Daily devotion

Giving Him Thanks

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.            Ephesians 5:20

In today’s verse the Apostle Paul tells us to be thankful for everything. Now without a doubt there are plenty of terrible things going on in the world around us all the time. But thankfulness is more than simply a play by play analysis of life as if it was some sort of cosmic football game. Instead the gratitude that God has in mind is about seeing things as God sees them as we come to worship.

We see the pot holes in the road while God sees the end of the journey. We feel the cold of the winter wind while God sees the roots of the trees resting while they gather their energy for spring. We are angry over hurtful words spoken to us while God is hoping it will give us opportunity to learn to forgive. We experience the loneliness of eight months of this Covid-19 shutdown but God is reminding us of what and who matter most in life.

We may not be able to see loved ones but we can tell them we love them by a card or a phone call. Maybe we won’t have a chance to sit at a table with our family for Thanksgiving but Jesus has promised us that He will sit down at the table with us wherever we are. God is good. We have much to be thankful for even in 2020! May God bless you and Happy Thanksgiving!

Giving Thanks

Giving thanks when things go well 
Is an easy thing to do
But to give Him thanks when the chips are down
Is God's will for me and you

Giving Thanks by Peter Caligiuri © 2020 All rights reserved

Milk – Eggs and Worry

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That is why I say to you; don’t worry about living—wondering what you are going to eat or drink, or what you are going to wear. Surely life is more important than food, and the body more important than the clothes you wear. Look at the birds in the sky. They never sow nor reap nor store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.  Matthew 6:25-26 Phillips

As a native New Englander I confess that we do brag a lot about our toughness when it comes to winter. We laugh uproariously at stories of school districts in the South shutting down because of a couple of inches of snow. But no matter how many winters we have lived through our response to snow falling on our own street stays the same. “Honey, can you run to the store and pick up some milk and eggs?” Despite the logical conclusion that hens will keep on laying and cows will continue to give milk, we go into panic mode! No matter how tough we pretend to be, Jesus knows us all the way to the core of our fearful hearts. He sees that no matter how many times He has provided daily bread and protected us through long cold nights that at the first sign of a storm we act as if God might not take care of us this time around.

But if we watch the birds as Jesus tells us to do, we’ll notice that none of them stay up late at night looking for seeds to pluck from the bushes or worms to pull from the ground. They simply fold their wings, tuck their heads and drift off to sleep.

They somehow know that tomorrow will always dawn with all they need to get by. So whether you are wondering if there will be milk and eggs at the store when the snow melts or panic buying toilet paper in the pandemic, what counts is not on how tough we are, but who we are looking to for help. If we look to Jesus we will be amazed to discover once again, that the same God who is an expert on feeding birds, knows exactly what we need today!

The Whole Armor of God

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:10-11

Some of us have memories of our Sunday-school teacher illustrating this verse by showing the class a brightly colored plastic sword and shield. The scene may bring a nostalgic smile to our face, but to the people of the Apostle Paul’s day, armor was no laughing matter. Every part of a Roman soldier’s armor was as essential to staying alive as a bullet proof vest is to any soldier on a 21st century battlefield.

Paul lists 6 pieces of armor: the belt of truth, the footwear of being prepared by the gospel, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit and last a communications device called prayer. But in the middle of a conflict it is easy to just grab on to on one or two pieces and run into battle half dressed. We think that we will be okay because we have spent plenty of time reading the Bible so even if our faith is a bit weak or we haven’t taken time to pray we hope we’ll get by.

Unfortunately our spiritual enemy doesn’t think the way that we do. He is not planning to attack our areas of strength but at our weakest point. He doesn’t fight by the rules and stays focused on our spiritual destruction. But we don’t need to panic because we aren’t dependent on our own resources. Today we can rejoice because we know two things for certain: God is the manufacturer of the best armor on earth and He has promised to never abandon us in battle!

I really enjoyed this rendition by David Wesley of the song that best tells us how this great spiritual battle will be won. May God bless you as you stand on your own field of conflict next to the mightiest of all warriors – the Son of God!