+DEV+ God Will Provide

Date: December 30, 2014 10:54 PM

Topic: +DEV+  God Will Provide

God Will Provide

"So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, 'On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.'" (Genesis 22:14)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 22

Jewish tradition taught us that the sacrifice of Isaac took place on the Feast of Trumpets, and the Akedat Yitzchak (literally the Binding of Isaac) has become the focal point of the synagogue liturgy on this appointed time. After 25 years of waiting, God finally gave Abraham and Sarah a son and then "some time later" He said to Abraham, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about" (Genesis 22:2). 

"Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Isaac asked his father. Can we even imagine what Abraham must have felt? His beloved Isaac, the child of "promise," his "only son!" But God, who always provides for His people, provided the lamb for a burnt offering so that Isaac would live. Likewise, God provides the Lamb of God - Jesus Christ - as the sin offering so that those who believe in Him may live forever (John 1:29; Mark 10:45). He is Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides.

Insight: He knows what we need before we ask. He has provision ready for us.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Pt 11. Soul Care: Time Facts

Date: December 29, 2014 10:39 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Pt 11. Soul Care:  Time Facts

Pt 11. Soul Care:

TIME FACTS

. . . There is a dichotomy in many Christian minds.   Did you ever say by word or deed,  "I can give my life to Christ, but not my time"?  This is disastrous.  If your life is truly God's, then your time is totally his.

This presents a problem, because most of us complain that we do not have enough time to do all we ought to do (another deception of the devil).  Instead, consider some facts about time:

1.  There is enough time to do all you ought to do.  God knows there are only 24 hours in each day and 168 in every week.  He puts them there, so he would be unreasonable to expect more of you than you have time to do.  And God is never unreasonable!

2.  There is not enough time to do all you want to do or other people expect you to do.  You have to make a choice.

3.  Everything worthwhile takes time.  Relationships take time to build and keep healthy.  Christianity involves our relationships with God and others.

4.  If you choose to do what you ought to do, you will not have time to do what you should not do.  The best way to keep from evil is to do good.

5.  You have the same amount of time as anybody else, including the President of the United States.

6.  The way you spend "free time" (the time you have a choice about) is a good indication of your value system, what you think is important.

You have been spending every bit of your time now - 168 hours every week of your life  - exchanging it for something every time you use it.  By how you regularly spend it, you have established a lifestyle.

Growing as a person is always a result of what you do with your time.  Your soul's growth will be implemented by a change in your lifestyle, a change in how you use each precious moment.  

CONCLUSION     

No time = No soul care

Quality time - Quality soul care

Are you prepared to pay the price?

~~~

From the book: 

'Soul Care'

By Peter Lord

If you would like a copy of these devotionals just ask.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Pt 10. Soul Care: Making And Taking Time & Habits And Time

Date: December 28, 2014 11:52 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Pt 10. Soul Care:  Making And Taking Time & Habits And Time

Pt 10. Soul Care:

Making and Taking Time &

Habits and Time

. . .You are going to have to make time and take time by strength of will if you want quality time for your soul care.  This, too, involves choice.  To "make time," you plan it into your schedule, giving certain matters top priority.  This really means taking time, because you cannot make more time than there is.  There are only twenty-four hours a day to spend.  To "take time" means to give up something else you have been doing.  Time cannot be manufactured, borrowed, or saved.  It is only spent.

Most of us have habits, established ways of spending our time.  Whether good or bad, these habits become binding behavior patterns.  To change a habit is not easy.  It takes willpower, effort, and time (perhaps six weeks of concentration) to replace an old habit with a new one.  The hardest part of starting anything new and different is giving up the old.

To take time for the kingdom of God within us is to seize it by force.  This is part of what Jesus meant when he said, "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force." (Matt. 11:12).

Soul care means quality time, demands quality time, is worthy of quality time, and cannot take place without quality time.

The main this is

to keep THE MAIN THING

the main thing!. . . .

~~~

From the book: 

'Soul Care'

By Peter Lord

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Pt 9. Soul Care: Quality Time Produces Intimacy

Date: December 25, 2014 9:35 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Pt 9. Soul Care:  Quality Time Produces Intimacy

Pt 9 Soul Care:

QUALITY TIME PRODUCES INTIMACY

. . . .It is quite possible for two people to spend large amounts of time together over the course of years and never really know each other - never have achieved intimacy - because what they spent was not quality time.

One summer evening during our church retreat, an elderly woman came to me for counseling and prayer.  She told me she had been married for fifty-four years to a man she considered a kind husband and good provider, yet she felt that she did not really know him.  Although they had spent a lot of good times together, raising their children, fishing, gardening, and enjoying other mutual hobbies, she said, "He never shares with me what is really going on inside of him.  There's never been a time when we both sat down and shared from the depths of our souls."  She expressed an emptiness, a void in their relationship.  They had not spent enough quality time together to experience a true intimacy.

Married couples often come to me for help in salvaging what remains of their shattered relationship.  We usually discover that if any real communication ever existed, it died years before.  First I begin pushing the partners to be open and honest with each other (and with me).  Then I help them understand how to be open and honest with God.  Once they begin, a floodgate opens and a wonderful discovery of themselves and each other takes place.  This is intimacy in process.  It represents each soul moving toward growth, health, and maturity.

