Tag Archives: strength

Who really makes things happen?, August 20, 2018

Today’s Podcast

We are still looking at Samson to help us discover some of the characteristic we need to have to succeed in battle against our greatest enemy, the devil. We have learned a lot of what not to do from him and today’s lesson is no different. Let’s look at another example of his poor behavior first from Judges 15.

Samson said to them [the Philistines who killed his wife and her father], “Is that how you act? Then I won’t stop until I pay you back.” He struck them down with heavy blows. He killed many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave. It was in the rock of Etam.

The Philistines went up and camped in Judah. They spread out near Lehi. The men of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight against us?”

“We’ve come to take Samson as our prisoner,” they answered. “We want to do to him what he did to us.”

then 3,000 men from Judah went to get Samson. They went down to the cave that was in the rock of Team. They said to Samson, “Don’t you realize the Philistines are ruling over us? What have you done to us?”

Samson answered, “I only did to them what they did to me.”

The men of Judah said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up. We’re going to hand yo over to the Philistines.”

Samson said, “Take an oath and promise me you won’t kill me yourselves.”

“We agree,” they answered. “We’ll only tie you up and hand you over to them. We won’t kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes. They led him up from the rock.

Samson approached Lehi. The Philistines came toward him shouting. Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Samson with power. The ropes on his arms became like burned thread. They dropped off his hands. He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed hold of it and struck down 1,000 men.

Then Samson said, “By using a donkey’s jawbone

I’ve made them look like donkeys.

By using a donkey’s jawbone

I’ve struck down 1,000 men.”

Samson finished speaking. Then he threw the jawbone away. That’s why the place was called Ramath Lehi.

So what’s so bad about these events, you might ask. Why would I pick out these verses and look at this event to show some of the flaws in Samson’s life?

Remember what is happening to Samson as we move along in the story of his life? First, he went places he wasn’t supposed to go. Then he courted a young woman he wasn’t supposed to court. He because engaged to that woman and planned his marriage knowing he was to have nothing to do with her or her people. Then, Samson fooled around with the carcass of a dead lion that he wasn’t supposed to touch. He was supposed to stay clear of dead stuff, but instead made a mockery of his vows. He was supposed to stay away from alcohol, dead things and alcohol. But what does he do? He eats honey from the carcass of that dead lion, makes a riddle from it for 30 companions the Philistines picked for him and had a bachelor’s party with those 30 pagan men the city of Timnah picked for him.

On top of that, Samson’s anger drives him to kill 30 innocent men to pay the foolish debt he brought on himself and then he runs away from his wife and her family. After abandoning his wife, he returns to find her given to another and takes revenge by destroying the Philistines’ crops. Now he lives in a cave at Etam hiding from those who wish him dead.

Each step along the way, he gets further from the things God would have him do. And worse, he takes credit for the few good things he does. He has managed to devastate some of the enemy through his actions, but he takes credit for it. He doesn’t even acknowledge that God had some part in his success. In this scene, Samson picks up a jawbone and kills 1,000 men. We don’t know how many had the good sense to turn and run away, but Samson was ready to take them on as well, or so he thought. Samson took credit. I’ve killed… I’ve taken revenge… I’ve turned an eye for an eye… I’ve made a mockery of the Philistine strength. Samson’s “I” statements are getting a little monotonous.

He forgot his strength came from the Lord. He forgot he was chosen as a lad to live the vows of the Nazarite. He forgot he was to be an example to the nations around him. Samson forgot he was to lead, not plunder and pillage. Samson forgot Jehovah was God, not him. With each passage we have read, Samson slips a little deeper into the pits of arrogance and self aggrandizement that dooms him.

What about you and me?

How often do we take credit when the credit should really go to our creator? How often to we look at what has been accomplished and assume it is because of our skill and not at the hand of the almighty? How often do we forget to give God the glory and honor for the things he helps us accomplish through his use of us as his instruments of divine intervention? Do we recognize that our strength, our knowledge, our talents and abilities, everything we have and everything we are comes directly from our Father in heaven? Do we stop and consider that all things made in heaven and on earth originate from the creative work of God and that without him there would still be darkness and a vast void? Have we forgotten that in the beginning God created and from that nothingness everything else has blossomed?

Once again, we can learn from Samson things we of which we must beware. We must remember God provides the strength, wisdom, resources, everything we might use to accomplish the tasks we complete. We are nothing without him. He is God. We are not.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

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The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

