August 27, 2019

IF...

Exodus 19:5-6

“‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be a special people to Me above all nations; for all the earth is Mine. You shall be to Me a royal priesthood and a holy nation.’ These are the words you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

Personal Challenge

There is a price to pay for being counted amongst the royal priesthood and a holy nation. That price is obedience. We do not become a part of this royal priesthood by obeying the commands of God. We enter into His family through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our salvation and there is nothing that we can do to earn that salvation. However, once we are grafted into His vine, His family, it is up to us to listen to His voice, keep His commands, and become like Him. Our journey through life as Christians is not about just enjoying His grace but is also about becoming like Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

August 26, 2019

HELPER AND SHIELD

Exodus 15:2

The Lord became my helper and the shield of my salvation;
He is my God, and I will glorify Him;
My father's God, and I will exalt Him.

Encouraging Words

So many of the religions of mankind make their god, or their leader, out to be a harsh, never pleasable god. However, as Christians, we believe that our God is a loving and benevolent God. He loves us so much that He sent His Son to become incarnate, to become one of us, and to be our helper and the shield of our salvation. There is no greater love than this, which is why we glorify and exalt Him. Glory be to God!

August 25, 2019

HARD HEARTED

Exodus 8:11

But when Pharaoh saw there was relief, his heart was hardened; and he did not heed them, as the Lord said.

Personal Challenge

In Orthodoxy, we teach that God created us with a free will, the ability to choose and that He will never force us to do what is against our own will. So people will usually use the story of Pharoah to counter that teaching because the scriptures say that God hardened his heart. We must read the entire scriptures to understand the context. Pharoah's heart was already hardened against Moses and the Jews. They were his slaves and he wanted to keep it that way. The Old Testament often uses phraseology that looks like God is doing something when it means that He is allowing something to be done. God allowed Pharoah to harden his heart even more towards Moses, the Jews, and ultimately against God. This was a choice that Pharoah made on His own. In this plague, Pharaoh pleaded with Moses to have his God remove it. He was beginning to see that the God of Moses was real and more powerful than all of the gods of Egypt. However, when the plague was removed, Pharaoh reneged on his deal and hardened his heart even more. He chose to do this. We must learn from that that we are respons­ible for our choices and actions aid that we should always be prayerfully seeking God's will so that ours aligns with His. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

August 24, 2019

Saint of the Week

St. Macarius the Great

August 23, 2019

HOLY GROUND

Exodus 3:5

So He said, “Do not come any closer. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”

Personal Challenge

Do we ever stop to consider that when we come before our God in worship or prayer that we are standing on holy ground? If we do, do we fall before Him in awe and reverence because He is our Holy God? Our practice of faith has become so casual, and we have relegated the Living God to be one of our peers when He is still our creator. Maybe it is time to take the shoes off of our feet when we approach our God and fall before Him before we start commanding Him to do what we want Him to do like some genie in a bottle. Maybe then we will just listen for His commandment instead. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

August 22, 2019

HER CHOICE

Genesis 24:8

“And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.”

Encouraging Words

Well! That is an odd verse to choose for the verse of the day. Not if you have the rest of the story. Isaac has now grown to the age where it is time for him to consider marriage. Abraham has followed His God's direction and sojourned to a foreign land. He believes it is important that Isaac marry one of their own people so he sends his servant back to their homeland to find a wife. He tells him that God will guide him and when he finds the lucky candidate he is to ask her to return with him to this unknown land, to an unknown people, and marry this unknown guy. We know what most of us today would say to a proposition like this. What is important in this verse is the last command that Abraham gives his servant. Under no means, force her to do this. He could have easily given the dowry to her father who would have they made her go. No! She is to come on her own free will. This is an image of how God treats each of us. He gives us opportunities and choices to make and lets us choose. So what happens next? Read the story to find out. It is all found in Genesis 24:1-67. Glory be to God!

August 21, 2019

HOW FAR?

Genesis 22:10-12

Then Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” He then replied, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him, for now I know you fear God, since for My sake you have not spared your beloved son.”

