Panic Or Pray?

An 85-year-old woman, all alone in a convent, got trapped inside an elevator for 4 nights and 3 days. Fortunately, she had a jar of water, some celery sticks, and a few cough drops. After she tried unsuccessfully to open the elevator doors and get a cell phone signal, she decided to turn to God in prayer. “It was either panic or pray,” she later told CNN. In her distress, she relied on God and waited till she was rescued.

Asa was also faced with the options of panic or pray (2 Chron. 14). He was attacked by an Ethiopian army of a million men. But as he faced this huge fighting force, instead of relying on military strategy or cowering in dread, he turned to the Lord in urgent prayer. In a powerful and humble prayer, Asa confessed his total dependence on Him, asked for help, and appealed to the Lord to protect His own name: “Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude” (v.11). The Lord responded to Asa’s prayer, and he won the victory over the Ethiopian army.

When we are faced with tight spots, meager resources, a vast army of problems, or seemingly dead-end solutions, let’s not panic but instead turn to God who fights for His people and gives them victory.

In my distress, anxiety, and fear, Lord, teach me to rely on You and draw close to You. Then I know I’ll be able to stand strong in Your power and won’t be dependent on my own strength.

Prayer is the bridge between panic and peace.

http://odb.org/2012/10/11/panic-or-pray/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+odb%2Ffeed+%28Our+Daily+Bread%29

Philip and the Ethiopian

And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert–Act 8:26

God Removed Philip from the Middle of Evangelistic Success

Philip was in the full tides of work for Christ when the message came from God that he must leave it. He had been preaching in Sebaste, the old city of Samaria, and his preaching had been crowned with wonderful success when suddenly there came the angel of the Lord with this summons to get southward towards Gaza. It was a strange command, swiftly and well obeyed. There was nothing of the spirit of Jonah about Philip. Perhaps Philip remembered Jesus in the desert and thought he was going to meet his Master there. Then came the hour when the chariot rolled by. It was a very picturesque and lordly equipage. Its occupant was the chancellor of the Nubian exchequer, and he was reading aloud, as the Eastern custom is. A few broken syllables fell on Philip’s ear in the brief respites of the jolting and the jarring, and Philip (to whom the Old Testament was doubly precious now) recognized the priceless chapter of Isaiah. Did he remember the prophecy of the psalms, “Ethiopia soon shall stretch out her hands to God” (Psa 68:31). Here was the stretched-out hand of Ethiopia, and God had so ordered it that it was not stretched in vain. Philip ran up to the side of the chariot–it was going very slowly on that rough desert road. He asked the courtier if he understood the chapter. The answer came, “How can I, without a guide?” And the passage closes with the preaching of a Savior, and with the conversion, baptism, and joy of this true seeker from afar for God.

From Crowds to an Individual: the Value of an Individual

Note then the value of a single soul. It must have seemed very strange and dark to Philip that he should be summoned from his Samaritan work. The tide was with him; enthusiasm was heightening vast crowds were moved by the preaching of Christ crucified. It would have been hard to leave all that through sickness; it was doubly hard to do it when well and strong. Could no one else be found for that desert work? Was it right to leave the thousands in Samaria for the single chariot of a southern courtier? I am sure that Philip had many a thought like that, for he was a man of like passions with ourselves. Then gradually it would grow very clear to him that a single soul must be very dear to God. He would remember how the shepherd had left the ninety and nine that the one sheep in the desert might be found. From that hour on to the day he died, Philip held fast in all his work for Christ to the infinite worth, in the eyes of Christ, of one. We must never forget that in a busy city. Where God is, we are not lost in any crowd. We are separately precious and separately sought. In the love of Jesus we all stand alone. One by one we are found and led and humbled till the day break and the shadows flee away.

Disappointed in Jerusalem, the Courtier Did Not Quit

Again observe that the earnest do not despair when disappointed. There is something very noble in this courtier. There is a touch of true greatness in the man. In a heathen court and with everything against him, his life had grown into a great cry for God. Somehow, he had got his hands on the Old Testament. Never a Jewish trader came to Meroe but the chancellor had earnest converse with him until at last nothing would ease his heart but the resolve to journey to Jerusalem. The Temple was there, and the priests and scribes were there–would he not learn all that he craved for there? And now he is returning homeward, a weary, baffled, disappointed man. He had craved for bread–they had given him a stone. He had cried, like Luther when he first saw Rome, “Hail, Holy City“; and the holy city had brought no solace to him. How many a man, in such a disappointment, would have cast his Scripture to the winds of heaven? But the eunuch was of another mould than that. His was too great a heart to nurse despair. He must still seek; he must still read; he must still study. He was deep in Isaiah on that desert road. And it was in that hour when his journey seemed so useless and his hope was quenched and his heart was sick and weary–it was then that he stepped into the light of Christ. We must remember there are disappointments in all seeking There come times when we all seem baffled in our quest. We are tempted to ask, What is the use of it? Is it worth while? Had we not better give in? We are often brought to the point of losing heart. In such moods recall the Ethiopian. He would still hold to it in spite of all failure. And on the day when everything seemed vain, the footsteps of the dawn were on the hills.