Intimacy is a process, not an event measured by the clock.  We must be honest, open, and vulnerable with each other, but first this must happen with God.  We must not only give God so many minutes, we must open our inner, hidden being to him. . . .

~~~

From the book: 

'Soul Care'

By Peter Lord

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

  

+DEV+ Pt 8. Soul Care: Soul Care Takes Time

Date: December 24, 2014 11:42 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Pt 8. Soul Care:  Soul Care Takes Time

Pt 8 Soul Care:

SOUL CARE TAKES TIME

. . . ."Regularity is a law of spirituality," writes DeVern Fromke.  In fact, regularity is a law for all growing, healthy life forms.  Eating regularly, exercising regularly, and sleeping regularly are necessary for maximum physical health.  A child cannot make himself grow even one inch.   But if he accepts his parents' will that he eat and exercise properly, he will reach his growth potential.

We cannot maintain spiritual health by occasional and irregular exercises for the soul.   That takes time, of course, that four-letter word tied to discipline of any type.  It is a word that we rarely want to hear, but it is not optional.

Yes, soul care takes time - quality time.  I can hear you screaming, "I don't have enough time as it is, and you are asking for more?"  Sorry, but that is the way it is.

It takes time to do anything, especially anything worthwhile - to take care of your car, to take care of your home, to take care of your body.  If you are not prepared to take time, soul care will never happen.  Think of it like this:  Once you give your life to Christ, you are really giving your time to him.  Life is time, but you can choose whether it will be productive time.

Making a reasonable assumption that God granted you life for sixty-seven years, how would you spend it?  An average person spends it like this:

        Three years getting an education

        Eight years recreating and relaxing

        Six years eating

        Five years riding in a car

        Four years talking

        Fourteen years working

        Three years reading

        Twenty-four years sleeping

How much time do you give God?  If you went to church weekly and prayed for five minutes every morning and evening, you would be giving only five months to God - five months out of sixty-seven years.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.   Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is Sabbath of the Lord your God. . ." (Exodus 20:8-10).  It is significant that in a document as important as the Ten Commandments, God referred to a division of time.  This basic guideline is that six days be spent for the physical and material elements of life and one day be devoted to the spiritual realm.

Because God knows he placed us in a physical world with a physical body needing care, he allotted a considerable amount of time for this.  But he knew how easy it would be for us to be taken up with these physical demands, so he commanded us to set aside time for the spiritual self:  one-seventh, in fact.

Let's think of this, not as a rule, but as a principle God gives for your total welfare, to help you take care of all of you.  Following this principle, you would give God and spiritual matters the equivalent of one day a week.  The average person sleeps eight hours a day.  This leaves sixteen hours a week devoted to God and spiritual matters, sixteen hours a week for the well-being of your inner man - your soul.

The exercises I will suggest for soul care could easily be done in this time.  Here is a suggested division:

        Exercise one - seven hours a week (one hour a day) for God alone.

        Exercise two - five hours a week for church (three for the corporate church

        service, two for the small group)

        Exercise three - three to four hours a week for ministry to others.

       

Scripture, observation, and experience convince me that if we all practiced this time division, our soul health would increase significantly . . . . 

~~~

From the book: 

'Soul Care'

By Peter Lord

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Pt 7. Soul Care: Steps To A Liberated Will

Date: December 23, 2014 11:01 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Pt 7. Soul Care:  Steps To A Liberated Will

Pt 7 Soul Care:

STEPS TO A LIBERATED WILL

. . .(The following suggestions for freeing the will are from DeVern Fromke's book Unto Full Stature.)

Step 1:  I must accept the responsibility for what I am and what I have done. -

An ancient and familiar temptation is trying to blame our condition on someone else or on a set of circumstances, which is what Adam and Eve did.  But Henry Drummond refutes claims:  "Let no one deny that surroundings, people, and places can and do influence us.  But only that part of the environment to which we respond influences us.  We do the responding.  The choice is always ours" (Natural Law in the Spiritual World).

DeVern Fromke has put it this way:  I am responsible for how I respond.  I have that choice and I make that choice.  Until I accept responsibility,  I will place the blame elsewhere, and I will never mature.

Step 2:  I must discover the place and effectiveness of the will as God designed and intended it to function. - God gave us the right to choose, and he will never take that right from us.  It is not what my mind thinks, or what my emotions feel, that changes me.  It is what My will chooses.

Some people know they need to lose weight for good health and want to lose weight, but they never do.  It is not the knowing or desiring that will cause them to shed pounds.  It is choosing to follow a defined diet plan.  Until that choice is made, they will loose no weight.

A. W. Tozer explains this from the spiritual point of view:  "At what point then, does a theological fact become for the one who holds it a life giving truth?  At the point where obedience begins.  When faith gains the consent of the will to make an irrevocable commitment to Christ as Lord, truth begins its saving illuminating work, not one moment before."

Until I choose to do what God has ordered for my spiritual well-being, I will not be a healthy, growing soul.  Sermons, desires, and understanding of God's truths do not change me.  It is my choice to act on those truths that makes the difference.

