Focus 40 Day 14

It Began with a Prayer Request

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

—John 13:34 niv

Veronica is a successful business lady in our congregation who continually shares the extravagant love of Christ with others. She has a marvelous gift of networking with people and boldly proclaims the gospel through her network. Her willingness to share the extreme love of Christ brings power to her sharing of the gospel. This past year through one of her network contacts, she was presented with a prayer request. The contact shared that she had a friend who had just given birth to her second child. It was a premature birth and the baby weighed only one and a half pounds. The life of baby Calen was in great jeopardy.

Veronica naturally agreed to pray for the baby. However, as she did, she was filled with great compassion for the mother of the newborn child. She found how to make contact with the mother and asked if she might come to the hospital to anoint and pray for the baby. Note that she had never met the mother. The mother willingly invited her to come and pray over baby Calen.

It was through this initial touch of love that a relationship began to build. The parents lived in another town from the hospital. The father was traveling back and forth, trying to hold down his job and care for his family. Veronica began to take meals to the hospital, bought gas cards for the father’s travel, and found many ways in which to share Christ’s extreme love.

Veronica involved her young adult daughter in this process of sharing Christ’s extreme and extravagant love. This ministry of compassion went on for several months. Baby Calen began to gain weight and grow. His lungs completed their development. Then came the day that Veronica received a call that baby Calen was being dismissed from the hospital to go home a strong healthy boy. Baby Calen’s parents asked that Veronica come and have a meal with them for a time of celebration.

Today, the parents of baby Calen (new believers!) have invited Veronica and her family to the baby’s first birthday party. They have truly experienced the extreme and extravagant love of Jesus through his faithful servant, Veronica.

Lord, help us to see the opportunities you place before us each day to love as you would love. May the extreme love you have bestowed upon us cause us to be extravagant in sharing your love with one another. Amen.

Claude Robold, Pastor, New Covenant Church, Middletown, Ohio 

Focus 40 Day 13

A Lifetime of "Yes, Lord!"

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.

—Jeremiah 29:11–14 niv

Those verses have been a theme of my life and ministry. At the end of my sophomore year of college, I became pastor of a country church near the Florida–Alabama state line. I was bivocational, doing construction work along with pastoral ministries. Within a few months of trying to balance it all, I became discouraged, disillusioned, and ready to quit the ministry.

I lived near Enterprise, Alabama, home of The Monument to the Boll Weevil. Cotton was the major crop that made the farmers wealthy; but an infestation of boll weevils destroyed cotton crops. Someone introduced the farmers to peanuts, which they substituted for cotton. Boll weevils don’t like peanuts, so they left them alone, and the farmers made more money off peanuts than they ever had off cotton. As a result, city leaders erected a giant boll weevil statue: “In profound appreciation of the Boll Weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity this monument was erected by the citizens of Enterprise, Coffee County, Alabama.” The county was catapulted into unprecedented wealth and hope because of a destructive insect.

Not far from that monument to a boll weevil, I knelt by the couch and began to pray, “God, I’m tired of playing ministry games, playing church, playing Christian. I declare before you that I want to get in all the way or get out. I’m at the end of myself; at the end of sloppy ministry and sloppy living. I want you to be Lord of my life, my ministry, all of me.”

In those moments of personal surrender to my Lord, I sensed the extreme love of God warming my heart, and I knew that my life would never be the same. It was the beginning of an unbelievable lifetime of ministry.

O God, I want to live saying, “Yes, Lord!” Keep me there, I pray in your awesome name! Keep my heart warmed with your extreme love and share it through me with those I love and lead. Amen.

Sam Bruce, President, Bruce Ministries, Florence, Mississippi

Focus 40 Day 12

Loving God becomes Your Story

“Hear O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
—Deuteronomy 6:4–5 niv

The command to love God is as old as the Bible itself. Centuries before Jesus came, the Israelites were given the instruction of Deuteronomy 6. But when you ponder the words of verse 4, the idea of love is like a skeleton. Without the organs and flesh, it isn't particularly attractive. Love may have a definition like: “Unconditional positive regard,” but the skeleton needs life, movement, emotion! Loving God must take on life; it must breathe; it must become your own story.

