30 November 2010 Devotion for Today "How to Respond When the Chips are Down" Acts 23:1-8

30 November 2010 Devotion for Today "How to Respond When the Chips are Down" Acts 23:1-8 1 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.” 2 At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!” 4 Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult God’s high priest!” 5 Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’[a]” 6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.) (Acts 23:1-8) How do you respond when the "chips are down?" In this passage we see the Holy Spirit guiding every word and action of the Apostle Paul as he is standing before the Sanhedrin- the very council that tried Jesus and handed him over to be put to death. They were supposed to be the spiritual leaders of Israel, representing the leading families of the region and led by the High Priest. The first thing was that Paul showed no fear- he looked straight at them, making eye contact in spite of the intimidation he received from the Sanhedrin. He knew that he had done nothing wrong, confident as God's spokesman. Standing before unhappy, angry people can be a very fearful thing. But if a group like this senses fear, they will not feel sorry for you. Instead they will overwhelm you with a barrage of evil threats- just as they tried to do with Paul. Seeing that they could not easily intimidate him, their frustration drove them to resort to physical violence as the High Priest ordered someone to slap Paul in the mouth. This nearly got the best of Paul, who retaliated by lashing out at the High Priest but in a carefully controlled manner. Paul was expecting this also, and knew he must not add fuel to the flames but even here, his wisdom prevailed and easily answered the charge of insulting the High Priest with Scripture by mildly rebuking himself and at the same time pointing out how the High Priest stooped to showing frustration and violence. As Paul composed himself, he aimed at them philosophically by exploiting and driving a great wedge between the two factious parties within the Sanhedrin over the doctrine of the resurrection; which the Pharisees upheld but the Sadducees rejected. After this, it was impossible for the Sanhedrin to keep the group in focus as they melted down into a "free-for-all" which prompted the Roman guards to have to wade into them and extract Paul by force once again. The Sanhedrin made a poor impression upon the Romans by doing this, and Paul received some admiration from his Roman captors. Even the conservative members of the Sanhedrin threw their lot in with him when they realized Paul had been a member of the Pharisaical party and identified with his doctrine. It was evident that Paul came away from that difficult situation as a winner. Paul gives us some pointers and shows us how we need to respond in the same way: 1. When facing intimidation, be fearless. You may be shaking in your boots but do everything you can to stare them down. Showing fear in a hostile crowd is like bleeding in a tank full of sharks. 2. Remember, you are not just facing people, you are facing the very presence of Satan himself. Do not count on any sympathy from him or anyone. 3. Show control and Christ-like behavior. Do not result to insults or pettiness even when others have done so. Maintaining control will only make you look better even to the ones who disagree with you. Lashing out will only add fuel to the fire and make it difficult to keep the dispute in focus. 4. Ask Christ to give you wisdom when you realize you will not be able to convince anyone of the truth of your innocence or intentions. Do not become frustrated. Observe carefully the weaknesses in the group assembled against you. Are they united as a group, or does something divide them? It could be that someone is setting you up to be used to further their own agenda to gain advantage over the rest of the group. Are they being truthful? Is there a lie they fear you might expose? People fear this so much that often they keep quiet in such situations, or they will say too much and discredit themselves. Ask the Lord to give you wisdom to be meek and humble, but fearless at the same time. 5. Do not stand for being abused. Paul spoke to this situation when someone slapped him. He addressed it, but moved on and remained calm. Note that he didn't say he would slap them back, but that God would! 6. Resist the temptation to grandstand to the audience or to those who have nothing to gain from the situation one way or another. There is no need to try to go privately to enlist support for your cause, either. Paul could not do this anyway and it seldom helps. You cannot count on anyone to "back you up" when the proverbial chips are down. The only one whom you can count on in a situation like this is the help and power of Jesus Christ who identifies readily with what you are going through and can help you more than the majority. 7. Remember, every day you are in a battle. Chips are being called in every day! You may win the battle in this situation, but that does not mean that the war is finished. Even Christ's wisdom in the same situation did not save Him from being crucified. But He did so gloriously, and finished the task He had come to do. What I am saying is, you may live another day, but it is more likely you will not. This is not a defeat, however. It is a glorious victory. God is still on His throne and the best thing you can do is to show the best you can for His glory. Prayer: Dear Lord, Your enemies seek to destroy me. I feel so alone and friendless in this world. Help me in this time to gain confidence and strength from You. Keep me strong and sweet and gracious at the same time. And should I go down, may I do so in the spirit of the One who said, "Father into Thy hands I commit my spirit!" In Jesus Name, Amen. Have a blessed day! 

