How’s that working for you?
Devotions this week are based on Week 1 of “He Shall Be Called: Wonderful Counselor” (CLICK HERE)
How’s that working for you?
The famous TV psychologist, “Dr. Phil,” was known to interview individuals going through different personal or relationship issues. They would describe the often bizarre things that were going on and how their life was not going very well. While they came on the show for advice, some seemed reluctant to take Dr. Phil’s advice and try something different. When they pushed back on his advice and seemed to want to keep doing what they were doing and get different results, he would ask, “How’s that working for you?”
The point was to have the guest evaluate the advice they had received and the results it was getting for them. If they liked the results (which was usually why they were on the show in the first place), great keep doing them and get the negative results. However, if it wasn’t working, perhaps it was time to listen to some new advice and try something new.
Perhaps we have encountered situations in our life where the advice and actions we were receiving and taking were not having a positive outcome. It’s time to try something new.
We are not the first ones to find ourselves with a result in life that is short of what we desire and most of all short of what God desires.
In Isaiah’s day he calls out the woeful advisors to whom the people of Israel were going. The results were evident that the advice was bad.
Here’s what Isaiah wrote:
Isaiah 8:19 When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.
People were seeking advice and being told to consult mediums, spiritists, or even the dead themselves. What kind of advice would ungodly, dead people give? A rational person would say, “Not good!” However, people saw these sources as a place to go for advice. Unfortunately this can still be true today. You can read your horoscope or have someone interpret Tarot cards. You can have someone try to conjure up a dead relative…all to seek input and advice on life.
“How’s that working for you?” the prophet seems to be saying. The rhetorical question assumes, “Not very well.” These are woeful advisors and with woeful advisors you get horrible results.
The answer? Inquire of God. Seek God’s truth in the “law and testimony,” his Word. This source of truth and body of truth are the only places that will “illumine” your heart and life to the blessings of God. Why walk in the darkness of woeful advisors when you can walk in the wonderful counsel of the God who made you, redeemed you and wants nothing but the best for you!
Apply: Evaluate the source of the advice you seek and receive. Is it moving you toward God or away from him? Get rid of woeful advisors and seek God’s wonderful counsel.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your love which always guides me into your wonderful counsel. AMEN.
He Shall Be Called: Wonderful Counselor
Devotions this week are based on Week 1 of “He Shall Be Called: Wonderful Counselor” (CLICK HERE)
Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The prophet Isaiah was God’s spokesman about 700 years before Jesus was born. He spoke to the people of Judah and as was the case in many seasons of God’s people they would would drift away from the Lord and seek after other gods and follow the influence of the people’s around them. The drifting was dangerous and led to hardship for God’s people. However, amidst the calls to repentance were also communication of God’s promise and reason for the people to have hope that God’s love and grace had not failed them. Isaiah 9:6 is one of those prophecies.
Over the next weeks we will reflect on each of these names and the significance of each. This week “Wonderful Counselor”
A counselor is one from whom we seek advice. We may seek counsel when we get stuck, seem to be in a negative pattern, or simply need help making a decision. People take up the profession of “Counseling” usually with a degree in psychology. Usually counsel is sought out, but sometimes we receive “unsolicited advice.” The point is that a counselor is one who gives us advice. Another word for “counselor” might be “advisor.”
Wonderful is the word that describes the “Counselor.” “Wonderful” implies a positive experience that is usually better than one might expect. Wonderful in the Bible is often used as something that is of divine origin and causes awe in one’s heart or mind. Perhaps another way to look at these two words, “Wonderful Counselor” is this: One who gives advice that is of God.
Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of this as he is the one that is “the Word made flesh.” In all of his life and ministry he spoke the very Words of God. He stands in contrast to advisors who give advice that seeks to eliminate God as a source of wisdom. Some may claim that the advice that comes from Jesus is “old fashioned,” “irrelevant,” or simply empty of truth.
So what advice have you been seeking or taking? Are the people from whom you seek counsel ones who are seeking the wisdom of God, or simply giving the best secular advice they can come up with?
This week we will consider the difference between “woeful counsel” and “wonderful counsel.” At first the two may seem obvious, but even 2700 years after Isaiah we are tempted to seek woeful counsel instead of relying on our Wonderful Counselor.
Apply: Consider woeful and wonderful advice you have received. What has been the result of both?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for sending your Son to be our Wonderful Counselor. Help me to more consistently seek his advice for all aspects of life. AMEN
Are you still giving thanks?
(Reposted from November 27, 2020)
The irony of Black Friday…
Just as you are finishing a day of thanksgiving and reflecting on all the blessings God has given in the past year, focus shifts to the pile of advertisements or emails that call your name to…go buy more stuff!
You would think that after a day of thanksgiving would come a day of contentment…at least an hour or two.
Truth be told, I have gotten up early, stood in line, and been one of the first in a door to get a special on Friday morning. However, it does lead me to pause and ask, “Is the purpose of Thanksgiving to end one year of accumulating stuff with gratitude, only to start another year of accumulating stuff?
Of course it isn’t, but it’s easy to go there.
The purpose of giving thanks isn’t to GET more; the purpose of giving thanks is to GIVE more.
The Apostle Paul inspired by God’s Spirit, puts this into perspective.
