Recovery Devotional 300 Too Quick to Judge

JMD Devotional 300 1 Samuel 1:10-18 Too Quick to Judge

And [Hannah] was in distress of soul, praying to the Lord and weeping bitterly. She vowed, saying, O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your handmaid and [earnestly] remember, and not forget Your handmaid but will give me a son, I will give him to the Lord all his life; no razor shall touch his head. And as she continued praying before the Lord, Eli noticed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. Eli said to her, How long will you be intoxicated? Put wine away from you. But Hannah answered, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I was pouring out my soul before the Lord. Regard not your handmaid as a wicked woman; for out of my great complaint and bitter provocation I have been speaking.

Then Eli said, Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him. Hannah said, Let your handmaid find grace in your sight. So [she] went her way and ate, her countenance no longer sad.

If the people of this lost and sin-cursed world are our critics and tormentors; I am sad to say our fellow believers are often more so. We tend to expect unrealistic perfection out of each other. I believe that one of the reasons that Jesus commanded us to not judge others is because we almost always get it wrong! We misinterpret what we see, we project our own shame upon other’s, we slander their motives, we elevate ourselves by crushing them. We do not have the omniscience and omnipresence to judge another. Only God knows what they are thinking, how hard it is for them, or where they have been or the load that they are carrying. If we set aside our powdered white wig and gavel and leave judgment to God, we are free to take on more appropriate roles like encourager and mercy-giver.

Dear God,

I am too quick to judge, and my ‘judgments’ are almost always wrong. Putting myself into such a position, that I am ill-equipped for makes me come across as unloving and critical. It only takes a quick review of my life to remind me that I have no right to put another down. Forgive me, and redirect my zeal into seeking to build up and edify others. Help me to share Your love and grace with others in every situation. May I not covet Your position, power or authority: there is One Judge; steer me to fulfill my role in Your kingdom.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

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Recovery Devotional 299 Amplified Torment

JMD Devotional 299 1 Samuel 1:1-8 Amplified Torment

THERE WAS a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, named Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. This man went from his city year by year to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were the Lord's priests.

When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give to Peninnah his wife and all her sons and daughters portions [of the sacrificial meat]. But to Hannah he gave a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had given her no children. [This embarrassed and grieved Hannah] and her rival provoked her greatly to vex her, because the Lord had left her childless. So it was year after year; whenever Hannah went up to the Lord's house, Peninnah provoked her, so she wept and did not eat. Then Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you cry? And why do you not eat? And why are you grieving? Am I not more to you than ten sons?

All of us born into this sin-cursed world suffer from conspicuous deficits. (If they were not already painfully obvious to us in and of themselves); it seems that there is always some cruel soul who delights to point them out. We do not ‘measure up’ in our physical attributes, social status, intelligence or on the indefinable ‘cool’ scale. It seems that you cannot escape your self-appointed critic, the amplifier of your distress and embarrassment. There is always some undeserving bully that we unconsciously give the right to be our judge and tormentor; we let such a person become an ‘expert’ in what matters and ourselves, reinforcing our self-doubt and sense of unworthiness. When oppression becomes especially distressing, you might wonder why God allows it to go on. In this story, it builds to a point which provokes Hannah to cry out to God; it may serve the same purpose in our lives.

Dear God,

I have always had ample critics, and many cruel tormentors have delighted in my suffering. I had so much of this in my formative years that now my own mind has replaced them with my own self criticism and condemnation. I am not good and I am not kind to myself! Why has my own mind become my enemy? Why do I foster self-defeating thoughts? I am a bad parent to my inner child; critical, harsh and judgmental; with impossible standards. Oh Lord, hear my soul’s bitterness which no levy could hold back---know my retched estate and pain! Jesus knows! He has felt it all. The Man of Sorrows shares and bears my grief. Father me, for you are a far better parent to me than I am to myself; show me Your mercy and compassion. Help me to recognize the distortion and outright lies in the slander, whether it comes from without or from within. Heal me.

Abba Father! Reassure me, tell me who I am.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

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Recovery Devotional 298 The Man of God

JMD Devotional 298 2 Chronicles 8:14 The Man of God

And he appointed, as ordered by David his father, the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites to their offices to praise and to serve before the priests as the duty of every day required, and the gatekeepers also by their divisions at every gate; for so had David the man of God commanded.

Years after his death, King David was still distinguished as ‘the man of God’. Though his detractors could have called him ‘the adulterer’, or ‘the murderer’; those were isolated incidents, and not the pattern of his life. How does one stand out among his peers with such distinction? I do not think it possible without the continual exercise of small, daily disciplines that keep one’s heart and mind focused on spiritual things. The habit of time alone with God, meditation on His Word, singing spiritual songs: consistency of passion ultimately defines the person.

