Tag Archives: privilege

I Am Rich and Famous

Photo by Michael Heuser on Unsplash.

Bible Passages

Read Psalms 145.

11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. 12 Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. 1 Chronicles 29:11-12

Devotion

I heard a pastor ask the congregation if they’d prefer to be rich or famous. My gut reaction was to say I am rich. You might not be able to tell if you measure wealth by earthly standards. Money comes and goes. Possessions do, too. My spirit is full. I have never gone hungry. I have been blessed with a roof over my head. I have sufficient clothing for all seasons. For 40 years, I loved a husband who loved me deeply, and honored me often. Despite my parenting, my child grew up to be a responsible, contributing citizen. He married well. His children are finding their way. My life is blessed. My heart is full. I am rich.

As I thought about it, I realized I am famous, as well. Whenever I do God’s will, I imagine an angel is blowing a horn. Another angel is posting a video of my good deed. Another is tweeting about it. When I glorify God in some small way, it is celebrated by the heavenly hosts. When I sow a seed of grace and mercy, everyone in heaven jumps for joy. When I give my last denarius (penny) to help someone, saints and angels sing in joy. When I bring a new soul to Christ, heaven throws a party. All of heaven knows my name. More importantly, God knows my name. He loves me. He wraps me in His loving, protective arms, and keeps me safe. I am famous.

I immerse myself in the ways of God. I study the Bible daily. Nevertheless, sometimes, it takes days or weeks for His guiding voice to penetrate my veil of opinion and bias and worldly training. In the end, I know in my heart what is true and right. I don’t always listen to that still, quiet voice. I keep listening to the voices shouting objections and traditions. That’s why God whispers. When someone whispers, you have to strain your ears to hear them. You have to filter out other noises. You have to focus on the whisperer.

Despite all my human mistakes and faults and weaknesses, I keep coming back to God. Each day, I am more full of God’s love and mercy and grace than the day before. Yes, I am truly rich and famous where and when it counts. Praise God!

Prayer Focus

Rich and famous people of this world.

Prayer

Almighty Giver, thank you for all the blessings you have given me. Thank you for the opportunities to glorify Your kingdom. Help me spread Your love to all the corners of the earth, so everyone can bask in Your grace and love. Let me be a light to those who have many worldly goods, but have not stored up any treasure in heaven. Amen

Final Thought

Wealth and fame are earned.

Hard Times

Man sitting on bench waiting. Image by mykyta-martynenko on Unsplash.
Image by mykyta-martynenko on Unsplash.

Bible Passages

Read Matthew 18:10-14.

Read Luke 15.

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)

Devotion

Before you were born, God set a special path, designed just for you and only you. He created you to be the perfect person for that path. Only you can travel your special path. If you stay on that path, it will be easy and fun (mostly). Along the way, He will hold your hand. He will carry you through the difficult parts, the challenges, the tests.

The Bible is full of examples of people who went through hard times and came out with more blessings than they imagined. Joseph, Moses, Jonah, Abraham, Hannah, Noah, Ruth, Isaiah, Job, and most notably Jesus, to name but a few, showed us how to follow Him. They showed us how to be godly, happy, and blessed. Even when they fell into darkness, God was with them. We remember them because they held tightly to God’s hand through the bad times and the good times. We remember them because we love to hear their stories over and over. Their stories put our own troubles into perspective, and give us hope when we’re going through dark times. They remind us that God loves to take us out of our lowest moments, and bring us to our highest moments. Just like the dark nights makes us appreciate the sunrise, our dark moments make us appreciate God’s blessings with praise and gratitude.

Joseph was on top of the world as a child. His family was prosperous. He lacked for nothing. His father favored him above all his other children, but his siblings were jealous. They started a series of events that should have made him crumble. Joseph endured all the many hardships set before him, praising God all the while. Joseph’s faithfulness to God paid off and God’s plan for him was fulfilled.

Job did everything right and was doing quite well, but lost everything anyway. Through no fault of his own, he lost his wife, his children, his livestock, and his crops. Through all his losses, Job kept praising God. Job knew God still loved him, even though it didn’t always seem that way. Try as he might, the devil couldn’t get any traction on Job. Job was loyal to God. He never cursed God. The devil finally gave up trying to tempt Job away from God. That’s when Job’s rewards kicked in. He got back more than double what he had before. Job got a new wife, twice as many children, and his crops and livestock were more than doubled.

We aren’t always as faithful to God and Joseph and Job. Sometimes we lose our way. Think of the parable of the lost sheep, in which Jesus reminds us that no matter how far from God we stray, He hasn’t forgotten or abandoned us. He sends messengers (human and angel) to remind us of His love. Like Joseph and Job, we need to grab onto God. He is waiting for that. When we do, He will carry us through the brambles and rocks and other rough patches to bring us back to the flock. Just by reaching out to Him again, He will rescue us from our troubles and bring us home.

When we return to Him, just like the father of the prodigal son, He will joyously run to greet us and welcome us home. He will throw a party in heaven in our honor, complete with a live band and a spiritual buffet. We will feast until we overflow with His love and grace. He will bless us in heaven and on Earth. We don’t all get the same rewards, but they will be the rewards we need in that moment. We will be delivered and free, forgiven and comforted, rich in spirit and happy in our hearts, safe under His protective wings.

