Ruth 2:12
I love these words because there is no better place to be than under the wings of our Lord! This analogy is used a few times in the Bible. Psalm 63:7 says, “Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings will I rejoice.”
It is a picture that the people of that day could truly relate to, that of God loving and protecting His children, as a mother hen protects her little chicks.
When there is danger, the little chicks will run under their mother who would ruffle out her feathers and cover them with her wings. This is one of the many pictures of God in the Old Testament. And sometimes I just need to get under His wings! When I face tough and difficult times in this world, my natural impulse is to figure it out on my own or fight through it on my own.
But the best thing is to hide under the shadow of His wings. “Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.”
Trusting in Him,
Rich Kikuchi
Ecclesiastes 10:1
It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but it only takes one bad act or decision to spoil it. That’s pretty much what Solomon points out in the above verse. The importance of consistently exercising wisdom is something to be valued and yet wisdom does not always come to us naturally. Wisdom is sometimes learned and wisdom is sometimes gifted to us by God but, either way, wisdom is always to be applied if you seek to avoid looking like a fool.
On the other hand, looking like a fool comes easy and without practice. You don’t have to learn to be foolish to be one, you just have to not learn to apply wisdom. This same author tells us in other places that the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. To avoid looking like a fool, start learning who God is and what He requires of you and, as you do, you’ll find yourself making less and less of a fool of yourself.
It’s important to remember however, that when following the cross of Jesus Christ, you may look like a fool to the world around you, but never will you look like a fool before God.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… Because the foolishness of God is wiser than man, and the weakness of God is stronger than men… But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:18, 25, 27).
Pastor Jason Witt
The Lord is never in a place where He cannot save. He is never in a place where He cannot hear. God wants to hear from us. He wants to save us. God wants to be in the middle of your life. There is one problem though, SIN.
Sin is the only thing that is keeping us from enjoying God to the fullest. Sin is what separates us from God and sin causes God to hide His face from us. God cannot look at sin with joy. He is a holy God and requires holiness. God sent the solution to sin and His name is Jesus (John 3:16). If today you know that you are living in sin and have not repented, confess it to the Lord (1 John 1:9). That could be the very reason that He does not hear your prayers and why He is hiding His face.
Joshua Navarro
Some 30 years before the above verse was penned, Paul found himself on the road to Damascus with letters in hand giving him the authority to arrest any who were “of the way,” to bring them to Jerusalem to be tried and maybe killed. As he went, “breathing threats and murders against the disciples of Christ,” he saw a bright light, fell to the ground, and heard a voice from heaven saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” That was the day that Paul was apprehended and Christ laid hold of him.
Paul writes here after walking with the Lord for years, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” You would think that if anyone could say, “I have arrived, I have paid my dues, I have come as far as I can go in my service to God,” it would be Paul. Yet he wasn’t satisfied with what the Lord had accomplished in him, he wanted to finish well, using the life that had been given to him to glorify the God who saved him. Paul knew that God had a plan for his life and he wasn’t finished until the Lord took him home.
Are you finished, have you arrived, or are you ready to “press on and lay hold of that for which Christ has also laid hold of you?” If so then let’s “forget those things that are behind and reach forward to those things that are ahead, the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
Pastor Doug Hardin
When Jesus told His disciples that He would be leaving them, their hearts became troubled. Jesus settles their troubled hearts by telling them that He was going to prepare a place for them in heaven. If your heart is feeling troubled, remember that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for you.
As Christians, our home is not in this world, it is at our Father’s house in heaven. We are sojourners in this life making our way home. When the cares of this world leave your heart troubled, remember that this place is not your home. Everyday we are getting closer and closer to our Father’s house. If that does not bring your heart joy, nothing will.
For the King,
Pastor Daniel Batistelli
I always found it interesting that when you read the prison epistles, Paul mentions how he is a prisoner of Christ. The magnitude of something like that didn’t really hit me until recently. When I have unfair things happen, all I can think is “why is this happening?” Paul did not view his imprisonment in that way.
In Ephesians and the other epistles, Paul says he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of others. Not a prisoner of Rome, Caesar, the Jews, but of Christ! Imagine what a witness we could have today if we shared in this view as our circumstances become less than ideal. I am here because of the sovereign hand of my God to serve and love you. I pray that we can share in the same mind as Paul.
Resting in Him,
Pastor Sean Boehm
Growing up I always wanted to please my dad. I disobeyed him plenty, but I still constantly looked for his approval. How much more should we want to please and glorify our heavenly Father? We’re called to bear fruit but fruit is not something that is attached to the branch and fastened on the outside, but is pushed out from the inside and displays the health of the branch to the vine. Here’s a familiar list of spiritual fruit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
That’s the fruit that will get pushed out of our lives from the inside as we abide in Christ. So this fruit is having Christ-likeness in our character and affections as well as the works in which they are displayed. Bear that kind of fruit and people will say, “They have been with Jesus.” Then we can share with them how they too can glorify the Father.
To be pleasing to Him,
Pastor Gerard Deleeuw
As Paul was talking to the Ephesian elders, he used the above verse as a selling point to them. He did not fail in teaching the whole Bible to these church leaders. Paul realized the importance of knowing the entirety of Scripture and the effect it has on life.
Wherever you go to church, I hope it’s a place where the entire Bible is taught. If pastors teach through the Word, verse-by-verse, then you won’t be able to hear just the favorite pet scriptures of the pastor. Eventually you’ll hear every aspect of the word and there will be a part of it that exhorts or convicts you. Or both!
God gave us His whole word to minister to our lives and He knew we’d need it. Pick up your Bible and spend some time reading through the whole thing and let the Lord speak to you about all things that pertain to life and godliness.
Delighting in His word,
Pastor Ron Kitchell
2 Timothy 4:2
Paul’s last letter written before he was executed for his faith was this letter to his favorite disciple, Timothy, who was pastoring the church in Ephesus at the time. His words of encouragement, his life of hope and faith, and his accomplishments will stir your heart as you read it.
One thing he continued to hammer home to Timothy was the need to preach God’s Word! To seek to convince the hearer to follow the Lord and His ways. After 40-plus years in ministry, I find that same need to rally the troops constantly. To call on the church to get busy preaching God’s Word, to be in the harvest field laboring for Him, to be fishers of men, to love the lost as our Lord does, and pray daily for the salvation of the lost. To be as Paul writes here, ready in season and out of season, meaning when it is easy and when it is extremely difficult. I want to encourage you today: get out there and tell someone about Jesus and His great love!
Shout it from the rooftops!
Pastor Jack Abeelen
Romans 12:15
A mother sent her little girl to a neighbor’s house down the street one afternoon to get a toy she had left there. Thinking it would only take her about 10 minutes, the mom became concerned when her daughter hadn’t returned after about 30 minutes.
So the mom stepped outside to look down the street to see if she saw her daughter. Sure enough, the little girl was on her way back. “What took you so long?” the mom asked.
“I’m sorry mom. When I got to the house, my friend had broken her doll and she was crying. So I helped her fix it.”
“Well, what did you do to fix it?” questioned the mom.
The little girl responded, “I cried with her. And now it’s all better.”
That’s exactly what a lot of folks need today, not someone who can be Mr. or Mrs. Fix-it and put the pieces back together, they need someone who will grieve with them first. They need someone who will take time out of his or her schedule to empathize.
Be that person for someone else. Take time to share grief and bear burdens together. That’s what it really means to love one another through pain. Love others who hurt by spending time and sharing in their pain.
Pastor William Del Casale