Sad it is to settle for being most known as ‘the sports fanatic’, ‘the chocoholic’, ‘the comedian’, ‘the bookworm’, ‘the womanizer’, ‘the sex addict’, or any other epitaph. True, we have all slipped; but how we get up and proceed each day defines the new creature we are in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). May we not be defined by our temptations and weaknesses, but by who and what we are committed to become.

Dear God,

My enemies could call me many negative things and hardly a slander would be without some measure of truth. To some degree, I must confess being unreliable, untruthful, unfaithful, unholy, unrighteous and unloving. But do not let me be defined by my failures, Lord; for You have come to live in me, and have redeemed this soul, and will make all things new. May no description fit me that does not include Your presence and residence in my heart and life. A man is nothing but dust apart from You; may God be magnified!

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

http://jamesdinsmoreblogs.blogspot.com/

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Recovery Devotional 297 No 'But's

JMD Devotional 297 2 Kings 18:1-6 No ‘But’s

IN THE third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began his twenty-nine-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Abi daughter of Zechariah. Hezekiah did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his [forefather] had done. He removed the high places, broke the images, cut down the Asherim, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until then the Israelites had burned incense to it; but he called it Nehushtan [a bronze trifle].

Hezekiah trusted in, leaned on, and was confident in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that neither after him nor before him was any one of all the kings of Judah like him. For he clung and held fast to the Lord and ceased not to follow Him, but kept His commandments, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Israel and Judah had a slew of kings; some good, some bad, men mediocre and great, faithful and abominable; but Hezekiah was a king of distinction because he had no but (the third grader in me wants to laugh at that statement! “So how did he sit down?”) Even the relatively ‘good’ kings before him were on record for fearing the Lord, “but” failing to remove the high places of pagan worship, or for winking at idolatry, or for divided loyalty, etc. Hezekiah did not compartmentalize his personal spiritual beliefs and commitments from his public life as some political candidates do today; no, he was a man of uncompromising integrity. His commitment to God did not contain a “but”, an exception, and escape clause, a prenuptial agreement, a ‘safe distance’, no quantification whatsoever. Who among us would accept from their spouse, “I love you but…”, or “I am committed to you but…”, or “You are the only one, but…”

Dear God,

Let there be no “but”s in my epitaph. May I be like a store with empty shelves, for being completely sold out to You. May there be no question where my allegiance and commitment lie, and where my life is invested and my hopes are placed. You are my God; and I am Your’s and You are mine. I love You, I fear You, I submit to You, I serve You; no “but”s. May Your holy influence make this true for my innermost being.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

http://jamesdinsmoreblogs.blogspot.com/

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Recovery Devotional 296 Insult of Disbelief

JMD Devotional 296 2 Kings 7:1,2 Insult of Disbelief

(The context is the city of Samaria has been under siege by the Syrians, so that everyone is starving, and even a few have resorted to cannibalism. A donkey’s head sells for 8 shekels of silver. The Samaritan King, having nothing but God to lash out against, considers taking Elisha’s head as if the prophet of God were responsible for their misfortune, but regains his senses at the prophet’s door, and asks for his counsel).

THEN ELISHA said, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will sell for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria! Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, If the Lord should make windows in heaven, could this thing be? But Elisha said, You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.

Have you ever stopped to consider what our unbelief implies about God’s nature and character? If we do not believe in His Word we make Him out to be a liar.

If we do not believe in His power, we make Him out to be impotent.

If we do not believe in His ability to intervene we make Him out to be incapable.

If we do not believe in His desire to help us we make Him out to be indifferent.

If we do not believe in His commitment to us as His children, we make Him out to be negligent.

Is it not apparent how unbelief is grievous sin?

Which would hurt His reputation more; our believing in Him to bring about some great good that does not come to pass as we expected; or our refusal to trust in Him for anything beyond what we can do for ourselves? If we only trust God for that which we can deliver for ourselves, than we do not really trust God for anything at all.

In the course of the story, the Syrian army heard what sounded like a vastly superior army charging towards them; and they fled, leaving all of their tents, donkeys and provisions. They even left a trail of debris as they threw off the weight of their armor running home. When news of this reached Samaria, the starving population on their way to plunder the vacant Syrian camp trampled the disbelieving captain standing by the city’s gate.

Dear God,

Forgive me for what my unbelief has implied about what I think of You; please forgive my insult and treason and libel. You are not stingy, distant, aloof, powerless or incapable. When a request is not granted, there is a greater good in store for us that You will deliver at the appropriate time. Show us how misguided our disappointments (in You) are! Help us to be people of courageous faith without straying into presumption; help us to believe BIG again; and may that bring You glory. May mountains be moved!

