Loving Kindness

LOVING KINDNESS

Jeremiah 9:23-24

“This is what the Lord says:  ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.’ declares the Lord.”

 

            The last devotion Vine of Love listed the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23.  We learned that these virtues are produced by God’s Spirit in people who believe in Jesus Christ, and trust Him as Lord of their lives.  These believers surrender their will to Jesus.  They remain connected to Him as the vine.  In turn, Jesus enables them—the branches—to bear much fruit.  (Fruit for the kingdom of God).

            Author Ray Stedman claims that all the fruit are expressions of the first one—LOVE.  He explains, “After all, joy is love enjoying itself; peace is love resting; patience is love waiting; kindness is love reacting; goodness is love choosing; faithfulness is love keeping its word; gentleness is love empathizing; and self-control is love resisting temptation.”

            Zeroing in on kindness: kindness is how love reacts in every situation.  Kindness is generous, always finding whatever is good.  Kindness is sensitive to others, using soft-spoken words to either discipline or praise.  Kindness spurs considerate replies even to ugly behavior.  Kindness puts the other’s welfare before one’s self.

            Kindness inspires kindness in return.

            When a kind person interacts with another, foul and hateful speech is avoided.  Kindness spreads peace and joy to everyone within hearing range.  Kindness prompts others to respond with patience and goodness.  It’s easy to be gentle and faithful to a kind person.  It’s hard to lose control when dealing with a kind person.

            Kindness is so admirable that God delights in it.  (See opening Scripture).  He delights to see kindness in His kids, too.  A kind person always smiles—the first thing we notice about another.  It’s hard to ignore a smile beaming in our faces.  Our reaction?  Smile in return, of course!

            Consider God’s kindness to His kids.  Remember times when you were sad or upset.  When God showed up into your situation, everything resolved.  You instantly   became light and happy.  Let’s always confess times when we are mean or rude to another.  Repenting unkindness, and cooperating with the Spirit grows God’s kids past this ugly behavior. 

Take Home Nugget 

             Kindness is not “dress” clothes.  Kindness is everyday work and play clothes.  Wear kindness daily and remember to keep it on until bedtime.

Kindness is good for all occasions: from morning ‘till night, in sunshine and in rain, wear kindness as God’s light.

 J.D. Griffith

 

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for Loving Kindness

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Vine of Love

VINE OF LOVE

Galatians 5:22-23

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.”

 

            “Teach me patience, Lord!” ten year old Cassie muttered to herself.  She was fed up hanging out with her classmates at the swimming pool.  They huddled together whispering about other girls who wore bikini swim suits. 

            “Be careful what you ask for.” Cassie heard, coming from somewhere within her mind.  She giggled to herself.  I hear You, Lord.  Please teach me how to love those who aren’t nice to others.  Cassie thought her prayer before diving into the pool.

            Every fruit of the Spirit listed in the opening Scripture originates in God. How do people obtain the Spirit’s fruit?  These virtues are produced when God’s Spirit lives inside.  His job is to grow believers into the likeness of Christ.  The process is on-going day after day.  Developing patience requires growing through frustrating circumstances like Cassie is experiencing right now.

            Growing into Christ likeness, sanctification [sank-tif-i-KA-shon], takes a lifetime.  No wonder—if believers must struggle through growing past human nature!  Galatians 5:24 says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”

            “Crucified” sounds harsh.  The passage just means that believers can surrender themselves (our will) to Jesus every day.  Giving ourselves up to Jesus’ Lordship is easier to do after living awhile.  We see that having our own way doesn’t achieve God’s best for us…and we want God’s best!  Jesus shows us how simple this process can be in John 15.  Check it out, verses 1-2, and 4-5. 

            “I am the vine, and My Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful…Remain in Me, and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself: it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” 

Take Home Nugget 

            “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Galatians 5:25-26 urges.  Will Cassie’s   classmates ever grow past this Spirit lesson?  See the lesson linked below for appropriate Spirit behavior.

Holy Father, life isn’t going like I want it.  Help me to surrender my will to You every day so that I can live life at Your best—in Jesus’ Name I pray, AMEN. 

 J.D. Griffith

 

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for Vine of Love

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Open Door Ministry

OPEN DOOR MINISTRY

2 Corinthians 2:12-13, 4:1-6

2 Corinthians 4:1:  “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.”

 

            2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us.”  So, every Christian is an ambassador [am-BASS-a-dor] for Christ.  An ambassador is a representative.  Countries like the United States have ambassadors for other countries.  That person visits that country and makes friends with them on behalf of the United States, (or the country they’re representing).