Certainly David would have learned as a child the instruction of Deuteronomy. Psalm 18 reflects a day in the life of this young soldier-poet when he celebrated the actions of a loving God who had rescued him from untold danger and calamity. He composes a song that begins with these words, “I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.”

Without giving us battlefield particulars, David rejoices in the story that he and God have written together. David’s psalm is a song about his great need and God’s perfect protection.

To love God is to know the word of command; then it is to begin the walk that writes an original story with your name in it.

Heavenly Father, today I receive the command to love you as your extreme invitation to care about me and walk with me. We have written many pages of my story with you already. Now I want the page for this day to be the best it can be as we walk together. I love you, Lord. You are my strength and my deliverer. Where will we go? What will we write today? I love to anticipate how you will prepare the way for our journey.

Robert G. Christensen, Senior Pastor, Mt. Scott Church of God, Portland, Oregon

Focus 40 Day 11

To Love God is to Love Others

“What is written in the Law?” [Jesus] replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” —Luke 10:26–28 niv

A religious expert once asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, and Jesus gave this reply. The cleric then asked Jesus a reasonable question: “Who is my neighbor?” In response, Jesus unveils the parable of the good Samaritan—which immediately challenges the ethnocultural, socioeconomic, and political barriers previously constructed by the religious establishment in first century Palestine. Samaritans had been cast as outsiders in Jewish culture, yet it is a disparate character that Jesus uses to highlight the power of love in human form.

If we are to love God, then we ought to lean in to what and who God loves.

It seems to me that through Christ, God erases the line between the insiders and the outsiders.

This requires amazing grace.

Each day that I go to work, I engage a multiplicity of relationships. From students to donors to staff and faculty, to neighborhood citizens and city leaders—I am constantly surprised at how often my love for Christ is largely what I have to offer as I enter into difficult situations. I am convinced that to practice loving God is to practice loving others.

In Luke 10, Jesus is preaching an upside-down worldview. He is simply unafraid to announce to the world that to love God is to challenge the constructed status quo. Accused of dining with sinners and befriending gamblers and robbers, Jesus doesn't blink. God’s love flourishes in the midst of brokenness.

As we live out this day, perhaps our devotion to God can be practiced as we demonstrate his love to our neighbors? Perhaps this is a call to the Church of God?

Lord, turn our love of God into a love of our neighbors, so that they may know you through the actions and love of your followers. May we remember that you came to seek and to save those who are lost—help us to love who you love. Let us be like the good Samaritan in reaching across socially constructed barriers to clothe the naked, comfort the afflicted, support the weary. God, our world is in desperate need for your love to be lived out through our lives each and every day.

Andrea Cook, PhD, President, Warner Pacific College

Focus 40 Sunday Devotional Week 2

Focus 40 – Extreme Love

February 24, 2013

Jeremiah 31:3

I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.

Everlasting and unfailing love.  God is faithful.  His love is steadfast.  This is the God that rescues people.  He rescued the Israelites from slavery.  He protected them from armies.  He provided food, water, and care for them in the wilderness.  He gave them an identity at Mount Sinai with the covenant.  He brought them into the Promised Land and gave them victory.  Even when the people continually broke the covenant and turned their backs on God, He was faithful to them.  This will not change.  God cannot help but be compassionate and loving to His people.  His desire is for them to live well and He will bring help, protection, provision, and even discipline to fulfill this desire.

There is an important Hebrew word here.  Hesed is a strong and often used word to describe God’s relationship with His people.  It is often translated as mercy, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, and loyalty.  It fits with the New Testament idea of grace.  It is an undeserved gift from God.  In this case, it is God’s unfailing love.  Love that remains no matter what.  Love that is dependable.  Love that cannot be changed.  Love that lasts. 

Hesed is at the center of God’s covenant and commandments.  It is the part of His character that is driven to work for the good of His people.   No matter what we do, think, or say…God will not give up on us.  God will continue to work for good in our lives.  God’s love is inescapable.

Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet.  He spent his life calling for people to return to God and describing what would happen if they did not.  He called for God’s people to return the Hesed that God has for them.  They did not.  They continually ignored the prophet and the worst happened.  The people were overthrown and forced into exile.  Refusing the love of God never brings good things into our lives.  God continually calls to us in love, mercy, and forgiveness.  Ignoring that call leads us away from God and His goodness.  Yet no matter how far away the people got, God’s love remained.  No matter how far away each of us might get, God loves us and will forgive.  How have we said yes to the love of God?  What would keep us from it?

Focus 40 Day 10

Love in the Gloom

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God… —Acts 16:25a niv

“Do you trust me? Do you love me? Jump!” Those were words I said to my two-year-old daughter after putting her on the hat rack as I donned my coat. She was our daredevil, so I thought she would leap without hesitation into the arms of her loving, tall, strong dad. But she couldn't  She would lean toward me a little, but couldn't trust me enough to jump. It wasn't about jumping; it was all about trust.

Extreme love for God is all about trusting him enough to obey in the small moments. Paul and Silas woke up to such a moment. They had shown their extreme love for God earlier as the crowds betrayed and beat them—but now, no glory, no fanfare, no invitation to greatness. Only a hard decision as they swooned with pain. Complain or sing? Trust or question? Leap into God’s arms or stay on the hat rack? It was all about trust. It still is.

Extreme love is seldom exhibited in the adrenaline-driven moment of great challenge. Those without Christ can do that. Extreme love is revealed in the gloom-shadowed moment when we have been emptied of all spiritual and emotional reserves. It is when we wake up bleeding, moisture dripping off the walls, abandoned by friends, with rats running across our legs. In such a moment as that, the highest expression of sacrificial love is possible—a love vastly different from anything the world does. When there is no fanfare and no one is around to watch, will we complain or sing?

Lord, open our eyes to your disguised invitations to trust you, to love you extremely.

Herb Shaffer, Senior Pastor, New Song Community Church, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania

Focus 40 Day 9

Showing God's Love in China

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to us to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love one another. —1 John 4:10–11 nlt

In April of 2012, I went to China on a medical mission with Project Partner. I was blown away by the love I saw expressed from our team to a community that comprised an under-resourced rural village.

Most of the forty-one persons on our team were medical professionals who used their personal vacation time and paid their own way to serve the poor for a week. Their servant hearts created a sacrifice I’ll never forget.

The chief of staff for an emergency room in a large hospital in a wealthy city brought five of his team with him. We made home visits on winding roads in driving rain to diagnose, treat, and pray for elderly and infants that couldn’t travel for treatment—and did it with joy. We visited homes where the conditions were deplorable. At times we didn’t have electricity or running water. Often tears welled up in our eyes when we realized that there was little we could do with the best medical treatment there was to offer. So we prayed. And when we prayed, the joy and sincere peaceful gratitude expressed by the Christians we served was overwhelming. They gave more to us in this lesson of faith than we gave to them in material help.

Nurses and lab techs visited the local grade school to teach personal hygiene and AIDS awareness. They played games with the children, taught them songs, and hugged them. Amazingly, the Chinese school administrators gave them an opportunity to share their personal faith, so they boldly told the story of Jesus in a country where the gospel is usually not allowed in the public school.

Dentists, doctors, nurses, emergency responders, and some regular nonmedical people like me gave routine physicals to more than seven hundred students. (They even found a job I could do. I held a clip board on the top of children’s heads so we could check their height.)

I was so profoundly affected by that week that when I returned, I changed my e-mail password to loveoneanother.

Lord, thank you for those times when heaven touches earth and earth becomes more like heaven. And thank you for empowering us to live out our extreme love for you by showing our extreme love for others who could not help themselves.

