Month: June 2016

Faithful

Goodbye to Dad.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

^“His lord said unto him, ‘Well done, 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.’”
Matthew 25:23 King James Version

Yesterday we buried my Dad. As you can see from the photo, he had lived many years, 98 to be exact. And He had worked hard for most of those 98 years. He was a dairy farmer, getting up early every morning to milk 90 cows. He fed, cleaned up, treated, nursed, milked and prodded those cows. He hauled hay, planted crops, harvested corn, and trained berries. He sweated and worried and planned and sweated some more.

But most of all, he persevered. I remember as a boy one day when my Dad got the stomach flu. My grandpa was too old to milk and I was too young and so with a bottle of Pepto Bismol in the back pocket of his coveralls, Dad persevered.

But it wasn’t just in farming that he persevered. In every endeavor that my dad pursued, whether it be at church, on the school board, on the fire district board, or especially at home in our family, my Dad persevered and was faithful. Day in and day out, Dad was consistently a man of integrity and quiet faith. He believed that because Jesus was his Friend and Lord, he could go on through all circumstances. Dad was full of faith, even in the darkest of times. That faith gave him courage to get up each morning and face whatever came that day.

Now Dad has gone to be with Jesus and for the first time in many years, he is without concerns or worries. What the Lord gave him to do, he did faithfully, every day of his life. And now Dad can fully rest in the Lord, for in this life he trusted in a God whom he could not see, now he trusts in a God whom he sees face to face. Dad’s faith, which I saw exhibited every day of my life in his faithfulness, has now come to fruition in Jesus.

Goodbye, Dad. I miss you. I have always been so proud of you. You were my living hero of faith and faithfulness. Rest well with Jesus. I will see you soon.

Lord, make me faithful like my Dad. Send your Holy Spirit to comfort me when I miss him. Give me a faith like his and faithfulness each day of my life. Until I enter into that rest you have laid up for me, too. In Jesus, Amen.

Text Copyright Steve Nickodemus
Picture Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Tags death, faith, faithfulness, life, perseverance

PWTE Daily Devotion

Drinking Deeply

Post author By Douglas Brauner
Post date June 11, 2016

Blue Lakes Reservoir, Colorado. Little did we know that the following week would bring sever flooding to Colorado.

God’s kindness flows even when we rebel.

You can listen to today’s podcast by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

I wonder if this stream, pouring out of the mountains, looks like the water that flowed out of the rock at Meribah in Numbers 20. You might remember the story. The people complain to Moses about their situation.

“Why…why…why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place?” (Exodus 20:5 ESV)

God tells Moses to SPEAK to the rock, but Moses BEATS the rock twice with his rod. His disobedience cost him dearly. He would not enter the Promised Land with the rest of the people of Israel (Exodus 20:12)

So what did God do to the people because of the failure of their leader? Did he withhold water from them? No. The Bible says that “water came out abundantly” for the people to drink.

“Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob.
He turned the rock into a pool of water; yes,
a spring of water flowed from solid rock.”
Psalm 114:7 New Living Translation

This is what grace is all about. Yes there were consequences for Moses’ disobedience, but there was still mercy for the stiff necked people, a people who were constantly complaining against God.

You are I are recipients of God’s abundant waters of mercy even though we, too, have been disobedient. The water of God’s mercy flows from Christ’s cross where he was struck with nails and hammer. It is from this undeserved spring of God’s love that we drink…and we drink deeply.

God offers you this water today even if you’re angry, depressed or apathetic. His water quenches your thirst.

Text and Picture Copyright Douglas P Brauner

Tags forgiveness, grace, water

PWTE Daily Devotion

Vigilance Isn’t Just for the Dogs

Post author By Douglas Brauner
Post date June 7, 2016

Those who follow Christ are called to watchful living.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful.
Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion,
seeking someone to devour.”
1 Peter 5:8 English Standard Version

Ginger is an amazing watch dog. I never have to worry about a band of squirrels trying to break into our house, or rabbits beating me up. Ginger is vigilant. Many a squirrel has been chased along our fence, and many a rabbit has headed for shrubbery when the fearsome Ginger is on the prowl.

Ginger takes it upon herself to sit in the middle of our backyard and look left then right to make sure the Brauner household is safe, that is, from fury foes.

If only we were as vigilant about our faith as Ginger. Squirrel’s might one day penetrate her defenses and crawl inside our home, but they will not destroy our lives. However, Satan is a real threat and his desire is to devour us.

He’s ready to devour us through the ordinary stuff of life. The occult is not our greatest enemy but complacency, self-centeredness and the pursuit of things are. We’re bombarded with messages that tell us that we are the center of our universe and to be the center of the universe means that there’s very little room for Christ.

Maybe we need a serious dose of doggy vigilance. Maybe we need to sit in the backyard of our lives and watch for the subtle moves that Satan and the host of hell make to devour us. Maybe we need the vigilance of the cross.

Jesus knows that the heart of Satan is to devour us, so on his cross he was devoured by our sin that would have guaranteed us hell. He stayed vigilant on his path to the cross. And in his death and resurrection, Jesus robbed Satan of his power.

With our salvation sealed in Christ, we’re now empowered to live with vigilance.