            Apostle Paul uses “Open Doors” as a figure of speech about wonderful opportunities.  In 2 Corinthians 2:12-13, Paul says, “Now when I went to Troas to preach  the gospel of Christ and fund that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did  not find my brother Titus there.  So I said good-bye to them and went on to Macedonia.”

            I also consider open doors and peace of mind signs from God.  They point to the path He wants me to take.  Especially when life is troublesome, I pray for and run through open doors.  I seize the opportunity—happy to have found rest from my current difficulty.  When doors repeatedly slam in one’s face, an open door and peace of mind is oh, so welcome!

             Evidently, Apostle Paul used open and closed doors to guide him on his ministry journey around the known world around A.D. 55.  This “open door ministry” is a safe, daring, but scary way to live.  Just consider many of Paul’s closed doors.  He encountered physical and geographical problems that limited his progress around the world.

            Today, we have no such barriers.  God has opened the whole world’s doors for His ministry through technology.  We’re living in the perfect time to represent Christ to everyone in the whole world.  With the Internet and satellites positioned in outer space that probe everywhere in the world, the time to be Christ’s ambassador is NOW!

            If you have chosen to believe in Jesus as Lord, you are empowered by His Spirit right now.  Eternal life is yours.  Do you have any excuse not to represent Him?

Take Home Nugget   

            Being Christ’s ambassador is not as scary as you think.  If anyone were to ask, could you talk about Jesus’ birth?  If anyone were to ask, could you talk about His miracles?  If anyone were to ask, could you talk about His death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven?

            Even if you don’t talk about Christ, you are still His ambassador through your words and actions.  Your open door ministry is on stage for the whole world to see. 

            Congratulations, ambassador!   

Don’t shut down, be an open door ministry for Christ.

J.D. Griffith

 

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for Open Door Ministry

 

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SuzerainTreaty

SUZERAIN TREATY

Genesis 15:5-21

Genesis 15:17:  “when the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.”

 

            Ms. Tierney, Girl Scout Camp Leader, challenged the eight to ten year old campers:  “Whoever keeps her bed made and empties her cabin trash will get an ice cream sundae at dinner.”

            The girls cheered and clapped their hands.  Then one asked Ms. Tierney, “How can we be sure of this?  Won’t girls who don’t make beds and pick up trash also get ice cream sundaes?”

            “No.  Your cabin leader will keep records,” Ms. Tierney assured them.  “I promise!”

            “I promise!” is something God also assures when He makes a covenant with people.  Suzerain Treaty [sue-ze-RAIN TREE-tee] originated in ancient Near East.  The treaty is made between a lord or king and his subject.  The treaty is confirmed when sacrificed animals were cut in half, then laid on the ground in two rows with an aisle between them.

            The suzerain, or king, would walk between the halves.  This was his public promise to keep the covenant—or else he’d be like the dead animals if he failed to do his part.  When Abram asked God how he could be sure that God’s promises would happen, God used the suzerain treaty custom as His response.   

            The opening Scripture shows God as the smoking firepot and blazing torch passing between the halved dead animals.  As Abram watched the burning torch pass through his sacrifice, he understood that God was declaring that it was His job to keep the covenant.  (God would rename Abram Abraham in Genesis 17:5).

            Apostle Paul refers to believers in Christ in his New Testament books as “Sons of Abraham.”  He assures us that to whomever accepts Jesus as Savior, God extends His covenant of faith.  Check out the lesson linked below supporting how believers in Christ are truly Sons of Abraham. 

            Jesus says in John 10:27-30, “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”

Take Home Nugget 

            God is the keeper of believer’s salvation.  He kept His covenant of faith with Abraham, and He will keep His covenant of faith with you.  That’s His job!

God’s covenant He will never break;

Come now, and be bold,

He will never fail us nor forsake!

Our salvation is in His hold.

Trust Him, oh children of the day,

For His Word will never pass away.

J.D. Griffith

 

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for SuzerainTreaty

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Finality

FINALITY

Hebrews 4:1-11

Hebrews 4:7:  “Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later He spoke through David, as was said before: ‘Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.’”