29 November 2010 Devotion for Today “When People Do Not Know What to Do with You” Acts 22:22-30

29 November 2010 Devotion for Today “When People Do Not Know What to Do with You” Acts 22:22-30

²² The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!” ²³ As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, ²⁴ the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. ²⁵ As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?” ²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷ The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes, I am,” he answered. ²⁸ Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied. ²⁹ Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains. ³⁰ The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews. So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.

In this somewhat amusing story of bureaucratic bungling, the Apostle Paul is arrested on trumped up charges for stirring up a riot at the Temple in Jerusalem. Paul had been given an opportunity to address the crowd once again, to help them understand why he was there and to proclaim the truth about Jesus. But the crowd did not want to hear the truth. Instead they called out for Paul’s blood. The Roman guards, fearing Paul would be killed by the crowd, took him into custody.

There is something about the human mind that is closed off to the truth when it does not want to be convinced otherwise. This is a form of blindness. It has nothing to do with the eye organ or neuro centers of the brain affecting physical eyesight. This blindness is emotional, even spiritual. We prefer to believe lies if it is more convenient to us than the truth; especially if that truth is threatening to us. We will even react to the truth with violence, even bloodshed if we are affected in such a way. I have even seen family members turn on one another because of this. Paul experienced this first hand from the Jews who rejected him. After he was arrested he was about to be beaten by the cruel Romans. This was standard policy by the Romans to make an example out of anyone who inconvenienced them. It was also their way of demonstrating their contempt for the Jews and other conquered peoples. They mistook Paul for being a classless trouble-maker, and were determined to make him pay for it until Paul invoked his citizenship. The brief exchange between Paul and the commander is comical. The commander is startled and realizes he could get into big trouble for abusing a Roman citizen and denying him due process. He wonders what other credentials he possessed that he did not know- something that could easily have threatened the Roman commander’s career: especially the fact that Paul was born as a Roman citizen, whereas the commander was naturalized and had to pay a lot of money for it. No one seemed to know what to do with Paul, so he was released on his own custody so that he might appear before the Sanhedrin.

Do you ever find yourself, like Paul, in situations like this where no one knows what to do with you. A certain group will hate you because of what and who you stand for. Others are indifferent to you. Still others, like the Romans, will not know what to make of you. They may admire your Christian character and even like you- but not well enough to want to be friends with you. Subsequently, you will not get many invitations to parties or other social activities. This is why we must value our fellowship in Christ with other Christians. They are our family when the world has rejected us. They are our source of support when others shy away from us and do not know what to do with us.

Do people not know what to do with you? If that is the case you probably are closer to Christ than you realize. Do all that you can to demonstrate Christian integrity and character so that if people get upset with you it will not be because you cannot be trusted. Believe me, they will be looking for a reason. Don’t expect people to be easily swayed even by your most convincing testimony. Just expect spiritual blindness to be there, and don’t get frustrated with them. It is Satan who puts those blinders on. Just keep your attitude and heart sweet and leave the rest up to the Lord and stay close to Him.

Prayer: Dear Lord, often I find myself in situations where people don’t know what to make of me. This may be a good thing, but sometimes it hurts because it is so lonely. Help me to understand that this is just part of the price I pay for being a follower of Jesus Christ. It cannot hurt nearly so much as what You have been through. Help me keep that in perspective as I battle the loneliness and the treatment this world gives me.

Have a blessed day!