El-Roi (Genesis 16:13), June 8, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Today the name of God we consider is El-Roi, the strong one who sees.
Scripture
1. Genesis 16:13
2. She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
Devotional
1. El-Roi, the strong one who sees
2. I expect we have all hit that point in our life at one time or another when we think no one care about us. No one sees our plight. No one would notice if we just disappeared from the face of the earth.
3. Drama of the Old Testament
  1. Unlike the stories of other heroes
  2. Points out the flaws and failures of those we should emulate
  3. Abraham, father of the Israelite nation
  4. Promised a son who and progeny that would be the spark of a nation that was innumerable
  5. At 100 he had no children
4. Sarah gives her maidservant to Abraham in an effort to help God along
  1. Common practice for barren women
  2. Servant acted as surrogate and their child became the heir of the estate
  3. Adopted into the family
  4. Hagar became arrogant and took liberties with Sarah she should not have taken
  5. Sarah drove Hagar and Ishmael away
5. Hagar, though a servant, lived in luxury and wasn’t prepared to survive in the desert
  1. Alone
  2. Lost
  3. Without hope
  4. In despair, resigned to die in the wilderness
6. God, in His strength and power, sees her
  1. God does not abandon her as Abraham did
  2. God sees her despair and hopelessness
  3. God recognizes her need
  4. God intervenes and provides water and food for Hagar and Ismael
7. Important aspect of the story
  1. God doesn’t take Hagar out of her difficult circumstances
  2. He tells her to go back into the situation from which she fled
  3. God puts her back under Sarah’s thumb
  4. Bt with a promise
  5. Ismael will also become a great nation, and he did
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

Ever make a big promise you didn’t keep? (Luke 22:31-38), January 8, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Ever make a big promises that you didn’t keep? Peter made a whopper of a promise. Jesus caught him in his failure in less than half a day. Remember what that promise was?
Scripture

Devotional
1. Peter is like a lot of us.
  1. Think we can stand the test
  2. Make promises we can’t keep
  3. Crumble under the intense pressure against us
2. Honest with ourselves
  1. We’ve done the same
  2. Failed to honor Him in the tough times
  3. Kept silent when He said to speak
  4. Went the path of least resistance
  5. Denied Him when the pressure was on
3. Jesus says something important
  1. I have prayed for you
  2. That you faith will hold firm
  3. That you will recover from your failure
  4. That you will become a source of strength for your brothers
4. Peter still failed that night and many other times recorded in the New Testament
  1. Recognized his failure
  2. Repented
  3. Learned from his errors
  4. Became stronger in his faith each time
  5. Finally was executed for his faith
5. Jesus prayer extends to us as He sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us
  1. That our faith will hold firm
  2. That we will recover from any failure
  3. That we will become a source of strength for our brothers and sisters
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

The best source of strength (Mark 15:34) September 16, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Amos 5-9

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Mark 15:34
Jesus: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

“My God, My God, why have you turned your back on Me?” Jesus’ question to His father from the cross. We often read the words of Jesus from the cross and forget that many of them are prayers recited from the Psalms. This one comes from Psalms 22. It’s interesting to go back to those hymns that Jesus used as His prayers on the cross recorded for us by the gospel writers and put them back into their context. I often wonder if Jesus prayed the whole Psalm while on the cross, or just the verses recorded for us.

If you go back to Psalm 22, you’ll find the words Jesus spoke in the first verse. “My God, My God, why have you turned your back on me? Your ears are deaf to my groans. O my God, I cry all day and you are silent; my tears in the night bring no relief.”

Most of the rest of that psalm describe exactly what Jesus was experiencing.

I’m surrounded by many tormentors; like strong bulls of Bashan, they circle around me with their taunts. They open their mouths wide at me like ravenous, roaring lions. My life is poured out like water, and all my bones have slipped out of joint. My heart melts like wax inside me. My strength is gone, dried up like shards of pottery; my dry tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; You lay me in the dust of death. A throng of evil ones has surrounded me like a pack of wild dogs; They pierced my hands and ripped a hole in my feet. I count all my bones; people gawk and stare at me. They make a game out of dividing my clothes among themselves; they cast lots for the clothes on my back.

Perhaps we sometimes draw the wrong conclusion about this particular phrase. I usually think about God turning His back on Jesus because He carries the sins of the world on His shoulders and the Father cannot stand the sight of sin. He abhors sin and so Jesus carries the weight of all humanity’s sins alone.

But what if, instead, Jesus draws strength from reciting this psalm from the cross. The hymn begins these stark words from the depth of David’s misery. It describes the suffering Jesus will endure. But there are some other words in that same song from which He can draw great comfort.

Still, You are holy; You make Your home on the praises of Israel. Our mothers and fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You rescued them. They cried out to You for help and were spared; they trusted in You and were vindicated.

and

But You, O Eternal, stay close; O You, my help, hurry to my side. Save my life from violence, my sweet life from the teeth of the wild dog. Rescue me from the mouth of the lion. From the horns of the wild oxen, You responded to my plea. I will speak Your Name to my brothers and sisters when I praise You in the midst of the community. You who revere the Eternal, praise Him— descendants of Jacob, worship Him; be struck with wonder before Him, all you children of Israel. He’s not put off by the suffering of the suffering one; He doesn’t pretend He hasn’t seen him; when he pleaded for help, He listened. You stir my praise in the great assembly; I will fulfill my vows before those who humble their hearts before Him. Those who are suffering will eat and be nourished; those who seek Him will praise the Eternal. May your hearts beat strong forever! Those from the farthest reaches of the earth will remember and turn back to look for the Eternal; All the families of the nations will worship You. The Eternal owns the world; He exercises His gentle rule over all the nations. All the wealthy of the world will eat and worship; all those who fall in the dust will bow before Him, even the life that is headed to the grave. Our children will serve Him; future generations will hear the story of how the Lord rescued us. They will tell the generations to come of the righteousness of the Lord, of what He has done.

Could Jesus’ words on the cross be a reminder to us of the importance of scripture and prayer in the face of life’s greatest challenges? Certainly, these few hours were Jesus’ most the stressful and challenging of His short life. And throughout those hours, the majority of His words can be traced back to the scriptures He knew so well. Is this, too, the beginning of a song, only the beginning of which was recorded by the gospel writers, but within Jesus’ heart and soul, soared to His father as a song of praise and worship even in those dark hours? Could it be that He was teaching us even in these last hours of His life that God’s word remains our best source of strength in times of trouble? Jesus used it; shouldn’t we?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

The body is weak! (Matthew 26:40-41) June 24, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Ezekiel 13-18

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 26:40-41
When He came back to the disciples, He saw that they were asleep. Peter awoke a little less confident and slightly chagrined.
Jesus (to Peter): So you couldn’t keep watch with Me for just one short hour? Now maybe you’re learning: the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Watch and pray and take care that you are not pulled down during a time of testing.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Caught with his hand in the cookie jar! Jesus asked his closest friends to help Him pray during this darkest hour of His life. One of His own was about to betray Him. Jesus knew the guards were on their way to arrest Him. The cross loomed in the distance. His death was imminent.

“Please, watch and pray with me for the next hour to help Me through this awful time in my life.”

Sounds like a simple request, doesn’t it? But Peter, James and John didn’t fulfill their mission. They let the food in their stomachs and the late hour of the evening get to them and they slept while their Master prayed. He comes back and the sound of His sandals on the gravel path arouses Peter. Oops! I was supposed to be praying, not sleeping. Caught!

We’re all guilty. We all get caught. No matter how stealthy you think you might be in covering your actions or hiding your schemes, you can’t. Everything eventually comes out in the open. Just take a look at what happens in the media today with our political candidates. If you think you can hide your past, just look at what comes out from the past on these men and women that want to lead our country. The opposing party is pulling out dirt from every aspect of each others lives. From the time they were young adults to yesterday’s twitter post, the latest misstatement, misaligned thought, maligned look, point of arrogance, or down right bad action for which each never takes ownership pops up in the news.

Nothing is ever really hidden. And so Peter, James, and John get caught. But that’s okay. Jesus understands. I think He’s a little disappointed that these three closest friends didn’t have the stamina to pray with Him for even an hour, but even at this late hour of His life, Jesus uses the incident as a teaching point for them. “Now maybe you’re learning: the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Watch and pray and take care that you are not pulled down during a time of testing.”

So what is the Master telling these three? I’m sure they were thoroughly embarrassed by their inability to stay awake with Jesus. I’m sure they fell over themselves with apologies and truly were sorry for not praying with Him during this hour. I’m sure they promised never to do it again and asked for another chance to redeem themselves even as the night grew longer and darker.

But Jesus understood their position before the coming of the Holy Spirit to live in them and not just with them. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. There are times that we just can’t go on any more. His words remind me of the day I came back from Iraq into our rear headquarters in Dharhan in Saudi Arabia after coalition forces were ordered back in Operation Desert Storm. I told my boss I needed a short nap before I would be much good to him for the next planning phase. I went into the hut several of the medical operations team shared and fell fully clothed into the cot I hadn’t seen in several months to take that short nap. In what a thought was a few minutes, I woke up and discover to my dismay the clock was two hours later than when I laid down. What I didn’t know was a full day had also passed. What I thought was a long two hour nap, was a twenty-six hour exhausted sleep. The spirit was willing, but the body was weak.

I learned that some of the team who held down the rear headquarters while the tactical operations center moved forward checked on me every few hours to make sure I was still breathing, but assumed I needed the sleep and didn’t wake me. I wanted to work as soon as I returned because there was a lot of work to do. But my body said shut down and repair itself after months of twenty-hour days. It just said no more and quit.

God understands our physical limitations. But He also helps us even with those physical limitations. I’m convinced it was His hand on me physically that let me work the grueling schedule I worked in Desert Storm without collapsing until after our return from the front. His sustaining power gave me the strength to endure all those months until my planning skills were no longer immediate concerns for medical support on the battlefield.

We will all face times of testing as the disciples did in the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus and as I did with the constant pressures of planning in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. But prayer was high on my list and I felt the prayers of those who were home lifting me to God both for my safety and my ability to perform my tasks well not even knowing what my tasks might be. I knew friends and family were on their knees with my name on their lips.

Now twenty-five years after that conflict, I lift those planners and service members in my prayers daily. Some of them I know by name. Most are nameless to me, but not to God. Are there times my body fails me? Yes. Just passing my sixty-second anniversary of my birth, my body fails more often than I’d like, but I’ve learned to lean more on God so He can empower my spirit to keep at the fight. How about you?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.