 

            Today has twenty-four hours, eight of which we blew sleeping.  So, we have sixteen free hours for Today.  True, some of the sleeping hours were yesterday, and some will happen tomorrow.  So, people live roughly sixteen hours Today. 

            God allots a number of days/hours for each person to live. (Psalm 139:16).  We don’t usually think much about the time we have left—until we’re caught waiting.  Waiting in traffic.  Waiting to see the Doctor.  Waiting for someone to arrive. Precious waiting hours simply evaporate from our sixteen.

            God is waiting too.  God is waiting for people to get serious about their sin.  He has seen too many miss His eternal rest in heaven through unbelief.  Hardened hearts is like “Forget God!  I’m too busy today.”

            How many Todays people have is a mystery.  We spend time planning our tomorrows, but Today is too immediate to plan ahead.  Tick Tock, tick tock.  One second just disappeared.  How much time do people waste?

            We know people waste whole days.  Video games, television and Internet networks skim days out of a person’s life.  Time wasted can never be recovered.  “Just a couple hours” that people yearn to get away from reality easily turns into a day.  God is still waiting for people to get serious about where they will spend their eternities.

            One day, we won’t have another tomorrow.  We don’t know when is our last Today.  This is why God is waiting for His kids to get serious about coming to faith in His Son Jesus Christ.   Jesus offers eternal rest in heaven when your last Today ends.

            Hebrews 4:1 says, “Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.”  The Message says it this way, “For as long, then, as that promise of resting in Him pulls us on to God’s goal for us, we need to be careful that we’re not disqualified.”

            God understands rest.  He rested in the seventh day.  He knows his kids need that rest of eternal life in heaven.

            The finality of death erases another Today.  Then it’s too late.

Take Home Nugget 

            It’s still not too late.  Before wasting another Today, why not make the best investment for your future?  Jesus freely offers salvation and forgiveness through faith in Him Today.  Then your finality will be eternal life! 

There’s always tomorrow, until death.  Then a person’s eternity is final.  Have you trusted in Jesus Today? 

J.D. Griffith

 

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for Finality

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The Whole Point

THE WHOLE POINT

Philippians 3:20-21

“But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”

 

            The whole point of the Gospel is to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the world.  As God’s Son, Jesus came to earth to live a sinless life, then to die.  (2 Corinthians 5:21).  He freely gave Himself to be whipped and nailed to a cross as human’s sacrificial lamb.  (1 Corinthians 5:7).  Jesus rose from the dead.  He was seen by His disciples and many others. (Luke 24:1-7, 13-31, John 20-21).   

            The risen Jesus was recognizable. He showed His wounds from dying on a cross.  He ate food.  (Like 24:40-41).  After forty days, He ascended back to heaven.  (Luke 24:50-51).  Jesus offers anyone who believes in Him forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven (John 3:15).  He intercedes for believers every day.  (Hebrews 7:25).

            That is the whole point of Christian faith.

            Take away just one fact, and the Christian faith is a lie.  If Jesus isn’t God’s Son, He couldn’t have lived a sinless life.  Nor would His death have satisfied the Father’s requirement of a perfect lamb sacrificed for forgiveness of sins.  If Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead, what would be the point of having faith as a Christian?

            Who will we see in heaven?  We will see God the father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit face-to-face.  We will meet Old Testament and New Testament saints.  Everyone who believes that Jesus is God’s Son and accepts Him as Lord will live in heaven with us.  Will you see loved ones who died long ago in heaven?  Only if they believed in Jesus. 

            People have strange ideas of heaven, believer’s residence after physical death. Jesus got to do things first.  Just like in any family, older kids gets to do things first.  Believers are adopted into God’s family, as Jesus’ younger siblings.  (Ephesians 1:5).  So, all believers WILL also rise from death in glorious bodies, just like Jesus’.  

Take Home Nugget 

            Though we will be different when raised from the dead, our bodies will be recognizable.  We will bear a heavenly image.  1 Corinthians 15:49 says, “And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.”

 Our resurrected bodies will be perfect for heaven!  Check out the lesson below for more information about resurrected bodies.

Holy Father, thank You for raising Your kids back to life so that we can live with You forever in heaven.  Yah, in Jesus’ Name!

J.D. Griffith

 

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for The Whole Point

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Guide to Victory

GUIDE TO VICTORY

Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding: In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

 

            “I don’t know what to do!” eight year old Shakira wailed. 

