Christian life Archives - Page 2 of 6 - Pastor Marvin McKenzie

1 Samuel 30:5 (KJV) How David Handled Hurt

1 Samuel 30:5 (KJV)
And David’s two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

David was in a place in his life he really shouldn’t have been. Fear had driven him to Gath and it was while there that the village where he and his followers dwelt was attacked. I saw a picture of a church sign that said, “Sometimes bad things happen because we do really dumb things.” David had done one of those dumb things.

But David was still a man after God’s own heart and there is much to learn from him here:

He wept and was in distress
Grieving is a healthy and sensible thing to do. David had two loved ones who had been captured. His men had had many more. It was necessary to grieve and it was necessary for David to grieve with them.

He sought counsel
Rather than rashly taking after the culprits he sought counsel from two sources the priest and the Lord. Technically he only sought the priest in order to seek the Lord but that should be true of us as well; we go to the pastor to take us to the Bible.

He pursued
He took action. There was a time for weeping and a time for praying. Then there was a time to correct the situation.

We can do the same when we need:

Grieve when it is right
Pray and get counsel before acting rashly
Take action to correct your life

To my reader:
Have you been hurt? How are you dealing with the pain? I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

1 Samuel 30:5 (KJV) How David Handled Hurt

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Matthew 11:4 (KJV) Go, Show Again

Matthew 11:4 (KJV)
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:

This passage is rich with benefit for the believer. The character of Christ, the nature of man, and the importance of John the Baptist are all here. There is also a hint at the sort of ministry the Christian has toward those around them.

When John had doubts Jesus’ response was “Go and shew John again…” Go, show and again.

Go
The Christian is to be active. Evangelism, discipleship, encouragement and edification ought not be passive events in the Christian life. We should be busy about this business.

Shew
Jesus told them to show John again the things which ye do hear and see. You don’t have to make up something you don’t know; just show them what you have heard and seen in your faith.

Again
This may be the hardest part for us. We feel like everyone has already heard and we don’t have anything new and earthshaking to tell them. Perhaps we have already told them personally all that we know.

Jesus said “Go, show him again.”

To my reader:
Every Christian can witness to the unsaved, encourage the doubters and minister to growing believers. Just go and show them again what you have been hearing and seeing, as you walk with the Lord. I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

Matthew 11:4 (KJV) Go, Show Again

1 Samuel 24:4 (KJV) Sincere Counsel

1 Samuel 24:4 (KJV)
And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily.

These were good men and they were sincere. Their advice to David seemed consistent with the promises of God and it seemed like their advice is justified in that Saul could have been killed here.

David knew better.

There is a difference between what seems to be consistent with the Bible and what is the Bible. We are to heed the Bible completely. We are under no such obligation with the advice of our companions, no matter how sincere and well meaning they are and no matter how much like the Word of God their counsel may seem to be.

Ultimately we, like David, are responsible for just two things:

Obedience to the Word of God
Worship according to the dictates of our own conscience.

To my reader:
In order to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience we must have exercised that conscience through study of the Word of God. How is your personal Bible study going? I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

1 Samuel 24:4 (KJV) Sincere Counsel

1 Samuel 17:28-30 (KJV) How To Handle Discouraging Words

1 Samuel 17:28-30 (KJV)
And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.
And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?
And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.

Any Christian who has stepped out of our comfort area to attempt some work for God have felt two things:

Little, like we are not equipped for the task
Humiliated, attacked and put down by someone else, very often a brother or sister in Christ

When my wife and I were very new in the faith we had some Christians friends my wife had met through her work as a public school teacher. As we grew in our excitement for Christ we were led of the Lord that Anita should resign her job and volunteer to teach at the Christian school our pastor wanted to start. Anita’s Christian friend, whom we expected to be supportive, was the opposite. It was disheartening but we persisted.

David demonstrates to us here how to deal with those sorts of attacks:

He said he was blameless

He may have evaluated his motives a moment to be sure, but he declared he was without blame.

He focused on his purpose

Which was just and right. Attacks are often intended to pull us away from God’s purpose for our life.

He went about his business

There were others to talk to. He did not let those who spoke badly of him prevent him from speaking highly of the cause.

When attacked in the work of God:

Evaluate and learn
Fix your mind on God’s will and
Keep moving forward

To my reader:
How have you handled discouragements in the past? Does David’s action give you some insight to your own discouragement? Leave a reply below. I would love to hear from you.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

1 Samuel 17:28-30 (KJV) How To Handle Discouraging Words

Revelation 20:7 (KJV) Time Was Immaterial

Revelation 20:7 (KJV)
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

I am reminded that one day Is with the Lord as a thousand years. Days are literal in the Bible but time is immaterial to God. It appears to me that all of human history will take place in something that looks to God like seven days.

Revelation 20 has both the binding of Satan and his release for a little season and the two events are a thousand years apart.

Further, the apostle John witnessed in the spirit all one thousand years. Time was immaterial to him too.

Time matters to us. We only have so much time so we must not waste it. But in a sense time is immaterial to us too in that, the time we have one earth passes so quickly and then eternity is upon us. Time is of such little consequence for our eternal souls that it makes no sense to occupy ourselves with it. We ought to live in light of eternity instead of temporality.

