by George Runyan | Apr 9, 2017 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 6:24 – No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
A two-headed creature is always a freak. Jesus is not saying that you cannot be rich and serve God. He is saying you cannot “serve” both God and wealth. It is one thing to have possessions and use them for God’s glory, and quite another to allow possessions to have you. Hold loosely to all you own. It is easy to become emotionally tied to one’s possessions, such as a house, a car, toys, etc. A worthwhile evaluation is to determine what it is that you serve. I serve my family, many in the family of God, and friends. But none are my masters, only God is that. I enjoy my hobby, my house, and the car I drive, but none of those things control me. I am not saying that it would be easy, but if required, they all must go in order to serve the Lord’s larger purpose.
In Luke 6:46 Jesus asked this question of His disciples, “Why call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not what I say?” An employer has the right to expect certain actions from an employee in order to accomplish the task. Our Lord and master Jesus Christ also has certain expectations of our lives. If we call Him Lord and sing about His Lordship, worship Him as the all-worthy one, He can expect us to do all that He has commanded. Serving another is a choice of our free will. Each day we are presented with the opportunity of choosing who and what we will serve.
Jesus was given the opportunity to choose also. In Matthew 4, we find the story recorded of Jesus being led into temptation. The evil one gave Him opportunity to choose what had been given into Satan’s control. Jesus knew by the Word of God, that all these things had been promised to Him in due time. He chose to resist the offer of the enemy for immediate gratification and rather chose to wait for His heavenly Father to give all things to Him.
Today, would you choose to surrender all things to the control of Jesus? Would you wait on God for His timing rather than taking things into your own hands? Let Him be the master by serving His timing and His provisions for His glory. Holy Spirit, I give to you the reigns of my life. Take perfect control!
by George Runyan | Apr 8, 2017 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 6:22 – The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
According to a well-known saying, “the eye is the window of the soul”. When I speak with a person, I look them in the eyes. By doing this, it seems I make a better connection with them. As I listen to what they are saying, I am better able to respond when I communicate back with them. If the issues of honesty are involved, by looking a person in the eyes you have a better chance of discerning truth from untruth. In the counseling ministry, eye-to-eye contact is vital to imparting truths that can help set people free. In the deliverance ministry, eye-to-eye contact is vital to casting out demonic entities.
The physical eye, of course, is connected to the brain and affects the emotions and the will. Jesus goes on to say, “If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:23a). How can the eye be bad in the moral sense? When you put together the mind, emotions and will, you essentially have what the Bible speaks of as the “heart,” the innermost region of a person. The physical eye is controlled by what is found in the heart. When the heart chooses to take in darkness it causes the eye to become bad. When the heart is pure, it chooses to take in light and rejects the darkness.
Jesus goes on to say that, “If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness” (Matthew 6:23b). What is Jesus saying? The Bible declares that some will call good evil and evil good. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). There are those who know what is right and true, but still promote darkness in what they say. Many religious leaders in Jesus’ day knew what the scriptures taught, but still added to the Scriptures and put heavy burdens on the people. It is in the “mixture” of religion that light becomes a greater darkness.
Day by day, surrender your eyes to the Lord. Job said, “I have made a covenant with my eyes” (Job 31:1). Ask the Holy Spirit to protect your eyes and thus your soul from darkness and to fill you with light.
by George Runyan | Apr 4, 2017 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 5:48 – Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
In Matthew 5:21- 47 Jesus deals with relationships on many different levels. The Law forbade murder, but Jesus said, don’t be angry with your brother. If you remember when giving your offering someone has something against you, leave your offering and go get reconciled to your brother. Read through these laws of the kingdom of God and ask the Holy Spirit to help you rise up to the life that our Lord has called us to live. The higher bar is what Jesus calls us to, even the perfection of our heavenly Father. This sounds impossible, but we have the Holy Spirit to help us.
The word perfect translates “mature.” The Lord is looking for mature sons and daughters, those that will allow the life of Christ to be released in them by yielding to the Holy Spirit. We have been led by our flesh for so long that it is strange to think about being led by the Spirit. The only way we can consider being “perfect” is as the Holy Spirit takes control of our mind and we submit to Him in everything.
My experience is that I have to take one situation at a time. This means I must pray about every relationship and submit it to God. Through the Spirit’s empowerment, choose to keep short accounts with people, forgiving quickly, not letting the sun go down on my anger. These things are not easy, but the Holy Spirit will help us if we will stop and ask for His involvement.
In 1 Corinthians 14:20 the apostle says, “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be babes, but in your thinking be mature.” Paul is communicating the same view that Jesus is declaring in Matthew 5:48, “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The New Creation is all about a new way of thinking, God’s way of thinking. It is possible to be mature and live in righteousness, because we have been redeemed from our sin condition to a life of righteousness in the Holy Spirit.
