“But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’” Exodus 3:11 (ESV) Who am I? Why am I here? These two basic questions are innate in every human being. We long to know who we are and we strive to discover why we are placed on this planet called earth. Our security is proportionate to our understanding of our identity. God allowed Moses to experience forty years in the palace and then forty years in the desert. God wanted Moses to learn some things about his personal identity through a desert experience that he could not learn in the palace. God was preparing Moses for the purpose of delivering the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. The burning bush encounter was a life changing experience for Moses. The encounter enabled Moses to come to know God in a personal way. God revealed His holiness to Moses and then unveiled His plan for Moses to embrace. As you can imagine, Moses could not visualize himself as the deliverer of the children of Israel. They had been slaves for over 400 years. Moses began making excuses and tried to deny his usefulness to God. Moses began to focus on what he lacked and missed the reality of God’s ability to do the extraordinary through ordinary people. Have you ever doubted your usefulness to God? Have you ever tried to convince God that you are not fit for His plan? God is not impressed with our abilities or our inabilities. God is not limited by our limitations. Are you willing to yield to God’s control and allow Him to have His way in your life? God is willing to take you through a desert experience to prepare you for His assignment. Drawing Near, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
Category: Sanctification
Categories
Seeking God
“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1 (ESV) You are as close to God as you choose to be. You determine the level of intimacy with God. Do you earnestly seek Him? Does your soul thirst for Him? Are you longing for Him as though you were in a dry and weary land where there is no water? Calculate the level of your pursuit. When you wake up each morning, make pursuing God your top priority. Don’t allow the demands of your schedule or the deadlines of the day to rob you of the joy of pursuing God through a meaningful daily quiet time. Select a sacred place and carve out some uninterrupted space to commune with the Lord. Nothing is more important than your unbroken fellowship with God. Nurture the life of Christ in you through a deliberate and persistent pursuit of God’s Presence. Commit to start your day with God. Establish a standing appointment with the Creator of the universe each morning. Pave the way to satisfy the crave for pure spiritual milk by implementing an intentional Bible reading plan. Commit to read through the Bible in one year by reading four chapters each day for the next 365 days. Daily consumption of God’s Word will build strong spiritual muscles to help you know God intimately and to live for His glory radically. Keep your eyes on the prize of growing in your love relationship with the Lord. There’s so much more that God wants to reveal to you. God wants to entrust you with His purposes and plan. Emulate the passionate pursuit of God’s Presence in your life. Remove distractions and return to your first love. Drawing Near, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV) Which fruit is most lacking in your life? If patience is lacking, then God will often allow challenging circumstances to come into your life to develop that particular fruit of the Spirit in you. If there is a deficit of gentleness in your demeanor, then God will often engineer opportunities for that fruit of the Spirit to be expanded in your life. God values you and the display of the fruit of His Spirit through you. Sometimes God will allow difficult people to come into your life in order to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit most neglected in your life. Learning how to love difficult people is a fertile environment for that particular fruit of the Spirit to be developed. Loving difficult people with the same love that God chooses to love you with does not come naturally. Loving difficult people necessitates a supernatural enabling that only comes through the Spirit filled life. God will develop the fruit of His Spirit in you and through you as you yield to His control. Your flesh will battle to be placed in the display window of life. Therefore, you must choose to allow the Holy Spirit to take full possession of your life in order for His fruit to be displayed. The fruit of the Spirit is featured best in the midst of the trying circumstances you face and the difficult people you embrace. Crucify the sinful nature (Gal. 5:24) and keep in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). Allow God to develop the fruit of the Spirit in your life so that others will be drawn to Christ. Drawing Near, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Romans 8:29 (ESV) We take comfort in knowing that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). Our comfort is found in the sovereignty of God, knowing that He is on His throne and has the final say. Yet, there is more to the purposes of God than our comfort. God also treasures our conformity to Christ. The ultimate goal for the believer is to be conformed to the image of Christ. To become like Christ requires our participation. God provides the environments and opportunities for our transformation. We get to join God in His redemptive activity. Our teachability determines the level of our conformity. Are we responsive to God’s corrective measures? Are we sensitive to God’s prompting? “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” Eph. 1:4-6 (NIV) God’s desire for us is that we operate as holy and blameless in His sight. We are clean before Him because we have received the imputed righteousness of Christ. However, there is a practical daily response to God’s work to conform us into the image of Christ. When you stand before God one day to give an account for your life, how many adjustments will be needed in order for you to be completely like Christ? Drawing Near, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
