Devotions

How Did Jesus Become the Door of the Sheep?

August 2, 2022 by Daniel Bishop Leave a Comment

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. John 10:1 NKJV

I read these verses the other day and thought about them unconventionally. The conventional way to interpret them is that Jesus is the door to the sheep. He even says so in verse 7: Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

As I thought about these verses, I wondered how He became the door. What did He have to do to become the door? How could He become the door for us? When He created the earth and this flesh and blood world we live in, He was a spirit. When He died for us, He was flesh and blood and was establishing a spiritual Kingdom.

So, He was spirit when he created us but He was us when He created the spiritual kingdom. He had to enter the door into this flesh and blood world He made. He had to be born of a woman. To enter this world any other way would have made Him a thief and a robber.

Demons enter this world by possessing humans. They don’t enter by the door and are nothing but thieves and robbers. They’re robbing and stealing that person’s life to do their evil work. Jesus took on his own fleshly body and entered by the door of humanity, by being born into this world. The only body He possessed was His body.

He was God but to become the door; He had to be both God and man. That way He could become the door to usher us into the spiritual kingdom He was creating. Jesus says in John 18:36 NKJV My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from here.When Jesus knocks on the door of your heart, open to Him and walk thru the door He created at significant cost and be a part of His kingdom.

Spiritual Maintenance

July 18, 2022 by Daniel Bishop 1 Comment

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 7:1 NKJV

What can pool maintenance teach us about spiritual maintenance?

Each Spring we set up our 3 1/2-foot deep, 16’ x 10’ pool in our backyard. The pool is enjoyable but takes daily and weekly maintenance to make sure algae and bacteria don’t grow and take over.

Daily I make sure there is a steady amount of chlorine in the water. I do this by adding a chlorine tablet to the chlorine dispenser that is attached to the pool. As the water flows over it, it slowly dissolves and releases a steady amount of chlorine into the water. Each night I have the filter run for a good twelve hours.

In East Tennessee we have random late afternoon storms that quickly blow through. Having large trees surround the backyard and pool, leaves and debris often fall into the water. Multiple times a week my wife gets the skimmer net and goes over the surface of the pool to remove the bugs, leaves, and debris that falls into the water and sits on the surface.

Finally, each weekend, I put our robot vacuum in the pool and let it do its thing. It runs for a couple of hours running across the floor and climbing the walls doing a thorough job of cleaning up all the debris and junk that sinks to the lining. I add pool shock to give it an extra boost and help the chlorine do its job. If we have used the pool a lot, it will get cloudy from the sunscreen washing off into the water, so I put a clarifier in to help clear up the water. Last, I take out the filter and rinse it off or change it out if we have used it for multiple weeks.

Just like our pool, our Spiritual lives need daily, weekly and weekend maintenance. Reading my bible, reading a devotion, and praying daily makes sure I maintain a steady amount of spiritual chlorine. It helps to keep negative thoughts away and allows for God’s Word to wash through me. These things help to filter out all the crud that builds up during the day.

Throughout the week we interact with people who are challenging and affect our spiritual demeanor. There’s that co-worker you want to give a piece of your mind to, or someone who cuts you off in traffic, but right as you’re lifting your hand to show them they’re number one, you remember the church magnet stuck to the back of your car and you refrain. Or maybe a spiritual storm blows through and dumps an extra amount of debris. We need the Word, prayer with a trusted friend and sometimes an extra episode of that podcast that always encourages us and helps us to skim all that junk settling on our spirit.

Each weekend we need to try to go to church. It’s the perfect opportunity to get spiritually vacuumed, a good shock treatment, a filter rinse or change, and a clarifier to help us see things clearly.

Now, I understand, many of you may have a job that keeps you from going to church every weekend, believe me, I get it. I had a job that required me to work two Sundays a month; I know how difficult that can be. In today’s times, we have so many options available to us when we aren’t able to make it to a Sunday service. If your church records their sermons, take the time to sit and watch, or listen to a good podcast. If these options aren’t available, reach out to a friend to pray with or read an extra chapter when doing your Bible reading.

I must be honest, sometimes, mentally, I have gotten nothing out of reading my Bible or going to church. Sometimes it felt like I was just going through the motions, but I know the Word goes into my spirit and it will return good fruit at the right time.

So, as you are going through your week and taking care of the things that need to be done, don’t forget to spend some time and do some spiritual maintenance. Let’s be diligent in taking care of our spiritual lives.

The High Places

June 27, 2022 by Daniel Bishop Leave a Comment

But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless Asa’s heart was loyal to the Lord all his days. 1 Kings 15:14 NKJV

Asa was a king of Judah, and the Bible says he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did his father David. He removed almost every vestige of pagan worship and practices except the high places. What are the high places?

The high places weren’t high as in up on a hill. They were where the people went for their pagan worship services. They would worship their gods, make sacrifices, and do some abominable things such as child sacrifice.

Most of the kings of Judah and Israel did evil in the sight of God, but even most of those who did what was right left the high places. Only a few of them removed the high places.

Since the high places were where pagan worship was done, it makes sense the Bible would mention whenever a king who did right left them or destroyed them. The first two commandments say you shall have no other gods before me, and you shall make no idols.

It was not an insignificant oversight to leave the high places. God wanted every vestige of false gods and false religions removed. He wanted what was best for His people and leaving pagan places of worship would not do that.