Step 3:  I must understand the importance of the full liberation of the will as it cooperates with the Holy Spirit. - A growing, maturing, soul is not one with a strong enough will to always make the right choices.  But it is a soul with a will that is ready to act on the Holy Spirit's instructions.  God asks me to submit my will to his will.  Then he is released to do what I cannot do in my own strength.

To cure his leprosy, Naaman was instructed by the prophet Elisha to dip seven times in the Jordan River - something he could do if he chose to do it, although pride and reason almost kept him from it.  When he did as the Lord commanded, he was cleansed of leprosy.  It was not human willpower that healed him.  It was God's power.  Naaman released God by choosing to do what God asked him to do through Elisha. (II Kings 5:1-15).

Here is how this might work today.  A friend is upset with me and is avoiding me.  I know he is offended, and I desire to restore the relationship.   As I pray about it, God tells me to write a note expressing my admiration of my friend and how I miss our fellowship.  This is something I can do.  I cannot control what my friend is thinking, but I can write a note.  It is up to God to change my friend's mine - to do what only God can do.  My part is always to will to do his will.

Step 4:  I must learn to live in the will. - I must live in the will and not in my emotions or reasoning.  Over and over again I must choose to will the way God has given me:  to do as he would do, according to what he has said.  I must step away from the temptation to resort to my emotions or my limited knowledge of a situation. . . .        

~~~

From the book: 

'Soul Care'

By Peter Lord

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Pt 6. Soul Care: Choosing To Will His Will

Date: December 23, 2014 12:42 AM

Topic: +DEV+  Pt 6. Soul Care:  Choosing To Will His Will

Pt 6 Soul Care:

CHOOSING TO WILL HIS WILL

. . . An individual's capacity to choose is his or her most God-like characteristic.   When God designed us, he gave us the ability and the right to make decisions.  He will not force us to do anything.

When Adam and Eve were in the Garden, they had a choice.  Everything was theirs to use except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Regarding this tree, God had said, "No!"  Then he stated the result of disobedience:  "You shall surely die if you eat."  But because he wanted them to have a choice, God did not build a fence around the tree.

Why did God present an opportunity for evil?  The answer is simple.  Love always involves a choice.  Although God loves us and wants our love in return, he will not force love, because then it would not be love.  Without an opportunity to choose, the capacity to choose is meaningless.  We can decide to demonstrate a positive response to his love by loving, trusting, and obeying him.

When individuals choose to become Christians, they accept Jesus as Lord.  But they must still decide whether to obey him in each situation and thus demonstrate the totality of their love.  That is why Fenelon said, "Pure religion resides in the will alone."

So many of us live mainly in our feelings rather than in our will.  Our feelings come from our reasoning or our emotions, or some mixture of both.  Both our reasoning and our emotions are a result of our experiences, encounters, and learning.  But to live in the will means that I choose God's way, rather than relying on what I think or want.

Usually our problem is not ignorance of God's will, but refusing to do God's will.  God never asks us to do something we cannot do, so the choice is ours - we must decide. . .

~~~

From the book: 

'Soul Care'

By Peter Lord

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Pt 5. Soul Care: Our Responsibility: Appropriate Responses

Date: December 21, 2014 10:32 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Pt 5. Soul Care:  Our Responsibility:  Appropriate Responses

Pt 5 Soul Care:

OUR RESPONSIBILITY:  APPROPRIATE RESPONSES

. . .We have a part in the care of our soul - a definite part, a definable part, and achievable part, a vital part.

God and his church will do their part, but we must react suitably.  The simple but amazing truth is that genuine Christianity is a response to God in an appropriate, timely way.

Basically we are not initiators but responders, and our lives are determined by the way we react to any part of our environment.   Evil is part of that environment.  So is God.  I determine what kind of person I am by my response to both parts of my environment.  I can choose to respond negatively to God:  I can ignore him or reject him.  Or I can receive him.  All of my responses will affect me in varying ways.

A speaker at our church once remarked that great saints are great receivers.  Something inside of me rose up shouted, "No!"  Because I had been raised in a religious culture that taught that great saints were great achievers.  My spiritual failures at that time were mostly due to that false concept.  Since that time, I have found that the speaker was right, and my life's verse has become "Those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:17b).

Receiving is the appropriate response to God, the great Giver.

To be a genuine maturing Christian does not take my initiative.  I need do nothing but respond in acceptance of God's initiative:

        Obedience is response to God's will.

        Faith is response to God's promises.

        Thanksgiving is response to God's goodness.

        Praise is response to God's revealed character.

        Sharing is response to God's benevolent love.

        Joy is response to God's gift of hope.