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

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Recovery Devotional 295 The God of Last Resort

JMD Devotional 295 2 Kings 6:31-33 The God of Last Resort

(The context is the city of Samaria has been under siege by the Syrians, so that everyone is starving, and even a few have resorted to cannibalism. The Samaritan King, having nothing but God to lash out against, considers taking Elisha’s head as if the prophet of God were responsible for their misfortune. But the King’s senses return when he confronts Elisha, and appeals to him (and to God) for counsel).

Then he said, May God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day! Now Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him. And the king sent a man from before him [to behead Elisha]. But before the messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, See how this son of [Jezebel] a murderer is sending to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it fast against him. Is not the sound of his master's feet [just] behind him? And while Elisha was talking with them, behold, [the messenger] came to him [and then the king came also]. And [the relenting king] said, This evil is from the Lord! Why should I any longer wait [expecting Him to withdraw His punishment? What, Elisha, can be done now]?

God’s greatest critics are those who once trusted Him just a little. The passion, anger and rage that I have seen in people’s response to my witnessing to them tells me that they feel that God had let them down. Is it not ludicrous to bear such anger, and to hold a grudge while professing not to believe in the perceived offender? In actuality, they believe about the same as they always did, just enough to use His name in vain when they hit their own thumb with a hammer!

A group of deacons were meeting in an extended session, wrestling over issues splitting their church, debating internal politics, and discussing the departure of tithing families; when one deacon said, “Maybe we should stop and pray?” His Brother to his left retorted, “Has it come to that?!”

Dear God,

How foolish I have been to delay seeking Your counsel until all of my other resources and ideas have been exhausted! May You be my first resort, my first impulse, my standing operating procedure. Forgive me for the times I only believed enough to be mad at You, but not enough for Your divine intervention. Help me to have the faith that prayer changes things.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

http://jamesdinsmoreblogs.blogspot.com/

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Recovery Devotional 294 Participative Welfare

JMD Devotional 294 2 Kings 4:1-7 Participative Welfare

NOW THE wife of a son of the prophets cried to Elisha, Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. But the creditor has come to take my two sons to be his slaves. Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you [of sale value] in the house? She said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house except a jar of oil. Then he said, Go around and borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels--and not a few. And when you come in, shut the door upon you and your sons. Then pour out [the oil you have] into all those vessels, setting aside each one when it is full. So she went from him and shut the door upon herself and her sons, who brought to her the vessels as she poured the oil. When the vessels were all full, she said to her son, Bring me another vessel. And he said to her, There is not a one left. Then the oil stopped multiplying. Then she came and told the man of God. He said, Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest.

When another person is in a fix, the compassion in us wants to help. But saving them is not always charity; there may be more at stake than their ‘obvious’ need. If they have lost faith in themselves, then bailing them out will only increase their passive dependence upon others. Elisha wisely involved the widow in working out her own solution; which gave her something she could do, thus breaking her out of her helplessness and into something constructive. His instructions also forced her to get in touch with her neighbors (community) to borrow the jars. But the miraculous work of God was the private part, with windows closed and doors shut. In any recovery, there are all of these elements: crying out for help, self-determination, engaging a community and dependence upon a higher power who is for those who know Him, a personal God. Being involved in your own solution gives a person the courage and experience to move on with their life as an active participant rather than as a welfare recipient, it preserves their dignity.

Dear God,

Often I have wanted a handout; but thank You for wisely giving me a hand-up. You said, “stand up, and gird your loins like a man!” Tough love takes a while to understand and appreciate; but the character You build is priceless. Though we are the source of most of our own troubles; You preserve our dignity, and call us to work with You in our recovery. Good and gracious is the Lord!

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

http://jamesdinsmoreblogs.blogspot.com/

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Recovery Devotional 293 Fear of God

JMD Devotional 293 2 Kings 1:11-13 Fear of God

Again King [Ahaziah] sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he said to Elijah, Man of God, the king has said, Come down quickly! And Elijah answered, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. Ahaziah sent again a captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and fell on his knees before Elijah and besought him and said to him, O man of God, I pray you, let my life and the lives of these fifty, your servants, be precious in your sight.

Even secular insurance policies have an ‘Act of God’ clause, showing some respect to the Almighty. A few years ago, a question popped into my head, “What is Holy”, and “What does Holy mean?” I could only come up with things related to holiness, synonyms and godly attributes, but not a proper definition. But knowing that my dull wits rarely come up with such good questions on their own without outside inspiration, I clung to the question. I reread Jerry Bridges, “The Pursuit of Holiness”, then exposed myself to R.C. Sproul’s, “The Holiness of God.” Short of saying what holiness is, I will say what it does: it strikes terror in the heart of man. When we become comfortable with God, it is because we have insulated ourselves with the god of our own imagination. We have taken the teeth out of Aslan; and the Great and Terrible God of the scriptures has become less than holy, perhaps a doddering old grandfather in our minds. If God isn’t challenging you, if you are completely comfortable in His presence, test yourself and make sure that you have not contented yourself with a mere image of God in your mind, a shadow of a graven image, definable, under your control, predictable, of your own invention.