Personal Challenge

The story of Abraham and Isaac ends up at this pinnacle of God testing His faithful servant to see how far he will go for His God. His entire life, Abraham was promised by God to have enough offspring to fill the earth. And yet, he and Sarah did not have their son Isaac until they were in their early 100's. Finally, an answered prayer. But then several years later, probably when Isaac was in his preteen years, God tells Abraham to go into the hills and offer his son as a sacrifice to God. Can you imagine the thoughts going through his head? And he does it, all the way to the point where Isaac is tied up, laying on the kindling for the fire, and hand-raised ready to plunge the knife into his son. But God interferes. Was this a test to satisfy God? Or was it a test for Abraham to find out just how far he would go far the love of his God? I believe it was the latter for God already knew how far Abraham would go, He just needed to help Abraham discover that. Isn't that what our tests, trials, and tribulations in life are all about, opportunities for us to discover within ourselves just how far we are willing to go for our God? Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

August 19, 2019

IN HIS FORM AND IMAGE

Genesis 5:2-3

He made them male and female, and blessed them; and the day He made them He called his name Adam. Now Adam lived two hundred and thirty years, and begot a son according to his form and image, and named him Seth.

Encouraging Words

In all of creation, there is only one portion that is claimed to be created in the form and image of God. That would be Adam and Eve. And yet, we proclaim that God is without form and therefore no one has seen Him. So, how can this be? In Orthodoxy, we believe that the pre-incarnate Jesus was the active part of God in the creation of all that exists. If you look at the icons of the church that depict the creation of Adam and Eve, you see Jesus breathing life into Adam. You also see that they have the same face. This is a mystery and we accept it as such. But the mystery does not stop there. Adam and Eve then reproduce children who bear their image and the reproduction continues on through to today. We are all still created in the form and image of our God. This is the reason that we are to love one another. Glory be to God!

August 18, 2019

RESTARTING

Genesis 4:25

Again Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore a son, and he named him Seth, saying, “God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.”

Encouraging Words

The story of Adam and Eve is such a great example of God's enduring love for us. They committed the first sin by rejecting God as their source for every­thing and chose to seek their own outside of God. This action brought sin into God's creation. Then years later their oldest son, Cain, killed his younger brother, Abel, out of jealousy. Their sin has expanded exponentially. And yet, after all of this, God did not reject them. He continued to love them as He does us today. He gave to them a new son to replace Abel, just as He gives us new chances all the time, to choose Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord have mercy!

August 20, 2019

SO HE DID

Genesis 6:22

Thus Noah did according to all the Lord God commanded him, so he did.

Personal challenge

Why are we so different today than our patriarchs and fathers that have gone before us? People like Moses, Noah, David, the Apostles, and many, many more in the Scriptures and in the history of the church. Is it because we have been able to accumulate so much wealth and comfort that we no longer are dependent on God for our every need? Is it because we have become stiff-necked and hardhearted in our ways? Or is it simply just because we are choosing to? We have here the reminder that Noah should have been the first Nike ambassador with his "Just Do It!" attitude. Living in a land-locked area with no large bodies of water, he hears from God that he needs to build a giant boat and fill it with pairs of every animal on earth. And what did he do? He did it. All that God asks us to do is to love Him and love our neighbor. Is that really that hard? Once again it is a choice, just like choosing to not sin against Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

August 17, 2019

Saint of the Week

St. Nikolai Velimirovich

August 16, 2019

PASS THE BUCK

Genesis 3:11-13

Thus He said, “Who said you were naked? Have you eaten from the one tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” Then Adam said, “The woman You gave me, gave me of the tree, and I ate.” So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Personal challenge

The desire to be right, to be vindicated of the wrong that we have committed is so strong and goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. "I am not responsible for what I did, so-and-so made me do it!" We are all experts at deflecting the blame for our bad behaviors off to someone or something else. We pass the buck. But God always knows the truth and He still seeks to walk with us in the garden. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

August 15, 2019

HIDING FROM GOD

Genesis 3:8-9

Then they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden that afternoon, and Adam and his wife hid themselves within the tree in the middle of the garden from the presence of the Lord God. So the Lord God called Adam and said to him, “Adam, where are you?”