(Want to see this devotion in video form? Click here.)

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2007.

Revelation 20:7 (KJV) Time Was Immaterial

Revelation 18:17-19 (KJV) Just One Hour

Revelation 18:17-19 (KJV)
For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

It is generally understood, in what is called the law of double mention, that when the Bible repeats a thing it is for emphasis and should be given our attention. Here the Bible repeats that the destruction of Babylon only takes one hour. In the first mention it specially says the great riches of the city is come to naught in that one hour.

How great is our attraction to the riches of this world!

Some will sacrifice love for riches
Some will steal and cheat others for riches
Some will gamble away what they have for riches
Some will kill and be killed for riches

But in just one hour they come to naught. Riches have no lasting value. They serve no meaningful purpose. They give no permanent solutions. Riches are an allusion. The rich never are satisfied with what they have, always seeking just a little more. The pot of gold called riches is just out of reach. In the end, the riches men have attained comes to naught. It can’t make them happy. It can’t make them healthy. It can’t give them peace with God.

Jesus said, Matthew 6:19-20
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Sound advice.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2007.

Revelation 18:17-19 (KJV) Just One Hour

1 Samuel 6:20 (KJV) What a Question

1 Samuel 6:20 (KJV)
And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?

What a question!

On the one hand they had discovered the holiness of God and their frailty before Him
On the other, they had chosen to pass off the duties of spiritual growth to others who would want the risks and responsibilities.

A relationship with the Lord involves:

a sense of His holiness,
an awareness of our brokenness but also
a commitment to genuine faithfulness

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2007.

1 Samuel 6:20 (KJV) What a Question

1 Samuel 3:17-18 (KJV) Compartmentalization

1 Samuel 3:17-18 (KJV)
And he said, What is the thing that the LORD hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee.
And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.

Years ago I heard the testimony of a man who had, at one time, been a pastor of a large church but who had gotten involved in some illegal activity and had lost his ministry. After doing his jail time he began receiving court ordered counseling. It was during that counseling that he said he came to understand what had been going on in his head. He said that people he had pastored would ask him how he could stand in the pulpit and preach the messages he did, all the while being involved in the sort of illegal activities he was. Through counseling he came to call it “compartmentalization”.

There was the one compartment that desired to do the right thing, to honor God and to serve God’s people.
There was the other compartment that desired the things of this world; wealth, riches and luxury.

He was able to perform in both spheres because they were two separate compartments of the same man. The Bible would call them the old and new natures.

Eli wrestled with his own two compartments.

On the one hand, his flesh had driven him to complacency with his sons. They did not know the Lord and they had no discipline from their father. It was this fleshly compartment that led to the eventual downfall of the family as the line of High Priests.
On the other hand, his spirit was submissive to the Lord. It was this spiritual side of him that, though not quickly, recognized that God was speaking to the child Samuel and that, when once hearing from God, willing accepted the will of the Lord.

Eli served the Lord and eventually surrendered to His judgment. But it was too late to save his sons or the destiny of his family.

There is in each saved person these same two compartments: a sinful fleshly compartment and a spiritual, Christ seeking compartment. These two compartments are at war with one another. Good wisdom says to aide the spiritual.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2007.

1 Samuel 3:17-18 (KJV) Compartmentalization

1 Samuel 2:34-36 (KJV) Failing God’s Perfect Will

1 Samuel 2:34-36 (KJV)
And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.
And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.

The primary interpretation of this passage is toward the family of Eli. He, not being man enough to discipline his sons and they, not being moral enough to do the right thing in the tabernacle, were to be judged by death and their families to suffer with no purpose in life.

To fail from the will of God may well leave a person empty, never feeling like they fulfill any place again.
To treat God’s place lightly, and to lose the right to that place could leave a person broken and hungry for the rest of their lives.

We may rejoice that there is, when we fail from the perfect will of God, a good and an acceptable will of God. I have witnessed countless numbers of Christians who enjoy great happiness and fulfillment in them.

But I have also known them well enough to know that they grieve that they failed in God’s perfect will.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2007.

1 Samuel 2:34-36 (KJV) Failing God’s Perfect Will

Ruth 3:1 (KJV) Concerned for Souls

Ruth 3:1 (KJV)
Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?

I see in Naomi a type of the Christian who is concerned about souls. Having gone out and, at no small cost to herself, brought Ruth into the Promised Land, she refuses to leave Ruth alone to muddle her own way through. Naomi seeks rest for Ruth. She is capable of doing so because:

She has a personal relationship to Boaz
She has an understanding of the plan of God
She has a regular contact with Ruth
She had a willing disciple in Ruth

Naomi’s guidance transformed Ruth from a stranger (albeit a virtuous one) to a part of the family of God.

Naomi was by no means a perfect person. But she was used of God in an impossible situation. The same may be said about any Christian with concern enough to reach out to win and disciple others.

For this and more than 3000 earlier Daily Visits with God visit Marvin McKenzie’s blogger page. There you will find daily visits going back to 2007.