Dear God,

Why is it so easy to attribute every pleasant thing to Your creation; but not sharks, flesh-eating bacteria and vicious raptors? Every day giant squids are engaged in mortal combat with great whales at depths no man can endure save a heavily armored sphere. The mental image I had of You that I have carried from kindergarten, and have touched up again and again through adolescence is still just a representation, a child’s scribble, less than real, not true to life. Show me Your glory, God. Confound my attempts at idolatry; be jealous and trash the imposters that intersect the worship that You alone are worthy of. If it takes making me uncomfortable, do what you must to wake me up and restore genuine reverence and a purging fear and a refreshing awe and an authentic relationship with You. There is one God. Thank You that Christ represents peace with God and access to Your presence.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

http://jamesdinsmoreblogs.blogspot.com/

Christian, devotional, recovery, addiction, purity, faithfulness, integrity

Recovery Devotional 292 The Offense of Not Being Asked

JMD Devotional 292 2 Kings 1:2-4 The Offense of Not Being Asked

[King] Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria and lay sick. He sent messengers, saying, Go, ask Baal-zebub, the god of [Philistine] Ekron, if I shall recover from this illness. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king in Samaria and say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore the Lord says: You [Ahaziah] shall not leave the bed on which you lie, but shall surely die. And Elijah departed.

I am amazed by the resurgence of interest in the occult in our society. There are at least five television programs featuring necromancers (people who claim to speak with the dead). Growing up, I never used a Ouija (‘weejee’) board, but I was lead astray briefly by someone showing me how to interpret the motion of a key on a string to obtain ‘hidden knowledge’. If, as Paul said, that demons are behind idols to obtain worship, how much more demonic involvement would there be with any divination? The truth has but one source; any ‘knowledge’ obtained through occult means will be tainted. Going to the enemy for information is treason with God.

Deuteronomy 18:9-15 (AMP) When you come into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of these nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or who uses divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and it is because of these abominable practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless [and absolutely true] to the Lord your God. For these nations whom you shall dispossess listen to soothsayers and diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet (Prophet) from the midst of your brethren like me [Moses]; to him you shall listen.

Dear God,

The people of Moses’s day were afraid to hear Your voice, lest they died; but I want to hear You. The foolish depravity of mankind wants to master and control the truth; and the enemy is glad to promote counterfeits; but the Truth is a person of the Godhead, Jesus Christ. May we have nothing to do with the Father of Lies and the wicked devices of divination; may our actions not be begging the question, “Is there no God, that I would consult such as this for truth?” May God forbid!

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

http://jamesdinsmoreblogs.blogspot.com/

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Recovery Devotional 291 The One We Don't Want to Ask

JMD Devotional 291 1 Kings 22:5-8 The One We Don’t Want to Ask

But Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire first, I pray you, for the word of the Lord today.

Then [Ahab] king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I hold back? And they said, Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king. Jehoshaphat said, Is there not another prophet of the Lord here whom we may ask? [Ahab] king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good for me, but evil. Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say that.

In my various ways of rebellion, I always knew who not to ask for financial advice, vocational guidance, nutritional principles or for moral guidelines. There was always some conspicuous source of expert information that I shied away from. We do this in our depravity because we ‘know what they would say’. So we find 400 corrupt ‘prophets’ who comfort our conscience with the prevalent distortions of our day and culture, as if numbers outweighed the truth we seek to avoid. But God only needs one to represent the truth, to stand against the current, to unmask the frauds. Are we willing to be the one ‘they don’t want to ask?’

Dear God,

Truth and light are so fundamental to spiritual life. Your Son is the Way, the Truth and the Life; He is the Light of the World. Forgive me for trying to dodge the truth, for hiding from the light, for stubbornly trying to make my own way. Help me to love the truth so much that I will receive fitting criticism as a blessing, correction as love, guidance as caring. Help me to also be courageous as I more perfectly reflect your life and light and truth in my life, for Your praise and glory.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

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Recovery Devotional 290 Trees Walking

JMD Devotional 290 Mark 8:22-25 Trees Walking

And they came to Bethsaida. And [people] brought to Him a blind man and begged Him to touch him. And He caught the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands upon him, He asked him, Do you [possibly] see anything?

And he looked up and said, I see people, but [they look] like trees, walking. Then He put His hands on his eyes again; and the man looked intently [that is, fixed his eyes on definite objects], and he was restored and saw everything distinctly [even what was at a distance].

