Debbie Taylor Williams

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“Are you a fisherman?” someone asked after I’d shared that my husband and I’d fished on our vacation.  “Yes! I love to fish.” “So do you fly fish,” my friend questioned. “I do,” I replied, noticing by his, “hymph” that he was a little surprised. Then, I decided I needed to clarify. “Well, I like to cast and I like to catch fish, but I really don’t take the fish off the hook. And, I need someone to tell me what bait to use.” The more I thought about it, I wondered if I should even say I’m a fisherman. That caused me to realize that sometimes in the United States we use the word “Christian” rather loosely like I rather loosely said I’m a fisherman. What does it mean to be a Christian? Well, certainly not just showing up at a church building a couple of times a year. Christ defined His followers as those who actually followed His teachings. If you’d like to know more about what it means to be a Christian, please click HERE.

TODAY!  Please PRAY for an outpouring of God’s Spirit today at the South Dakota P.R.A.Y. with Passion Across the Nation Conference. Thank you!

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Have you ever been lost? Perhaps you took a wrong turn in the road and didn’t know how to get back home. As bad as that is, what’s worse is to be spiritually lost, which is how Jesus describes us prior to our salvation.  We were so lost that there was no one who could help us except Jesus. In Luke 19:10, Jesus describes Himself as the Son of Man who came to seek and to save the lost – us.  In other words, Jesus left heaven’s glory to come for us. Jesus did what no one else could do. Through the virgin birth of Mary by the Holy Spirit, Jesus was born, the Son of Man, to seek and to save our lost souls and return us to the Father. What good news.

All praise to You, Lord Jesus, Son of God, SON of MAN, for seeking and saving us when we were lost.  We love and adore You.

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10

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A few mornings ago as my husband headed out the door, I said, “Hey honi, want an apple to take with you? I was really surprised when he looked at me and said, “No! Those apples are horrible.”  I was shocked. Organic. Firm to the touch. I decided to try it for myself. I took a bite and ugh, he was right. It was mushy on the inside. You know, it’s really not how we appear on the outside that counts as much as whether or not we have goodness on the inside. There’s only one person who can make us good on the inside and that’s Jesus.

Lord, thank you for making us good on the inside.

The other day my daughter shared with me that when her son was little, he started looking through the back of her hair. His little fingers were just combing through it, separating each strand. She said, “Hudson, what are you doing?” He said, “I’m looking for the eyes in the back of your head. haha He was so accustomed to her being able to know what he was doing even when she wasn’t looking at him, that she’d kiddingly explained, as many of us parents have, “I can see you. I have eyes in the back of my head.” Well, we parents certainly wish we did have eyes in the back of our head so we could watch out for our little children and warn them if they were getting into something they shouldn’t or about to hurt themselves. No, parents don’t have that capability, but there is someone who does. Our Heavenly Father. He watches out for us and over us. Learn more about how God is our Rear Guard.

Thank You, Lord, for watching out for us and over us. 

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Dreary days. Gray skies. They can make us feel gloomy. The death of loved ones or estrangement from family or friends weigh our hearts. On what can we focus? Malachi 4:2 tells us that “for you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.” What does that mean? Theologian Charles Spurgeon explains:  “Jesus, like the sun, is the center and soul of all things, the fullness of all good, the lamp that lights us, the fire that warms us, the magnet that guides and controls us; he is the source and fountain of all life, beauty, fruitfulness, and strength.”  Jesus is called the Sunof Righteousness because on the most dreary of days, when we are gloomy and despairing, we can call on Him to shine in our hearts and minds.

We praise You, SUN of RIGHTEOUSNESS, and look to You to enlighten, quicken, grow, and ripen us to holy surrender and fruitfulness.  

*http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/1020.htm

There are times we’re called to do something we’d prefer not to do it. Perhaps for you, it’s a medical procedure. For a tired mom, it may be changing another diaper. A worker may wish they could stay in bed rather than go to work. Then, there are those excruciatingly painful occasions when we may be called to help with an intervention, or change the lock on a door to keep an abusive person out of the home. But, only one person has known the great sacrifice of dying on the cross so mankind could be saved. Jesus asked His Father for a way other than the cross, but when it was the only way, submitted His will to His Father. Is there something you don’t want to do or perhaps want to do that is contrary to God’s will? What will you do…what your Heavenly Father asks of you or what you prefer to do?

Lord Jesus, thank You for modeling being submissive to the Father’s will for the ultimate good of all. We love and praise You. 

“He went a little beyond them and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’” Matthew 26:39

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The world is sickened and in shock by the horrifying confirmation that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who walked into a Saudi consulate on October 2, has been confirmed dead after being tortured.  Can you, would you, expect to see him walking around and eating with his friends after confirmation of his tragic death? No, of course not. Does that help you in any way better grasp why people didn’t believe that Jesus was alive after they witnessed His torturous scourging and merciless crucifixion? Matthew 28:6  gives the shocking angelic announcement of Jesus’s resurrection to Mary as she stood outside Jesus’s empty tomb. “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.” In addition to Mary and the disciples, more than  500 eye witnesses saw the Risen Christ. The grave couldn’t hold Jesus because He is life. He breathes His eternal life into each person who acknowledges they are a sinner and asks forgiveness in the RISEN ONE’s name.

RISEN LORD, we celebrate Your victory over death and worship You.  

“He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.” Matthew 28:6

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