Recently, I have been receiving many requests from groups, organizations, and individuals to use the devotions on this website. Wow! What an honor. I am truly thankful that God is able to use my small offerings in ways that I could not imagine.

Because of the increased number of requests and to ensure that those wishing to use these devotions are able to do so in a timely fashion, I hereby grant limited use of all devotions on this website. I only ask that no devotion is repurposed in such away that a charge is required by the reader.

I would also ask that you send me a short note letting me know that you are using one of these devotions and how it is used. This is not for the purpose of permision, but as a means of blessing me and encouraging me to continue on in this ministry.

Thank you, and may God bless you,

Taylor
2 Cor. 6:2 “Now is the Time!”

The message of the gospel and Christian Discipleship is dangerous.  Jesus calls us to a life a sacrifice and death.  The message of being saved is often the only part of the Christian message which is being shared.  But, Jesus, being our Master, Lord, and Savior, reminds us,

“The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master.  It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!”

Matthew 10:24-25

Following Christ means being identified to Him.  It means suffering, lose, sacrifice.  This goes against our nature, but it is the life that Jesus has called each of us to for His glory and for the sake of the lost.

Allow me to share with you a true story I recently heard.  It’s not my story, but it is true.  And it is a beautiful example of how God desires us to live for His glory and the salvation of the lost.

Several years ago, six brothers came together to celebrate and remember the life of their mother.  She had passed recently, and this was the first time they had been able to all gather in rememberance of her life.  One of the six, a businessman,  asked, “What has our mother left for us?” 

Another responded, “There is nothing left.  We have checked, but there is no money in the house or the banks.”

“How can this be,” another son responded?

The mother had left no known written request of final wishes.  As the brothers continued to discuss this situation, one brother discovered a journal under the matress of their mother’s bed.  In the journal, they found a ledger dating back 40 plus years of giving she had made to ministers, evangelist, and missionaries for the advancement of the gospel of Christ.  After the most current entry, they found a simple handwritten note from their mother to them.  It read,

“Sons, when I die, I will have only three possessions:  the wedding ring your father gave me when I was 19, a shaw that was my mother’s, and the earrings your father also gave as a gift.  Please take these and sell them and give the money to help the gospel be shared among the nations.”

One of the sons began to weep.  He remembered  chastizing his mother a year ago for going about in such cheap and wornout clothes.  She had told him then, “You don’t understand, but one day you will.”  Now he understood.  He thought he knew everything.  He thought he knew what was important.  She lived to save others.  He lived for himself.  She gave it all.  He gave what he didn’t need.

Jesus said,

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.  What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

Not many of us know this kind of self-denial and self-sacrifice, but God has called us to deny self.  Until I heard this story, I didn’t really understand deny self either.  The ring that has for a lifetime represented love, faithfulness, family, friendship, covenant, and my very being is not something I had before considered a luxury, but how many more might live if I did?

Read this story again.  Don’t let its message die as you go onto the rest of your day.  If God is for real, and if people are destined to go either to an eternity of Heaven or Hell, then why are we so busy trying to make this our heaven?  Millions of people are dying daily without once having heard of Christ and His salvation.  Jesus’ final words, the last and most important order He gave us was, “Go make disciples…”

We can’t make disciples if we are building our own empire…however big or small.

Think…pray…and act on your faith.

Faithfully,

Taylor

2 Cor. 6:2 “Now is the Time!”

Look for Part 3, a story of dying to live, coming soon!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not quite as dangerous here in America as it use to be.  There are still those who oppose the message, but not necessarily with violence.  The message of the Cross calls for radical transformation in our lives.  Jesus calls us saying, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Denying ourselves is a most foreign idea in the American mind.  I often quote Oswald Chambers when thinking about denying self, “The only right a Christian has is to give up his rights.”  Why should we do this?  Because as Christians, we believe that our lives are forfeited for the glory of God and His will.  This is most evident in the rest of what Jesus said, “take up” your ” cross daily and follow me.” 

The cross was an instrument of death, torture, destruction.  Follow Jesus where?  To heaven?  To peace and forgiveness?  Yes, but also to death for that is where Jesus was headed.  Never forget this point.  Jesus was not headed to the palace.  He was headed to the cross.  So, He bids us to join Him in new life, but to live with Him in new life, we must first join Him in death.

But what kind of death?  This is where the dangerousness of the message of the gospel enters.  God expects us to die completely.  Denying ourselves is the beginnings of our death.  It is through self-denial that we die to pride, personal relations, interests, and so much more.  Self-denial means holding nothing back from God, not even that one thing which comes to your mind even now.

Why do I share these things?  Because I have been reminded of them, and I believe we all need to be reminded.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is dangerous.  Jesus’ call to us is no light invitation.  If we follow Him, He requires total commitment, and He does ask you to go where few are truly willing to go…your own firing squad, your own death.