Gary Kendall, Lead Pastor, Indian Creek Community Church, Olathe, Kansas

Focus 40 Day 8

Love that Overflows

And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.” —1 Thessalonians 3:12 nlt

In this chapter of his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul is expressing some concern over the spiritual condition of the church there. They are experiencing some severe trials and Paul sends Timothy to see if their faith is holding firm. He is ecstatic at the news that their faith—and especially their love—has stood the test.

I realize too often how impotent I am in my own strength to face or overcome the trials of life. But I am also encouraged by the words Paul emphasizes to these embattled believers in Thessalonica: overflowing love. This is an extraordinary, God-empowered love. The Thessalonians knew that the ability to love people who were causing them problems—in other words, the ability to love their enemies—could only come from God. It’s the kind of love that lives in the person who is full of the Holy Spirit and his operative power. It’s extreme love.

In financial terms, it’s like being able to spend lavishly with the interest from your invested principal. It’s dividend love. God’s great love in us is the principal, and he enables us to love others with the excess, the overflow, the dividend love!

Holy God, I need you to fill me and transform me into the kind of person who would rather love his enemies than fear them or fight them. I know that’s only possible if your excessive love lives in me. Fill me so that your love is the principal upon which I am yielding dividends. And may that dividend love cast out all fear and equip me to love extremely—even those who seek to hurt me. Amen.

David Bish, Senior Pastor, Tri-County Church of God, Dubois, Pennsylvania

Focus 40 Day 7

Showing Love on the Way

How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. —Matthew 18:12–14 kjv

One Saturday morning before attending a golf fundraiser, I had devotions and prayer. During my prayer time I had an overwhelming urge to seek God’s guidance for me that day so I could do his will. As I went to my car, I noticed one of my tires was a low. So I headed to the corner Speedway gas station, only to find I could barely get in the lot because a big tractor trailer was there to replenish pumps with gas.

My initial reaction was to go to another location for air or drive out to the course and put air in my tire after golf, but I waited to see how the situation would unfold. I waved to the truck driver and shouted over to ask if I could get closer to the air hose.

He shook his head no but then came over to say in a jovial way, “Sir, we have to be extremely cautious because the slightest spark can cause an explosion, and you might get into heaven, but because of the way I am, I might not make it in!” As he walked back over to the truck where he was working, I quickly called that we should take care of the situation right now. He welcomed a discussion with me!

I learned that not only had he contemplated giving his life to Christ, but his mother and other relatives had been praying for his salvation for years. We finally prayed together and celebrated his decision with a handshake and hug. This man was in his late fifties yet still had time to make a change of a lifetime.

I ended up being late to my outing yet still managed to get my full round in at the links, but all day long all I could think about was receiving and sharing God’s love so that the lost sheep could pray the prayer of salvation at Speedway.

O God, today allow me to be a vessel for you. During my travels in life, allow me to see through your eyes the opportunities to demonstrate your love by helping someone find their way. In Jesus’ name, amen

Dave Wess Sr., Director of Ministry Operations, Dayspring Church of God, Cincinnati, Ohio

Focus 40 Day 6

A Person of Exceptional Worth

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the  wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” —Isaiah 43:19–21

AS JESUS DIED, the sun grew dark, the earth quaked, the wind blew, and the veil in the temple was torn  apart. This veil separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, so it separated everyone except the  high priest from personal contact with God. The tearing of the veil signified that now every man, woman, boy, and girl has personal access to God.  

Jonathan, one of my online students said, “Real dignity comes from the reality that God sacrificed Jesus his Son for you. At times, we forget that we are worth dying for.”

Knowing this  motivates us to fulfill Jonathan’s next words: “As a redeemed believer, I want to follow Christ and carry out his purpose and mission for my future!” This enables us to become transformational servant-leaders who allow God to fulfill  his purpose and mission for our future.He’s right, yet this fact often goes right over our heads. 

God says each of us is a person of  exceptional  worth and  extravagant value to him.  He describes us as “my chosen, the people I formed for myself that you may proclaim my praise” (Isa 43:21 NIV).  God has placed within you the ability to fulfill your highest potential: to dream great dreams and see them become realities. In order to reach this awesome goal, pray this life-purpose power prayer:

Empower me, Lord, by your Son, to become all you created me to be. Energize me, Lord, by your Spirit, to accomplish all you call me to do. Then work through me to transform the lives of those I love and lead. Amen.