15 November 2010 Devotion for Today "Mondays" Psalm 145

15 November 2010 Devotion for Today "Mondays" Psalm 145


I'm probably being anachronistic again, but I grew up listening to the Carpenter's singing words to a tune that goes

something likethis: "Hanging around, nothin' to do but frown. Rainy days and

Mondays always get me down!" Do you like Mondays? I can't remember at whose office I saw this

but perhaps you have seen it also: the Peanuts cartoon character,Snoopy, the famous black and white beagle, is depicted in

attitude for each day of the week. On Friday, Snoopy is happy and smiling.Saturday, Snoopy is in ecstacy and floating on air.

On Sunday, Snoopy is happy too, but he has one eye of concern as he looks toward the next day. Then Monday comes and

Snoopy is bleary-eyed, laying down almost lifeless, with a black cloud over his head. Does this sound like your Monday? It certainly seemed that way with my children this morning-they were so tired and grumpy they could not even lift their heads from the breakfast table to eat, griping: "Man, why do we have to go to school?" . I felt badly for them having to

start off the day that way. But really, Monday is not unlike any other day. Its just that western culture is just blessed to have normally two days off on the week-end. Even in some European countries this is not true. We learned in Italy last week that the children there go to school six days a week (it wasn't long ago that they did that here in Germany). I said to my son who made the remark, "How would you like to grow up in a country where they didn't have a "Saturday?" He said, that would be all right, just as long as they didn't have a "Monday!"


David did not use the calendar that we use today, nor did he even

havea concept of "Monday" as we do today. He treats each day as a blessing and as an opportunity to serve and commune with God. He writes "I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, and I will praise

Your name forever and ever.Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable."

(verses 1-3).


Notice he says, "every day I will bless you"? David says this because he knows that even our Mondays have blessings in them, and something worthy to thank our Lord about. Some preachers don't do this, but I work on Mondays. And typically it is not any better a day for preachers than for most other people. I had a preacher friend tell me in jest-"I never take off on Mondays, why be miserable on your own time?" But seriously,

Monday is a good catch-up day-one to reflect upon what happened the previous day, how to do things better next week

and whatnot to do again. Its a good planning day, but most of all its another day to rejoice in what God has done in my life. If "rainy days and Mondays always get you down", as the song goes,

then you have a reason to smile today, because Jesus loves you and He has given you another day. Bless Him for it. Have a blessed Monday!

03 November 2010 Devotion for Today "Greatly Comforted" Acts 20: 7-12

03 November 2010 Devotion for Today "Greatly Comforted" Acts 20: 7-12

7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” 11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. (Acts 20:7-12)

She seldom, if ever, waits for an invitation. She shows up unannounced and rudely barges in, demanding that others take notice of her. Everything has to come to a stop because of her, and she will not allow you to ignore her. She makes her entrance on the scene, takes all that she can from us, deliberately hurting us as much as she possibly can, and then takes her leave without the slightest courtesy, leaving all she visits to pick up the pieces of their lives while she goes about seeking other hapless victims. Who is this person who inflicts such pain and misery every where that she goes? Her name is Tragedy. Like a nightmare from which we cannot waken, Tragedy invokes her presence with a heavy heart and a flood of tears. We never know who she will visit next, and we cannot protect or prepare ourselves enough.

This unwelcome guest paid a visit to the church in Troas where Paul preached to a huge crowd throughout the night. Tragedy sized up the scene and waited to strike. The lamps which illuminated the room were putting off a fume. Those seat in the window sills did not help the ventilation for their bodies blocked the fumes and allowed noxious gases to build up. Paul, unaware and characteristically filled with the Holy Spirit, took no notice of what was happening as he preached to bleary eyed men and women struggling hard to stay awake. All of a sudden, there was a noise in the direction of one of the windows. Someone emitted a terrified scream as everyone's eyes dart to the scene of where Tragedy just struck. A young man named Eutychus, overcome by the fumes and sleep, falls from the third-story window to the ground below. Suddenly the crowd trumbles down the stairs and gathers around this poor young man, his neck broken, laying obviously dead before them. We imagine the shrieks and wails of his parents and other family members trying to lift his lifeless body from the ground.

