The world is full of people who are not only unsaved, but living in a way that is directly against what God would want us to be. Most of these people we would agree need to be saved, but a lot of us would also say that we don’t see how that would be possible. Not only is it possible for God to save these people, it’s also entirely possible that He could use them in a way we’d never expect. The Bible has many examples of this, today I’m going to look at two in particular.

The first person I’m looking at is the Apostle Paul. Here was a man who literally made it his life mission to persecute Christians. He vehemently opposed to the Gospel and Christians. I think it’s safe to say that most people did not ever expect him to change. However, Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and Paul converted. God then used him as a missionary to lead people to Christ and to strengthen the churches. Not only that, but God also used him to write a large portion of the New Testament. God took a man dedicated to eradicating the church, and turned him around so that he could help build it up stronger than before.

The next person I’m looking at is Rahab, the harlot that the Israelite spies to Jericho hid with. Here is a woman that lived her life completely against the laws of God. How many people would expect a person like that to just give her life over to God, and change? Probably not many of us would expect that. But God used her in a way very few people in the Bible were used. Not only did she give her life over to God, she got mentioned in Hebrews 11, as a woman of faith. She also had a son named Boaz, who married Ruth, whose son was the great-grandfather of King David. God used a harlot in direct ancestry of Jesus Christ. I think that counts as using someone unexpectedly.

Looking at things a slightly different way, even people who sin greatly can come back around. King David springs to mind fairly quickly. He lived godly life, until he saw a woman named Bathsheba. To make a long story short, he intentionally put her husband in a place to get killed and committed adultery. This was a huge sin, on so many levels. Some people after doing something like that would never come back around. God sent a prophet to David, and David turned his life around. Even after that kind of a sin, God used him, with Bathsheba in the direct ancestry of Jesus.

No matter how bad someone may seem, God can change them, turn them around, and use them greatly in the world for His purpose. Rather than judging these people, we need to pray for them, and witness to them, both in our actions and our words.

We live in a culture that is addicted to everything. Everywhere you look, you see someone who is addicted to something. Not only are people addicted to drugs and smoking, they are addicted to things that most people don’t always think of as addictions. Things like games, music, TV, food and even work can be addictions.

Some addictions, like smoking and drugs are very harmful to ourselves and to others around us. They not only control our life, but they destroy our health too. Other addictions are harmful as well, but it’s not always obvious. Being addicted to work can be extremely harmful too, not only to yourself, but to your families and friends. Being addicted to food does terrible things to your health. Games, music and TV can be harmful if they keep us away from things that are more important. Some things aren’t dangerous by themselves, but are dangerous when they cause us to do them instead of something more important.

While some addictions are more harmful than others, they are all sinful. Jesus says in Mark 12:30 that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. If we are addicted to something, we are not capable of doing that. The singular focus in our life should be God, not things of the world.

Sadly, we as Christians have a tendency to shoot the wounded when it comes to people who are addicted to something. We act superior to them; like we’re better than they are because we don’t think we have an addiction. We look down on them. That’s not how we should be, the Bible is very clear that we are all sinners; we are no better than they are. We shouldn’t condone their addictions, but neither should we act arrogant about it. We should pray for them, and help them as much as we can. Be there for them.

With God’s help, addictions can be broken. Pray for those who are addicted, but look at your own life for addictions first.

Sometimes our lives seem to be collapsing all around us. No matter how hard we try, nothing seems to work, and things keep getting worse. Maybe our jobs aren’t what we thought they’d be, or maybe school feels like it’s just too much. Maybe we’re being hurt by those closest to us, or maybe we’re dealing with a loss. No matter what the storm in our life is, it’s something we all face at some point in our lives. These storms cause some to believe that God has forgotten or forsaken them. On the contrary, God does not forget us, nor will He forsake us, according to Hebrews 13:5

So, what do we do when we are going through a storm in our life? First and foremost, we praise God. Regardless of whether life is good, bad, or ugly, we need to praise God. Look at Job. He lost virtually everything he had, virtually everything he loved, virtually everything that he had was taken from him. But, what did he do? Did he attack God? Did he stop believing? No! He kept praising God for everything. The people around him were counseling him to curse God, and just to die, but he refused, and kept worshipping God.