Categories
Living the Redeemed Life
“’And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?’” Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (ESV) What does the redeemed life look like in practical day-by-day living? Once a person becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, how does that new identity translate into daily living? God reveals His expectations for the redeemed life. Revere supremely. When you experience God’s redemption, your response to that redemption is a life of reverencing God. To revere God is to esteem Him and to give Him the rightful place He deserves in your life. Live righteously. The redeemed life results in a righteous lifestyle. Godliness replaces worldliness. Selflessness replaces selfishness. Instead of allowing the world to influence your behavior, you influence the culture with the character of Christ in you. Love completely. God loves you and demonstrated His love for you by allowing Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty of your sin. Love God completely by giving your heart to Him in full surrender. Express your love to Him in private and corporate worship. Serve passionately. Now that you have been redeemed, serve God by continuing the ministry of Jesus. Serve God by spreading the fragrance of Christ through random acts of kindness. Find a need and meet it. Obey instantly. Love what God loves and hate what God hates. “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17 ESV). Choose to obey God. Drawing Near, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
Categories
Sanctity
“And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11 (NIV) How would God reverse the curse sin produced? What would God do to restore fallen humanity? The most incredible display of unconditional love became God’s response to man’s sin. God provided for the removal of our sin through the sacrifice of His only Son. God allowed Jesus to pay our sin debt in full and to purchase our salvation. The shedding of blood was essential for the forgiveness of our sin. God chose to sacrifice an animal to provide garments of skin for Adam and Eve after their fall (Gen. 3:21). God took the initiative to reconcile and to restore them through the shedding of blood. Adam and Eve still had to face the natural consequences of their sin. They were still banished from the garden and Adam had to work the ground (Gen. 3:23). “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.” Rom. 5:18 (NIV) Through Adam’s sin, condemnation came to us all. As a result, we are born in sin and inherit the sin nature. However, through the obedience of Jesus on the cross, we are made righteous. Upon our trusting in Jesus alone for salvation, we receive the imputed righteousness of Christ. We are justified through faith, receive peace from God, and gain access into His grace (Rom. 5:1-2). The righteousness of Christ is deposited into our account. We are reconciled to God through the completed work of Jesus on the cross. Jesus paid it all! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
Categories
Sanctity
“And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Cor 6:11 (NIV) How would God reverse the curse sin produced? What would God do to restore fallen humanity? The most incredible display of unconditional love became God’s response to man’s sin. God provided for the removal of our sin through the sacrifice of His only Son. God allowed Jesus to pay our sin debt in full and to purchase our salvation. The shedding of blood was essential for the forgiveness of our sin. God chose to sacrifice an animal to provide garments of skin for Adam and Eve after their fall (Gen. 3:21). God took the initiative to reconcile and to restore them through the shedding of blood. Adam and Eve still had to face the natural consequences of their sin. They were still banished from the garden and Adam had to work the ground (Gen. 3:23). “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.” Romans 5:18 (NIV) Through Adam’s sin, condemnation came to us all. As a result, we are born in sin and inherit the sin nature. However, through the obedience of Jesus on the cross, we are made righteous. Upon our trusting in Jesus alone for salvation, we receive the imputed righteousness of Christ. We are justified through faith, receive peace from God, and gain access into His grace (Rom. 5:1-2). The righteousness of Christ is deposited into our account. We are reconciled to God through the completed work of Jesus on the cross. Jesus paid it all! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
“But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’” Ex 3:11 (NIV) Who am I? Why am I here? These two basic questions are innate in every human being. We long to know who we are and we strive to discover why we are placed on this planet called earth. Our security is proportionate to our understanding of our identity. God allowed Moses to experience forty years in the palace and then forty years in the desert. God wanted Moses to learn some things about his personal identity through a desert experience that he could not learn in the palace. God was preparing Moses for the purpose of delivering the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. The burning bush encounter was a life changing experience for Moses. The encounter enabled Moses to come to know God in a personal way. God revealed His holiness to Moses and then unveiled His plan for Moses to embrace. As you can imagine, Moses could not visualize himself as the deliverer of the children of Israel. They had been slaves for over 400 years. Moses began making excuses and tried to deny his usefulness to God. Moses began to focus on what he lacked and missed the reality of God’s ability to do the extraordinary through ordinary people. Have you ever doubted your usefulness to God? Have you ever tried to convince God that you are not fit for His plan? God is not impressed with our abilities or our inabilities. God is not limited by our limitations. Are you willing to yield to God’s control and allow Him to have His way in your life? God is willing to take you through a desert experience to prepare you for His assignment. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
