jesus as His ambassadors and we are then in the atmosphere of a heavenly place.  Let's do our best to turn every place we sit into a heavenly place.

 

Please feel free to contact me by email at

shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.

If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know.  Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.  I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.

HE IS ABLE TO KEEP ALL THAT WE COMMIT TO HIM

2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

 

Sometimes when the trials and suffering begin we, unlike Paul, begin to be filled with fear and doubt.  Paul suffered about as much abuse as anyone that I have read about but he never wavered.

Paul was not looking at the now.  He was looking at the forever. He knew that the only really important things were the things he had committed to Christ.  He knew the day would come when he would be rewarded by being united forever with Christ.

 

The same is true for us.  We might lose sight of what is really important but the truth is all the really important things are those that are committed to Him.  They are not the temporary things we think of every day but they are the eternal things that He is able to keep forever.

 

This world is temporary for all of us, but the things we commit to Him will last for all eternity.

 

 

Please feel free to contact me by email at

shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.

If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know.  Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.  I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.

HE IS ABLE TO KEEP US FROM FALLING

Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

Sometimes I don't feel as spiritual as I know I should.  Sometimes I don't feel as close to the Lord as I know I should.  There I have confessed, I have said and I have put it on the Internet for the whole world to see if they want to.

 

I know that I don't deserve the blessings that He has given me and only I know what type of person I really am.  I guess that should be a frightening thought but it is really not all that scary.  The reason is that I have not been depending on my feelings, or my actions, or my emotions.

 

I trust completely in Jesus, in His atoning death, in His miraculous resurrection and in His promises.  I trust in His blood to cleanse me from all unrighteousness and know that outside of faith in Him I would have no hope.

 

When I remember Him I have to think of the song, "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow."

 

I know that He is able to keep me from falling and someday He will present me faultless before our Heavenly Father.  When I think of this and become thankful I can't help but feel a little closer to Him.

Please feel free to contact me by email at

shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.

If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know.  Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.  I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.

HE IS ABLE TO CHANGE US

Philippians 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

 

That is just the way I am.  How many times have you heard or said that, or "That's just the way he or she is."?  We learn to accept people, especially ourselves, as being less than what we ought to be.

God is still able to change lives.  He is still able to help people conform to the image of Christ.

 

So many times we will pray for someone with a serious sin problem and yet we fear that they will never change.  Maybe we are praying more that God will just take away the sin and the problems it cause them (and us) instead of praying that God will transform their lives into a beautiful vessel for His service.

 

Sometimes the process of change is not a pleasant experience.  Sometimes we have to be broken and then be remolded into a different person.  Sometimes we have to hit bottom before we look up and are willing to give all the pieces of our broken lives to the one who can mend them.  We don't want to go through it and we don't want those we pray for to go through a painful transition but we have to realize that God is able to fashion each and everyone, and to subdue all things unto Himself.

Please feel free to contact me by email at

shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.

If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know.  Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.  I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.

HE IS ABLE TO DO MORE THAN WE ASK OR THINK

Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

 

Most of us think and ask too small.  We go to our Heavenly Father in prayer asking as if we believe He rations our blessings.  When Jesus encountered a blind man and asked him what he really wanted the blind man answered that he wanted to see.  Jesus gave him is sight.

 

I have often thought that today so many would have asked for so much less.  They might have asked for a dog or a cane to help them get around.  They might have asked for someone to help them to take care of themselves.  It took a lot of boldness to ask for his sight but he learned a valuable lesson that we too should learn.  He is able to do even more than we think or ask.

 

Are you a little shy about asking God for what you really need? Sometimes even when we pray for something specific that we really need we do not really expect God to grant it.

 

Believe that God wants to bless us.  He is able to do more than we think or ask.  Increase your faith by increasing your expectations.

Please feel free to contact me by email at

shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.

If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know.  Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.  I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.

HE IS ABLE TO SHOW US GRACE

II Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.

 

Grace means unmerited (undeserved) favor.  Sometimes we feel that we will not be blessed because we don't deserve to be blessed.  We feel that we can't succeed because we don't deserve to succeed.  The truth is that God is glorified in blessing us.  He receives glory from seeing us succeed.

 

God did not create all the good things in the world for the devil's crowd.  He does not take pleasure in us failing. 

 

It is true that sometimes we fail because we do things for the wrong reasons and in the wrong way.  Read Hebrews 11 in the Bible.  It is the Hall of Faith that shows how God's grace was sufficient for all those He chose to do His work. 

 

It is our job to believe God.  It is our job to do the good works He directs us to do.  He will provide the grace and the power to see those works through.  He is able to help us whether we deserve it or not.

 

Please feel free to contact me by email at

shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.

If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know.  Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.  I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.

HE IS ABLE TO KEEP HIS PROMISES

Romans 4:21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

 

It is an honorable thing for a man to keep his word.  It is especially important for him to keep his promises.  I can remember many times when my children were growing up I could not make certain promises because I knew that I might not be able to keep those promises.  What I could do was tell them I would try.  If for some reason then I could not keep our plans I still needed a very good explanation of why not but at least I did not break a promise to them.

 

The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and the older generation died, (without entering the promised land) simply because they did not believe God could keep His promise.  Joshua and Caleb entered in and received the promises because they trusted God to deliver.

 

Man may fail.  He may not be able to deliver on his promises.  That is not true with God.  Whatever He has promised us in His Word, He is able to deliver. 

Please feel free to contact me by email at

shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.

If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know.  Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.  I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.

FREE TO SERVE

1 Peter 2:16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
Praise God, salvation is free to us.  It was paid for by the Son of God, Jesus Christ and offered to us as a gift.  Not only is salvation free but it is eternal and can not ever be lost.  If it were possible to lose your salvation no one could get to heaven because it is impossible for us to live above sin.
That does not give us a license to sin.  What it should do is motivate us to live for Jesus and serve God from a thankful heart.  Our attitude should be that He died for us, we must live for Him.  He left work for us to do in spreading the gospel to a lost and dying world.
I read of a man once who told an older lady that he had been called into the ministry.  The older lady said, "Then you have been called to be a light toter."  You might not be familiar with the word tote but down here in the south it is another word for carry.  I believe that not only are the preachers to be "light toters" but that every Christian should carry the light of Jesus Christ into this world filled with darkness.
Tote The Light
As the dusk is here and it'll soon be night
We need to be faithful to "tote the light".
Souls are in danger to be forever lost,
"Tote the light" whatever the cost.
Men stumble in darkness and sin every day,
"Tote the Light" to show them the way.
Brighten the path so others may claim,
Their gift of salvation in Jesus Name.

Please feel free to contact me by email at
shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.

If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know.  Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.  I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.

SUBMISSION

1 Peter 2:13-14 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; (14) Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

 

Whether we like it or not we are subject to the laws of the land. This has been a presidential election year and frankly for the last few elections I haven't been overly fond of any of the candidates.  That does not mean that I am not to respect the offices they get elected to.

 

Sometimes God even raises up men to punish an evil population.  I am not sure if you have noticed it lately or not but we are certainly living in an evil time when people take sin lightly and when it is wrong to criticize anyone except Christians.

 

I believe that if a law doesn't cause me to directly go against God's Word, I am subject to it.  Yes, this even means the speed limit.  We must remember that it is God that ordains Government and it is for His honor and glory. It really doesn't matter who the president it as long as we recognize that Jesus is still the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

 

Please feel free to contact me by email at

shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.

If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know.  Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.  I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.