Let the Holy Spirit search you heart and reveal any areas that are childish and not mature. Repent of childish views and attitudes. Then receive His infilling power to grow as a son or daughter of God.
by George Runyan | Apr 3, 2017 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 5:20 – For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
This is a powerful statement by our Lord that draws a line in the sand regarding righteousness. Jesus came to establish righteousness as God intended. The Holy Spirit was sent to produce His righteousness in each one that puts their faith in the work of Christ. Titus reminds us, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). The “surpassing righteousness” of which Jesus is speaking became established in the work of the cross as He bore our sins. Our Father in heaven accepts the righteousness of Christ on our behalf. A believer is accepted by God as one fully fulfilling the Law of God, and its entire requirement for dealing with the penalty of sin. The Holy Spirit raised Christ from the dead (Romans 8:11), and He is now given as God’s gift to all who trust Christ. He washes us, causing “regeneration” that is, He makes alive what was dead. The Holy Spirit “renews” us to the original purpose of God when He had created man.
As soon as we receive the work of Christ we are ushered into the kingdom of God. Some think that the kingdom is a future event. The Scriptures make it clear “the kingdom is now, in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). In the future, there will be a greater manifestation of God’s kingdom. Presently, each believer is to live under the reign of King Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Jesus was teaching two important principles. First, it takes a righteousness which exceeds the attempt of keeping the Law. This righteousness is connected to entering Jesus’ Kingdom. Second, in the Romans passage above, Paul teaches that we enter the kingdom by receiving the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit of God supplies the grace of righteousness and only the Spirit of God can usher us into the kingdom where Christ Jesus reigns as Lord.
Be renewed today in the righteousness of God. Let go of your own attempts to please God. Fully trust in Christ, that is in all He has done. Enjoy His kingdom rule, and walk in His righteousness through the power of His Spirit.
by George Runyan | Apr 2, 2017 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 5:17 – Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.
Some teach that the Law has been done away with in the sacrifice of Christ. Some teach that the Old Testament is not relevant because we are now living in New Testament times. “Fulfilled,” does not mean done away, but to accomplish the purpose. The Ten Commandments are eternal truths. That means they cannot be put aside and neglected. It took the righteousness of Christ to fulfill all of the intent of the Law of God. Under the Law, the Sabbath was kept on prescribed days that were sanctified by God. Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath by becoming our Sabbath. Our rest is found in His Work, “For the one who entered His rest has himself also rested from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:10). The writer of Hebrews goes on to say, “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest …” (Hebrews 4:11).
God began His Sabbath rest in Genesis. He then established it in the Law and the Prophets, and found its completion in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why Paul told the early churches not to let anyone act as your judge concerning food, drink, festival, new moon or Sabbath days (see Colossians 2:16). The whole second chapter of Colossians addresses this freedom that Christ purchased for all of us. The Holy Spirit has been sent from Heaven to be our Comforter and to bring forth the life of Christ in us. He enables us to enter into God’s Sabbath Rest and live out the life of Christ fulfilling the Law and all that the Prophets had envisioned. Today, the people of God can live in obedience to God’s commandments, not through religious works, but by the grace and rest of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you are burdened with religious works and guilt, release them today to the Holy Spirit. In faith receive the rest of Christ. Be free to obey the Word of God, not by your works, but by His grace and power supplied in the Holy Spirit.
by George Runyan | Mar 31, 2017 | Devotional, George Runyan
Matthew 5:14 – You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
The light in the world is the Lord’s church. Imagine what it would be like if the church was non-existent in the earth. Try to imagine America without the effect of the gospel on the Constitution and her laws. In fact, America would not exist as we have known her. As Jesus produces light in individual lives, whole nations are changed for the glory of God. “You” are the light of the world. Your world is where you have the opportunity to influence others for righteousness. Somebody asked the question, “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” I hope so! If so, it would mean that you are a shining light for the Lord.
As the oil of the Holy Spirit is poured into our lives, it fuels the flame that emits the light from within. That light is manifested through your personality, the way you take care of yourself, and reaching out to others in the name of the Lord. His light is demonstrated by your unwavering conviction and obedience to God’s Word, and your faithfulness to God’s people through committed relationship. A life of service and humility demonstrates the work of the gospel in your inner man. Through the ministry of “Halloween Harvest,” which was created by my friend, Mick McCoy, a pumpkin would be used to illustrate the need to first repent and allow the Lord to remove the sinfulness in our hearts, so the Holy Spirit can “light our candle.”
Ask the Holy Spirit for fresh oil. We are leaky vessels and need to be filled afresh regularly, in fact many times in a day. He is present to fill you with His oil so you can keep the light burning brightly.