Personal Challenge

Have you ever done something that you knew really offended someone or caused them to be disappointed in you and then go out of your way to avoid them? This is what Adam and Eve did when they committed the first sin, and this is what we do with Him all of the time. When we exercise our free will and betray our relationship with God. we hide from Him. We avoid Him when we need Him the most. But just as God came looking for His precious children, knowing full well what they had done, He comes looking for us so that He can love us and forgive us. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

August 14, 2019

OPEN OUR EYES

Genesis 3:7

Then the eyes of the two were opened, and they knew they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

Personal Challenge

After Adam and Eve committed the first sin of humankind, their eyes were opened and they saw what they had done and how bare they stood before God. If we are not careful, we too can become blinded to the sins that follow temptation. The farther we are from God in our journeys through life, the more we are blinded toward the sin in our lives and the consequences of our behaviors. We do have a choice. We can say "No!" to sin. But we need God in our lives to help us do this. We need Him to forgive us when we do sin. We need Him to open our eyes while we are being tempted so that we can see sin for what it is and flee from it. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

August 13, 2019

ORDER

Genesis 1:5

God called the light Day; the darkness He called Night; and there was evening and morning, one day.

Encouraging Words

No matter how chaotic our lives may get from time to time, we can be encouraged that we serve a God that puts everything in proper order. He is organized and not disheveled. He has everything that we know of as creation in His hand and moving along like clockwork. We can rest in that truth just as we can rest in the night that He created to end each day. Glory be to God!

August 12, 2019

DO NOT CRITICIZE

James 4:11-12

Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

Personal challenge

It is so hard to live in this Jerry Seinfeld world where it is expected to be putting everyone down and try to live a Christian life of love. What comes out of our mouth, whether encouraging or demeaning, has an impact on those whom we speak to. We are told here by James that we should not judge or criticize others because it is only God's job to do that. There is a fine line between correcting someone who is in error and being judgmental. Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

August 11, 2019

FELLOW CITIZENS

Ephesians 2:19-22

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Personal Challenge

Being a Christian is not being a lone ranger. We have been saved into a body of believers that goes back to the beginning of the church founded by the Apostles and Fathers of the church. There is no such thing as an isolated Christian. We need each other to grow, to love, and be loved. Even Jesus surrounded Himself with the twelve Apostles. We have become complacent in our society and culture to stand alone and apart from each other and have brought that mindset into the church. However, the true Church of our Lord is an entity of its own, the Bride of Christ, and will not let this individualistic mindset invade the church. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

August 10, 2019

Saint of the Week 

St. Seraphim of Vyritsa

August 9, 2019

LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS

2 Corinthians 4:6

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Encouraging Words

God is light, pure uncreated light. There is no darkness within Him. It is He who spoke into the dark void and said, "Let there be light." He did that again when Jesus entered into humanity as a little child and the incarnation of God as a human being. And He wants to do that again with each and every one of us who claim Him as our Lord and savior. He sends us out as light in the dark world to be His light for the lost. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

August 4, 2019

WE ARE ALL SLAVES

Romans 6:17-18

But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Personal challenge

Let's face it, freedom is an allusion. Now before you put up your fists to take me on, hear me out. From a human point of view, we are all slaves to our desires, our passions, and ultimately our sins. How else has the saying, "The devil made me do it." become so popular. We may be "free" to do whatever we want, but we still have to pay the price or receive the consequences, for our choices. Paul is reminding the Romans, and us, that when we choose to obey Christ, his teachings, and His doctrines, then we become slaves to Him, but we receive freedom from our sins. This is truly a choice worth making. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

August 3, 2019

Saint of the Week

St. Gregory of Nyssa

August 2, 2019

CHRIST CRUCIFIED

1 Corinthians 1:22-24

For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Personal Challenge

For Paul, and the Corinthians, the entire world was divided into two types of people, the Jews and the Greeks (Gentiles). The Jews were those who lived under the Old Testament covenant with God. They had the law of God. They were blessed as God's chosen people, set apart from the rest of the world and the only ones that would receive God's mercy and grace. The Greeks were everyone else. They were the pagans, the unbelievers, the unclean. Paul makes it very clear that Jesus is no respecter of groups that we are put into. He came for everyone. The Jews, like so many today, claim that they are the only ones with true connection to God, and they kept demanding a sign. Show us that you are God. The Greeks in this scripture pursued wisdom as their God. For both of them, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news, was either a stumbling block or foolishness. Our modern versions of Christianity have created so many fake religions under the name of Christianity. We have got to stop creating and practicing these fake religions in our churches and embrace Jesus. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

August 1, 2019

AVOID THEM

Romans 16:17-18

Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.