All I am asked to do is to respond to God properly.  The totality of my response is called Worship. . .

~~~

From the book: 

'Soul Care'

By Peter Lord

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Pt 4. Soul Care: The Church's Responsibility

Date: December 19, 2014 12:47 AM

Topic: +DEV+  Pt 4. Soul Care: The Church's Responsibility

Pt 4 Soul Care:

THE CHURCH'S RESPONSIBILITY

. . .From sermons and articles in church publications, members often are reminded of their responsibility to their particular church.  While this is a vital factor if a church is to be healthy, the responsibility must be reciprocal if the member is to be healthy.  Otherwise, the church is not really a church.

Why should a person join a church?  What advantage is there in belonging to a church?  What are the benefits for a member?

One of the main tasks of the church is offering watch-care to those who become a part of her.  The church says to its member, "Come, we will watch over your soul.  We will give the care and advice that is necessary to help you to be whole before God and in your relationships with fellow human beings."

Churches need to move from only being concerned about the strong, the rich, and those who are able to help build successful programs.  A true church is one who aims to: 

(a). Lovingly go after people when they have been absent.

(b). Have a system in place that clearly identifies when a person does not attend.  

(c). Have a budget, not only for salaries, buildings, and literature, but also for helping those members who need temporary (or long-term) financial assistance.

(d). Have a special plan for helping widows, single mothers, and orphans.

Make sure all members are treated the same way, regardless of their financial position.

Christians cannot grow to maturity without a church that aggressively provides the necessary ingredients for effective watch-care.

Nevertheless, no church can do its job of winning and preserving healthy souls without the full cooperation of its membership.   For us, that means working for our mutual purpose of "being Christ" for the world by spending quality time toward that end.  This kind of time requirement is not fulfilled because we occupy a pew at worship services or attend each and every Sunday School pageant of church supper.

Quality time at church means spending meaningful hours with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  It is a time of participation - of give and take - a time of interaction and intimacy . . . .

~~~

From the book: 

'Soul Care'

By Peter Lord

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Pt 3. Soul Care: God's Responsibility: Provision

Date: December 17, 2014 11:38 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Pt 3. Soul Care: God's Responsibility:  Provision

Pt 3. Soul Care: 

GOD'S RESPONSIBILITY:  PROVISION

. . . The primary responsibility for soul care rests with God.

        As Father, he is responsible for molding his children's development.

        As Lord, he is responsible for instilling in his people obedience.

        As Shepherd, he is responsible for ensuring his sheep's safety.

        As Guide, he is responsible for his students' instruction.

        As Doctor, he is responsible for prescribing for his patients' spiritual health.

God has the major part in soul care, not only because of his one-on-one relationship to each of us, but also because only he can do the fundamental inner things that need to be done to care for our souls.

God alone can make us godly, mainly because God alone can give us his agape love - and we only love him and others because he first loved us.

Scripture teaches that God has taken upon himself certain responsibilities.  Paul says,

"For I am confident of this very thing,

that He who began a good work in you

will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus!"

(Philippians 1:6).

Jude echoes with:

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,

and to make you stand in the presence

of His glory blameless with great joy."

(Jude 24).

Then the writer of Hebrews tells us how God is going to fulfill his responsibility for our soul care:

"I will put my laws into their minds,

and I will write them upon their hearts.

And I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen,

and everyone his brother,

saying,

"know the Lord,"

for all shall know me,

from the least to the greatest of them."

(Heb 8:10b - 12a).

Most New Testament verbs about "change" are in the passive voice.  This means we do not change ourselves strictly by our own initiative; we are changed, which indicates that God will do his part.  God's faithfulness is an indelible part of his character.  He can be fully counted on to do all he has promised to do - perfectly and on time.

I'm sure you are asking, "If this is true, how come I am not any further along than I am?"  The answer is that you, too, have a responsibility in the care of your soul.  You can either release God to do his part or you can prevent God from doing so.  He will not do what he wants to do (and can do) without your cooperation.

If God has the  major responsibility for your soul care, you must give him time to do it.  Time spent with God is measured by its quality, not by the clock.  And it is quite possible to spend "quality time" in Bible study and never get close to God.  The Pharisees did this, but Jesus said:

"You search the Scriptures,

because you think that in them you have eternal life;

and it is these that bear witness of Me;

and you are unwilling to come to Me,

that you may have life."

(John 5:39-40).

Jesus was referring to quality time with God when he said,

". . .when you pray,

enter into your inner room,

and when you have shut your door,

pray to your Father who is in secret,

and your Father. . . will repay you."

(Matthew 6:6).

~~~

From the book: 

'Soul Care'

By Peter Lord

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Pt 2. Soul Care: God - Church - You

Date: December 16, 2014 11:16 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Pt 2. Soul Care: God - Church - You

Pt 2 Soul Care

GOD - CHURCH - YOU

. . .In the management of a household, the responsibilities for specific chores need to be assigned.  If they are not, each member of the household will assume that another person should do it.   The result?  Little is accomplished.  A successful household runs smoothly because there are defined and divided responsibilities.   Each member understands and carries out his or her part.

So it with soul care.  The responsibility for soul care is threefold:

        1.  God's responsibility

        2.  The church's responsibility

        3.  Your own responsibility

If your soul is going to be cared for adequately, God, the church, and you need to carry out your respective responsibilities.  To do your part,  you must know what it is.  Otherwise, you will not do it or (even worse) you will try to carry out responsibilities for which you are not equipped or have no authority.

We must first look at soul-care responsibility from these three points of view, remembering that all three agents work together.  We will look at all three points individually, they are:

        1.  God's Responsibility - Provision

        2.  The Church's Responsibility

        3.  Our Responsibility - Appropriate Responses

~~~

From the book: 

'Soul Care'

By Peter Lord

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Pt 1. Responsibility For Soul Care

Date: December 15, 2014 9:33 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Pt 1.  Responsibility For Soul Care

Pt 1.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR SOUL CARE

by Peter Lord

'The Holy Spirit places in the heart of all true Christians a strong desire to be holy, to be all God wants us to be, to do all we perceive God wants us to do.  When we don't experience the changes we know are necessary, we become frustrated.  We futilely try different methods, formulas, and prescriptions, increasing our sense of frustration.  The answers found effective for others fail to make any difference in our lives or give any real satisfaction.