It’s the same with us when we follow God. Maybe there’s that one area of our life we haven’t given up. We cling to it, but we know God wants us to let go of it.

We should examine our lives and ask God to show us where we have high places, where we’ve put certain things above Him. Let Him have His way with us.

Prayer

Father, I ask you to search me and show me the high places I’ve left in my life. Show me those things I need to let go of or rearrange their priority in my life. I want nothing in my life placed above you. You and you alone are my high place. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

A Seat at the Table

June 19, 2022 by Daniel Bishop Leave a Comment

Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many.” Luke 14:16 NKJV

It sure is crowded, I thought as I scanned the dining room for a seat at a table. It was lunchtime at a Christian writers’ conference. The dining room had round tables that had room for eight people. Most of the tables had a designated author or agent who would sit at the table, and seven other people could sit at that table with the author or agent. It was a wonderful way to get to know them and make connections with the people at the table.

I found a table with two empty seats and quickly made my way there. I didn’t know the author sitting at this table, but I enjoyed talking to her and the people at the table. While my fellow diners talked to her, I looked around and saw most of the tables had no seats available. If you wanted to sit with that author or agent, you’d have to try another time.

As I was thinking about that, I realized that there’s always a seat at God’s table. It doesn’t matter how many people are there, He can make room for one more.

He’s already sent out the invitations and paid the cost. All you must do is accept the invitation and show up as you are right now. No need to shower, clean up, change clothes, or anything. Just come as you are and no matter how many people are at the table, you’ll have His undivided attention.

Maybe you were at the table, but you left and think you can’t come back. Don’t believe that. You can come back and when you do, God will welcome you as if you’d never left. That’s what he did to the prodigal son. He saw the son a way off and went to meet him. He didn’t lecture him or make him grovel.

He rejoiced His child was back and threw a feast for him. He’ll do the same for you.

I finished my meal thankful that I came to the conference to meet all the wonderful people and thankful I have a seat at God’s table. God has a seat reserved especially for you, so stop making excuses and accept His invitation.

When Kings Go To War

June 14, 2022 by Daniel Bishop Leave a Comment

Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful. 2 Samuel 11:2 NKJV

When I joined the Army, my recruiter told me I would be fine if I did two things. Be where you’re supposed to be, when you’re supposed to be there, and in the proper uniform. I followed that when I was in the Army, and I had a successful four years. Obviously, there is more required than just showing up, but that was an excellent starting point. It never ceased to amaze me how many soldiers didn’t do that simple thing.

What about when you don’t show up spiritually? When you don’t spend time with God in prayer, devotions, reading your Bible, and going to church. When you don’t do that thing, you know God is telling you to do.

You open the door to temptation and compromise. You go down a slippery slope, hit rock bottom, and wonder how you could’ve fallen so far.

King David opened himself up to a great sin when he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, when he was supposed to be there and in the proper uniform. Where should David be instead of walking on his rooftop watching a woman bathe that 2 Samuel 11:2 tells us he was doing? The preceding verse tells us.

2 Samuel 11:1 says, “It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel: and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.”

David was a king, and he was supposed to be in the field with his army. But he wasn’t, and he saw a beautiful woman who was another man’s wife. He took her and had the man killed. All because he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, when he was supposed to be there, and in the proper uniform. Did he need to be in the field for his army to succeed? No, but that wasn’t the point.

David caused a lot of pain, grief, and anguish because he wasn’t where he was supposed to be?

Let’s make sure we are where God asks us to be, doing what He asks us to do.

A Simple Thing

June 7, 2022 by Daniel Bishop Leave a Comment

2 Kings 5:14 NKJV So, he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

All Naaman had to do was a dip in the Jordan River seven times. His leprosy would be healed, but he balked at doing that. He wanted to dip in a cleaner river. The Jordan was a dirty river. Maybe he felt it was beneath him. After all, he was the commander of his king’s army. Didn’t they know who he was?

It’s just like God to use a dirty river to make you clean. He never follows the conventional wisdom. I think He does that because there’s a heart issue He’s dealing with. He not only wants to heal you physically but also spiritually.

He’s more concerned about your spiritual health than your physical health. Sometimes we must resolve our heart issues before we’re physically healed. Naaman could have gone to a cleaner river and dipped, but nothing would have happened. He would have still had with leprosy and his heart would have still had spiritual leprosy.

God knows exactly what to ask us to get to the heart of the issue. It will be something simple, but it will feel like the hardest thing to do. Or the hardest thing to answer. It will cause us to admit something we don’t want to admit. To acknowledge something about ourselves, we’d rather not.

How hard is it to dip in a river seven times? Especially when doing so will heal you of an awful disease. Even if the river was like the sewer, if it would heal you of leprosy, then do it. The other stuff can be washed off.

Just like when Jesus came down here and dipped Himself into humanity. He completely immersed Himself and got dirty. He took all the filth, disease and sin upon Himself, but He rose again in a glorified body that was washed clean. Just like what He does for us when we accept Him as our savior.

Naaman dipped in the Jordan River in all its filth, and healed of leprosy, pride, and his claim to himself.

When God asks you to do the simple but hard thing, will you?Will you let go and immerse yourself in His forgiveness and salvation?