Follow where He leads you. He will provide almost everything you need to succeed. The only thing missing is you. God gave us free will, the ability to choose for ourselves what we do with our lives. He wants you to give yourself, fully and completely, to Him. When you do this, the results will amaze you!

Prayer Focus

Those in danger of turning away from God.

Prayer

Heavenly Shepherd of the lost, thank you for keeping me in Your loving arms. Help me stay focused on You. When I stray, help me find You again. Gladden my heart with Your love and grace. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Final Thought

God is waiting for you.

A Life of Privilege

Princess and castle

Bible Passages

Read Psalm 145:1-6.

4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. – Philipians 4:4-9 (NASB1995)

Devotion

I grew up in a life of privilege. I am proud, looking back, of the childhood I had. At the time, I took it all for granted. As a child, however, I didn’t fully appreciate how rich we were. Many times, I resented our circumstances. I just didn’t understand. I truly believed we were dirt poor.

My father was a country preacher. His assignments were primarily small churches struggling to keep the lights on and the bills paid. Attendance was dwindling. There were times we were given chickens, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and other food items to supplement, and sometimes instead of, pay. My mother often worked, usually as a teacher or an office assistant, to help ends meet. At times, my dad took another job so we could afford to serve God through his ministry. I often received hand-me-downs from relatives, church members, and friends of my parents. I resented the used clothing and toys. I didn’t realize then how blessed we were, and hated having to leave my friends (and once even my dog) behind as we moved on to the next church in need.

I thought we were paupers. Through faith in God, we always had enough money and resources to get by. I didn’t really appreciate it then. Looking back as an adult, I realize what a privileged life I had. I got to see first-hand how God takes care of his flock, and not just my immediate family. I got to witness miracles and blessings on a regular basis. I realize now how full my childhood was.

My father had the gift of faith healing. I took for granted that people were healed by faith. My parents were true believers in God’s miracles, and made believers out of me and my brother. I don’t remember a time we didn’t believe in miracles.

Early in my father’s ministry, a man’s arm was caught in a thrasher and severely mangled. It was so bad, they were planning to remove the arm once he was stable enough for surgery. Through prayer, the man regained full use of that arm, without surgery! Another man, a dear friend of his, was healed of cancer the day before he was scheduled to go for surgery. He visited my dad and they prayed about it. Later that afternoon, he called my dad and told him about the sudden sense of peace he felt. My dad told him to make them do another test for the cancer before they operated. No sign of cancer was found! To my knowledge, that was my dad’s final act of faith healing before he left this earth.

I had a sideline look at so many aspects of the human condition: birth, death, sickness of the body and sickness of the spirit, youth and old age, righteous and those on the wrong side of the law. I don’t know a lot of details, but I know my father and mother both prayed with people over the phone. I also know of the many times these situations were later followed up by a private “Praise God!” session, usually at the parsonage, which often included a cake or pie of gratitude. Now that I could appreciate!

I had regular injections of the teachings in the Bible. My brother reminded me recently that our parents rewarded us for learning the Bible. How many parents do that?

Both parents sang beautifully. We sang often and gladly, mostly hymns, as we traveled. I sang my first church solo sometime around age 2. As a member of the choir, I had built-in voice lessons. Piano and organ lessons would wait until my teen years, provided by the church organist.

While in elementary school, my father was called to further his education. We prayed hard as a family about it many times, then loaded the car with the bare essentials and moved to Colorado, the location of the seminary. This was the first time I witnessed a true and giant leap of faith. As it turns out, my father’s letter of acceptance was sitting on the Registrar’s desk, having just been signed by him mere moments before my dad showed up in his office. The Registrar was shocked and amazed. My dad simply told him God told him when and where to go. As I begin my own leap of faith, I think about their example of great courage, conviction and faith. I hope to live up to their example and to honor them in this way.

Although we never had many earthly riches, we were blessed by God so many times. Every time I hear the song, “Count Your Blessings,” I ask God if He wants me stop what I’m doing to count all my blessings, or does He want me to actually accomplish something today toward building His kingdom on Earth. Counting all my blessings would take up every second of every minute of every day of my life, and beyond. [I think even God is getting tired of that old joke.]

As I look back on my life, I now appreciate all the blessings and privileges He has brought into my life and the lives around me. I had so many extraordinary chances to witness what faith can do. Is it any wonder I am always amazed to meet someone who does not believe in miracles? In blessings? In Holy guidance? In God?

If we Christians truly understand what it means to be privileged, and give thanks and praise and trust to God, we begin to realize what a life of privilege we are all living, AND we will continue to live a life of privilege on this earth, until we move into a magnificent palace in heaven.

Prayer Focus

Families

Prayer

God of heaven, the Earth, and the universe, please be with those who need you most. Let me be an agent of hope and blessings for someone. Help me realize how blessed I am. Thank you for showing me Your love and compassion. Please give me the chance to show Your love and compassion to others. Amen.

Final Thought

Through Christ, we live a life of privilege.