Time Out! Devotions

Antiques and children – that is not a good combination. It is, in fact, an invitation to disaster. Like that lovely antique teapot my wife had out years ago when the kids were little. Well, you know what happened; one moment a teapot, the next moment pieces of a teapot. But my wife quickly rallied to remedy the situation. No, she did not disown one of our children. She sent me out for a tube of some sort of super glue. And amazingly, she put those pieces together and recreated that old teapot, and that glue has held it together to this very day!

There are times when you and I can use a little “super glue” because it’s us that’s going to pieces. And that spiritual glue is available to you right now, if you know where to get it and you know how to use it.

In fact, our word for today from the Word of God is all about this powerful agent that can hold you together, no matter what. Hebrews 4:16 puts it this way: “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” I studied that “grace to help us” phrase in the original Greek words of the New Testament and I discovered that the word translated “help us” is used only one other time in the Bible – in Acts 27:17. Paul is on a ship that’s literally being blown apart by a violent storm. The Bible says “they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together.” There’s that “help” word from Hebrews 4:16, except here it’s about literally keeping the ship from coming apart in the storm.

God says that’s what His grace is able to do for you, to help hold you together when the storm is intense and things seem to be breaking apart. He invites us to “approach the throne of grace with confidence.” That word “confidence” means boldness and frankness. So when you start to pray, you go to your Lord boldly, talking, not in some fancy “prayer-ese” language, but with straight talk. You tell Him how it really is, how you really feel, and how much you need Him.

The Bible says that when you do that, you can “find grace.” I like the deeper meaning of the Greek word that we translate as “find” here. It means to “come upon” or to “discover.” There’s almost an element of surprise in it, “Wow! Look what I just found! All this grace – lots of grace to hold me together in this situation right now!” When the verse says “grace to help us in our time of need,” the original language is saying help that comes at just the right time, not before you really need it, not after you really need it, but right on time.

So this is one power-packed invitation from the One who rules the galaxies from His “throne of grace” – to come into His throne room boldly and honestly, reaching out to put in our hands the exact resources we need for this moment, this challenge, this situation, or this need. He will respond with a flood of grace, just the kind of grace you need right now: suffering grace, waiting grace, deciding grace, grieving grace, single grace, physical grace, emotional grace, or financial grace.

But the grace doesn’t just come to you automatically. You have to go for the grace that this moment requires! And so often we don’t. We struggle and worry and scheme, never going to the Grace Throne for the answers or resources we need. We could be rich, but we live in unnecessary poverty. We need to accept this incredible invitation many times a day and pray aggressively, not passively; boldly, not timidly; specifically, not generally. And it’s all available to us because of Jesus. We come there because He died to make it possible for us to get this close to the God of the universe.

So there is never any reason you need to go to pieces. The grace glue of your God can hold you together, no matter what hits you!

(by Ron Hutchcraft from Christianity.com devotionals – A Word With You)

Psalm 23:5
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Some people never find satisfaction in the things they do have, but spend their entire lives wishing for things they don’t have. They are never happy with where their lives are going, they feel empty in their relationships, and therefore they find it impossible to give thanks for the many blessings they have been given. As Christians, we are people of praise. Every prayer we offer unto God should acknowledge the many wonderful things that He has done for us. Only a blind person can deny the beauty and splendor of this world. God gives good things to His children, and we should be thankful for all that we have.

Prayer: Lord, I cannot believe how much I have been given. Help open my eyes to the many blessings that have been bestowed upon me. Make me thankful, Lord. Amen.

(from Christianity.com – Wisdom from the Psalms)

I’ll forgive . . . but I’ll never forget. We hear that so much, it’s easy to shrug it off as “only natural.” That’s just the problem! It is the most natural response we can expect. Not supernatural. It can also have tragic consequences.

In his book Great Church Fights, Leslie Flynn tells of two unmarried sisters who lived together, but, because of an unresolved disagreement over an insignificant issue, they stopped speaking to each other (one of the inescapable results of refusing to forgive). Since they were either unable or unwilling to move out of their small house, they continued to use the same rooms, eat at the same table, use the same appliances, and sleep in the same room . . . all separately . . . without uttering one word. A chalk line divided the sleeping area into halves, separating doorways as well as the fireplace. Each would come and go, cook and eat, sew and read without ever stepping over into her sister’s territory. Through the black of night, each could hear the deep breathing of the other, but, because both were unwilling to take the first step toward forgiving and releasing whatever was the offense, they coexisted for years in grinding silence.

