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Recent Comments
Aloha, I just wanted to thank you all, so much for the new way you are doing the Daily Devotionals, I love it and it has been such a blessing to me.. Have a blessed week !
Posted by Muriel Louise Williams on Jan 09, 2012, in response to the devotional on
Thursday, January 5, 2012
I' ve read all your messages from my arriving to Hawaii last November and I have been much blessed.Please, keep up the good job. I m sure there very many like me who appreciate it. Thank you pastor Wayne, thank you pastor Andy.
Posted by Carmen Teresa Coronado on Dec 27, 2011, in response to the devotional on
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
As you point out, Pastor Mike, today's passage is much deeper than most people think. It is a wonderful verse to take the time to ponder. Let us go to a quiet place with this verse, and invite our hearts and minds to reflect upon the deep meaning that the Holy Spirit wants us to learn. Thank you for giving us a nudge to do just that.
Posted by Ann Verblaauw on Dec 09, 2011, in response to the devotional on
Friday, December 9, 2011
We try to also use the "presence gauge" of Jesus Himself: "Would I do this thing if Jesus was visibly sitting right next to me?" His Spirit is, after all, right here inside of us believers. Another challenging gauge that helps us is: "Would I want to be doing this, if Jesus came back at this very moment to take us to Heaven?" We miss Hawaii and send everyone our aloha from Virginia
Posted by The Brzostowski Ohana on Dec 05, 2011, in response to the devotional on
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Thank you, Pastor Wayne.
Posted by Ann Verblaauw on Nov 19, 2011, in response to the devotional on
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Daily eMail Devotional
Friday, May 14, 2010
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.As I ponder on our passage here out of I Corinthians I cannot help but think of General Dwight Eisenhower’s famous D-Day speech during WWII or General Patton’s speech to his 3rd Army before sailing to France. I can imagine the intensity of their speeches and the intensity of the men hearing these speeches. I can see them getting fired up and pumped up as they prepare for what lies before them. They are getting ready for battle and I believe both general’s goals from their speeches were to motivate and to instill courage into their soldiers.
Here in our passage I can picture General Paul doing the same thing. He writes, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” I can imagine Paul trying to rally, motivate, and encourage the Christians for the spiritual battle at hand. I do not know if you have noticed but the Christian life is indeed a battle and all around us there are Christians falling left and right to the world and to the devil. I love it when in the middle of the verse Paul says, “Stand fast in the faith.” What he means by it is to stand firm. To have courage to stand for what is right even when what is right is not popular. To go against the flow of the world and for Christians to stand up and have a backbone in a world where Biblical principles are not popular.
There was a test conducted by a university where 10 students were placed in a room. Three lines of varying length were drawn on a card. The students were told to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the longest line. But 9 of the students had been instructed beforehand to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the second longest line. One student was the stooge. The usual reaction of the stooge was to put his hand up, look around, and realizing he was all alone, pull it back down. This happened 75% of the time, with students from grade school through high school. The researchers concluded that many would rather go with the flow rather than stand up for what was right.
In John 14:17 the Bible says, “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” What is right to the Christian is not always going to be understood by the world. To the world it does not make sense to go to church 3 times a week or to give the Lord 10% of your income. I can name many other things that do not make sense to the world but where I want to get here is, will you stand for what is right? Do you have the courage to stand for Christ? The Christian life is a spiritual battle and is it one that you will be victorious in? Remember General Paul’s words, “Watch ye!!! Stand fast in the faith!!! Quit you like men!!! Be strong!!!”
Love you all,
Pastor Mike
Don't Forget -
