Continual and Loving Communication

In the message "By Our Love" we saw how Jesus desires for us to mature in our love for our Heavenly Father and for others. But as we continue our walk, we soon discover many decision points where we must choose between two paths...with only one being the path of God. At these critical moments, we must be able to recognize His leading; and if we have not spent time worshiping at His feet and communicating in prayer, we cannot expect to understand or even hear His guidance in our time of greatest need.

Communication is essential for maturing in any relationship. A marriage which lacks communication will slowly begin to drift apart. It's not uncommon for married couples to live together for the majority of their lives and yet feel like strangers because they have failed to spend the time required to really know and understand one another.

Our relationship with God is much the same. When we receive the gift of Salvation through faith in Jesus, we begin a life long relationship of love - a relationship which must be nurtured through fellowship and prayer.

Psalm 5:1-3
"Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to You I pray. In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation."

David states that the morning is his dedicated time for prayer; his time to be alone with God, to share his heart and expectantly await God's direction. But God has not specified a preferred time. In fact, Paul encourages us to maintain a constant state of communion with God when he says to "pray continuously" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We ought to strive for communication which is regular and frequent; any time is the right time for prayer; any time is the right time to commune with the one you love!

Prayer must originate from a sincere heart, anything less becomes a ritual of meaningless words. We should be motivated by a desire to strengthen our relationship - to praise Him for His blessings and earnestly ask for His guidance - and to deepen the commitment of our love. We ought to value our time with God above anything else this world has to offer; "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" (Psalm 27:4).

Let's make sure our love doesn't fade. Let's set aside time each day to be alone with God - quiet time where we can hear His voice and begin to understand His character. Then, let's continue to commune and fellowship with Him throughout our times of busyness. Let's learn to dwell in His house all the rest of our days by maintaining continual and loving communication.

Have a Christ Centered Day!

Steve Troxel
God's Daily Word Ministries

**** Reading Plan ****

Apr 18 Joshua 16:1-18:28; Luke 19:1-27; Psalms 87:1-7; Proverbs 13:11

HE IS RISEN!

He Is Risen

On the night before He was crucified, Jesus, while in great anguish, showed the human side of His nature and asked if there was another way for God's plan to be accomplished; "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me" (Matthew 26:39a). Though He knew He would be physically, emotionally, and Spiritually tormented, nailed to a cross and hung until dead, He gave His life into the hands of the Father; "Yet, not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:39b). And as sure as Jesus knew God's plan was for Him to die, He also knew He would rise again; "And on the third day He will be raised to life" (Matthew 17:23).

On the third day after Jesus was crucified, Mary Magdalene and her friends saw the empty tomb and immediately ran to tell the disciples; "But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense" (Luke 24:11). Even after Peter saw the empty tomb for himself, he was perplexed; "He went away, wondering to himself what had happened" (Luke 24:12).

The disciples had walked with Jesus and listened to Him teach about this day but they still did not understand. It wasn't until Jesus personally appeared to the disciples that the events began to make sense; "Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures" (Luke 24:45).

In an instant, everything fit into place. They finally understood how all the Old Testament scripture pointed to the coming of Jesus and how He would be sacrificed for the forgiveness of our sins. They saw the predictions of His death - and of His resurrection. They finally saw Him as much more than a good teacher, much more than even a mighty king. His resurrection meant He was the Savior, the one and only Son of God!

Romans 1:4
"And who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord."

The resurrection was God's declaration to the world: "This is My Son!" The resurrection lets us know that "with God ALL things are possible" (Matthew 19:26), and it gives us the assurance that every one of His promises will come to pass; if Christ is truly risen, how can any trials of this world possibly lead to defeat?

True belief in the resurrection should fill us with awe and overwhelm us with a sense of peace and thankfulness. He died and rose again so we could live an abundant life and worship Him for all eternity. This Easter season, let's place our faith in the sacrifice of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and live in the promise and power of His resurrection. Let's pray for our mind to be fully opened to His truth and for our life to be lived as though we KNOW He is risen!

Have a Christ Centered Day!

