Acts 14:8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:

Acts 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,

Acts 14:10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Faith is a substance – a spiritual substance:

Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Unlike beliefs, which are thoughts, faith is an occurrence, a happening. You don’t think it; you experience it. It’s a spiritual place you come to. You’re either in it or out of it. It’s a state of being not just a state of mind. Faith is as much a substance in the realm of God as money is in the realms of Earth. If you have it, you can receive or give healing.

Acts 14:9 …he had faith to be healed,

Matt. 10:8 “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely you received, freely give.

Acts 3:6 But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene — walk!”

Faith is the only substance that allows people to operate in the promises of God. While beliefs help to focus you in on the truth of what Jesus has done for us, faith is what allows you to actually operate in it. Without being in the state of faith you cannot lay hold of God’s provision, no matter how accurately you believe in it.

Heb. 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

We are told to believe – be in a state of faith – concerning the fact that God desires to reward those that seek Him. And just what is it with which God rewards those who seek Him? Would it not be that very provision for which they seek Him?

Matt. 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Matt. 7:9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

Matt. 7:10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

Matt. 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

It is absolutely sinful to see how some teachers and church keepers, talk people out of faith, redirecting them towards the doctrines of men, designed by doubters to comfort the disappointed. But those who are disappointed in their lack of answers to prayer, need to hear from people of faith, who can encourage, challenge and re-direct them. The last thing they need is some excuse-peddling spiritual social worker, who has no real faith to receive from God for themselves. If I’m not reaching God with my prayers and petitions, I want to be exhorted by someone who is. I don’t need to be excused by someone who never has!

Mark 10:51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

Mark 10:52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

Jesus rewarded seekers who came in faith, with the petitions they sought. There’s nothing to have to “explain” as long as that is what you preach! What is so wrong with admitting that I was not in a state of faith when I prayed? We are more concerned with protecting our own spiritual reputation or the feelings of others, than we are in maintaining the integrity of God’s Word. We’d rather have people believe that God mysteriously exercised some exclusionary provision of His Word, in order to avoid healing them, than to risk hurting someone’s feelings, by suggesting that they really weren’t “in faith” when they prayed.

Why not admit that you weren’t in faith when you prayed? That doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with what you believe. Nor does it mean that you don’t love God. Being in faith is not as easy as it sounds. Having beliefs is easy, but being in faith takes great focus and resistance against doubt. I would rather discount my own flawed nature than to diminish God’s Word. For if we take away from the Word of God, just to accommodate our doubts, then where do we leave ourselves standing; but on the shifting sands of theological compromise? And where our theology steps back from the claims of Christ, it’s at that point where God refuses to stand with us.

I’d rather be uncomfortable making divine claims before doubting Christians than making theological excuses before the King of Truth!

Tomorrow, our conclusion, so until then…

Stay On The Path,

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Faith & God's Promises by Nick Champlin
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Acts 14:8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:

Acts 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,

Acts 14:10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

The Holy Spirit gives Paul a word of knowledge. Not a revelation that God wanted to heal the lame man, but a revelation that the lame man “had faith to be healed”. It was not the arrival of a special anointing but rather the arrival of faith in the heart of the cripple that triggers the healing.This is a wonderful insight into the working of God. For it reveals that God’s gracious and miraculous provisions are not based as much in His mystical sovereignty as we may have thought. It reveals the wonderful world of Faith, and the eagerness of God to participate with us in it. It shows that the realm of faith is the atmosphere in which uncommon miracles become common reality.

Outside of the sphere of faith, it seems “No” is the standard answer to most all our petitions. Because we so seldom truly enter a state of faith when we petition the Lord, we all too often mistake the lack of answers as a “No” from God. When if fact, we simply haven’t positioned ourselves to receive. Theologians and teachers have spent centuries fashioning the scriptures into elaborate explanations, to cover all the disappointment and questions that people ask outside the realm of faith. The wonderful Temple of Faith is where Jesus actually dwells. And it is literally surrounded and besieged by rings and miles of religious establishment. It’s like a gigantic refugee camp of rationalism, set up to service the millions who come to Christian beliefs but seldom enter into Faith.

Let there be no mistake in understanding and no error in teaching. It IS the will of God to answer Faith with provision.

James 1:16-17 Do not be misled, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].

