Defeating Your Enemies

For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; your reprisal shall return upon your own head. Obadiah 15

Has the enemy stolen from you or held you captive in areas of your life? Then Obadiah is the book for you.

Our God is a just God. He will punish injustices against His covenant people. We see this in the natural, physical sense in Obadiah.

Edom, the long-time enemy of Israel and Judah, rejoiced and gloated when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and took Judah captive (v. 12). They participated in looting the temple and set up roadblocks at crossroads to prevent refugees from escaping (v. 13).

God sees all. God knows. He will return upon the heads of individuals and nations what they have done (v. 15). God promised to give His covenant people the places that their enemy had taken from them and the places where they had been held captive (v. 19-21).

The same promise is for you and me in the spiritual realm. What has the enemy stolen from you? Your children? Your finances? Where has the enemy held you captive? Addictions, depression, fear?

NO MORE!

Jesus has come to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the oppressed (Luke 4:18). Put your faith in Him. Jesus desires to fully restore you. God has a plan and a purpose for your life (Jer. 29:11).

Holiness is required to experience these promises of God (Ob. 17-18; 1 Cor. 3:12-15). God sent Israel and Judah into captivity for their unfaithfulness to Him. Israel returned to their land only after they repented and renewed their covenant with the Lord (Daniel 9; Ezra).

God honors those who honor Him (1 Sam. 2:30). If we keep ourselves holy, set apart, for Him, He will honor us by keeping His promises. God will recoup for us those things stolen by the enemy. He will give us authority in the places we have been held captive. Repentance and holiness are key to defeating our enemies.

A Ray of Hope

I recall this to my mind, Therefore I wait. The Lord’s acts of mercy indeed do not end, For His compassions do not fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I wait for Him.” The Lord is good to those who await Him, To the person who seeks Him. Lamentations 3:21-25 NASB

Do you need a ray of hope today? I found one in an unlikely place.

Poor Jeremiah was caught up in the judgment of his nation. His God-given assignment was to warn his leaders of the impending doom because of their sin and disobedience. They didn’t heed his words and even persecuted him for them. So, he suffered the same hardships with them (war, starvation, captivity, etc.).

In Jeremiah’s suffering, he wrote poems of lament. The first four of the five chapters in Lamentations are acrostics in which each stanza begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I’m afraid his literary artistry is lost on me. I don’t read Hebrew, and the poetry doesn’t come through in English. I feel his pain and grief though. That is what makes the book of Lamentations hard to read. So, I am looking for a ray of hope.

In the overwhelming tragedies of life, Jeremiah’s hope was in God’s mercies. God’s yearning for His wayward people reveals His mercy. Even in divine discipline, God’s commitment was, and still is, to restore us back to Himself.  

Our hope is in God’s mercy – His covenant love. Every day, all day long, God is longing to lavish His love on us. How do we step out of suffering and into the light of His love? We allow our pain to draw us into God’s presence, to produce our own prayers of lament, and to surrender to the Lover of our souls.

Do you need a ray of hope today? Remember God’s mercy. Renew your covenant with Him and receive His shower of love upon you. His mercies are new every morning. God is our hope.

Grateful for My Redeemer

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45

It was painful to watch. At my cousin’s “celebration of life,” her husband and grown sons struggled to make sense of “a life taken too soon.” One son sobbed how lost and hopeless his life was without her.

I cried and grieved with our families. We shared memories, and I learned some new stories about my cousin.

As I reflect, I realize her son’s story of being lost and without hope is our story too. Psalm 49 says no one can redeem another or give God a ransom for himself. The redemption of our souls is priceless. No human effort or wealth could purchase it.

Without a Redeemer willing and able to pay the extremely high price to free us from the power of sin and death, we would be lost and hopeless. Jesus Christ triumphed over sin and death at the cross (Rom. 5:17). He gave His life as a ransom for many.

You and I have the freedom to choose life and hope, thanks to Jesus, the Messiah. As that hope grows in my heart, I am with such gratitude. I am grateful for hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). Every day is a blessing. I am grateful for life and peace (Rom. 8:6). Every sunrise is a gift. I am grateful for my family. To love and be loved is a treasure.

This Thanksgiving week I am so filled with thankfulness for the abundant blessings in my life. You, my friend, are near the top of the list. I pray you too are filled with the hope and joy of your salvation this week. Amen.

Jesus, the Christ by Logan Stogner

“The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ Then Jesus declared, ‘I, the one speaking to you—I am he.’”

(John 4:25-26) 

Jacob’s Well

Water sloshed. Sweat poured. The bread and raisin cakes wore off hours ago, but Jacob was in too deep to quit, now. One-hundred feet above his head, cows mooed and sheep bleated. “Water!” they seemed to cry. Through the pungent air of the well, Jacob sighed.

I wonder what thoughts bubbled up in his mind. Of course, digging was difficult, but did it feel mundane? Ordinary? Dare I say, meaningless?

         Jacob knew El Roi saw him in his well, just like He saw Hagar by hers. But what Jacob could have NEVER fathomed was that one day, the Messiah would use his well as a metaphor to draw a Samaritan woman to Himself.

Flash forward many moons. The Samaritan woman shuffled toward the same well. She had no clue she’d be standing in the presence of the God of Jacob. Yet, there Jesus was, within arm’s reach, flesh and bone.

“I Am He”

Before her eyes stood Eve's Offspring Who'd dismantle the devil's work (Genesis 3:15), and put an end to sin (Daniel 9:24).

"I am he."