Steve Troxel
God's Daily Word Ministries


**** Reading Plan ****

Apr 3 Deut 23:1-25:19; Luke 10:13-37; Psalms 75:1-10; Proverbs 12:12-14


As I read this devotion today, my heart was filled with gratitude for what Jesus did for me! Each year that passes, I re-read the story of Easter and what Jesus went through in order for us to have peace with God. The older I get, the more humbled I am. When I was a child, Easter meant Easter baskets, a new dress, a matching hat and gloves and even a new pair of shoes! My parents knew Easter was a special holiday and that meant we wear our "Easter Best"! I am very thankful for all they did for me, but what God wants is our Easter "worst". He wants us to come to Him with empty arms and an open heart. The Bible warns us about cleaning up the outside, (Matthew 12:44). It would be better to not do anything than to have an outward appearance of holiness but a heart that is far from God. Today, over 50 years later, I barely even think about going out and getting a new dress for Easter. {Although tradition still hangs onto me tightly and I love to get little goodies for my "Grands" Easter baskets!} Ham remains a staple in our home for dinner and Easter Lilies are one of my favorite flowers.
I'm still brought back to the cross. 2012 has brought us to the cross unlike no other. I have SEEN that Jesus was a man, born on this earth, suffered unto death...death on a cross. WHY? So that we might be forgiven. We can't do anything to save ourselves from an eternity in Hell, separated from Christ. We are sinners. That is proven over and over, every day my feet hit the floor. I have good intentions. Intentions of spending lots of time in the Word and in prayer only to hear the phone ring, my lists clamoring or ......! You fill in the blank.

Again, I come back to the cross.

When reading the above devotional, I realized again that JESUS, the sinless GOD-man has emotions as we do. "My father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me." Dennis and I said the SAME thing to God in the early months of this year, before the Hodgkin's diagnosis came in. We didn't WANT to go through the pain and suffering that was ahead of us. The undeniable fear. The waiting. The unknown's that are ahead for the rest of our lives on this earth. All those things we experienced, Jesus Christ HIMSELF experienced in the Garden the night before he went to the cross. HE UNDERSTANDS!! What comfort this brings to our hearts!

He has given us His Word to open our eyes to his promises...his truths. For this we know:

~He will never leave us or forsake us ~Hebrews 13:5
~He comforts the brokenhearted ~Psalm 34:18
~He allows these trials to bring us closer to Himself ~James 1:2,3
~He wants to comfort us in our trials! ~2 Cor. 1:4
~He wants our trials to be used to comfort others who are going through trials"~2 Cor. 1:4,5

The list could go on and on. We are learning much, but one thing we know...our trials will not be wasted. God has comforted us, and continues to do so each day as we lean on Him. We are learning to not get too far ahead of ourselves. Take a day at a time, for God gives us strength for TODAY and bright hope for TOMORROW!

Grace...an old word with new meaning! Our God is a gracious God. He has put a song in our heart and we love Him more today than even we did 4 months ago! We are more dependent on him today than we were 4 months ago! We depend on Him not only for the next breath we take but for the makeup of each blood cell in our bodies. If he knows the number of hairs on our head, he certainly knows the number of blood cells in our bodies!

We are thankful. We are blessed. We are at peace. Chemo continues. The day after Easter Dennis will be at the 1/2 mark. God has blessed us so much and we have no doubt that He will continue the remaining 6 treatments! Things may not go as smoothly as we want, but he is having poison put into his veins. That's not something that was in the original plan of God. YET GOD, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, has allowed modern medicine to proceed in order to glorify Himself. He knows that with healing, comes pain and suffering. HE knows this well. We will follow the Masters plan and as best we can, submit our lives to Him. For you see...we know "The Rest of the Story". For those that believe, we will spend eternity with Him in Glory! Easter is so much more than Easter Baskets, new Easter dresses and ham dinners. It's the heart.

Do you believe that Jesus was a man who was also God, born of a virgin, who came to take our place in death (separation from God)? It is true. And do you know that the difference in Biblical Christianity and ALL other belief's is that Jesus is ALIVE? All other forms of organized "religion" do not have a Savior that is ALIVE! He is alive in every heart that trusts in HIM to save them from their sins.

We know this is true because the Bible say's it's true, but also because we are experiencing first hand the "Peace that passes all understanding through Christ Jesus"! How can one face cancer or any other life threatening disease without Jesus? Where is their hope? In medicine? In Doctors? In healthy lifestyles and organic foods? This world is tainted folks! There is no hope apart from Christ.

As this Holy week continues to speed by...stop and reflect on what it means to you personally. Is it just a time to celebrate Spring? Or is it remembering and rejoicing in what your JESUS has done for you?

We are REJOICING!!