Dr. Sam Bruce, Sam & Sandie Bruce Ministries, Florence, Mississippi

Focus 40 Day 5

God's Extreme Love in Times of Trouble

My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. —Proverbs 3:11–12 nlt

Life comes with both prosperity and adversity. We naturally want to honor the Lord in prosperity (Prov 3:9–10). We rejoice when the bank account has enough in it, when we have all the food we need, when the house doesn't have some major problem that needs fixed, and when our health is good. Yet when trouble comes our natural tendency is to pull away, to question, or even to resent God for allowing this trouble to happen. If we can honor God in prosperity, can we also honor him in adversity?

How many of us have been disciplined by God? How many of us have had to discipline a child (our own or others)? Why do we do this? Discipline in its truest form comes from love. It comes from a desire to see a child grow up healthy, wise, and safe. Discipline is an act of protection. Discipline is an act of love. God does not take joy in the adversity and suffering of his people. He does not force trouble upon us. No father forces a child to do something harmful or dangerous just to teach them a lesson, but a good father will use the wrongdoing of a child to instruct and correct.

God’s love for us doesn't ignore the troubles we face in life. God’s love speaks into our troubles to lead us toward a better and more complete relationship with God. May we humbly accept the discipline of God as an act of love as we seek to follow him.

Dear God, help us to accept all that your love brings into our lives. Help us to trust you in the midst of trouble. Guide us through the hardships of life into a more complete relationship with you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

John Mattern, Senior Pastor, First Church of God, Greensburg, Indiana

Devotional First Sunday of Lent

Focus 40 – Extreme Love

February 17, 2013

Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

At the core of the greatest commandment is love.  Love is an essential part of God’s nature.  We are created in love.  God sent His Son as a sacrifice because of love.  God loves His people.  It should not surprise us that love is an essential part of our relationship with God and with each other.  All of the commandments of God are wrapped in love.  God gives commands out of love for the good of His dearly loved people.  The only proper response to God’s love is to return that love.  If we are to follow God and live a Christian life, we must love.

Love requires all of us.  Heart, soul, and mind are all bent towards God in love.  Love doesn't come in small pieces.  It can’t be compartmentalized or broken down.  True love encompasses our entire being.  It will change how we think, how we feel, and how we act.  It changes the core of who we are and gives us a new identity.  The love God commands us to have doesn't fit neatly into our modern worlds understanding of love.  The love that we see in the world is often fickle.  It changes with the circumstances.  It can sometimes be more self-centered than other-centered.  It is a small and corrupted version of the true love God has for us and commands us to give.  In this command we are invited to discover what true love looks like.  It is a love that doesn't fade, it doesn't change with the situation, it is focused on others and returned in kind, and it is big.  This love brings joy and fullness to life.

Love is also essential to how we interact with each other.  This isn't a romantic idea as much as a human relationship idea.  Love cares about the wellbeing of the people around us.  Love sees through outward appearances and allows us to engage the heart, soul, and mind of another person.  Acting in love is never the wrong choice.  How much of our identity is tied to love?  Are our hearts open to God and each other?  How essential is love to life?

Focus 40 Day 4

He First Loved Us

“….Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” —2 Corinthians 1:3–4 niv

Jesus calls us to comfort others, offer peace, and share truth because we have been comforted, we have received peace, and we have learned truth.

Remember Jesus’ striking words in Matthew: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me”(25:35–36 niv).

This heart for others is not contrived or forced. It is the humble response to the great gift of love we've experienced. I was a single homeless mother that was grieving life when Jesus sent someone to love me. I was clothed not only physically but in righteousness. I drank deeply for the first time in years. I drank from the Living Water. I was released from the prison of addiction and stepped into the freedom of redemption. I was given shelter from earth’s elements and provided the shelter of eternity. Jesus introduced me to life that I never knew existed, all because someone loved Jesus enough to love me. First John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us” (niv).