There is a place! A place where the promises of God are Yes! And Amen! A place where all the theologians best efforts to explain why God doesn’t really answer prayers with direct provision, simply dissolve away. A place where no such excuses are needed. A place of answers. This is the place called FAITH.

Faith is NOW. Not tomorrow, but now. It’s always easy to kick the “belief can” down the road of abstracts and theories. But faith is in the right now moment. When you enter the state of faith, you receive whatever God has for you right then. Paul stopped his message and commanded the man to be healed right then and there, once the Holy Spirit revealed the man’s faith. He didn’t wait for an altar call because the man was “open” right then.Because the man was in a “moment of faith”.

Faith always exists in the moment. Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receivethem, and ye shall have them.

If you are going to receive from the Lord’s liberal offer, then you must be in a moment of faith “WHEN you pray”. We are forever being cautioned that we had better make sure it’s God’s will to grant our request before we go praying for things. But plenty of people plainly see in the scriptures that God has promised certain provisions. Yet when they go to ask Him for them they are beset with doubts and fears – there is no faith to receive.So accuracy in belief is not faith.

“…when ye pray, believe that ye receive…”

Most unanswered prayer has little or nothing to do with praying for things that are not God’s will to grant. But instead, most unanswered prayers are a result of being asked without any faith to receive. What did Jesus say we were to believe, when we prayed? Were we told to believe in God? Were we told to believe God can do it? Were we told to believe God wants to do it? As good as it is to believe those things, they all fall short of Jesus’ instructions. Jesus said, “Believe that YOU RECEIVE.”

Once Paul got the word from God that the lame man had faith TO BE healed, he didn’t bother praying and asking Jesus to heal him. He didn’t ask the man if he wanted prayer for healing. He commanded him to stand up. And the man did! How quick is NOW???

Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It’s as though Jesus has already accomplished great things that are available to all of us who enter the moment of faith.

More tomorrow, so…

Stay On The Path,

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Faith & God's Promises by Nick Champlin
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Acts 14:8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:

Acts 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,

Acts 14:10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Most people don’t believe God FOR things that they believe IN. They simply have beliefs but don’t know how to exercise faith. In fact many Christians secretly harbor frustration connected with their faith because they have tried to get answers from God by believing IN those answers, but not believing FOR them. And when their beliefs don’t net answers for them it reinforces their doubts. But the Gospel of Jesus leaves us the promise that faith moves God, not beliefs. The Jewish leaders had tons on beliefs. They specialized in their beliefs – made science out of accurately cataloguing them. Yet they had no faith FOR God when He showed up. And therefore, they couldn’t receive from Him. Faith receives from God what beliefs only think about.

The Holy Spirit revealed to Paul, a word of knowledge that the crippled man sitting in the meeting, listening to him preach, “had faith to be healed”.Notice that it doesn’t say, “the crippled man believed in healing”. It doesn’t even say, “he believed Jesus could heal him.” It says he “had faith TO BE healed”. Belief in what God can do doesn’t mean that you have faith that He has done it for YOU. Beliefs can be abstract, and one can separate himself from what he believes. But real faith always connects the one doing the believing to what is believed for.

Amazingly Paul does not “perceive” a special grace for healing, entering the meeting, but instead he perceives the presence of “faith to be healed”entering the crippled man. The presence of “faith to be healed” triggers the healing, and not some special anointing that comes on Paul to heal the man. The Holy Spirit never miscommunicates. And it was no accident that the revelation He gave Paul focused on something going on in the heart of the crippled man. God didn’t show Paul that it was His special will to heal the man. Nor does He reveal to Paul that there was a special anointing to heal the man. Paul KNEW that it was God’s will to meet true faith in Jesus and His Gospel, with the specific answer to that faith.

The grace for healing is always present when faith is active.

The Syro-Phoenecian woman – Matt. 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Woman w/ the issue of blood - Mark 5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

Blind Bartimaeus - Mark 10:47-52 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. …What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way;thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

But when people have no faith for God, He CANNOT DO ANYTHING….

Mark 6:4-6 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief.

Paul stopped his message and commanded the man to be healed. He didn’t wait for an altar call. Because the man was in a “moment of faith”.

