ADs JULY 2015 Devotional

Facing your Giants!

In the movie, “Facing the Giants,” David Childers, a rookie punter weighing only 145 pounds, faced an impossible challenge. With 2 seconds left in the state championship game against the Richland Giants, his coach Grant Taylor asked him to kick a game-wining field goal from the 51-yard line, although his best had only been 39 yards. The season had started off badly until coach Taylor 

decided to give the season all to God. All he asked of his team was to lay it 

all on the field for God.

    The Shiloh Eagle’s 32 players shouldn’t have even been in the play-offs and certainly didn’t have a chance against the Giant’s team of 85 players, but they were there! They were facing their giants of fear and failure. David, drawing his courage from his father on the sidelines and a momentary shift in the wind towards the goal, kicks a game-winning goal. Later, coach Taylor declared, “With God, nothing is impossible!”

    We need that message! In this year’s MT/MR, the Holy Spirit weaved the recurrent theme of preparing for suffering. As missionaries we may face the real possibility of suffering and/or persecution as we lay it all on our field! In our own strength, we cannot do this but, “With God, nothing is impossible!”  

   We’re not promised immunity to suffering but rather victory through it. Suffering may become an integral part of our call as missionaries, as Paul’s discovered,

“The Lord said, “Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles…and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”  Acts 9:15-16 (NLT)

Be of good courage, God is preparing us to face our Giants and we will be alert!

“We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.” Romans 5:3-4 (MSG)

AD's May 2015 Devotional

Ever feel ineffective and unproductive?

I have! I was going through a bad spell. I took on a church building project in Nevis. My path to dedicating the church was laid out for me. We had tremendous success with the first team, getting the building up to the bond beam level. After considering the options, we ordered a roof to be made and shipped to Nevis, arriving in time for the next team. They were going to weld the roof to be finished by team 3. Team 4 was going to lay the floors and hang the doors and windows. The last team was going to finish the platform, plaster and paint, and generally get the building to the dedication stage. 
   My plan fell apart when the shipment scheduled to take 15 days took over two months! Welders became electricians. Stairs were built instead of the roof being installed. As of this writing, I am scheduled to host the last team without any assurance that the roof will come. Is it lost forever in the Bermuda Triangle? I was carrying this discouragement to last Sunday’s service when a scripture spoke to my heart about being effective:
  His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life...
  …make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.    

                                                                                                                                        2 Peter 1:3-8 (niv) portions

    I've preached it. I've tried to live it. God is more concerned about the worker than the work!

   During you setbacks —and there WILL BE setbacks— what is the work that God is doing in you 
so He can more effectively work through you? Let keep our eyes on Him to keep from being ineffective and unproductive in life and in ministry.

AD's February 2015 Devotional

What a parade of the Nations! 

What a reminder of the heart of God!

We were at the CFAGE meeting (*Caribbean Fellowship 

of Assembly of God Executives) in Suriname. Suriname has one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the world. On the first night, there was a missions parade of people groups who identified with our host church pastored by Rev. Irving Chin Sie Jen. There were Hindustani, Javanese, Amerindians, Maroons, Creoles, Europeans and Brazilians groups represented, all carrying flags of their nations.

   On the second night of CFAGE, spontaneous praise broke out into joyous dancing. Despite the cultural diversity, most entered in, unashamedly worshipping God. Overhead, there was a sign, 

“To Whom Shall We Go?” 

What a celebration! It was a glimpse of heaven.  

   As Revelation 5:9 (NIV) depicts it: “And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.’”  

Our time in Suriname reminded us of that glorious day of celebration coming soon when our mission on this earth is finished and we shall see Jesus in All of His Glory!

ADs January 2015 Devotional

     Sharpening your focus in 2015     

The year 2015 is upon us. I pray for greater clarity of purpose and a sharpened focus of what is important. Let’s keep the main thing, the main thing. C.S. Lewis’ apologetic trilemma is often quoted to prove the Divinity of Jesus. As the argument goes, Jesus was either the Lord or a Lunatic or a Liar. An opinion that asserts that Jesus was merely a good moral teacher is challenged by the choice among three options of which only one is true. Jesus’ Divinity is the truth that gives meaning to everything that He said and did.

     In our missionary service, what is the compelling truth that challenges any lesser options? Following the alliteration of Lewis, I propose that we will either live lives that are lethargic, lapsed, or ones that leave a legacy, there is no compromise among these three options.

* A lethargic life is one defined by laziness, limitations, and is recognized 

as being listless. When the passion for the Call of God is not fresh, 

the fruit of that life is putrid.

* A lapsed life is one defined by lasciviousness, lawlessness, or loftiness. 

The heart once broken at the altar of prayer, hungering for a fresh revelation 

of God’s Glory is now caught up with lust, compromise, or pride. This life is lived in the past tense.

* Finally, a life that leaves a legacy is defined by its liberality of Grace, it’s lifting influence on others, and its lasting impact. As Psalms 92:13-14 (nkjv) depicts this life: “Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing.” I pray that you will choose to live a life that flourishes this year. Let’s leave a legacy for the Glory of God!