Twelve feet away stood the promised Ruler from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), David's Offspring Who has an eternal kingdom, the exalted Son of Man (Daniel 7: 13-14), Zion's King (Zechariah 9:9), and the One to Whom Judah's scepter belonged (Genesis 49:10).

"I am he."

Within whispering distance stood a Prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15), the Mediator of the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31) and the faithful Priest Who'd do God's will (1 Samuel 2:35).

"I am he."

She stared at the countenance of the spotless Lamb of God, the Root of Jesse, the rejected Cornerstone, Jacob's Wrestler, Joshua's General, Job's Redeemer, and Shadrach's fourth Man in the fire!

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

(Luke 4:18)

"I, the one speaking to you—I am he."

Application

The Samaritan woman came to Jacob's well for water, but abandoned it after beholding Jesus, the Spring of living Water. The soul-satisfying Water flowed through her, and downhill through every crooked street of Samaria. And the same should be true of us (Acts 1:8).

Where’s your “Samaria?” Where’s the place you’ve avoided? Witness to them. Tell them about Jesus, the Christ. The Spring of living Water cares about them, too.

Logan Stogner is passionate about teaching people about Jesus. God's Son is his Anthem. When he's not writing, speaking, or picking a guitar, you can find him playing UNO with his wife and daughters, or riding a boat along the Biloxi river. A true Southerner, he delights in fishing, eating, and sipping his favorite New Orleans Famous coffee. 

If you'd like to learn more about Logan and his devotional, please visit his website at loganstogner.com.

Creative Imagination

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.  Isaiah 26:3 NKJV

Maybe you don’t think you are creative, but you are.

I am pausing to consider this verse in Isaiah because the Hebrew word translated as “mind” is unusual. It means “creative imagination.”

Here in the middle of this Song of Salvation, God encourages us to use our creative imaginations. The grammatical structure of the verse tells us that partnering with God in our imaginations will build our trust in Him. As our trust in Him increases, He will keep us in perfect peace (Shalom).

This Hebrew word, “shalom,” is not just the absence of war. Shalom is total well-being in all areas of life (health, happiness, etc.).

I love to think about having total well-being as I partner with God in my imagination. What does that look like to you? For me, I find great peace and joy in worship and prayer services. I search out and jealously guard those times in His presence because God gives me ideas and visions.

All good things come to us when we keep our thoughts - creative imaginations - fixed on God. Every good idea, every grand plan, every inventive strategy comes to us when we keep our minds on God.

God wants to ignite our imaginations. He longs to give us creative solutions to everyday problems, such as relational issues. He desires to impart powerful strategies to free the oppressed and grand plans for reaching the lost. He will overwhelm us with His blueprint to advance the Kingdom of God.

Where is our creative imagination spent? Do we allow our imagination to wander down dark corridors? Or do we keep it single-focused on Him? What are we feeding our imaginations?

I feed my imagination with beauty, art, and words. I limit my intake of darkness and negativity; yes, even the news. Instead, I look for the beauty that is all around me. I love to walk in the woods listening to the birds singing and gazing at His wonders. The current season is fall, and I marvel at the glorious display of God colorful creation. I imagine the colors of heaven will be more vibrant and tantalizing than here. There will probably be colors we can’t even perceive now.

I also feed my creative imagination with art. I began watercolor painting lessons in order to translate the images that God gives me onto paper. When I can do that, I feel like I am giving “voice” to God’s creative ideas.  Art is like playing in the sandbox with Jesus. What might we create together?

Another way I feed my creative imagination is by meditating on His Word. I look for patterns in scripture. For example, in every instance where Jesus is transfigured on the mountain, His call to “take up your cross and follow Me” is mentioned immediately beforehand. I also ask the Holy Spirit questions, “Why is that so important that You mentioned it 7 times?” Another way to activate my imagination as I read is to put myself into the story. What was Jeremiah smelling, feeling, thinking when his leaders threw him into a pit? I note all these ideas in my spiritual journal.

Then I partner with God, using the insights He has given me, to write encouraging words for others. Again, writing words feels like having fun in the playground with Jesus. He is pushing me in the swing; with His help, I can go higher and higher . . . 

If you have denied that you are creative or spent years giving your creative imagination over to the dark side, like I did, repent with me. Father God, I repent for allowing dark movies and music to take my creative imaginings away from You. I consecrate the imagination that You gave me for Your use alone. Help me focus on You and Your ideas. I pray You give me plans and strategies to advance Your Kingdom. Amen.

Successful

But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 9:24

“Successful is God’s word spoken over you. He says you are successful even if the world does not see it. God will remind you why you are running for Him.”

I received this prophetic word with joy. I am elated to know that my God regards me as “successful.” I have no position or power or wealth which the world associates with success.

What is God’s measure of success? Jeremiah 9:24 is a good example.

God delights that we “understand and know” Him. Both these words contain the idea of comprehending something by “seeing.” In other words, to understand the Lord is to grow in revelation about Him. “To know” also carries the connotation of experiential knowledge. So, to know God is to encounter Him.

Gazing at God, seeking His presence; cultivating an intimate relationship with Him. These are things that “delight” God. This is success in God’s eyes.

Which of His character traits does God want us to see more fully? God lists several in verse 24, but I’ll highlight only the first one: “I am the LORD.”

LORD is the covenant name of God. It means He is self-existent or eternal. He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. He is the ever present One. He is the God who initiates and keeps every covenant promise.

If I had a hundred lifetimes, I could never fully understand and know my God as “LORD.” Of course, He knows that our understanding is limited. He is pleased that we try. He longs for us to turn our attention and affections toward Him. When we do, He rewards us with His presence and declares that we are “successful.”