More tomorrow on the “moment of faith”. Until then…

Stay On The Path,

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Faith & God's Promises by Nick Champlin
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Acts 14:8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:

Acts 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,

Acts 14:10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Most people hold beliefs for which they have no personal faith. For example, they will be committed to the belief that God is good, but doubt that He wants to do anything good for them. They will believe that God can heal, but have no faith that He will heal them. They will base their beliefs on the divine concept of sowing and reaping, but have no confidence that they will ever reap a blessing from God. They will believe in prayer, and participate in it without any faith that God will answer them.

The most people have lost personal faith in their commonly held beliefs because they haven’t seen any manifestation of reality in their own life. This is why people become wearied with religion. They carry on with the rituals of beliefs, but can’t remember the last time, if ever, that they had a real experience with it. Some beliefs in Biblical Truth don’t see any real manifestation because they are wrongly viewed. But many correctly held beliefs seldom see the light of reality simply because few people actually come to the place where they can truly embrace them with faith.

John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.

Jesus tells the Pharisees that the work of God was to believe in Jesus. Well, the Pharisees were great believers in God. But had long since lost their ability to actually exercise any faith towards Him. Hence, they were incapable of receiving Jesus, when He came, though they had believed in Him all their lives. Ironic isn’t it?

Obviously the manifestations of some beliefs are relegated to the future: such as the belief in Heaven. You believe in Heaven but don’t expect to go there this weekend. That’s fine, yet you believe in its existence and are convinced you’ll be there some day. But what about your beliefs that pertain to the here and now? Do you expect to see God manifested in the practices of your faith? Do you really harbor a living, thriving expectation within your heart and mind, concerning the promises of God when you act upon them? Or do you simply believe in them? If you read 1 Peter 2:24…

1 Pet. 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

And you believe it’s true, do you actually believe YOU were healed, when you pray for healing from a condition you’ve become afflicted with? If you do believe 1 Peter 2:24 concerning your own condition, are you able to have “faith to be healed” as the lame man did in our opening text? Or do you simply believe in the truth of the verse in principle?

The fact is that you are probably like most people: you believe the promise of scripture without having an immediate faith that God is going to do it for you, right now. Especially when it comes to extraordinary answers to overwhelming conditions, you are probably weighted down with a good deal of doubt. That would be normal. But Jesus invites us to believe His Words above the claims of the normal, the reasonable and the routine. Faith is super-normal. The faith of God, delivered to the believers by the Lord Jesus is by nature a challenge to the course of this world. Yet we hold our beliefs within the safe guidelines of reason, as defined by circumstances, rather than at face value – in the face of the One Who spoke them.

Matt. 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

Matt. 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?

Matt. 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

We are more in tuned with our circumstances than we are with our God. And that is why we believe in Him and His Word, but don’t have faith for its manifestation in our own case. It’s a matter of who we are “with” the most.

Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

More tomorrow, so until then…

Stay On The Path,

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Faith & God's Promises by Nick Champlin
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Gen. 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

Gen. 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

Gen. 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

Gen. 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Gen. 22:9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

Gen. 22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

Gen. 22:11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

Gen. 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

From the text of our previous devotional, “Jesus: Your Joy”:

“Holy tasks do not give power. Righteous causes do not provide their own self-fulfilling strength. Blessings of provision cannot fill your soul with what it needs. Every wife and husband has eventually learned that even the best of earthly love cannot quench the thirsty soul. God has always challenged those, into whose hands He has entrusted His work or deposited His blessings, to hold them with a special understanding. Understanding that however faithful in our stewardship or intense in our service, it is to Him alone that we must continue to go for our fulfillment, our Life.”

In this series of devotionals we are going back to making the Lord our source for personal affirmation, identity, emotional security and fulfillment.God’s people need regular reminders not to seek their approval, satisfaction and sense of identity from other people or the ministry and service. The lack of comfort and infrequency of real overcoming experiences among Christians is a direct result of not taking our refuge in our fellowship with Jesus Christ. Our complete state of well-being is derived from the resources of our:

· Security

· Joy

· Job/Boss

· Mirror

These are the areas we look to, by which our entire mental and spiritual compass is set. Yesterday’s devotional dealt with the fact that Jesus, and our fellowship with Him, is the source of our joy, and not ministry or work we do for Him. Today we are going to deal with Working for God rather than working for a ministry purpose, a vision, plan or dream.