2 Corinthians 9:10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
Remember who gave you all you have in the first place…God is the one who “supplies seed to the sower and bread for food.” As the “Common Doxology” says, “Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow.” Giving thanks realizes all I have is a gift of God.
Then what happens?
God continues to give…for a purpose.
- To “enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.” The goodness of God leads me to do the good God encourages. The generosity of God, not only in material things, but in the spiritual (especially what God has given to me in the grace of Jesus) is the motivation to produce fruits of faith.
- To enable us to be generous on every occasion. God is a giver. He wants his people to be givers as well. Jesus condemned the rich farmer who just wanted to take his bumper crops and build bigger barns and store everything up for himself. His life was taken from him. Jesus concluded that parable with the words, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21).
- To lead others to give thanks to God as well. Just as we have been God’s message to share with others, we have been given a portion of God’s possessions to share with others. When we love others by sharing the blessings we have received, others give thanks…not to us…but to God.
Paul continues in 2 Corinthians 9 of what happens when we give thanks…and give more:
2 Corinthians 9:12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
So this “Black Friday” remember the greatest gift you received on “Good Friday”. May this “indescribable gift” lead you to give thanks…AND give thankfully!
Apply: Perhaps in your shopping this weekend think of someone who has a need which you can bless with a generous gift, simply to show them the love of Jesus.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for giving so generously to me all things physical and spiritual. Enlarge my heart of gratefulness so I can be generous on every occasion. AMEN.
Give Thanks!
(Reposted from November 26, 2020)
Happy Thanksgiving Day!
The history of this day travels back to the 1600s and the celebration of the Pilgrims after a harsh trip to the new world and a challenging winter that claimed the lives of many of the original group. Finally after a harvest was brought in, they paused to give thanks for the providence of God and the blessings he had provided.
Fast forward over 100 years to October 3, 1789 and a national day of Thanksgiving was declared by our first president, George Washington. Here’s what he wrote:
By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war—for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted—for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions—to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually—to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789. Go: Washington
As an American, I am grateful our country still believes it’s important to have a day of Thanksgiving. I pray it is not simply a “thanks for not having to go to work today,” but a genuine day of thanks as our first president encouraged. I also pray that we as a nation seek pardon for our transgressions. Give thanks for ALL the blessings God has given and pray for the favor of the Lord to remain on our land.
As a Christian, I also pause to reflect on all the reasons God has given me to give thanks, not just today, but each and every day. Perhaps a few verses from Colossians 3:15-17 help:
Colossians 3:15-17 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
For what do we have to give thanks? And what enables us to live today and every day “giving thanks to God the Father”? Here are three reasons:
- We have been given the Peace of Christ to rule in our hearts…no matter the external circumstances.
- We have been given the Word of Christ to dwell in our souls…to speak wisdom and guidance to faith and life.
- We have been given the Name of Christ to identify us as a child of God and give us a reason to do everything with gratitude and thanksgiving.
Enjoy your day…given thanks today and always!
Prayer: O give thanks to the LORD for he his good, his mercy endures forever. AMEN!
In our own language!
Today’s devotion is based off of week 4 of Unlikely Heroes: A Translator (WATCH HERE)
After eight weeks of traveling in Europe, we landed in Detroit, Michigan from the long flight over the Atlantic. As I walked off the plane and into the airport gate, I noticed something I had not noticed before. I could read the signs. I could understand the people. Everything was in English, the language I know and understand!
On a daily basis, we take this for granted. However for the majority of eight weeks in Europe we tried to piece together a little Greek in Athens, or Italian in Rome, or German in Berlin, or Norwegian in Norway, or French in Paris. We had a book of common phrases to get us to the train, the bathroom, or grocery store. But carrying on a meaningful conversation with someone was difficult at best and impossible at worst.
How much would we have gained if we could speak in all of those languages and be able to understand all those languages!
Being able to operate in a country and culture that matches your language is a blessing which seems like normal to us. But when we step out of that context into a foreign country and language we get to appreciate what it means to not have the ability to understand.
At Pentecost, the people who came to Jerusalem must have felt like us traveling in Europe. They maybe could find their place to stay, or something to eat, or where the bathroom was, but they were visitors in a place that didn’t speak their language.
Until they heard the disciples.
Acts 2:5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,[b] 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
The excitement wasn’t just to understand where the baggage claim was and what was being served on the menu, the excitement was to hear the disciples proclaim the amazing truths of God in their native language! We don’t know what all the disciples proclaimed, but if it was close to what Peter said, the key thing they learned that day was that God’s Spirit was being sent to convict their heart of sin and turn them to the answer to sin, their Savior Jesus Christ.
They didn’t have to guess. They didn’t miss anything. They had it in their own language!
This is what the Lutheran Bible Translators are doing…bringing the wonders of God to people in their own language. Dr. Pfluger related a number of instances of the joy that people had when they heard the Word of God for the first time in their language. Finally it was not only understood, but they were able to hear about Jesus for the first time in their native language. Give thanks for the Word of God in your language…consider supporting this mission work to bring the wonders of God to people who do not yet have a Bible in their language!
Apply: Take time to listen to this week’s message (Link is at the beginning of the devotion.) Go to https://lbt.org/missionary/dr-chris-and-janine-pluger/ to read more about the Pfulgers and give a gift as the Lord moves you to do so.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the gift of having your word in a language I can understand. AMEN