I want to share four stories with you over the next few days.  Two stories speak of enormous sacrifices made for the advancement of the gospel, and two stories relate the enormous need of the advancement of the gospel.  God calls us to deny ourselves and take up our crosses for a two-fold purpose.

1.  Teaches us to totally rely upon God.

By denying ourselves and realizing we are marching to our own deaths, we are forced to rely completely upon God for every need we have.  This idea goes totally against everything our culture tells us.  Culture says, “Rely on no one.  Take care of yourself.”  American culture even goes further.  “Don’t just care for yourself, but indulge yourself.”

God wants us relying on Him for all our needs.  If we are self-reliant, then we don’t need God or anyone else.  This flies in the face of a creation ordinance, “It is not good for man to be alone.”  God created us to be in community and to need each other.  If we have no need for others, then we have no need for community or God.

By giving up our rights, by self-denying, we place ourselves in God’s care again.  Relying upon God in this way allows us to see and experience God’s power, provision, and glory. 

2.  Helps us to further the gospel to a lost world by giving more and going ourselves.

The lostness of the world is daunting.  An average of 186,000 people die per second in the world without every having even heard the gospel once.  We hold the key to their salvation.  By denying ourselves and taking up our cross daily, we can trust God for our needs and give up vacations, new cars, and a whole lot of other things so that others might hear the gospel at least once.  These things in our lives are roadblocks to life and salvation for others all around the world.

How?  How should we live?  First, I want to share four stories with you.  Two of them will clearly demonstrate how others are living out the gospel, and the other two will demonstrate the urgency of the need for the truth of the gospel message.  After you have had a chance to read these stories, I will recommend two books to you.  One will help you further grasp the worldwide need for the gospel, and the other will help you practically discern how you can live a life which makes an impact for the gospel around the world and around the corner from your home.

Until tomorrow, peace and God’s blessings to you…Taylor

2 Cor. 6:2 “Now is the Time!”

Go Global

With K.P. Yohannan

Tuesday, Sept. 27

 

Christ’s Call, Follow My Footsteps
10 a.m., Reid Chapel

A Deeper Well Than Jacob’s
11 a.m., Hodges Chapel

Sold Out for His Glory
7 p.m., Shiloh Worship Service, Hodges Chapel

K. P. Yohannan is founder and international director of Gospel for Asia, a missions organization involved in reaching the unreached in Asian nations. His weekly radio broadcast, Road to Reality, is heard on more than 800 radio stations throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. He has written more than 200 books, including Revolution in World Missions, an international bestseller with more than 2.5 million copies in print.

Martha and Mary are as different as Republicans and Democrats.  Martha is stoic and logical.  Mary shows her emotions openly and allows them to rule her heart. 

Is one better than the other?  No.  In the scenes before us, Jesus speaks to both women with tenderness and compassion, and yet, he speaks to each in her heart language.

Martha approaches Jesus in John 11:21 with stoic bravery and facts. 

                                         “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

A truth statement, said with logic and without emotion.  Martha goes on, “But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

Her concept of God is accurate.  Her theology is correct.  She has reasoned that God is able to do anything He wishes.

Jesus then answers her in kind, “Your brother will rise again.”  Jesus speaks without emotion, but with strong truth.  Her brother will rise again, a true fact.

Martha again replies with sound theology and doctrine.  “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Jesus now gives her a deeper understanding of the resurrection and Himself.  “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever, believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.  Do you believe this?”

This almost sounds like a confirmation class.  The student is given a question in which they are to respond with a theological or doctrinal statement in return.  Jesus is addressing Martha’s spiritual need with sound doctrine and theology.  And she responds well to His encouragement.  

“Yes, Lord; I believe…”

But what does she believe? 

“…You are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming into the world.”

This is an awesome confession by a woman of her time.  In fact, the only other person I can remember making such a confession in the scriptures is Peter.  And so, Jesus comforts Martha with theology. 

But, what about Mary?

Mary did not come when news first arrived that Jesus was there.  In fact, it took Martha going to Mary and telling her that Jesus was calling for her before she would go out to see Him.  Why?

It becomes evident that Mary is deeply hurt that Jesus delayed in coming.  Jesus was their friend.  He loved their family and her brother.  How could He not have come quickly?

Mary runs to meet Him, tears still streaking her face, she falls at His feet, and cries out to Him.   

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

The same words Martha had used with cool logic, Mary gushes out with uncontrolled pain and sorrow.

Jesus is her Savior.  Jesus is her healer.  Jesus should have been there.  The emotions are raw.  Death is raw and it rips away all our masks and filters.  Mary doesn’t want theological arguments.  She is in pain and she needs more than words.  She needs action!

So, how does Jesus respond to her?  Do we get a repeat of the calm conversation He had with Martha? 

“Your brother will rise again…I am the resurrection and the life…”

Nope.

The atmosphere is charged.  Emotions are frayed.  And Jesus is deeply moved and troubled by the suffering of His friend.

A moment ago, He was the theologian reminding His friend of the truth of God.  Now, He is buried deep in the emotion of grief and loss experienced by this friend.  Mary needed action, not words.