Personal Challenge

This passage is so relevant to our world today. It has become so divisive and self-centered, even within the church. Paul tells to avoid those who cause division and offenses that are contrary to the teachings of Christ and ultimately the church. It can be difficult sometimes to recognize who these people are because they can be very crafty in their approaches, but the closer we are to God the more obvious they become. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

July 31, 2019

WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE

Romans 6:3-4

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Personal Challenge

Do you profess to be a Christian? Were you baptized in Christ? Are you dead to the world? This is what our Scriptures teach us. If we were baptized into Christ, then we were baptized into His death and our own death to this world and raised up with Him so that we could walk in newness of life. If we are still living in love with the world, then we are betraying Christ. Lord, have mercy!

July 30, 2019

INSIDE OUT

Romans 2:28-29

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

Personal Challenge

The true depth of our relationship with Jesus Christ is not measured by our outward appearances. We live in an age where false personas are not only accepted but glorified. People, even those in the church have mastered the ability to be one thing when you are around them and entirely the opposite thing when they think no one else is watching. Paul is calling out all of those early Christians who have gone through all of the external motions and observances, but who are inwardly not changed at all. We must all ask ourselves, I must ask myself, have I mastered the image of a good and godly person, and yet on the inside of my heart betray God over and over again? It is what is on the inside that really counts. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

July 29, 2019

UNLESS SOMEONE GUIDES ME

Acts 8:30-31

So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.

Encouraging Words

One of the significant differences between the Orthodox Church and the modern church is in how we address the interpretation of the scriptures. Orthodoxy teaches that the interpretation must be grounded in the church, her saints and teachings for 2,000 years, Gen traditions, and her sacraments. The enrich in this passage was trying to understand what he was reading. Philip, who had walked with Jesus and learned from Him, as well as being one of the apostolic leaders of the early chord, interpreted this reading in the context of that setting. So many, today, believe that as long as I have a printed version of the Bible, then they can interpret it by themselves. This is not so according to the teachings of the Church. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

July 28, 2019

BE READY

Luke 12:35-36

“Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.”

Personal Challenge

God does not want any of His children to be lazy. We have been adopted into a family of doers, a family that is asked to stand ready at all times for when our Father calls upon us to act, our waist is girded, our lamps are burning, and we are ready to do whatever He asks. This passage is often interpreted to mean that we must be ready for when He comes on that last day of judgment, but it can also mean that we stand ready to respond whenever He calls upon us to do His work, which means we're listening for His voice and living close enough to Him to be able to hear it. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

July 27, 2019

Saint of the Week

St. Isaac the Syrian

July 26, 2019

DO NO FEAR

Luke 12:32-33

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.”

Encouraging Words

It is our Father's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. God does not begrudgingly let us into heaven. He is eager for all of us to be participants in His love and residents in His Kingdom. Part of living in the Kingdom of heaven in this life is letting go of the stuff of this world and investing in that Kingdom where our treasure will never grow old and never be stolen or destroyed. Glory be to God!

July 25, 2019

DO NOT WORRY

Luke 12:22-23

Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.”

Personal challenge

There is a difference between worrying and planning. It is prudent to start saving for our retirement when we are young so that we will not be a burden to others when we are old. But if we slip into a mindset of hoarding because we are fearful that we will not have enough, then we are in a state of worry and not trusting God. This applies to every aspect of our lives. Do we worry about our job? It is in God's hands. Do we worry about our finances and stuff? It all belongs to God anyway. Maybe we should give it back to Him. Are we worried about our health? What can we learn from God in times of sickness? The bottom line is that there is no room or excuse in the Christian's life to worry, for we are to be trusting God and looking to Him for our all. Glory be to God!