God had laid all the promises of the blood covenant on Isaac. After Abraham dismissed Ishmael, and Isaac finally arrived, you can just imagine how his hopes and joy became fixed upon his son. Isaac was the long awaited fulfillment of a word he had spent 25 years following. Isaac was the validation of Abraham’s faith. He could finally silence all the skeptical opinions he had endured, simply by pointing to Isaac. Isaac was the materialization of a fantastic vision of global blessing. Whatever God meant about blessing all the kingdoms of the world and multiplying his seed through the promised son, it was all resident in Isaac. To understand just how emphatic God is about having the focus of our service placed upon Him and not upon a job, we have to try and understand how important Isaac was to Abraham. And then, even more, we must consider how important Isaac was to God.

Abraham was God’s servant. God hadn’t covenanted with him only to now make him the servant of Isaac. Probably now in his teen years, Abraham had to take Isaac to the mountains of Moriah, and sacrifice him, in order to free himself from trusting in the means of the covenant rather than the Maker of the covenant. Every Christian who follows Christ into the service of the Gospel, receives their promised “Isaac” – the work to which they were called. And when that call to service finally materializes, with it come all the covenant promises attached. Our particular ministry for the Lord becomes the place where we prove our calling and substantiate our Christian claims. It is typical then for His servants to transfer their allegiance, hopes and fears to the Isaac God has brought forth through them. Their Isaac is a ministry or gift for service, through which God has promised to work. But it is Jesus Himself, who is the covenant-maker, and Him with whom we must deal. As we take possession of the ministry God has given us (be it family responsibility, Gospel service, or any project God has called us to), it becomes too tempting to become possessive and run the work in our own wisdom. It becomes an extension of our own identity, from which we look for validation, as we seize control of all its details.

But the work to which we are sent, and the Isaac with which God furnishes us, must remain His possession, and we His servants. No ministry or work; no covenant fulfillment, such as Isaac; possess the power to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the rest of your Lord.” God alone is your Boss. It is He with whom you are in Covenant and not your job, projects or ministry. The “work” can be very unstable and take from you more than it gives. But Jesus is your source of strength and affirmation. It is before Him that you will be presented on that day of reckoning, to give account of your life and service. So live with God as a steward, with your Boss, and your work as His possession.

Matt. 25:14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

Matt. 25:15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

Matt. 25:16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

Matt. 25:17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

Matt. 25:18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.

Matt. 25:19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoned with them.

Matt. 25:20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

Matt. 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Portraits Of Jesus by Nick Champlin
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Luke 10:17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.

Luke 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Luke 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

From the text of our previous devotional, “The Life In Living”:

“Holy tasks do not give power. Righteous causes do not provide their own self-fulfilling strength. Blessings of provision cannot fill your soul with what it needs. Every wife and husband has eventually learned that even the best of earthly love cannot quench the thirsty soul. God has always challenged those, into whose hands He has entrusted His work or deposited His blessings, to hold them with a special understanding. Understanding that however faithful in our stewardship or intense in our service, it is to Him alone that we must continue to go for our fulfillment, our Life.”

In this series of devotionals we are going back to making the Lord our source for personal affirmation, identity, emotional security and fulfillment.God’s people need regular reminders not to seek their approval, satisfaction and sense of identity from other people or the ministry and service. The lack of comfort and infrequency of real overcoming experiences among Christians is a direct result of not taking our refuge in our fellowship with Jesus Christ. Our complete state of well-being is derived from the resources of our:

· Security

· Joy

· Job/Boss

· Mirror

These are the areas we look to, by which our entire mental and spiritual compass is set. Yesterday’s devotional dealt with getting our security from our fellowship with the Lord Himself and not our work. Today we are going to deal with the fact that our fellowship with the Lord Himself, through worship, praise and prayer, is our only source of true joy.

Nehemiah said, “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared:for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” (Neh. 8:10)

He is basically telling the people that their ability to enjoy the fruits of their celebration comes from their relationship with God. It’s not just that God gives us enjoyable experiences or the ability to enjoy things in life. It’s that joy comes from direct contact with Him personally and that joy has a reflective affect, enabling us to enjoy His blessings. But we should remember that there is no force of joy that emanates from God’s blessings. The joy is a fruit and force of the Holy Spirit.