We do not have to be afraid to love others extravagantly, completely, and unconditionally. When we love others, we are simply introducing them to the Friend who “will never leave you nor forsake you” (Josh 1:5).

Our love for others, while it may seem costly at times, is truly an extension of the love that Jesus first showed us. While we were yet sinners—hungry, thirsty, strange, naked, ill and imprisoned—HE LOVED US. Shouldn't our response be as generous as Christ was to us? “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity” (2 Cor 8:2 niv1984).

Dear God, thank you for finding me with Your love. Thank you for changing my life with Your love. Help me not hold back from loving others, but to demonstrate Your love for others just as Jesus did for me. Before this day ends, may I have an opportunity to offer Your extravagant love to someone. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Christy L. Pittman, Minister, Lynchburg, Pennsylvania

Focus 40 Day 3

Known for Our Love

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” —Matthew 22:37–39 niv

Someone asked me, ”What is your church known for in the community?” I quickly rattled off some of our congregation’s ministries and programs—Kings Way School, missions, children’s ministry (I did not mention great preaching)—but later that question started to haunt me. What are we known for?

My mind was taken to Matthew 22: 37–39. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day would get together and argue amongst themselves. Ultimately they were asking, “Of all the commandments, what is the greatest commandment?”

So they came to Jesus. Jesus knows that this question is much too important to leave it vague. So he quoted Deuteronomy 6, a well-known passage of the Hebrew Bible that contains the foremost ordinance for the nation of Israel concerning their God.

So Jesus essentially says, “If you take all 613 commandments and boil them down, they boil down to two. And really out of the two, one flows from the first. This becomes the chief barometer for a follower of Jesus Christ and for his church.

So how are we known in the city around us? Is the church known first and foremost as a church that passionately loves God and loves others around us? If it’s not, then let me just suggest that we have missed the main thing.

It’s not our programs and activities. As good as some of those things can be, they’re not the end. They are a means to an end. The end, the one command, the one imperative, is to love.

It would be great to be known as the people who love God!

Father, When I contemplate the love with which you have loved me, I am very aware of the fact that I don’t love you as you deserve. I want to cling to the One who perfectly loved you, to Jesus Christ. We ask that your Spirit might break our hearts, soften us, and show us the love which you have given us. May we love others with that love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Donald Doe, Pastor, First Church of God, Vancouver, Washington

Focus 40 Day 2

In the Arms of Love

But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God's love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life! —Jude 20–21 msg

On April 21, 2012, a baby boy was born into our family. His name is Ezra Ryan Shrout. He weighed in at 9 pounds, 9 ounces and was 21¾ inches long. When my son placed his son in my arms, it was a moment that I will never forget. My son got up from where he was and, without my asking, brought his son over and placed him in my arms. As I looked down at this little baby boy, I prayed for his safety, his growth into manhood, and that one day when God stirs his heart, he will reach out to God and accept him as his own personal Savior.

My heart was full of praise to God for bringing this little one into the world and our family. Right there in my heart, I worshiped and gave praise to God. I expressed my great love to him. I was also reminded as I held my little grandson in my arms that God holds me in his arms the very same way. Many times when I have prayed for the sick, I will pray something to the effect that we are lifting up the sick person and placing him/her into the arms of God.

Living in the arms of God, letting him hold me and comfort me as I comforted my new grandson, is the place where I want to live. I believe that if we make room for God in our life, he will show up. He will hold us. He will protect us. God is more excited about spending time with me than I am with my grandson. What a wonderful, loving, and powerful God we serve!

Dear Lord, may I this day be mindful of you holding me in your arms. May I always be aware of your unfailing love and grace. May my response to you be extreme love that flows out of my heart! Walk with me this day and forevermore. Amen!