What was Jesus’ action?

He wept.  He empathized.  He joined Mary where she was and wept with her.

I remember a story of a man whose wife died suddenly.  He was an older gentleman, but the suddenness of his loss hit him extremely hard.  He cried often and went out little.

Next door to this man lived a small family with a four year old boy.  He asked his father, “Why does Mr. Smith cry so much now?”

His daddy told him, “Mr. Smith misses his wife very much since she died and he cries when he thinks of her.

The next day the little boy’s father could not find his son.  After looking in the house and the backyard, he headed out the front door to search the neighborhood.  As he reached the end of the drive, he saw his son.  He was sitting in Mr. Smith’s lap.  They were rocking in a chair on Mr. Smith’s front porch crying together.

When his father got his son home, he asked him what he was doing.  His son simply said, “Nothing, I was just helping him cry.”

Sometimes we need the reassuring truth of God’s Word to comfort us.  And then, sometimes, we just need someone to “help us cry.”  Both are of God.  One is the strong Word of God, and the other is the strong arms and hands of God. 

Which do you need?  Which do you need to give?  Listen carefully and give generously.

Father, your compassion toward our plight as frail, weak, sinners who are all doomed to death is amazing.  We deserve our punishment, and yet you do not wish it upon us.

I wonder…when Lazarus died, what was it that made you cry?

Was it his death?  A death of a close friend?  Yes…

Was it the reality of death?  Pain, suffering, loss?  Yes…

Was it the rememberance of the 1st death?  The first garden, no corruption, physical and spiritual death?  Yes…

But, I also think you cried because of another death…the death of a relationship, and friendship, and all that that death signified.  Death is destruction. Death is the result of sin.  Death is saying, “I don’t need God,” in Jesus’ case, “I don’t need you!”

I wonder…when Jesus wept did He weep only with compassion and empathy, or did He also weep for the lost relationship with humanity, His own creation.

Thank you Father for valuing that which we don’t, and loving that which does not deserve it.  Forgive me Lord for not loving and treasuring those things which you do.  Help me today to love as you love and treasure what you treasure.  I love you…

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Everyone wants to know who Jesus really is.  Even the Jewish leaders of His own day wanted to know who He was.  Jesus’ simply statement about about Himself can be found in John 10:25-26.  Jesus said, “The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me…”

If Jesus’ works bear witness to who He is, then our works also bear witness as to who and whose we are.  Those who do not believe are not part of Jesus’ flock, but those who do the work of Jesus are.  What is the work of a true believer in Christ?  To believe.

God has called us to have faith in His work for us.  Jesus accomplished the work of the Law (salvation) on our behalf.  The work which every believer must do to inherit eternal life is to believe in that work.

How about you?  What do you believe in?

John 10:22-26

I and the Father Are One

22At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. 24So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, 26but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.

My family and I are on a tight budget for Christmas this year. How about you? Would you mind sharing what your budget is for each child? I believe this could be very helpful to all of us who are trying very hard to be thoughtful and remain true to our Christmas budget. Thanks for your time, and Merry Christmas!

Taylor

There are certain moral issue which to me are so important that I believe must be considered before I vote for a presidential candidate.  One such example is the issue of abortion.  I know for many this is a complicated issue, but I would disagree.

Abortion only becomes complicated when our own selfish desires get in the way of our moral conscience.  Abortion is not about a woman’s right to choose.  Abortion is about whether one person is allowed to kill another without the weaker party’s ability to have a say.

Some would argue that a woman “should not be punished with a baby” just because she made a poor decision.  Others might say, “It is cruel and unfair that a woman should have to give birth to a child if she has been raped or incest is involved.”  I would argue that regardless of the circumstance under which a child is conceived that the child is still a life worthy of our protection.  It is not the child’s fault, and the baby should not be the one punished.

The desire of every writer is for their work to be read and appreciated.  But if we are truly honest with ourselves, what we really want is to be read, appreciated, and paid for our work.  Well, I am finally getting to experience this last thing.  Today, I was paid for six devotional articles that I wrote for ec:  essential connection, a Christian magazine for students.  The devotions will appear in ec’s March 2009 issue. 

Writing professionally has been a passion of mine since I was a teenager.  God is the one who planted the seed of this dream.  I give Him thanks and all the glory for this opportunity.  It is my hope and prayer that He will continue to give me such opportunities.  I also want to thank Angela my wife who has always believed in me and encouraged me to believe in the dreams that God has put in my heart.

Blessings to my friends and family!  Thank you for being excited for me.  And for those of you who happen to stop by here on a regular basis, thanks for your encouragement and readership.  My prayers are with you and that the articles and topics discussed here help to further you in your walk with God.

God’s blessings be with each of you!

Taylor

Click here to go to ec’s website.

I will make a link to the devotionals as soon as they are available online.  Since I have sold these to the magazine, I cannot post the devotions directly here.