Now let’s consider our text in Luke chapter 10, where Jesus’ disciples have just returned, rejoicing after preaching in villages, and discovering that they had authority to cast out devils through His name. Jesus tells them not to take their joy from the results of ministry, but from their relationship with God. Jesus wasn’t saying that we shouldn’t be glad to exercise authority over Satan. Nor was He suggesting that we shouldn’t praise God and rejoice in the Lord when we have such victories. But what He was telling them and us, was something far more important to our own spiritual wellbeing. He was telling us that making our joy dependent upon the results of our work or ministry is dangerous. Results of ministry may not always be the same. There may be times when your work for God looks like a failure. There may be a point in time when it appears that Satan is winning the battle. There was certainly no rejoicing because of their triumph over Satan while Jesus was being arrested, tried and executed. Yet Jesus had told them to rejoice that their names were written in Heaven. That is a source of joy that is not affected by any circumstance on Earth. In fact, at the very moment it appeared that Satan was victorious over our Lord; he was actually putting the noose around his own neck and losing the keys to our chain. For it was at that very moment when, in Jesus’ suffering all seemed lost, our greatest blessing was being secured.

If we as Christians hand the reins of our joy over to the outcome of our ministry efforts, we are moving off the very rock upon which He told us to build. We are putting ourselves back under the very yoke of circumstances from which He died to free us. Jesus did not free us from dependence upon bad circumstances just to make us dependent upon good circumstances. For we have no such warranty that all the circumstances, and every outcome of Christian effort, will produce a joyous result. And many are the works of God that will wear out His laborers. Who said that you’d never burn out doing God’s work? Paul writes:

Phil. 2:27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

Phil. 2:30 Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.

Where is the magic guarantee that warrants us against becoming broken down while serving God? There is none, because it’s not from the work of ministry that we are to receive the Joy that reinvigorates us, but by going to Jesus Himself to receive the joy Who is our strength. As Jesus told His first disciples, so must we hear His advise today, that our own salvation must be the avenue of our joy.

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Portraits Of Jesus by Nick Champlin
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Luke 10:40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him, and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.”

Luke 10:41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things;

Luke 10:42 but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

From the text of our previous devotional, “The Life In Living”:

“Holy tasks do not give power. Righteous causes do not provide their own self-fulfilling strength. Blessings of provision cannot fill your soul with what it needs. Every wife and husband has eventually learned that even the best of earthly love cannot quench the thirsty soul. God has always challenged those, into whose hands He has entrusted His work or deposited His blessings, to hold them with a special understanding. Understanding that however faithful in our stewardship or intense in our service, it is to Him alone that we must continue to go for our fulfillment, our Life.”

In the beginning we received our comfort directly from our fellowship and prayer with Jesus Himself. We gained our sense of security from sitting at His feet, as Mary did, listening to His Words. It was from our personal attentiveness to Him that we drew our confidence. Our identity was formed unshakeable as we allowed the Lord Himself to handle all our needs and supply all our directions.

But with the passage of time every Christian discovers that there is a life of “ministry” that comes with following Christ. Jesus Himself outlined it in the cost of discipleship.

John 12:26 “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant also be; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

A close look at His statement will show that He calls those who would serve the ministry to make certain that they follow HIM. He doesn’t say to followers, to be sure to serve Him. The risk isn’t in Followers not serving but in Servants not following. Simply speaking, there is an occupational hazard that comes with serving in the ministry. Martha had fallen into it. And so have many of us. We begin to look toward the work we do for God to fill us with the same sense of security that sitting at His feet once supplied us. But the ministry cannot replace Jesus. Nowhere in scripture does God tell us that through our labors we will find ourselves and find contentment. True inner peace and security can only be derived by direct contact with Jesus Himself.

How many Christians today find themselves frustrated or even disillusioned because they are not receiving from their labors for God, the peace and security they expected. But if you look carefully His own example through the Gospels, it becomes quickly apparent that Jesus never presented Himself as a Servant of mankind, but always as the Servant of the Father. Jesus knew what all too many of us fail to remember; that people cannot fill the inner needs of your life. If you become a servant of man prepare to be used up and run over. Prepare to become disillusioned and bitter.Because whomever you serve, to that one will you look for your security. The approval and reward, if any, that they give you will be your only bread.And the sad thing is that what little reward we receive from serving people can easily be yanked away from us through one act of neglect, rejection or betrayal.

