My Daily Pause

Category: Devotional

  • Paul’s Recipe for Reducing Stress pt 2 – Kindness

    Paul’s Recipe for Reducing Stress pt 2 – Kindness

    Philippians 4:5 – Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. (KJV)

    Part 1 of this series – Rejoice! 

    The Lord is coming soon, if we want him to find us possessing the “mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5)  we need him to find us as a people who are patient, kind and gentle of spirit.

    We know from 1 Corinthians 13:4 that Love is long suffering, kind, not envious, not boastful – exactly the kind of traits that moderate people have. Being loving and gentle in all situations is an outstanding way to teach our worldly friends what being a Christian is all about.

    Paul reminds us to have a loving attitude to our neighbors in Romans 13:10-11 and James 5:7-9 says … Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord...

    The Lord is coming – a kind and gentle lifestyle will help you be ready and you will influence others to be ready.

  • Paul’s Recipe for Reducing Stress pt 1 – Rejoice!

    Paul’s Recipe for Reducing Stress pt 1 – Rejoice!

    Philippians 4:4 – Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

    To sum it up in a couple of words, the Philippian epistle is often called the “happy letter”. Paul was Nero’s prisoner and Christians were beginning to truly understand what persecution was, yet Paul penned a very upbeat and encouraging letter.

    We have never been promised an easy life just because we live for the Lord, but how can Paul be so upbeat in this difficult time? Look at Philippians 1:21 – Paul tells us that Christ gives his life meaning, and his death will mean the gain of Being with Christ.

    James offers counsel in James 1:2 by saying: My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. Our challenges are going to strengthen us and train us for what life brings us. In 1 Peter 4:12-13 Peter tells us to …think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

    The Lord desires that we be happy even though we have a lot of work to do here in this earthly life – There is no reward when there is no labor. If Christ is what gives your life meaning, there isn’t anything else that really matters or needs to be worried about so… Rejoice!

  • Motes and Beams

    Motes and Beams

    Matthew 7:3-5 one of the most often quoted of Bible passages. Jesus had a knack for turning a phrase and here he made impact with a humorous impossibility. The Master Teacher sure could get an audience’s attention!

    Even the smallest of sins have serious consequence (Romans 6:23) and it is important to help our friends recognize this. It is even more important to have ourselves in order before we turn our attention to others, or we risk being in the same comical situation that is described in our text. How can the person we are trying to correct and reprove take us seriously when we make no effort to correct our own obvious sin?

    Part of our responsibility as members of the Lord’s church is to help each other get to heaven through teaching and admonishing (Col 3:16), but this is one occasion when we are authorized to put ourselves before others.

  • Matthew 6:25-26 – More Thanksgiving

    Matthew 6:25-26 – More Thanksgiving

     25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? – Matthew 6:25-26 ESV

    Edward Winslow wrote the following in his book Mourt’s Relation the following account of the event where we trace the modern Thanksgiving:

    Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which we brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.

    We know the original settlers did not have an easy time. They needed help from the local natives, who “coincidentally” had an English speaker among them. People died from exposure and starvation, but the first thing they remembered was to be thankful. This is exactly what Paul meant in Philippians 4:6 when he said “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

  • Challenges For Growth

    Challenges For Growth

      1 Anyone who loves learning accepts correction,
    but a person who hates being corrected is stupid. – Proverbs 12:1 NCV

    1 Wise children take their parents’ advice,
    but whoever makes fun of wisdom won’t listen to correction. – Proverbs 13:1 NCV

    18 A person who refuses correction will end up poor and disgraced,
    but the one who accepts correction will be honored.  – Proverbs 13:18 NCV

    Disturb Us, Lord

    Disturb us, Lord, when
    We are too well pleased with ourselves,
    When our dreams have come true
    Because we have dreamed too little,
    When we arrived safely
    Because we sailed too close to the shore.

    Disturb us, Lord, when
    With the abundance of things we possess
    We have lost our thirst
    For the waters of life;
    Having fallen in love with life,
    We have ceased to dream of eternity
    And in our efforts to build a new earth,
    We have allowed our vision
    Of the new Heaven to dim.

    Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
    To venture on wider seas
    Where storms will show your mastery;
    Where losing sight of land,
    We shall find the stars.

    We ask You to push back
    The horizons of our hopes;
    And to push into the future
    In strength, courage, hope, and love.

    – Sir Francis Drake  – 16th century English sailor

    Our Bible study leads us to think a lot about gracefully facing our daily challenges. Our text leads us down a slightly different path. How can we benefit when we seek correction, or seek to be challenged, or seek to learn more? The selected Proverbs hint at some of the benefits, but look at what the Hebrew writer says:

    “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? – Hebrews 12:5-7 ESV (Note that he is quoting Proverbs 3:11-12)

    Doesn’t a healthy loving household result from the discipline of a godly father? Do the members love each other less because of the discipline?

    The poem/prayer attributed to Francis Drake is a very bold request to force us out of our comfort zone. Like Romans 5:3-5 it recognizes that in order to grow, to build patience and hope, we need to be tested. We don’t need to wait on life to bring these challenges to us. It would be much better to dream a little bigger, sail out a little further and be a little less satisfied.

    How much more honorable is the Lord’s correction when we ask for it?

  • The Christian’s Bank Note

    “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4: 19)

    This scripture has been referred to as the “Christian’s bank note.”  It speaks of assurance, providence and care!

    The president of the Bank – “My God.” Paul could say “my God” because of his personal experience.  It’s evident that there is a vast difference between knowing of someone and truly knowing that person.  He is “my God” only when I am “His child.”  I possess Him only when He possesses me.  Note the possessive, personal pronouns throughout scripture.  In addition, all God promises to do for the world, for humanity, can be claimed by our own personal pronoun- “For God so loved me that He gave His only begotten son…” The God of heaven and earth is “my God.”

    The Promise to Pay – “Shall Supply.” The word “supply” here is translated from the same word translated “full” in the previous verse.  Our cup “runs over.”  Paul said the same thing in a more emphatic way to the Ephesians, “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.” (3: 20) What a wonderful reality!  God will do immeasurably more than we can ever even dream of.

    The amount – “All Your Need.” Not all your wants, but all your needs.  This calls for a joyous trust and confidence in God.  Our needs, both spiritual and material, will be supplied.  Do we really believe that?  Has God not shown that to us time and time again? Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?….If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe  you?  O you of little faith.  So do not worry…”  (Matthew 6: 26,30,31) “Trust me,” God is saying!

    The Capital of the Bank – “According to His Riches in Glory.” There is never any capital shortage with God.  His treasure house is as inexhaustible and boundless as His infinite love and grace.  The words “rich” and “riches” appear six times in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:  “In Him we have…the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us…” (1: 7,8), “the riches of His glorious inheritance…” (1: 18), “God, who is rich in mercy…” (2: 4), “the incomparable riches of His grace…” (2: 7), “the unsearchable riches of Christ…” (3: 8), and “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being.” (3: 16) Oh, what riches God has for us.

    The Cashier’s Name – “Christ Jesus.” Through Jesus, our Savior, these great and inexhaustible blessings flow.  All blessings come through Christ Jesus, through our union with Him!  “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘yes’ in Christ. And so through Him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.” (2 Cor. 1: 20)

    No wonder Paul broke forth in the ascription of praise: “Unto our God and Father be the glory for ever and ever. Amen”

    Charles Cash