I was in a rush with ninety million things on my mind. A triple load of college classes, the usual chaos at the workplace and a house closing coming soon had me wound pretty tight. I was looking forward to a few “free” hours of badly needed time off, but on the way to take a hike I remembered that I had to stop by the Public Library and grab some reference material. Everyone there was moving in slow motion, from the person at the reference desk, to the people between me and the copy machine. Going up and down the main aisle, I pushed in four chairs left out in the way, muttering under my breath about ‘stupid people’. Before I left, I had one more thing to look for in the audio section, when a woman stepped in front of me with two little children in tow, like little ducklings. I had to back peddle, march in time, anxiously looking for an opportunity to proceed either to the right or to the left to no avail, I was blocked. Finally (just before the glaciers all melted), I was able to get around her and to my destination, when I heard her call my name. She was a blur, but when I stopped and focused, I slowly recognized the face of an old friend of my church past.

Neil Anderson, in his book, “The Bondage Breaker”, uses this passage to address our tendency to see people as obstacles rather than as precious souls made in the image of God. Some of my days I behave as if I am a downhill skier and the people I encounter are trees blocking my path. Zing, zing, zing; I feel successful if I avoid intersecting them; but success in God’s eyes might well be defined by engaging them instead.

Dear God,

Please help me to slow down without letting everything depending on me to fall into shambles! I am too busy when I am too busy for people. I need you to touch my eyes again; because I see most people as obstacles. Help me to see them as You see them; give me a heart of compassion. May I not assume that my important things outrank everyone else’s agenda.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

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Recovery Devotional 289 Halted

JMD Devotional 289 1 Kings 18:21 Halted

Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you halt and limp between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.

People are stubbornly double-minded. Perhaps we have invested so much in our worldly way of doing things, in our dead works, that we still have a glimmer of retched hope that somehow we will get a dividend other than death from sin. God does not like us to be straddling the fence: not only do we fail to apprehend His power and presence in our lives; but we display a confusing witness. Hypocrisy is one of the most distained epitaphs of professed Christianity; even the lost world expects us to be consistent and genuine. Anything less than authentic is a farce; Jesus shed real blood for real converts. In my personal struggle to defeat a nagging double-mindedness that threatened to undo my early recovery, God gave me a triad of principles that have proved invaluable to keeping me authentically centered in Christ.

I am to be fully committed, completely yielded, and totally dependent upon God.

That is to be fully committed to the cause of Christ and the Kingdom of God, completely yielded to His will for my life, and totally dependent on His Holy Spirit’s power working in me what I cannot do for myself. The balance of these three sustain the triad; something I do as an exertion of my will, something I yield to, and a relationship that makes me a partner to a power outside of myself.

Dear God,

Thank You for showing me that the essence of sin is my tendency to live my life independently of You. Thank You that I was never meant to live so isolated and alone; may You be a part of everything and everywhere I am. Rule me, lead me, sustain me, renew me; and help me escape from the tyranny of self to become truly Christ-centered.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

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Recovery Devotional 288 Under the Sun and Not Under God

JMD Devotional 288 1 Kings 11:4,7-9 Under the Sun and Not Under God

For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect (complete and whole) with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abominable idol of Moab, on the hill opposite Jerusalem, and for Molech the abominable idol of the Ammonites. And he did so for all of his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord, the God of Israel, Who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods, but he did not do what the Lord commanded.

(The commentary from the Amplified Bible needs no improvement here): [What all this did to Solomon's sweet fellowship with God is to be seen in Ecclesiastes. Take the sun out of the sky, and all earth's beauty and fruitfulness will go also. Take God out of your sky, and life's joys will be turned to dregs, bitterness, and futility. Solomon had deliberately chosen to live "under the sun" instead of under God. In the awareness of his own unquestionable greatness, he had become indifferent to the fact that "here is more than Solomon" (Luke 11:31) and that to scorn or ignore God is fatal. With all his wisdom he failed to recognize that "God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions or by His precepts being set aside)... For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap" (Gal. 6:7)] (The Amplified Bible, 1987).

Dear God,

If we were truly ‘one nation under God’, there would be constant acknowledgment of Your Preeminence, Superiority and Authority. Help me to live as ‘one man under God’, being careful to recognize that all I do, think or feel lies naked before You. You have appeared to me in many ways; may I not distain Your grace. Rather, may Your soul be satisfied and take pleasure in my redeemed life as I follow Your path.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

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Recovery Devotional 287 Unbreak My Heart

JMD Devotional 287 1 Kings 8:56-62 Un-break My Heart

Blessed be the Lord, Who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all His good promise which He promised through Moses His servant.

May the Lord our God be with us as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us,

That He may incline our hearts to Him, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His precepts which He commanded our fathers. Let these my words, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause and right of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires,

That all the earth's people may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.