Not only should we praise God, we should be joyful through it. Philippians 4:6 says that we should be careful or anxious for NOTHING. Philippians 4:4 says to rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS. Doesn’t matter what is going on in our lives, we should still rejoice for everything that God has done for us. It’s hard sometimes to be joyful, but think of all the good that is still in your life, and all the good yet to come. Too often we get so caught up in the problems of the world that we forget what is coming in Heaven.

Looking at this from a different angle now, when we see someone who is going through storms, what should we do? Most people would say that we should pray for them, but that is not all that we should do. We should be there for them. If they need to talk to someone, we should listen, and if they just want company, we should just be there. Sometimes just being there can help more than all the advice in the world.

So, in closing, trust in God and be joyful when you’re going through storms, and be there for others who are going through storms.

Romans 12:1 tells us that we are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice unto God. This statement may seem confusing to some, while odd to others. Today, we are going to take a look at what that, and the following verses mean in regards to our lives.

To be a living sacrifice that is “Holy, acceptable to God”, we need to live our lives as service to God. It means that we need to stop sinning, and do things that bring glory to God, or that help others come closer to Him. It means that our primary focus in our life is doing things that glorify God. Now, that doesn’t mean that we ignore our families or that we quit our jobs. On the contrary, we are told numerous times in the Bible to good work for our employers and to care for our families. We should do our jobs and care for our families in a God-glorifying way.

The next verse, Romans 12:2, tells us that we shouldn’t be conformed to the world but rather transformed by the renewing of our minds. Being conformed to the world is when our perception is limited to the world’s perception, and that we are stuck doing only what the world does. The transformation and renewing of our mind helps us to see and do what is good and acceptable. This verse is not saying that we can’t have anything to do with the world. Nor is it saying that we can’t use the world’s methods in church. Rather, it is saying that we can’t be limited to the world, and that we can’t use parts of the world that is sinful.

We need to live our lives in such a way that we are a sacrifice to God. We need to be Holy, not stuck in the world’s way of life, but above it, doing what is right and acceptable in God’s eyes.

Most of us have a pastor of some sort; someone who leads our local church. The Bible has many instructions for how we are supposed to treat them. In this devotional, we’ll be looking at what Hebrews has to say.

Hebrews 13:17 says that we are to obey them, and submit to them. It says that they watch our souls, meaning that they look out for our spiritual well-being. We are to listen to them, and their counsel in spiritual matters. It does say elsewhere in the Bible if what they teach is contrary to the Bible, we are not to obey, so we are not supposed to obey them blindly.

The verse goes on to say that they have to give an account to God about how the people under them turned out. They are partly responsible for how we turn out. According to the verse, we should obey them so that they may give a joyful account, and not an account given in grief. Being a pastor is a very stressful job, we shouldn’t be making it harder for them.

Hebrews  13:18 essentially finishes verse 17. We are told to pray for them. A pastor’s position places a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders, and prayer helps them. What I find interesting about this verse is the change in voice. 17 says to obey them in authority, while 18 says to pray for US. Paul, the writer of Hebrews, was asking for prayer directly for himself. He did not ask for obedience, though it was implied, rather he asked directly for prayer. I think that that makes it clear how important it is to pray for our pastors.

So in closing, obey those in spiritual authority over us (and those in normal authority over us), and pray for them all.

God gave each of us a specific purpose as Christians. We’re not all supposed to be preachers, or all of us teachers. We each have a specific task we are to perform.

Paul teaches this in Romans 12:3-8. He teaches that God has given us different amounts of grace, and according to that grace, different gifts. He lists prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhorting, ruling, and showing mercy as gifts and tasks Christians have.

We are supposed to use our gifts as a unity. Elsewhere in the Bible, Paul uses the illustration of a body. We each have a specific task to perform, and if we don’t all do our task, the whole body suffers. We can’t all be rulers or all pastors, because then we wouldn’t have people who do ministry or exhort people.

Not only are we supposed to do our task, we are also supposed to not think ourselves better than other Christians because of our task or gift. We should think ourselves the same as everyone else. As soon as we start thinking we’re more important, or better than everyone else, it’s far easier for us to fall. Plus, nobody likes someone who’s prideful or arrogant, it just causes more disunity rather than unity.

We each have a gift and a task, if we all do our tasks and use our gifts, and work as a united body, we will be able to better accomplish God’s will. But, if there is no unity, the body of the church will start to fall apart.