God Ordained What He Thought a Chance Meeting

Then lastly, God is behind many a chance meeting. I think that the driver of this Nubian chariot was not a little startled to see Philip; it was an unlikely place to light on any traveler. And when he got home to the stables of his master and told the story by the fire at night, all would agree that this accidental meeting had been one of the strange chances of the road. But we know that the meeting was not that. The hand of God had ordered and prepared it. It had been arranged for in the plans of heaven, though it seemed an accident to the dusky charioteer. We must believe that it is often so. Our friendships and comradeship’s do not begin haphazard. We seem to be thrown across each other’s path, but the hand of God has been ordering the way. Two people meet–we call the meeting chance. But life will be different evermore for both. It were well to strike out chance from our vocabulary, and in its place to put the will of God.

http://devotionals.ochristian.com/george-h-morrison-devotional-sermons-devotional.shtml

 

The Game of Life

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” — Micah 6:8

Micah asks a huge question:  “What does the Lord require of you?” Why are we here? What’s the point of it all? Micah’s answer is brief. He sums it up in three little parts:  Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

We can understand what it means to act justly. Society is based on a foundation of law and justice. The world cannot function with anarchy. There must be a clear distinction between good and bad, like black and white.

We can also understand what it means to love mercy. The world can function with justice, but it wouldn’t be a very nice place if we didn’t also love mercy. Our job is to make the world better by being kind to one another. Kindness gives the world its compassion.

But what does it mean to “walk humbly with your God?” That one takes a bit more thought. My friend Mark shared with me a story that truly captures this idea.

Mark had recently become engaged. He and his fiancé had decided to make their engagement period meaningful by doing one extra act of kindness, every day until their wedding day. The only rule was that it had to be an act that they would not normally do.

One day, Mark found himself at the day’s end and he hadn’t yet done his good deed. He had just finished a workout, and now he sat in a locker room as the gym was about to close. What would he do? Who could he help? The room looked empty, but then he saw that he wasn’t alone. An older man sat hunched over on a bench far across the room.

Normally, Mark would have grabbed his things and left, but this time he walked over to the stranger. “Hi! How are you?” The man’s face lit up and the two spoke for a few minutes about their lives. Then the man said something that would stick with Mark forever:  “In all of the years that I have come to this gym, no one has ever spoken to me. Until today. You know, most people think that life is played out on center stage. But the game of life is really played in the corners, where no one is looking. Those moments define us. We just played life.”

To walk humbly before God means to walk with God in the places where no one is looking. We are all inclined to look our best when all eyes are on us. But how do we behave when we are alone? Or just with our spouse? Or with one stranger?

When no one is looking, God is watching. Those are the moments that matter most, and that is our opportunity to walk humbly with Him.

http://www.holylandmoments.org/devotionals/the-game-of-life

Are You a “Philip”? (1)

“And they chose…Philip.” Ac 6:5 NKJV

Philip was one of seven men chosen to lead the New Testament church. Why? Because he had certain qualities. Let’s look at two of them: He had the ability to be Spirit-led. Philip started out as a deacon working in the administration department of the church. But he went on to become an evangelist, conducting a city-wide crusade in Samaria. “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did” (Ac 8:5-6 NKJV). Now, the idea of staying there and building a great church must have been very appealing to Philip. But God had other plans. “An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip…‘Arise and go toward the…desert.’ So he arose and went” (vv.26-27 NKJV). “Go where? To the desert? Are you serious, Lord?” Here’s a thought: when God speaks to you He may not tell you what you want to hear, or send you where you’d like to go. Have you considered that? Is that why you’re not actively seeking His guidance? Big doors swing on little hinges. In the desert Philip met the Ethiopian eunuch who served the queen of Ethiopia as secretary of the treasury. Philip’s assignment was to introduce him to Christ and baptize him. After that the eunuch returned to Ethiopia and history says multitudes there were won to Christ as a result. But it only happened because Philip could leave his comfort zone, step out in faith and follow God. Bottom line: in order to lead others you must know how to be led by God.

http://theencouragingword.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/are-you-a-philip-1/

Waiting in Hope

“We wait in hope for the Lord;
   he is our help and our shield.”—Psalm 33:20

Hanok was only ten when he, his mother, and two brothers left their rural village and set out for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capitol. Belonging to the Beta Israel, “House of Israel,” as the Ethiopian Jews called themselves, Hanok and his family dreamed of one day immigrating to Israel.

For seven years, they lived in a refugee camp. Conditions in the camp were horrendous, with cramped living conditions, inadequate medical attention, and a lack of other basic necessities, such as food and clothing. Still they waited, hopeful for the day when they would be able to board a plane bound for Israel, hopeful that God would hear their prayers and bring them home to the Promised Land.

For Hanok and his brother, Tadasa, that prayer was answered, their dream realized, when the two received word that they were cleared for immigration by the Ethiopian government. With the help of The Fellowship’s On Wings of Eagles program, which brings needy Jews from the four corners of the earth to Israel, the two boarded a plane to begin their new life in the Holy Land.

It was a bittersweet occasion for the brothers. Because of government restrictions, their mother and other brother were prevented from joining them. Even more tragic, Hanok’s mother was one of hundreds of Ethiopian Jews who died in the refugee camps while waiting for their opportunity. Hanok does not know what has happened to his other brother.

Through the efforts of the Israeli government and organizations like the Jewish Agency for Israel and The Fellowship, the final group of Ethiopian Jews have been cleared to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel). Over the next three years, they will make this historical – and biblical — trip to a land that many have only dreamed about or read about in Bible stories.

For all, it will mean reuniting with family members who already have made aliyah to Israel. It will mean seeing children, parents, and grandparents after years of separation. It will mean that their years of waiting in hope will have been fulfilled — just as God promised.

Undoubtedly, the story of the Ethiopian Jews is historical and prophetic; but it is also inspirational. Their story is the story of God’s people throughout the ages as they waited upon the promise of God:  Abraham and Sarah for a son and heir; the enslaved people of Israel for a deliverer; and countless others.

Their story is the story of answered prayer, as God is in the midst of all who wait upon Him in hope.

http://www.holylandmoments.org/devotionals/waiting-in-hope-2