            “What’s your problem?” her ten year old cousin Cassie asked.

            “Mom gave me a choice: either go to Girl Scout camp or spend a week at my cousin’s farm.…Oh, my cousin on dad’s side.”

            Cassie smiled, nodding her head.  “Well, I love Girl Scout camp.” she admitted to Shakira.  “But it’s your decision.” 

            Shakira scowled.  “I know.…Let’s pray about it.  Jesus will tell you what to do.” Cassie offered.

            “Okay.”  Shakira grabbed Cassie’s hand and said, “Lord Jesus, what should I do?  Girl Scout Camp, or a week at Uncle Jimmy’s farm?  Please let me know soon.  Thanks, Jesus.   Amen.” 

            The opening scripture is believer’s compass for victorious living.  A compass is handy when people are lost because it tells direction.  Magnetic north attracts the “N” on a compass.  From there, “S”, “E” and “W” directions align clearly.  We can trust a compass because magnetic north is reliable. 

            Trust in the Lord and lead not on your understanding.  God is always reliable.  Only God knows all things.  He knows the future and he knows people’s hearts.  People are often wrong when they think that they know best what to do. 

            In all your ways acknowledge Him.  This is a common mistake.  We tend to rush ahead instead of asking God what’s best.  Since God knits us together in our mother’s wombs, He has the right to plan people’s lives.  (Psalm 139).  Jesus died for our sins, so that believers could be adopted into God’s family.  God knows what’s best, and wants victory for His kids.

            But since people have free will, we tend to decide for ourselves what’s best.  Then we miss His best for us.  Why not first ask Him the direction we’re to go?

            Because He will make your path straight.  A direct route is faster and easier, but it’s not always trouble-free.  When following Proverbs 3:5-6’s guide, God will clear away obstacles.  I call this “open door” versus “closed door” choice.  Even if it “feels” wrong, where God leads is best.

            This guides people to godly victory because here we acknowledge dependence on God instead of prideful self-sufficiency.  

Take Home Nugget

            The next day at the swimming pool, Cassie asked Shakira what she decided.   “I’m going to Girl Scout camp.”  Shakira said.  “My cousin Ricky won’t be home until late August.  We always have a good time, but not this year.”

Holy Father, Please answer choice prayers fast and clear, so that I always do Your will, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

J.D. Griffith

                                                                                                                           

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for Guide to Victory

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Equipped for God's Will

EQUIPPED FOR GOD’S WILL

Exodus 3:1-14

Exodus 3:1-5:  “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.   There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the flames of fire from within the bush.  Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.

“So Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.’

“When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses!   Moses!’

“And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’

“‘Do not go any closer,’ God said.  ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’”

 

            This is where we’d say, “Whoa!  I’m outta here!” 

            If you’ve been reading these devotions, you might remember the previous one, He Came; We Go.  On second thought, you might kick off your shoes and hang out to hear what God might say.  Moses did, and his life was forever changed.

            There are precious moments in our lifetimes when we know that the decision being made will change our lives forever.  I wonder if Moses understood this.  God speaking through a burning bush that doesn’t burn up. 

            Get real.

            I imagine that Moses looked right and left to see if there were any witnesses as he kicked off his sandals.  But when Moses heard God’s plan that he was being commanded to carry out, Moses resisted.  “Not me!  I can’t do this, Lord!”  (Exodus 3:11). 

            Moses complained that he was the wrong person for the job, offering one excuse after the other.  Does this sound familiar?   God was very patient with Moses, as He is with believers today.  What’s important is to know that resisting God’s will is rebellion.  God’s WILL will be accomplished—with or without you!  Which side are you on?

            Whoever God chooses to send, He equips to carry out His will.  Human resistance is typical.  God’s plan sounds impossible, incredible, nothing we could possibly do!  BUT IF we choose to obey, Philippians 2:13 guarantees: God Himself works in us, to work His will for His good pleasure through us. 

            Really?

Take Home Nugget

            Nobody has to obey God’s will with human strength.  God will never ask us to do anything that He won’t energize and equip us to carry out.  As a follower of Christ, you have a personal responsibility to say “Yes” when God calls—allowing God to do His will and achieve His good purpose through you. 

When God calls, rise up.  For He never lets His kids down. 

J.D. Griffith

                                                                                                                           

Click here for Interactive-Online-Lesson for Equipped for God’s Will

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