However, Paul arrives, throws himself upon Eutychus and announces, "He is alive!" Could it be? How can this happen? No one seems to question this as the young man is taken back upstairs. They feed him and then Paul continues speaking until morning as Tragedy is evicted from the room. The God of comfort takes over where Tragedy leaves off as their heavy hearts melt into joy.

Everywhere around us we see the aftermath of this unwelcome visitor, Tragedy. But God 's comfort is the only one who is any match for her. He uses us to usher in that Comfort Some people confuse comfort with being comfortable. Those who are comfortable take no thought of Tragedy or her victims when they happen to others, and look for excuses not to get up from their comfortableness to out their arms around others or try to assuage their grief. Those who comfort, however, overcome thoughts of inconvenience. They may not know what to say in a situation which Tragedy has struck, but the presence of Comfort means more than a whole encyclopedia of words trying to describe the situation. This is the meaning of Comfort. Where can you employ God's comfort when Tragedy strikes? IF ever the presence of Jesus Christ is seen the most, it is when His comfort is invoked. May God help us not to fear comfort, but be used of it to bring to bind up the wounds and hurts of broken hearted people all around us.

Prayer: Dear God, Tragedy struck somewhere this week. I feel the pain and hurt of the ones whom she hurt. Help me dear God to do what I can to alleviate this hurt In Jesus Name, Amen.

Have a blessed day!

01 November 2010 Devotion for Today "Seven Sons of Sceva" Acts 19:11-20

01 November 2010 Devotion for Today "Seven Sons of Sceva" Acts 19:11-20

11 Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. 13

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We[a] exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.

15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered[b] them, and prevailed against them,[c] so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. 19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. Acts 19:11-20

When I was a teenager, the blockbuster horror flick, "The Exorcist" was a sensation at the box office. I didn't bother to go see it, namely because the R rating was strictly enforced back in the those days and secondly I hated horror films- they gave me nightmares! I'm no prude or a legalist, but there was also something about movies of this nature that created a check in my spirit- that they were just something I felt would help me as a Christian even at the age of thirteen or fourteen. But the films premise is about a couple of Catholic priests who visited this certain home to drive out demons from one of its young occupants. In the end, both priests end up dead and its uncertain whether the demonized teenager was successfully exorcized.

The content of the passage here in the book of Acts is just as frightening because this was a real-life situation, not Hollywood Spielberg fiction. A prominent Jewish man named Sceva and his sons made their living driving out evil spirits where ever they went, and challenged an evil spirit in the presence of the Apostle Paul and a crowd of people. They tried to adjure the demon using the power of Jesus after listening to Paul preach about Him. When challenged, this evil spirit became extremely agitated, and flew upon the exorcists and ripping into them, wounding them and tearing off their clothes with brutal power.

This must have been quite a scene, but it ought to underscore the fact that spiritual warfare is nothing to play around with. These people made several mistakes: 1) they underestimated the power of Satan and his forces; 2) they went unprepared into the presence of Satan; 3) They invoked the power of Jesus Christ without discerning a personal relationship with Him.

Jesus Christ has greater power over the forces of darkness in this world. For this reason many people fear the name of Jesus and do not like to hear His name invoked in public places. Also, people the world-over will acknowledge this power, but they do not have a personal relationship with Christ. They would rather just use Jesus to get what they want and not deal with Him after that. We should never misuse the person or the work of Jesus Christ for our own purposes- which is what the Scevians did.

But make no mistake, spiritual warfare is not for the curious or for the unprepared. It is something that goes on today as much as it ever did, and it is not to be treated lightly. A person ought never to go against the forces of darkness until he or she is sufficiently prepared in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we ought never to go out of our way to find evil spirits that need removing- they will find their own way to our door soon enough.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, I must admit that I am greatly troubled by this doctrine and don't know much about it. But I also know that I have nothing to fear if I have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I appropriate His eternal power over my life today to go before me in whatever challenge I experience. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.