This repeated sense of falling short is followed by a weary hopelessness.  We might never verbalize, "I give up," but that is our inner conclusion.  We conclude that the standards presented as realities in the Scriptures and the lives of a few other Christians are not possible for us in this life.

At this point, we take various avenues.  Some plod on, but resign themselves to the belief that real inner change is not possible.  This is especially true of full time church workers, those paid to do the job.

Others give up and drop out, believing there is no use in going on if there is no chance of making progress in the right direction.  Those with more determination push on, but many eventually burn out.

In The Closing of the American Mind, Alan Bloom writes, "America has no-fault automobile accidents, no-fault divorces, and it is moving with the aid of modern philosophy toward no-fault choices."  One of the implications he makes is "If I am not responsible for myself, or my decision, I can place the blame elsewhere."   Is this valid?  Can I blame my inner conditions on my parents, culture, wife, job, or even on God?

Who is responsible to care for my soul?  Me alone?  Is it God's responsibility?   Is it the church's job?  Accountability must be clearly defined, because anything that is everybody's responsibility is, in essence, nobody's.  Then we either pass the buck to someone else or assume responsibility we should not. . . .

~~~

From the book: 

'Soul Care'

By Peter Lord

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Intro to "Soul Care"

Date: December 14, 2014 9:32 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Intro to "Soul Care"

Soul Care

“… Feed my lambs. … Feed my sheep. …  Feed my sheep.” John 21:15-17

Scripture Focus: John 21:15-17

We have visited in my areas of Missouri most of the local churches (some 68 different denomination and Independent Churches) and have found most “wanting” They are good people and their leaders are good preachers but I haven’t found a “PASTOR” in the lot.

I guess my leaning is “old fashion” and probably “out of date” in todays religious understandings. The Larger denominations have the “programs” that most folk with children want to have. Some even show “Love” to people come in. But when a member or visitor needs help (non monetarily) the “preachers” are only available if one is in the hospital. Unless you are a Tither or a brand-new member in need of assistance, but after a while you are just a pew warmer that pays their tithe.

The “pastors” that were in our area have ether moved away, died, retired or just quit.

I differentiate the label of Preacher from Pastor: A preacher preaches the Bible. Some preach accurately and some preach their own “gospel”. A Pastor cares for his congregation and makes sure they are growing in God’s Word, where discipleship is the mainstay of the church.

And when a member is missing due to illness or other reasons there is no follow-up calls cards letter or visits to ask if anything is OK, need anything, Etc., Etc. In other words Soul Care.

I have been reading a book by Peter Lord called “Soul Care”, which brings this into focus and I will be sharing parts of the book over the next 11 devotions.

Please feel free to use this series as a teaching tool in your church or small group Bible Study.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Waiting For The Alarm?

Date: December 11, 2014 11:49 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Waiting For The Alarm?

Waiting For The Alarm?

"Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand-" Joel 2:1

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 23:23-25; Isaiah 27:12-13

The Fall Feasts of Israel are still an important time for observant Jews, and as with all of His appointed times, we should find great significance in them, too, as believers in Jesus the Messiah. The first of the Fall Feasts is known today as Rosh Hashanah (literally Head of the Year), yet in Leviticus it is referred to as simply a day of "blowing." By implication, it is the day of "blowing of trumpets" sounding the alarm and calling God's people to be on the alert, to sit up, take notice, and be ready for action... because something very important is about to happen. 

Ancient Israel was constantly told to awaken, for the alarm was sounding. "Awake, awake O Zion..." (Isaiah 52:1) We are also told to listen for the sounding of the alarm. "The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed" (Romans 13:11). 

Are we listening for the alarm? "...now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:1).

Insight: Morning comes whether you set the alarm or not.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ 3,000 Lost vs. 3,000 Saved

Date: December 11, 2014 1:11 AM

Topic: +DEV+  3,000 Lost vs. 3,000 Saved

3,000 Lost vs. 3,000 Saved

"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." John 6:63

Scripture Focus: Exodus 32

At that first Pentecost at Sinai, there was rebellion among the children of Israel. Isn't it hard to believe that the nation would worship a golden calf rather than the LORD God who led them out from bondage in Egypt? "When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Make us gods who will go before us" (Exodus 32:1). So the people fashioned an idol in the form of a golden calf, and they worshipped it." 

God's anger "burned" against them, "...and that day about three thousand of the people died" (Exodus 32:28). 

Fast forward some 1,500 years. The place: an upper room in Jerusalem. The day: the Feast of Weeks. The scene: Peter has just preached the good news concerning Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, to the "men of Israel" (Acts 2:22). "When the [Jewish] people heard this, they were cut to the heart... Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day" (Acts 2:37, 41). The Spirit gives life!

Insight: Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there thy cheerful beams.  (Saint Augustine Of Hippo)

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Gift of the Spirit

Date: December 9, 2014 11:28 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Gift of the Spirit

Gift of the Spirit

"....I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." Joel 2:28

Scripture Focus: Acts 2

It was fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus and "When the day of Pentecost [the Feast of Weeks] came, they were all together in one place" (Acts 2:1). About 120 of Jesus' followers were gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem. "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit..." (Acts 2:2, 4). 

