INTRODUCTION
The events of September 11, 2001 changed our country in many ways. However you look at these events there are two lessons that we can learn from them. The first lesson is that life has no guarantees and the second is that God is still in control. Let's look at the first fact, that life has no guarantees. In the New Testament we read in James 4:14
14 "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while then vanishes"
Think about the office workers on their way to work at the Twin Towers. What were they thinking the last few moments of their lives? Maybe it was what they would do when they got home, whose birthday was coming up, or the fight they had last night with their spouse. Then suddenly it didn't matter. The only thing that matter was their relationship with Jesus Christ. I'm sure that the angels in Heaven and the demons in Hell noticed the increase traffic at their gates. All at once thousands of people had to answer life's final exam. Those that had accepted Him as their Savior are in a much better place and those who never accepted Him their terror has only begun. The second lesson we can learn is that God is still in control. He was God on September 10th, 11th and still is. We don't have to make excuses for Him. We don't have to say, "it's okay God we know that this one slipped by you." All we have to do is trust Him. There have been disasters before and there will be more to come. The people in Oklahoma City have experienced terror first hand as well as those in Littleton, Colorado. He has seen us through before and He will see us through again. God is able to turn our darkest hour into our brightest day It is time to take a look at Psalms 23, it has been recited at numerous funerals but Psalms 23 is not for the dead it is for the living. At funerals the dead are already gone to their final resting-place. It is the living that needs to hear these words of comfort. Here is Psalms 23
Psalms 23
1. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want. 2. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters. 3. He restores my soul. He guides me in path of righteousness for His name's sake. 4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. 5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
In the pages that follow we will look at a little bit of American history, some culture, and a lot of inspiration. Hopefully this combination will help you and encourage you in your spiritual life.
Devotion 20 Reconstruction: Starting over
The period in our history called the Reconstruction period covers the time after the Civil War when our nation struggled to be reunited. The wounds of the Civil War were slow to heal and in some places have yet to heal. It took a great effort on the North and South to make it as a nation again. Sometimes we have to reconstruct our spiritual life. In the battle between the Flesh and the Spirit, the Flesh sometimes wins. Like the Indian missionary who explained it this way. It is like a battle between two dogs, which one wins, depends on which you feed the most. The Flesh dog will get bigger and civil war breaks out. Remember God is the God of second chances. If you don't think so, just look at Peter. Still don't think that God is a God of second chances just look in the mirror. If you are reading this, you are still here. It means you are not perfect. Your fiery chariot hasn't come to take you away. There may be times that you have to pick up the pieces in your spiritual life. Some thing happens, your spiritual tank is running low and you sputter along until you blow it. How do you go about the process of reconstructing your spiritual life? To rebuild your spiritual life there are five things that you can do to help you get back on track with God. The first thing you need to do is repent. Repentance is much more than saying you are sorry, it is a decision to stop doing whatever has come between you and God. As long as you let whatever it is come between you and Him you will not make any progress. Because whatever it is has become your God. Which means that the second step is putting God back on the throne of your heart. You can't do the second step unless you have done the first. He won't serve as a co-god. He has to be not only number one but also the only one. Give Him total control of your life. He knows what is best for you. The third step is to spend time daily with Him. This will help you to keep from letting any other thing come between you and Him. The way we get in the mess we're in is not spending enough time with Him in the first place. We are not really so busy with our lives that we cannot find time to spend with Him each day. The fourth step is finding something to do for Him. It might be visiting the sick. Maybe working with Sunday school. There are any number of things to do around the church . If you have any questions just ask the pastor and he will give you a list of things the church needs help with. However don't limit yourself to just the church there are many ways to help outside of the church. One of the reasons we have problems reaching the world is that we don't go to them where they are. They need to see that God is just not a church God. They need to see that he can help them where ever they are. The final step is part of the third step and that is spend time in prayer. Prayer is to our spiritual life what oil is to an engine. Prayer makes the Christian life come alive. Without prayer Christianity can become just some dry legalistic behavior code. It can become just another religion, without any purpose or meaning. It is important that one of the things that you pray about is whatever you had problems with. Ask God to give you the strength to overcome it. With His help you can overcome anything. These five steps will help you to reconstruct your spiritual life and get you back on track with Him. It is something that will take time and in some cases can take a lifetime. However it is well worth it to get back on track with Him. When you are going through the process of rebuilding your relationship with the Lord don't let anyone tell you that you don't have any hope or that you are not any good. Satan will try to convince you that you are useless to God. Satan will tell you that God has given up on you. He tries to keep you down because you are fixing to become a help to someone who will go through the same thing. We have the story of the prodigal son in Luke to let us know as long as we are willing to make our way back home He is more willing to receive us. He gave too much to give up on us. Remember that He didn't purchase us on the spiritual bargain rack but we were bought with the blood of His only Son.
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