Let your hearts therefore be blameless and wholly true to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as today. And the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the Lord.

Something is distorted when I resent my benefactor.

Someone is lost when I leave home.

Something is broken when the scales have tipped and favor evil for good, pleasure over principle, vice over virtue and the physical over the spiritual.

Dear God,

Unbreak my heart! My mind seems perfectly capable (of deceit), the mechanistic part of me functions just fine; but oh my heart! Sometimes everything is out of proportion. Does not light excel darkness? Utter depravity prefers the darkness; negative impulses pull to self-destruction. It is my heart that has been broken all along; though I have blamed so many other things. My mind is not me anymore than my body is me: but my heart…oh God help me! Only Your Spirit tames the heart; only Your Holy Influence lifts it up to wholesome purity. Incline my heart to hear and obey, to love Your way. Forgive me for loving the wrong things; and for not loving what is good. Unbreak my heart, God.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

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Recovery Devotional 286 Cycle of Recovery

JMD Devotional 286 1 Kings 8:46-51 Cycle of Recovery

If they sin against You--for there is no man who does not sin--and You are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the enemy's land, far or near;

Yet if they think and consider in the land where they were carried captive, and repent and make supplication to You there, saying, We have sinned and have done perversely and wickedly;

If they repent and turn to You with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your Name;

Then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, Your dwelling place, and defend their cause and maintain their right. And forgive Your people, who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions against You, and grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have pity and be merciful to them; For they are Your people and Your heritage, which You brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace.

The cycle of recovery begins with suffering and affliction. We moved away from God; we acted out and deserted God’s Garden for the wastelands of the earth. A well-kept garden requires principled living, rules, discipline and careful maintenance; patient toil yields a bountiful harvest but not instant gratification. Egypt represents the world, the ‘big city’ the ‘Las Vegas’ of indulgent idolatry. To some degree, we have all been prodigal, AWOL, rebels. A person stands on their own air hose and curses God for suffocation. Our own sins find us out; the resulting trials (hopefully) get our attention, and force us to review our steps. One falls short of repentance if they just get angry at God for being such a good cop. True repentance involves taking ownership of our own sins, grieving over them, and changing the mindset that took us there in the first place. We were helpless in the iron furnace; all we could do is ‘let go and let God’ help us in our depravity. He takes us through the bitter withdrawal of our addiction to sin; restoring a taste for life again. The restoration of sanity begins with the recognition of our identity; that we belong to God, that we are His children, privileged souls. Being able to thank God for the hard, rocky road of recovery is a sure sign of being on it. Small and large slips plunge us back into the cycle as surely as any other cause and effect relationship is governed by absolute principle; knowing who and what we are and who we depend on gets us back on track.

Dear God,

I have said enough. Thank You for having mercy on this life, and for pulling me out of despair.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

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Recovery Devotional 284 Classified Name

JMD Devotional 285 1 Chronicles 4:9,10 Classified Name

Jabez was honorable above his brothers; but his mother named him Jabez [sorrow maker], saying, Because I bore him in pain. Jabez cried to the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and You would keep me from evil so it might not hurt me! And God granted his request.

Nicknames are bad enough in our day; but in Biblical times your given name often reflected your parent’s first impression of you. Imagine what it was like to go through life, constantly being reminded of the pain you caused your mother during childbirth! “There goes old breach birth!” Even loving and well-intentioned pet names like ‘Sweetheart’ and ‘Tiger’ can become weapons in the hands of bullies and rivals to mock one’s significance and being. It reminds me of the old song, ‘A Boy Named Sue’, in which a father on his way to prison gives his boy a ‘sissy’ name knowing full well how much suffering it will bring so that the boy grows up tough enough to handle anything life dishes out. (I do not think that the end justifies the means). In any case, perhaps the reproach Jabez bore provoked him to call upon Almighty God to even the score, to bless him above his misery. We have not because we ask not?

Revelation 2:17 (Amp) He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). To him who overcomes (conquers), I will give to eat of the manna that is hidden, and I will give him a white stone with a new name engraved on the stone, which no one knows or understands except he who receives it.

In the Resurrection, God gives each one of us an encrypted name. I can only speculate that it will be personal, revealing, and significant to our identity; and it will just be between God and me. Perhaps that ultimate affirmation of our being is what will make us glow inwardly, and ‘shine like stars in the heavens’.