Tens of thousands of Jews had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Weeks as required in the Law of Moses. Nevertheless this great "Appointed Day" given to Israel in Leviticus 23 was only a "picture," just a foreshadowing of a greater reality that would have its fulfillment on this very Feast Day in an upper room 

in Jerusalem. 

There is absolutely nothing that happens in the universe that is outside of God's influence and authority. He has control of our eternal destiny, and He directs our path. God provides for our needs and works His perfect will through our life. He is sovereign!

Insight: No matter what we face in life, take comfort in the fact that God is sovereign. 

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ A New Covenant

Date: December 8, 2014 11:52 PM

Topic: +DEV+  A New Covenant

A New Covenant

"'The time is coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." Hebrews 8:8

Scripture Focus: Exodus 20:1-17; Jeremiah 31:31-34

Jewish tradition holds that God gave the Ten Commandments to Israel at Sinai exactly on the Feast of Weeks, 50 days after the Exodus from Egypt. Scripture says that "When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear (Exodus 20:18). 

The first Pentecost was on a mountaintop, where God wrote His words on tablets of stone. And the LORD promised that there would be a time when He would write His laws not on stone, but on the hearts of His people. The law was given so that man could see the condition of his heart and his broken relationship with God. However, the law could only condemn; it couldn't save. 

Now we can have confidence through Jesus Christ before God, "Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant-not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:5-6)."

Insight: The penalty of sin is death and nothing less. Someone had to pay that debt.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Counting the Omer

Date: December 7, 2014 11:56 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Counting the Omer

Counting the Omer

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 7:12-13; Psalm 67

From the beginning of the Feast of Firstfruits and the commandment to “…bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and wave the sheaf before the LORD…” (Leviticus 23:10-11), Israel was told to "count seven full weeks" (Leviticus 23:15). On the 50th day after the beginning of the count, corresponding to the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), the new wheat harvest would begin. 

During the counting of the Omer, Jewish tradition calls for a reading of Psalm 67, a psalm composed of exactly 49 Hebrew words which correspond to the 49 days of the Omer count. It has seven verses corresponding to the seven weeks of the Omer. 

The resurrection of Messiah Jesus makes the counting of the Omer a season of significance for His people. All of His post-resurrection appearances fell within the days of the Omer count. During those days, He appeared "to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers..." (1 Corinthians 15:5-6). We have a Savior we truly can count on!

Insight: Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection. (Arthur Schopenhauer)

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Jesus Is Fullness Of God

Date: December 5, 2014 12:03 AM

Topic: +DEV+   Jesus Is Fullness Of God

Jesus Is Fullness Of God

"For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him." Colossians 1:19

Scripture Focus: John 10:25-30; Colossians 1:15-20

Isn't it interesting that Jesus chose Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, to proclaim again to the Jewish people that He is God? He said, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). He told the Jews who gathered around Him, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27). The Jewish religious leaders then "picked up stones to stone him" because in their eyes He was guilty of blasphemy by claiming "to be God." They considered that an offense punishable by death. 

It was at Hanukkah that Jesus pointed the crowds to His words, the works that He did, and the witness of His life to demonstrate that He was not only the long awaited Messiah of Israel, but God in human flesh. But many did not believe Him, seeking to kill Him because they only saw "a mere man, claim[ing] to be God." 

If "God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him" must we not also acknowledge who Jesus really is? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).

Insight: "You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can...call him Lord And God." (C.S. Lewis)

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ The Light of the World

Date: December 3, 2014 10:28 PM

Topic: +DEV+  The Light of the World

The Light of the World

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

Scripture Focus: John 8:12; 1 John 1

With God's great miracle of the oil for the Temple menorah, Hanukkah has come to be known as the "Festival of Lights." Light is both beautiful and mysterious. The psalmist spoke of God as light: "The LORD is my light" (Psalm 27:1). The Jewish prophets also spoke of Messiah as light: "your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you" (Isaiah 60:1). And then Simeon proclaimed the baby Jesus as "a light for revelation to the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32). 

We live in a world today whose darkness has settled on the hearts and the minds of people everywhere. There is a moral darkness; a darkness of hopelessness and despair. At some point in our lives we are all faced with the darkness of our greatest enemy: death. 

But there is really good news! "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all" and "if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:5-7). The Light of the World has shed His love on you!

Insight: "For light I go directly to the source of light, not to any of the reflections." (Peace Pilgrim Quotes)

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Freedom From Sin

Date: December 1, 2014 11:43 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Freedom From Sin

Freedom From Sin

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 23:6-8; Romans 6:18

Scripture tells us that the one-day Passover celebration is followed by seven days known as the Festival of Matzah (Unleavened Bread). In haste to leave Egypt on the day of their Exodus, the children of Israel did not have enough time for the dough to rise. Observant Jews today still eat only Matzah during these days to commemorate. 