Refusing to forgive and cancel the debt leads to other tragedies, like monuments of spite. How many Christian organizations split (often over nitpicky issues), then spin off into another direction, fractured, splintered, and bitterly opinionated? How many families choose to hold on to memories of resentment, rather than create legacies of forgiveness? And churches can be the worst at this!

After I spoke at a summer Bible conference meeting one evening, a woman told me that she and her family had been camping across America. In their travels, they drove through a town, passing by a church with a name she said she would never forget—

THE ORIGINAL CHURCH OF GOD, NUMBER TWO.

Whether our dispute is a personal or a public matter, we quickly reveal whether we possess a servant’s heart in how we respond to those who have offended us. We always have a choice. Will we choose to hold on to the things that have hurt us until we’ve erected monuments of spite that divide our once harmonious relationships . . . or will we choose to create lasting legacies of forgiveness by forgiving those that hurt us and then releasing the offense . . . canceling the debt? Don’t miss those final words.

It isn’t enough simply to say, “Well, okay—you’re forgiven, but don’t expect me to release you!” That means we have constructed a monument of spite in our mind, which isn’t forgiveness at all.

Before I go on, let me say this: I don’t mean to imply that you forget what happened, or that you are able to erase the incident from your memory, or that you don’t hold someone responsible for abusive or criminal behavior or financial debts. We live in reality. It’s impossible for victims of rape to remove the unspeakable crime from their memory. Memories of childhood abuse cannot be wisped away like leaves falling from a tree. Scars, both physical and emotional, are lasting pictures of a terrible pain.

What I do mean is that we release people from the guilt and no longer hold the offense over their heads. When we choose to “cancel the debt,” we unshackle people from the dark emotions lurking in our hearts that say, Never. Never let this go. In fact, for those who have experienced life-altering offenses, choosing to forgive and release people can be an ongoing process. When Peter asked Jesus, “‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven’ ” (Matthew 18:21-22).

Servants must be broad-shouldered people—big enough to go on, big enough to remember the right, and big enough to forgive the wrong by releasing the offender of any guilt, pain, or grudges.

Taken from Charles R. Swindoll, “Creating a Legacy of Forgiveness: Cancel the Debt,” Insights (May 2004): 1, 4. Copyright © 2004, Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.

Psalm 25:15 (NCV)

My eyes are always looking to the Lord for help. He will keep me from any traps.

John 1:12 (NCV)

But to all who did accept him and believe in him he gave the right to become children of God.

John 7:38 (NCV)

If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out from that person’s heart, as the Scripture says.”

Acts 15:9 (NCV)

To God, those people are not different from us. When they believed, he made their hearts pure.

Romans 4:1-5 (NCV)

So what can we say that Abraham, the father of our people, learned about faith?² If Abraham was made right by the things he did, he had a reason to brag. But this is not God’s view,³ because the Scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.”⁴ When people work, their pay is not given as a gift, but as something earned.⁵ But people cannot do any work that will make them right with God. So they must trust in him, who makes even evil people right in his sight. Then God accepts their faith, and that makes them right with him.

Romans 4:18 (NCV)

There was no hope that Abraham would have children. But Abraham believed God and continued hoping, and so he became the father of many nations. As God told him, “Your descendants also will be too many to count.”

Romans 10:4 (NCV)

Christ ended the law so that everyone who believes in him may be right with God.

Romans 11:20 (NCV)

Those branches were broken off because they did not believe, and you continue to be part of the tree only because you believe. Do not be proud, but be afraid.

1 Corinthians 2:5 (NCV)

This was so that your faith would be in God’s power and not in human wisdom.

1 Peter 2:6 (NCV)

The Scripture says: “I will put a stone in the ground in Jerusalem. Everything will be built on this important and precious rock. Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.” (Isaiah 28:16)

2 Corinthians 1:24 (NCV)

We are not trying to control your faith. You are strong in faith. But we are workers with you for your own joy.

Ephesians 6:16 (NCV)

And also use the shield of faith with which you can stop all the burning arrows of the Evil One.

Hebrews 10:22 (NCV)

Let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, because we have been made free from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:38-39 (NCV)

Those who are right with me will live by faith. But if they turn back with fear, I will not be pleased with them.” (Habakkuk 2:3–4) ³⁹ But we are not those who turn back and are lost. We are people who have faith and are saved.

Matthew 9:28 (NCV)

After Jesus went inside, the blind men went with him. He asked the men, “Do you believe that I can make you see again?” They answered, “Yes, Lord.”

Mark 9:24 (NCV)

Immediately the father cried out, “I do believe! Help me to believe more!”