Dear God,

My name is not safe on some people’s lips; how I have come to anticipate ridicule, reproach and criticism. I am hated and disliked by people who do not know me; and I am feared by a few others, though I have little power, and mean them no harm. There is so much rivalry here; only with You is it safe to let my guard down. Please give me my new name; tell me what You think of me. I am not ‘Bother’, ‘Accident’, ‘Stupid’, ‘Expense’, ‘Queer’, ‘Outcast’ or ‘Freak’. Heal the pain, Lord, that such epitaphs inflict. Give me what my soul needs to feel secure and loved.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

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Recovery Devotional 283 The Sin of Passivity

JMD Devotional 284 1 Kings 1:5,6 The Sin of Passivity

Then Adonijah son of [David's wife] Haggith exalted himself, saying, I [the eldest living son] will be king. And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, with fifty men to run before him.

David his father had never in his life displeased him by asking, Why have you done so? He was also a very attractive man and was born after Absalom.

King David knew full well that God had chosen his son Solomon to succeed him, but he chose to be passive and permissive with his other ambitious sons. His lack of action with Absolom nearly cost him his life and the kingdom, his looking the other way concerning Adjonijah could have resulted in Bathsheba and Solomon and a host of other officials being slain as he vied for the throne. What leads men to retreat into passivity? Dread of conflict (cowardice?) Desire to please one’s mate over God (idolatry?) The fear of man (short-sightedness?) Or ignorance of our responsibility (God’s expectations of us?) God requires a proactive obedience.

Proverbs 24:11,12 (AMP) Deliver those who are drawn away to death, and those who totter to the slaughter, hold them back [from their doom]. If you [profess ignorance and] say, Behold, we did not know this, does not He Who weighs and ponders the heart perceive and consider it? And He Who guards your life, does not He know it? And shall not He render to [you and] every man according to his works?

Proverbs 3:27 (AMP) Withhold not good from those to whom it is due [its rightful owners], when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

Proverbs 31:8,9 (AMP) Open your mouth for the dumb [those unable to speak for themselves], for the rights of all who are left desolate and defenseless; Open your mouth, judge righteously, and administer justice for the poor and needy.

Proverbs 29:7 (AMP) The [consistently] righteous man knows and cares for the rights of the poor, but the wicked man has no interest in such knowledge.

Proverbs 25:21,22 (AMP) If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord will reward you.

Proverbs 28:23 (AMP) He who rebukes a man shall afterward find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue.

Dear God,

Timidity, indecisiveness and passivity are not very inspiring, and they do not do justice to Your design. You created humanity to lead, subdue and to manage this planet. Help us to be strong and courageous, to resist evil, to endure ridicule, to sacrifice bravely, and to face any obstacle for the sake of Your righteousness. May we recognize that the glory evident in faithful action well reflects Your latent image in us, and returns glory to Your name.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

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Recovery Devotional 282 Doom Awaits the Ungodly

JMD Devotional 282 Jude 1:5-7 Doom Awaits the Ungodly

Now I want to remind you, though you were fully informed once for all, that though the Lord [at one time] delivered a people out of the land of Egypt, He subsequently destroyed those [of them] who did not believe [who refused to adhere to, trust in, and rely upon Him]. And angels who did not keep (care for, guard, and hold to) their own first place of power but abandoned their proper dwelling place--these He has reserved in custody in eternal chains (bonds) under the thick gloom of utter darkness until the judgment and doom of the great day. [The wicked are sentenced to suffer] just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the adjacent towns--which likewise gave themselves over to impurity and indulged in unnatural vice and sensual perversity--are laid out [in plain sight] as an exhibit of perpetual punishment [to warn] of everlasting fire.

Doom awaits the ungodly! This message is not heard clearly from a Church trying to be politically correct, or from moderate clergy trying to avoid offense or from you and I when ensnared by the ‘fear of man.’ God had every opportunity when He took a million Jews out of bondage in Egypt to set a precedent that would excuse people persisting in sin as long as they were a part of ‘His team’; such a notion appeals to our base judgment; but He slew most of that population! The Promised Land is for the faithful, God is not mocked! Jude was astounded that such false brethren would enter the Church, and worse, seek positions of leadership and teaching, leading many astray. In their liberal pride they twist doctrine as if it was child’s play; having no concept that what they are handling is more deadly and powerful than nitro.

Dear God,

It is so hard not to recast my ‘image’ of You into something more palatable to 21^st Century Christians: help me to abandon the image in favor of the Living God. You are Holy, unchanging, uncompromising: restore a proper fear and reverence in Your people; separate and purify us for Your service. I praise You because Your compassion, mercy and love is as immovable as Your righteous and holiness: may we never take that for granted. Give us the message that is appropriate for our day according to Your will and counsel; and give us the courage to speak it clearly, so that sinners be warned and that some may escape the wrath to come.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

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Recovery Devotional 281 The Whole Counsel of God

JMD Devotional 281 Matthew 4:1-4 The Whole Counsel of God

Matthew 4:1-4 (AMP) THEN JESUS was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil. And He went without food for forty days and forty nights, and later He was hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, If You are God's Son, command these stones to be made [loaves of] bread. But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