Categories
Seeking God
“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1 (NIV) You are as close to God as you choose to be. You determine the level of intimacy with God. Do you earnestly seek Him? Does your soul thirst for Him? Are you longing for Him as though you were in a dry and weary land where there is no water? Calculate the level of your pursuit. When you wake up each morning, make pursuing God your top priority. Don’t allow the demands of your schedule or the deadlines of the day to rob you of the joy of pursuing God through a meaningful daily quiet time. Select a sacred place and carve out some uninterrupted space to commune with the Lord. Nothing is more important than your unbroken fellowship with God. Nurture the life of Christ in you through a deliberate and persistent pursuit of God’s Presence. Commit to start your day with God. Establish a standing appointment with the Creator of the universe each morning. Pave the way to satisfy the crave for pure spiritual milk by implementing an intentional Bible reading plan. Commit to read through the Bible in one year by reading four chapters each day for the next 365 days. Daily consumption of God’s Word will build strong spiritual muscles to help you know God intimately and to live for His glory radically. Keep your eyes on the prize of growing in your love relationship with the Lord. There’s so much more that God wants to reveal to you. God wants to entrust you with His purposes and plan. Emulate the passionate pursuit of God’s Presence in your life. Remove distractions and return to your first love. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Gal 5:22-23 (NIV) Which fruit is most lacking in your life? If patience is lacking, then God will often allow challenging circumstances to come into your life to develop that particular fruit of the Spirit in you. If there is a deficit of gentleness in your demeanor, then God will often engineer opportunities for that fruit of the Spirit to be expanded in your life. God values you and the display of the fruit of His Spirit through you. Sometimes God will allow difficult people to come into your life in order to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit most neglected in your life. Learning how to love difficult people is a fertile environment for that particular fruit of the Spirit to be developed. Loving difficult people with the same love that God chooses to love you with does not come naturally. Loving difficult people necessitates a supernatural enabling that only comes through the Spirit filled life. God will develop the fruit of His Spirit in you and through you as you yield to His control. Your flesh will battle to be placed in the display window of life. Therefore, you must choose to allow the Holy Spirit to take full possession of your life in order for His fruit to be displayed. The fruit of the Spirit is featured best in the midst of the trying circumstances you face and the difficult people you embrace. Crucify the sinful nature (Gal. 5:24) and keep in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). Allow God to develop the fruit of the Spirit in your life so that others will be drawn to Christ. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Romans 8:29 (NIV) We take comfort in knowing that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rm. 8:28). Our comfort is found in the sovereignty of God, knowing that He is on His throne and has the final say. Yet, there is more to the purposes of God than our comfort. God also treasures our conformity to Christ. The ultimate goal for the believer is to be conformed to the image of Christ. To become like Christ requires our participation. God provides the environments and opportunities for our transformation. We get to join God in His redemptive activity. Our teachability determines the level of our conformity. Are we responsive to God’s corrective measures? Are we sensitive to God’s prompting? “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will–to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” Eph 1:4-6 (NIV) God’s desire for us is that we operate as holy and blameless in His sight. We are clean before Him because we have received the imputed righteousness of Christ. However, there is a practical daily response to God’s work to conform us into the image of Christ. When you stand before God one day to give an account for your life, how many adjustments will be needed in order for you to be completely like Christ? Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
Categories
Living the Redeemed Life
“And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?” Deut 10:12-13 (NIV) What does the redeemed life look like in practical day-by-day living? Once a person becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, how does that new identity translate into daily living? God reveals His expectations for the redeemed life. Revere supremely. When you experience God’s redemption, your response to that redemption is a life of reverencing God. To revere God is to esteem Him and to give Him the rightful place He deserves in your life. Live righteously. The redeemed life results in a righteous lifestyle. Godliness replaces worldliness. Selflessness replaces selfishness. Instead of allowing the world to influence your behavior, you influence the culture with the character of Christ in you. Love completely. God loves you and demonstrated His love for you by allowing Jesus to die on the cross to pay the penalty of your sin. Love God completely by giving your heart to Him in full surrender. Express your love to Him in private and corporate worship. Serve passionately. Now that you have been redeemed, serve God by continuing the ministry of Jesus. Serve God by spreading the fragrance of Christ through random acts of kindness. Find a need and meet it. Obey instantly. Love what God loves and hate what God hates. “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (James 4:17 NIV). Choose to obey God. