"Strengthen the Feeble Hands, Steady the Knees That Give Way."
Devotional
Days We Were Not Promised
Sep 2nd
I went home to Virginia two weeks ago to pause and remember the passing of my father Anthony Leslie Davis. We went to his grave, and there, we paused to reflect not only on his life and his passing, but also on our own mortality. We are all living days we were not promised. We are all expected to die—some day—and that someday could have been today. At least, this is what James, that very practical soul, tells us. He wrote,
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:13).
I reflected on this as we toured the rest of the cemetery full of other people who had lived and died. I am sure that few, if any, thought. “Tomorrow will die.” I don’t remember the last time that thought came into my mind—but it was in my mind this week.
This week I went to the funeral of a friend who died a week after I returned More >
Without Qualification Or Amendment (The Forgotten God)
Aug 30th
Most of us live life with some measure of fear; fear as grand as the fear of God or fear as petty as the opinions of others. Nothing breeds fear like failure and disappointment. Nothing breeds fear like unanswered prayers or unfulfilled desires.
If you have asked for anything, then somewhere along the way you have been denied.
If you have risked, then somewhere along the way you have lost.
If you have tried, then somewhere along the way you have failed.
If you have trusted, then somewhere along the way you have been betrayed.
If you have prayed, then somewhere along the way you have been disappointed.
If we have been disappointed in the past, we may fear trusting God in the present, and fear cannot help but hinder our prayers. We may have started with the grand dreams of childhood only to end with paltry, jaded, resigned, prayers—safe prayers. Francis Chan wrote;
“I think the fear of God failing us leads us to ‘cover for God.’” This means we ask for less, expect less, and are satisfied with less because we are afraid to ask for or expect more. We even convince ourselves that we don’t want more—that we have all the ‘God’ we need More >
The Indwelling Spirit (The Forgotten God)
Aug 25th
It is perhaps the grandest of all Christian mysteries—how the God of the universe could be in us. God’s Holy Spirit is not rationed out as though He were infinitely divisible. God is one. There are no “parts” to God. The members of the Trinity are “persons” not parts. God is indivisible, irreducible.
God is everywhere and not limited to our spatial understanding. And yet, in some mysterious way we are taught that the Holy Spirit “lives in us” (2Tim 1:14). It doesn’t seem right that the Pure and Holy One should come near us—much less indwell us. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 6:19). Praise God!
Francis Chan picks up on the analogy of the caterpillar, who, though once a plump little worm, eventually wakes up from a nap to discover he has wings. Chan wrote,
“As believers, we ought to experience this same kind of astonishment when the Holy Spirit enters our bodies. We should be stunned in disbelief over becoming a “new creation” with the Spirit living in us. As the caterpillar finds a new ability to fly, we should be thrilled over our Spirit-empowered ability to live differently and faithfully” (37).
This IS indeed the way it More >
All Things Lightly
Aug 18th
If things are what you want, God can give you things,
but if it is God you want
you must be willing to hold “all these things” lightly
and cling tenaciously to God himself.
These things, these blessings we covet,
the gifts, and even the spiritual gifts we desire,
the characteristics and disciplines we crave,
they are residual of His presence.
It is He and He alone that is our chief pursuit.
He and He alone is our first desire.
That is why Paul could say…
“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.”
God’s presence is worth far more than all His gifts.
God’s presence is worth far more than any blessing.
But we must know this as the blessings come.
We must keep this idea in mind when prosperity finds us.
We must be very careful that we do not unwrap our gift,
discard the wrapping,
and after a quick thank you,
become consumed by the gift while neglecting the giver.
If it is things you want…God can give you things.
If things are all you want you will be satisfied for a time.
But soon you will find things are not all you want,
and More >