In my early ears I encountered a lot of cults and denominations that caused me a lot of pain and confusion. Everyone had their own twist on the Word, and certain scriptures that they emphasized and others that they diminished or neglected (because they contradicted their espoused doctrine). Only by the grace of God did I avoid becoming bitter and cynical from this experience; and from dropping out of the race altogether in frustration! I personally resolved not to pick and choose in order to manipulate the scripture into what I wanted to say; so much so that I gravitated toward those passages that bothered me most, because I intuitively knew that was what I most needed to hear. God’s Word is the anvil that has broken many hammers. Building doctrine out of an isolated verse can create a tottering structure; it is not good workmanship. My rule of thumb is the more Biblical writers were moved to repeat something, the more the evidence of inspiration and conformance to a divine standard. If you can find it three times in the scripture, that is rock solid. None-the-less, those verses that throw ‘little wrenches’ into our point of view should not be disregarded; if for nothing else the hard passages cultivate humility and dependence on God for discernment.

Acts 20:27 (AMP) For I never shrank or kept back or fell short from declaring to you the whole purpose and plan and counsel of God.

Dear God,

You know I care about being faithful to Your Word. I have a spreadsheet of every scripture used in my verse cards and devotionals, which I sort and mine for passages that I have overlooked. I am not afraid of running out of gem-quality ore, ever! I want to know and share You fully, to engage Your whole counsel. Please continue to challenge and convict, shape and cleanse me through Your Word. May I be free of the blood of all men because nothing was held back that they needed to hear.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

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Recovery Devotional 280 Impedance

JMD Devotional 280 1 Thessalonians 2:17,18 Impedance

But since we were bereft of you, brethren, for a little while in person, [of course] not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great longing to see you face to face, because it was our will to come to you. [I mean that] I, Paul, again and again [wanted to come], but Satan hindered and impeded us.

Is not God sovereign? Why does Satan seem to have free reign to torment, hinder and frustrate our progress? In the book of Acts, when the Apostle Paul was being taken to Rome to stand trial, the ship was so buffeted by a typhoon and was so in danger of capsizing that they threw the cargo and the ship’s furniture overboard to preserve their very lives. Jettisoning the primary source of the ship’s revenue was not an easy choice; they had to be brought to the brink of catastrophe to make the decision. The Devil is not an ‘equal and opposite’ force to God, just a created being, like the angels. He is no real threat to God, except for the sorrow caused by corrupting His creation. God gives him a pretty long leash because in the greater scheme of things, even he serves His purposes. A spiritual plot complication that stresses our resources, and forces us to jettison cargo, and to be resourceful. To manifest our maturity in Christ, we need an adversary just as Notre dame needs a strong opponent to display their skill at football. But make no mistake, our adversary wishes us only slavery, pain, harm and destruction: it is God who redeems even this to our benefit.

Dear God,

I am at the edge of exercising myself in things too high and wonderful for me to contemplate; but I long to know You and Your work in my life. Help me to cling to that which is GOOD, and to accept my limitations and losses with grace and faith. So much of this life will end up as ashes; help me to value most that which will endure.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

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Recovery Devotional 279 Inverse of the Golden Rule

JMD Devotional 279 Obadiah 1:15 Inverse of the Golden Rule

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

Pagans call it the ‘Law of Karma’; the notion that any evil action done to another will ultimately boomerang back upon one’s self. People stumble upon truth all of the time, every religion and doctrine was founded on some fragment of truth: all truth is God’s truth whether people recognize the Author or not. God is sovereign and righteous; and though actions and consequences may be separated by a period of time, judgment will come.

Proverbs 21:13 (AMP) Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor will cry out himself and not be heard.

Proverbs 11:21 (AMP) Assuredly [I pledge it] the wicked shall not go unpunished, but the multitude of the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall be delivered.

Proverbs 17:5 (AMP) Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker, and he who is glad at calamity shall not be held innocent or go unpunished.

Proverbs 19:9 (AMP) A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he who breathes forth lies shall perish.

Dear God,

Men cry out for a judge when they are wronged, they want justice when transgressed; but much of the ‘rightness’ we profess is false. My ‘innocence’ does not hold up to cross-examination: I do not have the stomach to face Your court. Forgive my pride; and help me to not judge others, but to have mercy. Without the righteousness of Christ I am doomed! Help me to fear Your righteousness, and to regard the plight of the less fortunate. May I not have to learn all of my lessons the hard way; may grace abound.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to my daily devotional, please forward.

jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com

Short, concise, thought-provoking.

More features:

http://jamesdinsmoreblogs.blogspot.com/

Christian, devotional, recovery, addiction, purity, faithfulness, integrity