In our world today, we live in a culture that glorifies objects and material goods. We are bombarded everywhere we go with ads for things we MUST have. They tell us we need them to be “cool” or “hip” or stuff like that. Not only are the ads like that, but the music we listen to and the movies we watch are the same way. They proclaim that we need objects to make us happy. While there is nothing wrong with being rich, or having fancy possessions, there IS something wrong with letting it be the focus of our lives.

The Bible is pretty clear about letting possessions take the place of God. In Exodus 20:3-5, it states that we aren’t to have gods before God. While we may not think of a possession as a god or an idol in that sense, if we let it take the place of God, has it not become an idol? If we would rather spend our time using an object, rather than the time worshipping God, would that not fit the description of an idol?

Jesus spoke about possessions as well, in Matthew 6:19, He tells us not to store up treasures on Earth, but rather in Heaven. Objects will decay, wear out, and break, but our treasures in Heaven will not. Would you rather have something on Earth that will eventually be destroyed, or something in Heaven that will last eternally? Now, Jesus wasn’t saying that we shouldn’t have material possessions, but more that our focus should be on Heaven, and not on Earth.

While in the short term, possessions may seem better than God, in the long term, we’re better off with God. The treasures we store with Him will not fade or decay.

Today is Father’s Day in the US. On this day, we’re supposed to give gifts to our dads, hang out with them, and do things with them. It’s good to pay our dad’s respect, but not just on this day of the year. Rather, we should do it every day. In our culture, dads are generally the brunt of the jokes in movies and in TV. Let’s see what the Bible has to say about fathers.

A good place to start would be the 10 Commandments. Exodus 20:12 states that we should honor our fathers and our mothers, and that if we do, we will have a long life. Honor is a lot more than just obeying our fathers on the outside.  It’s a combination of respect and obedience. We’re not to obey just on the outside, but on the inside as well. If our heart is not right, the action is useless.

Proverbs has a lot to say about how we are to treat our fathers as well. Proverbs 4:1 states that we are listen to the instruction of our fathers. Even though we might not agree with them, or see from their point of view, they have more life experience and thus, more wisdom than we do. Their counsel should not be tossed aside.

Just because the media claims that fathers are silly, and something to be mocked, do not mean that we have to go along with what they say. Rather, we should go along with what God has said about them. We should treat our fathers with respect, honor, and love all year round, not just on one special day of the year.

We live in a world where people won’t admit to an absolute truth because they’re afraid of “offending someone”, or because they were taught the idea of “What is true for me isn’t necessarily true for you”. There are countless examples of this throughout our media, our school systems, and almost every social environment in America.

Children are taught that beliefs other than Christianity are perfectly fine because truth and morality are just a matter of perspective. To show you how absurd the “Relative Morality” train of thought is, let’s take a look at this example:

You get home to find your neighbor walking out with your new High-Definition Flatscreen TV. You ask him “what he thinks he’s doing”, and he responds that “he’s taking your TV”. You tell him that “it’s wrong, and he can’t do that.” However, he replies that “He sees nothing wrong with it, so he’s going to take it”.

While this is an extreme example, it does follow the logic of how people who believe in no absolute truth think. Do you see what nonsense relative morality is?! If “right and wrong” is decided by man, then he can do whatever he wants because “He think it’s okay”. This train of thought allows for abortion, sexual impurity, anger, rage, theft and all sorts of evil.

God tells us very clearly that “right and wrong” applies to everyone, not just people who find it convenient to agree with it at the current moment.

Next time you meet someone who believes in no absolute truth, sit him (or her) down and ask them how they can justify that logic. Then explain to him the truth of Christianity. (Feel free to customize the hi-def TV example to your own situation. I just happen to like hi-def screens )

Today is Mother’s Day in the US. On this day, we’re supposed to honor our mothers. In most homes, this means that Mom gets breakfast in bed, or gets a special gift. A lot of times, this turns into a Mom’s Day Off. Mothers do a ton of work, most of which is not noticed. Not only do mother’s do a ton of work, they also have an enormous effect on their children’s lives.

My mother has been quite an influence on my life. Besides homeschooling me for 12 years, helping me when I needed help, listening to me when I talk to her, talking to me when I just needed someone to talk to, giving me advice when I need it, she has also just been there when I needed company. When I’ve been sick and couldn’t sleep, she stayed up with me. When I needed a ride somewhere, she gave me one. when I’m lost and don’t know where to go next, she encourages
me and gives me advice.

I could fill an entire book of things that my mother has done for me. However, I don’t think anyone would have time to read it, because of how many things would be in it.

I thank God for my mother every single night.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!