What a wonderful picture God has given to us! Leaven puffs things up. It spreads and it permeates. And this is exactly what sin does in our lives. We are puffed up by sins of pride, and this sin permeates our lives, affecting us and those around us. There are many damaging sins that yeast pictures in the Bible: hypocrisy, wickedness, malice and even false teaching. Jesus warned His students to "be on your guard against the yeast" of the Jewish religious leaders of His day (Matthew 16:11). 

But Jesus Christ wants to deliver us from the leaven of sin. Only He can "set us free" and cause us to happily be "slaves of righteousness," unburdened by the grip of sin in our lives.

Insight: God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him." (Andrew Murray)

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Scapegoat Or Messiah

Date: December 1, 2014 12:57 AM

Topic: +DEV+  Scapegoat Or Messiah

Scapegoat Or Messiah

"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 16:5-10, 20-22

The ritual for Israel on the Day of Atonement involved the selection of two goats. One would be sacrificed, and the other, the live goat, would be banished to the wilderness after the High Priest laid the sins of the people on its head. This live goat was called "Azazel" which is the Hebrew word for "scapegoat." It was this scapegoat, although not guilty of any crime itself, which bore the penalty of the people and took away their sins. 

What a wonderful "picture" for us! Jesus the Messiah fulfills the symbolism of both goats, and by doing so, He fulfills every aspect of the Day of Atonement for us and on our behalf. "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7). Jesus was innocent and sinless, yet "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). He's our scapegoat and Savior!

Insight: He paid a debt He did not owe, and paid the debt i could never pay.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Messiah, our Firstfruits

Date: November 25, 2014 11:53 PM

Topic: +DEV+  Messiah, our Firstfruits

Messiah, our Firstfruits

"But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." 1 Corinthians 15:20

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 23:9-14; Deuteronomy 26:1-10

Just days after the Passover, God institutes the offering of firstfruits on His calendar of appointed times. Firstfruits was the first day after the sabbath following Passover. The offering was made in remembrance of Israel's bondage in Egypt, the Lord's deliverance from slavery, and their possession of "a land that flows with milk and honey." The Feast of Firstfruits was also a celebration of the firstfruits of the barley harvest, the first harvest celebration of the year for Israel. 

But like all of God's appointed times, what was given to the nation of Israel was only a temporary "picture" or a "shadow" which had a future fulfillment pointing to the permanent reality of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ. 

Jesus is called "the firstfruits." After His crucifixion and burial, He rose from the grave early Sunday morning, on the first day of the week and exactly on the Feast of Firstfruits. Crucified on Passover; raised on Firstfruits. God pre-ordained His appointed times for great things.

Insight: "According to the laws of legal evidence... there is more evidence for the... resurrection of Jesus than for just about any other event in history." (Dr. Simon Greenleaf)

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Our Messiah, Our Communion

Date: November 24, 2014 12:12 AM

Topic: +DEV+  Our Messiah, Our Communion

Our Messiah, Our Communion

"...do this in remembrance of me." Luke 22:19

Scripture Focus: Exodus 12:14; Luke 22:1-20

The night before our Messiah Jesus was to endure His suffering on the cross, He assembled Himself with His beloved disciples to share in the Passover. The Passover was part of the Old Testament Law, one of those very special Appointed Times that the Lord gave to Israel on her yearly calendar. "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD - a lasting ordinance" (Exodus 12:14). 

As they were all enjoying their Passover seder (the holiday ritual meal) in that upper room in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago, "...Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take it; this is my body.' Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 'This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many...'" (Mark 14:22-24). 

When we observe the Lord's Supper, remember His death upon the cross and the picture God gave us in the Passover of a "lasting ordinance" for all His people.

Insight: Clothe yourselves with meekness and be renewed in faith - that is, the flesh of the Lord. And in love - that is, the blood of Jesus Christ. (Ignatius)

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

Date: November 20, 2014 12:55 AM

Topic: +DEV+  Messiah, Our Passover

Messiah, Our Passover

"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation." 1 Corinthians 5:7

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 23:4-5; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

The first of seven "appointed" annual Feast days given by the LORD to Israel was the Passover. But it wasn't all about the food. This was about history - the mighty God of Israel delivering His people from slavery and bondage in a foreign land.

On occasions our family would retell the story of how "the LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt" (Exodus 12:51), I always wondered why it was the blood of a lamb "on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses" which saved God's people from certain death. They were saved by the blood of the lamb.

God's people are still saved by the blood of the Lamb today! One day John the Baptizer saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Jesus is our true Passover Lamb!

Insight: There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.  (William Cowper, 1772)

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Messiah, Our Rest

Date: November 18, 2014 12:45 AM

Topic: +DEV+  Messiah, Our Rest

Messiah, Our Rest

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 23:3; Matthew 11:28-30

The origin of the Sabbath goes back to Creation. After creating the heavens and the earth in six days, God "rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made" (Genesis 2:2). Was God tired after all that creative work of putting together the universe? Did He need a rest? Of course not! 

Sabbath is the Hebrew word Shabbat which means "to stop or cease from work." Creation was complete and God simply stopped what He was doing. Likewise, in Leviticus 23:3, God sets aside the seventh day Sabbath as one of His appointed times, a day every week when He would have a holy encounter with His people - a day when they, too, would cease from all work. 