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Romans 8:29 (NIV) God saved you to become like Christ. Your sin has been forgiven and your eternal destiny has been secured. In Christ, you are adopted into God’s family and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Now you are in the process of becoming who you are in Christ. God predestined that you be conformed to the image of Christ. You get to participate in the process of that transformation. What are some of the tools God uses to conform us to the likeness of Christ? Sometimes God uses the hammer of adversity and the chisel of suffering to bring us into conformity with the character of Christ. Other times, God may use seasons of silence to test our faith and to prove our devotion. God allows fully yielded and fully devoted followers of Christ to come into our path to model Christ likeness. They give us a portrait of what we can become as we mature in our faith. Assess your current reality? How is God conforming you to the likeness of Christ? Are you being responsive to His prompting? Allow God to chip off anything in your life that does not bring honor to Christ. Invite the Holy Spirit to reveal any area of your life that distracts from your spiritual progress. Daily surrender to the Lordship of Christ and seek His face in prayer. Embrace the reality of God’s will. God desires that you become more and more like Christ each day. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
“You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.” Isaiah 14:13-15 (NIV) Every conflict has pride at its root. Before God created man in His own image, God had to resolve conflict that erupted in heaven. Pride infused Lucifer (Satan, the devil), the angel of God. In pride, Lucifer sought to lead a rebellion against God and thought he could dethrone God. However, God is holy and does not tolerate sin. Thus, God “de-heavened” Lucifer. Jesus spoke of this fall and John recorded the fall of Satan in Revelation 12:9. “He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.’” Luke 10:18 (NIV) “The great dragon was hurled down–that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” Rev 12:9 (NIV) Pride causes us to think of ourselves before thinking of others. Pride causes us to embrace selfishness and self-centeredness. In pride, we forfeit God’s agenda and become absorbed in our own personal agenda. Pride is evidenced by our pursuit of gratifying our sinful nature (Gal. 5:16). If pride seeps into your home, your family will experience major conflict. Pride corrupts and erodes relationships. Satan is the mascot of pride. He does not want your family to operate in peace, unity, and trust. Examine the weeds inside your home. Don’t try to cut the weeds off at ground level by dealing with the symptoms of pride. Get to the root of the conflict within your home. As you trace the origin of conflict, you will find the root of pride. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor (This devotional was originally posted in ’07 or ’08. I’m taking a break from writing for a season of personal renewal.) Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell
Categories
The Greenhouse
“‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’” Mark 1:17 (NIV) Where there is health, there is growth. Jesus invites us into a relationship that is progressive. We move from just believing that Jesus is God’s Son and the Savior of the world to following Him as Lord. We follow Jesus in order to do what He did. Our belief determines where we will spend eternity. Our behavior determines the level of spiritual maturity we attain before going to heaven. Think about the spiritual environments you are in on a daily and weekly basis. The greenhouse for spiritual maturity is found in private devotion and small group connection. You grow spiritually as you engage in daily communion with the Lord through a daily quiet time. Reading God’s Word, meditating on God’s Word, praying, listening to God’s voice, journaling, and obeying God’s directives form a greenhouse for maturation. Are you making room for unhurried time alone with God? Are you guarding your daily intimacy with God? A healthy relationship with God and with other believers will produce growth. Are you in a small group with other believers? Are you doing life with a small group of followers of Christ? That small group is made up of vital members of your spiritual family who impact your spiritual development. The environment of small group interaction allows you the opportunity to love and be loved, to know and to be known, to care and to be cared for. Jesus modeled the value of having a small group as He did life with His disciples. What condition is your greenhouse in? Are you connecting with God daily through private devotion? Are you connecting with a small group of believers weekly in order to inspire and to experience life transformation? Nurture your relationship with Jesus and your relationships with other believers for the glory of God. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor
Categories
God’s Will (6)
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” James 4:13-15 (NIV) God’s will is that you grow spiritually. The process of sanctification includes your obedience to God’s plan. As you submit to God’ will, your spiritual maturity continues to develop. One mark of spiritual maturity is the recognition of the sovereignty of God. Instead of presuming upon the grace of God and His plan, you acknowledge that God has the final say in what each day holds for you. His plans supersede your plans. God’s agenda becomes the priority of your life. James reminds us of the brevity of life. Another mark of spiritual maturity is recognizing how fragile life is. In light of eternity, your life on planet earth is brief. God made you not for time, but for eternity. Living in light of eternity not only helps you develop spiritual maturity, but also helps to measure your level of spiritual maturity. Your view of life on earth will determine how you invest your time, treasures, and talents. Learn to live each day with the “if” of God’s will. If it is God’s will, you will do this or that. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor