Pastor Mary Haley

Daily Reading: 5-18-16

Luke 1:26-38  New Living Translation (NLT)

In our devotional yesterday, we read about how the Spirit reveals God’s goodness; God is a Giver who provides everything we need to live in spiritual victory.  If we lay hold of spiritual victory by welcoming the work of the Spirit, God’s glory will flow into every area of our lives; an inside to outside process.  The Spirit will supernaturally overshadow our human condition and ability.  I don’t know about you, but I confess my great need for the Spirit to overshadow my soul and what I bring to the table of life.  I have a great desire to accomplish or fulfill more than I could ever do on my own.

I love the angel’s prophetic message to Mary.  I am even comforted that she is confused by the Word of the Lord to her heart.  Why?  It means the Spirit is overshadowing her.  When the Spirit is working in our lives, we may not be able to grasp spiritual things until they are revealed in the natural.  That is when our love for God and our faith in the work of the Spirit of Truth must sustain us.

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Daily Reading: 5-17-16

1 Corinthians 2:12-16 New Living Translation (NLT)

God is a Giver!  In fact, God is a Generous (with a capital G) Giver of all that is Good!  We have been given God’s Spirit in order to recognize and see the many other good spiritual things He has given us.  Think about it.  God has given us good gifts in abundance, but we may only recognize them through the work of the Spirit.  The Spirit is the One who opens the spiritual eyes of humans, so we may see the hand of God—our Giver.  Therefore, if we want to see and know spiritual things or understand God’s thoughts and purposes for our lives, we need to welcome the work of the Spirit.

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Daily Reading: 5-16-16

1 Corinthians 2:1-11 New Living Translation (NLT)

Yesterday, we celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit upon a diverse group of disciples.  Although many of them were from the same area, they were diverse in their soul’s condition before the work of the Spirit; each one struggled with a different sin or inclination that caused a focus on self.  All sin is the same, but we struggle in diverse ways.  Sin is always self-focused and self-exalting; sin rejects God and His eternal love. 

This human yet diverse condition is true of us today; we too must wrestle our selfish flesh down (submit to God and resist the devil) in order to welcome the liberating and bold work of the Spirit.  The Spirit produces spiritual fruit and becomes what we lack in our human condition.  Because they trusted God, the disciples were united as One in the Spirit and given the power to witness to the work of the Living Christ within to bring salvation.  Each disciple had a different story of how the Spirit had set them free to serve God; many were given different languages so they could tell their diverse stories of the One True God.  The Spirit of God is a Gift that is given to help us understand what is truly valuable and eternal; what is from God and what pleases Him. 

The Apostle Paul comes to Christ with the inclination to be a hater.  He spends a lifetime thinking he knows the mind of God; he abuses people to gain control for God.  He welcomes the Spirit and he is then able to identify his wrong spirit, as well as God’s heart. The Spirit humbles him and imparts wisdom.  What does the Apostle Paul value now?  The answer is the work of the Spirit.  Now the Apostle Paul can see the love of God for a struggling and misdirected humanity that has existed from the beginning of time.

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Daily Reading: 5-13-16

Galatians 6:7-10 New Living Translation 

There is an age old saying, “You reap what you sow.” This saying is Truth; the wise in life convincingly testify to it. According to the Apostle Paul, every human being either deliberately or passively plants seeds into the ground of time each day. Once those seeds are released through words or actions, they begin to take root and grow. We may not be able to see the initial growth of the seeds, but the justice of God has placed a law over nature promising that planted seeds produce a harvest of some kind. Let me refresh your memory. 

God promised Noah he would never again curse the ground because of human sin and evil. In His promise, God said, “As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night” (Genesis 8:22). This is a promise that manifests in physical, emotional, and spiritual applications or realms. It’s not just about a farmer planting crops like corn. The lesson is about every individual responsibly taking action to plant something “Good” into the ground of a day that will produce a positive harvest of Goodness for tomorrow. Good grows Goodness. Goodness is not a passive quality; rather it is the deliberate preference of being right with God. Goodness is a fruit of the indwelling Spirit of God. God is Good and His Goodness is seen in Scripture by how He deals with people. Let’s read it together:

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Daily Reading: 5-12-16

Galatians 5:16-25 New Living Translation 

Humans may have the greatest of intentions to accomplish really good things for God and still fall short or fail.  We can accept the work of Christ on the cross and receive his forgiveness and still find ourselves struggling to stay faithful or fruitful.  Sometimes we fail because the things we intend to accomplish are not God’s plan or desire for us.  Because God has given us the ability to choose our path, we may find our personal desires are in conflict with God’s desires for His Kingdom people. The Kingdom of God is a spiritual realm where righteousness, peace and joy have dominion; King Jesus is the Ruler.  Sometimes we fall short of manifesting good things that reveal God’s Kingdom, because we just don’t possess the character endurance to press on when things become more difficult for us.  God understands our dilemma and has provided a way.

We must remember there is a gap that was formed by sin between our natural intentions and manifestation of the Good that pleases God; that gap needs to be filled with spiritual substance and power that comes from outside our own energy and ability.  The Apostle Paul reminds us that Person of substance or Helper with power we need is the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit of God is the perfect One to fill, motivate, and guide believers to accomplish what God desires for our lives; what God determines is Good for us as His children.

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Daily Reading: 5-11-16

Luke 9:18-27 New Living Translation 

Many people have opinions about God; who He is and how Jesus may or may not play a role in the divine Presence. Many religions acknowledge Jesus’ loving leadership in some form or another. Yet, Jesus was not just some amazing leader, prophet, teacher or healer. Jesus Christ strategically meets a lost humanity in a moment of authentic seeking; spiritual exploration to understand the God who claims to be Love. 

In our reading today, the disciples have just witnessed Jesus feeding 5,000 men with a sack lunch: five loaves and two fish. By the way, when everyone was fed there were still leftovers. Seriously? Peter and the other disciples are still shaking their heads and wondering who this Jesus really is and how this miracle fits with their image of Almighty God whose Presence they believe lives in the Temple. Jesus knows when we seek and he responds to help the disciples discover Truth.

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Daily Reading:  5-10-16

Acts 26:19-29  New Living Translation 

Paul returns to Jerusalem where he is told by his friends of the many rumors traveling around religious circles about him and his missionary ministry.  Paul is being accused by religious leaders of teaching things that are against the instructions of Moses; circumcision.  As well, Paul is accused of defiling the temple by bringing in non-Jews or Gentiles.  Paul spends the next seven days in prayer and fulfilling Jewish customs in order to demonstrate he is not against the leaders.   He still practices the Jewish lifestyle; he goes the extra mile to avoid offending the religious leaders.  However, there is still a huge uprising when Paul goes to the Temple.  The Jews try to kill him.  Well, the Romans hear about the altercation and go into the mob in order to identify Paul and the reason for the riot.

Jerusalem was the seat of Jewish government, but Caesarea was the Roman headquarters for the area.  Paul was a Jew and a Roman citizen, so he was sent to Caesarea to stand trial.  First, Paul stands trial before Felix, the Roman governor, but Felix avoids judgment in order to keep a level of peace.  The Jews are not happy with Felix’s decision.  Paul is kept in prison for two years until Felix is moved back to Rome and Festus becomes governor.  King Agrippa, descendent of Herod the Great and of Jewish descent, travels to attend the trial, because he is responsible for the Temple.  Agrippa and Festus are seeking to govern together.  Paul tells these men the story of his encounter with the resurrected Lord on the road to Damascus and Christ’s appointment for Paul to be a witness of what he has seen of the eternal Lord.  We pick up our reading with Paul’s trial before Festus and Agrippa.

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Daily Reading:  5-9-16

Acts 16:35-40  New Living Translation 

The Apostle Paul and his missionary companion, Silas, have been unjustly beaten and placed in jail while in Philippi.  The reason for this treatment is because Paul decides to cast a demon out of a young girl.  The demon in this girl speaks the truth about Paul, Silas, and God, but is doing so in order to make evil look godly—remember Satan comes as an angel of light to rob the glory from God.  Paul takes issue with the lie by casting out the demon.  He makes a lot of people angry, because they are making money from the evil in this girl; the evil fed money fountain becomes dry.

While Paul and Silas are in prison (unjust place) singing praises to God and witnessing about God’s glory to the fellow inmates, God sends an earthquake to bring them freedom.  The chains fall off and the cell doors open; the God of Justice moves in behalf of His children.  The jailer tries to kill himself because he is afraid all the prisoners have escaped; it’s what he would have done.  Yet, Paul and Silas remain in the jail in order to bring salvation to the jailer and his family.  We pick up our reading from there…

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Daily Reading:  5-6-16

Psalm 97 The Voice Version

This morning we will read from Psalm 97 from the Voice version.  I read it in three different translations and I just really liked this one and wanted to share it.  In a world where so many people focus on temporal things, this passage is a wonderful Word for turning our heads to recognize the power and work of the Eternal God.  

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Daily Reading:  5-5-16

Ephesians 1:15-23 New Living Translation (NLT)

In his letter to the church at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul exhorts the people for the growth of their love.  He praises God for them; he prays for them to receive a spirit of wisdom and revelation in their connection to Christ.

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