But the Sabbath rest given to Israel was, again, only a shadow. If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, then you have already "entered into" His Sabbath rest. "There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9). 

Are you wearied and burdened? Come to Jesus - His burden is light, and only He will give you complete Sabbath rest.

Insight:  "Rest in God's love. the only work you are required now to do is to give your most intense attention to His still, small voice within."(Madame Jeanne Guyon)

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ God's Appointed Times

Date: November 16, 2014 9:54 PM

Topic: +DEV+  God's Appointed Times

God's Appointed Times

"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me..." John 5:39

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 23; John 5:39-40

Jesus often rebuked the Jewish religious leaders of His day. They should have recognized Him as Israel's long-awaited Messiah. They had the Hebrew Scriptures containing detailed "pictures" painted by God Himself to reveal the identity of the Redeemer. But they missed Him, and God held them accountable, "... because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you" (Luke 19:44). 

Jesus told the Pharisees that the things concerning Him would now be "hidden" from their eyes. But in every generation God has kept a "remnant" of believing Jews for Himself, a fact for which I am eternally grateful. Some of us who are Jewish, by God's grace and sovereign desire, can still see Jesus clearly through those "Scriptures that testify about me..."

And there is no better place to see the Jewish Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures than in the Holy days given to Israel in Leviticus 23. While the Hebrew Scriptures provided the pictures-the shadows-the New Testament points us to the reality, the fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

Insight: Chasing a shadow is a vain venture: don't chase the shadow; chase the substance.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ The Calendar, By God

Date: November 14, 2014 12:46 AM

Topic: +DEV+  The Calendar, By God

The Calendar, By God

"This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year." Exodus 12:2

Scripture Focus: Exodus 12:1-2; Psalm 104:19

All of God's important dates were written far in advance, even before the foundations of the Earth. When He gave His calendar to Israel, He marked those dates in the stars, kept them by the moon and observed them by the sun. "The moon marks off the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down" (Psalm 104:19). 

But God doesn't only have a calendar for Israel; He has one for each of us! Before you were born, He knew all about you. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart" (Jeremiah 1:5). He knows when you will die. "...All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139:16). Israel's King David wrote, "My times are in your hands" (Psalm 31:15). 

The sovereign Creator of all things has given us His calendar and His appointed times because "For everything there is an appointed time, even a time for every affair under the heavens" (Ecclesiastes 3:1). What is written on God's calendar for you? Each event in your life He has ordained.

Insight: Seek God with a renewed heart and watch His calendar come alive with your own divine destiny.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ The God of The Universe

Date: November 13, 2014 12:28 AM

Topic: +DEV+  The God of The Universe

The God of The Universe

"And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years..." Genesis 1:14

Scripture Focus: Genesis 1:14-19

Sitting at my desk in my home office, I realize it is time to discard October from the wall calendar now filled with handwritten scribbles of history. Appointments completed, birthdays past, holidays enjoyed, reminders reminded-are all just recent memories to me as the new month begins. 

But as I glance over my shoulder towards the joining wall, another calendar stares back at me. This one, still, has all of its pages attached. It is a 2013 calendar, patiently waiting the new year.

The God who created time also created His calendar. And He marked "the seasons and days and years" even before He created any living thing-or any one! He told us that His calendar would serve as "signs" and these "seasons" would be His "Appointed Times." Each of us, created by God who has numbered our days, can approach a new month in celebration of our Maker and His marvelous plan for us.

Insight: The creator of time appoints all things; they are planned by his own hand, and formed according to his own timetable.

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm

+DEV+ Reflections As In A Mirror

Date: November 11, 2014 2:01 AM

Topic: +DEV+  Reflections As In A Mirror

Reflections As In A Mirror

"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12

Scripture Focus: John 1:1-18; 1 John 1:1-3

We have spent some time examining the images of our relationship to Christ: being born into His family, being His bride, and being adopted by Him. Unfortunately, those images - ones that He put in place for us to know Him better - in reality stir up great heartache for many. They bring to mind miscarriages and barrenness, horrible parents and abuse, broken marriages and unfaithfulness. They leave us longing for so much more. 

Friend, you may be one who right now is in the shadows of those agonies. You may understand how you are called Christ's bride and His child, but you don't feel like that at all. Please consider that the Lord will use even these longing of your heart and these broken parts of your life to bring you out of the shadows, to show you that the reflection is not clear right now but will be one day when you are face to face with Jesus. Your heartaches are being used to draw you close to Him, to bring you fully into His family where you are known and where you know Jesus Christ as Lord.

Insight: Out of earth's sorrows, into thy balm, out of life's storms and into thy calm, out of distress to jubilant psalm, Jesus, I come to thee. (William Sleeper, 1887)

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship and Bible study groups.

We are in urgent need of Prayer and financial partners,

If you would like to become a prayer partner and or a financial partner with monthly or one time gifts.

A freewill offering to Restoration Ministry may be made via PayPal at our web site:    http://www.rollanet.org/~restore/donations.htm