But Mary sat at Jesus feet “choosing the good part which could not be taken away from her”. And the security you receive from letting the Lord affirm you with His Word and comfort you by His Spirit, cannot be taken away from you by anyone. Jesus never took His eyes off of the Heavenly Father. In everything He did He looked to the Father for His guidance and reward. Consequently Jesus was able to do the Father’s work, which helped people, and never became embittered by their response or lack of it. Even when after laboring over the disciples, they abandoned Him at Calvary, He was able to forgive all, because His security didn’t come from the ministry, which seemed to be at it’s darkest moment, but from the Father, whose plans never fail.

No matter how great a work you’re doing for God, please take time to sit at Jesus’ feet and receive that affirmation which will secure you through all life’s ups and downs.

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Portraits Of Jesus by Nick Champlin
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John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

John 1:5 And the light shined in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Jesus puts the LIFE in living. Nothing and no one produces life of themselves, or has brought themselves into existence, or maintains the force of life within them.Everything exists, deriving its being from the Creator. And Jesus is the Creator and sustainer of all that lives.

“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

The most we can do is to decide the qualities of our existence. The least we can do is just exist. You can exist or you can have LIFE. It all depends on whether you live through Jesus or not. Consider carefully what these verses might mean:

John 5:25 Truly I say to you, The time is coming, it has even now come, when the voice of the Son of God will come to the ears of the dead, and those hearing it will have life.

John 5:26 For even as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself.

Who is more “dead” than the sinner who simply exists without receiving the eternal LIFE that comes from Jesus Christ. Those who pass from this world into a Christ-less eternity, do so by leaving without having LIFE in them. They’re dead before they die.

“To you did he give life, when you were dead through your wrongdoing and sins …”Eph. 2:1

So having real Life – life worth living, life that energizes the soul with happiness, life that causes fulfillment, and the life that comes from God – this life is not the same as just getting up each day and moving forward. But rather……

This life is being offered to us in Jesus Christ……

“I have come so that they may have life and have it in greater measure.” John 10:10

This life must be sought and chosen……

“And still you have no desire to come to me so that you may have life.” John 5:40

This life comes through actively exercising faith in Jesus Christ……

“That you may have faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so that, having this faith you may have life in his name.” John 20:31

Having established the point that there is a Life to be gained, which does not automatically come with simply existing, we must confront ourselves with this question: “Am I simply drinking from experiences of my existence, or am I truly experiencing Life?”

For the unsaved sinner, this question simply boils down to realizing that you really don’t have Jesus Christ living in your heart. But for the true Christian, with the Holy Spirit in his heart, this question probes our every action, and prompts us to examine from where we are deriving our comfort, identity and sense of fulfillment.Many are the believers whose pursuit of Jesus ends when they receive His blessings. Remember that only 1 out of 10 healed lepers returned to worship Jesus. Too many of us stop seeking God for His will once we become employed in His purposes. Faith becomes replaced with assumption. Prayer is replaced by experience. And Life diminishes into religious existence.

For the Christian, staying saved is not nearly as challenging as staying dependent. The strong emotional bonds we form with God’s blessings and provisions can replace the bonds we had with Jesus when we were seeking Him for our Life.  Once Jesus has become your Life – emanating into your soul His radiant glory as you face Him – He then does not transfer that life-giving radiance into the gifts or ministries with which He has blessed you. All that He gives us, every task He assigns us, every vision by which He employs us, are all simply “things”. However good or godly they may be, they all have the potential to serve as a false fulfillment. God gives Life as Jesus Christ. To Him and Him alone, must men come for their daily bread.Holy tasks do not give power. Righteous causes do not provide their own self-fulfilling strength. Blessings of provision cannot fill your soul with what it needs.  Every wife and husband has eventually learned that even the best of earthly love cannot quench the thirsty soul.

God has always challenged those, into whose hands He has entrusted His work or deposited His blessings, to hold them with a special understanding. Understanding that however faithful in our stewardship or intense in our service, it is to Him alone that we must continue to go for our fulfillment, our Life. God’s work will wear you out. God’’s blessings will wear you down. If you shift your identity from Christ alone to your own service for Him…if you look to His work for your satisfaction, instead of Him alone…if you draw your happiness from His blessings instead of joy from His Presence…then Life will escape you.