David I. Shrout, Executive Coordinator for the Churches of God in Oregon and Southwest Washington

Focus 40 Day 1

Day 1

“And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife. Then the Lord God said, ‘Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!’ So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden…” —Genesis 3:21–23a nlt

How is this extreme love? After Adam and Eve chose to disobey, they felt the first negative emotion: shame. God did not shame them; it was the result of knowing what they were never meant to know. Unlike many human parents who continue to add to a wayward child’s embarrassment, God killed one of his creatures to make clothing and lessen their shame.

Did you grow up with “Shame on you!” ringing in your ears? Some adults use this phrase to control children’s behavior, but it pours contempt on a child’s head. God never intended for us to know shame. When Adam and Eve did experience shame, it was God himself who provided a temporary solution.

God banished his children from the garden paradise he had made for them. God never intended for us to know evil. When he sent Adam and Eve away from the garden, it was so they would not have to live with evil forever. Death would now be a grace-filled release from the hard life ahead.

As a young person, I never thought much about death, and certainly not my own. The longer I live, the more I understand the deep, anguish-filled love of God. When I know the place he is preparing for me, when I know I can trust his sacrifice for my sins, I can trust his extreme love plan—eternity with him.

Lord, the psalmist wrote that you do not take any delight in the death of your children. Yet death is a provision to free us from the painful results of living in shame amidst all the evil around us. It is also the door through which we pass to live with you forever. Thank you for your extreme love, providing a solution through Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.

Karen Helsel, Sunnyside, Washington

Through Faith Devotional

Through Faith

February 10, 2013

1 Peter 1:3-9

Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad.  There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.  These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.  You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.  The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

Through faith we discover and priceless, pure, and eternal inheritance protected by God.  Through faith, we can face trials and be made into stronger and better people because of them.  Through faith, we give glory, honor, and praise to God.  Through faith, we find acceptance, purpose, and love.  Through faith, we discover an amazing joy that goes beyond our ability to describe or even understand.  The miracle of salvation is discovered by those who are faithful.  Faith is belief put into action.  Faith depends on God.  It trusts that which we have not seen and do not see now. 

Faith is not easy.  It is not casual.  It is not simple.  Yet it is worth far more than we can imagine.  It is a gift we present to our maker, savior, and Lord.  If we were to present this gift before the Lord right now, what would it look like?  Would it be genuine, tested, and purified?  Or would it be dirty, ignored, and unproven?  Worse yet, would our faith be mere words without substance?  This is cause for concern.  God delights in the faithful.  If we desire the joy of the Lord, we must keep the faith and live out what we believe.  We have control over our faith.  It takes a conscious choice to act in faith and live faithfully.  That choice needs to be made daily.  How much time, thought, and effort do we put into faith?  What do we need to change?

Get Out of the Boat Faith Devotional

Get Out of the Boat Faith

February 3, 2013

Matthew 14:24-33

Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves.  About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water.  When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!”  But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”  Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”  “Yes, come,” Jesus said.  So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.  But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.  Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”  When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.  Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed. 

The disciples found themselves in trouble.  They were without their teacher and protector, Jesus Christ.  Their lives were at risk in water during a storm.  They had every reason to be afraid.  Add to that this man walking on water towards them.  Impossible.  It must be a ghost.  They were doomed.  It’s a Biblical scary story.  At the scariest moment, Jesus says “I am here” and “don’t be afraid”.  Jesus is always there in the scariest and darkest of times.  He shows up in the most unexpected of circumstances.  Jesus is present for us.

Peter sees Jesus and wants out of the boat.  He wants to be where Jesus is.  Peter has a tendency to act impulsively.  He is also a leader and tends to be the first to try things.  He isn’t perfect, but he is willing to have faith and do what others consider odd or impossible.  If Jesus can walk on water, Peter can too.  So he asks Jesus, Jesus says “come”, and Peter walks on water…until he realizes what he is actually doing.  Then he begins to doubt…he begins to sink.  Jesus reaches out his hand and saves Peter.  Do we ever let our doubts sink us?  We live faithfully.  We live out the belief we have until we notice the wind and waves around us.  Then our tendency is to shrink back to what feels safe.  Do not doubt.  Jesus is greater than the storm.