The most tragic failings of Christians have occurred when God’s servants forgot to be His children.  When they began to align their identity with the work they did for Him. When they tried to fill their need for strength-giving joy with the happiness of a successful work. When an answered prayer became the reason to stop seeking God. In providing for us, in using us in His purposes, God always runs the risk of losing us to His blessings. By blessing our existence He runs the risk that we will forget where our Life comes from.

Yet God has never stopped opening His Hands towards us. He who made us knows the design of our being. He knows that our deepest craving is for a thing called Life. And that thirst for Life can never be quenched by anything less than He Himself. And God knows the great secret that men will come to the Fountain of Life if He is lifted up among them. The only reason why men die parched within reach of the waters of Life is that they have been too consumed with existence to look up and see their Life.

John 4:10 In answer Jesus said, If you had knowledge of what God gives freely and who it is who says to you, Give me water, you would make your prayer to him, and he would give you living water.

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Portraits Of Jesus by Nick Champlin
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1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2 Cor. 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

An advocate is one who pleads the cause of another, speaking in behalf of the poor, oppressed, and those who cannot represent themselves. A genuine advocate will be someone who makes personal sacrifice to assist the needy, and not just criticizes everyone else for not doing something. He will lay his own life down to meet that need, rather than run around and complain about it. Far too many of the world’s advocates simply help themselves, at the expense of the needy.

It’s very trendy to boast one’s self as an “advocate”, and take credit for caring about the right things. It’s easier to plaster the bumper of your car with advocacy stickers, and take credit for having compassion, than it is to actually lay your life down to meet the need that convicts you. In today’s fashion-forward pop culture, one is not fully dressed until they have accessorized with emblems of the appropriate causes. The most popular way to “advocate” for your cause doesn’t even have to involve making a single sacrifice. You simply become a passionate, strident public critic of everyone else, who isn’t doing enough for “the cause”. That type of grade school intimidation shouldn’t work in a society of mature adults, but it does. It works, reaping huge dividends because people are so insecure that they can’t stand up to criticism. They are too easily bullied by the morally lazy of this world, which build their own self-righteousness by accusing others.

Gal. 6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Gal. 6:4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.

Advocacy has become a huge, profitable and nasty business. Politics, entertainment, fashion, education, industry, and even religion, have all caved into the vortex of the modern advocacy craze. Inner qualities of virtue no longer draw respect or admiration. And the substance of morality has become irrelevant. The perception of conviction has replaced both virtue and morality, as the new social standard. Compassion is measured by little more than supporting a trendy protest. People can gain personal credit simply by expressing indignation towards the seeming indifference of others. And they do it without having to sacrifice and earn the right to judge. Advocacy has become a way to feed ones ego, simply by accusing others of not caring about people, chickens, dirt and air, or sexual liberties. The most morally bankrupt self-indulger can elevate himself in our society simply by wrapping himself in a populace position on some approved cause.

As needy as humanity is, you may be shocked to know that God only mentions one Advocate in the New Testament. In fact, it appears that He only sanctioned one Advocate for the entire need of the world. But this Advocate has given more to man than all humanity rolled together. He has gone to the root of every need and given His life for every victim. At Calvary’s cross He struck at the root of every injustice. From the empty tomb, He rose to provided every need. He fears no climate change. He is the liberation for every addict. His words provide justice for every social ill. His coming will solve the plight of oppressed people. His rule will end all war.

Psa. 46:9-10 He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire. “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Yes, Jesus is the answer. And He has sent forth ambassadors into the world, so that people may know to call upon Him. The ignorant and lost are still manipulated by misguided advocates, because they don’t have The Answer. Advocates take the bow for their sensitivity, without having to produce a single result. But Christ’s Ambassadors bow prostrate before the One Who is the Answer. For what can they take credit, in the face of the risen Christ?

The message is plain. If you’re a Christian, why would you lower yourself to join the chorus of complainers, when you are privileged to set The Answer before men? If you truly want to help…give them Jesus!

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Outreach & Evangelism by Nick Champlin
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