86 Seconds Video Devotionals

The last few weeks we've been telling you about the series we're doing on the attributes, the nature and the character of God. This, for me, comes from a very dear place in my heart. When I was 19 years old, I went to a conference and I heard this verse read. It's in Chapter 9 of Jeremiah and the 23rd verse. It says, "Thus says the Lord, 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this...'" Strange that the Bible would give us permission to boast. It sounds like it's prideful or haughty or arrogant, but it's not. It's a boast in something other than yourself. It's not a boast in your own strength. It's not a boast in your own power, not a boast in the resources. In ancient Israel, they called it not trusting in the chariots of Egypt, not trusting in the horses and the power of man, but we can boast. There can be this great boast. There can be this great joy in our heart that says we "'boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am a God who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,' declares the Lord." He mentions just a few of the many attributes that God has there, and that we can boast in knowing these things. God has made these things known and I want to talk to about 21 different attributes of God over the next few months. I believe it's going to enrich your faith, challenge your heart and cause you to have a yearning and a hunger for a holy, mighty, wonderful God. Do we really know the mind of God? Do we really know the character, nature, attributes, and the very heart of God? To go back to something means we would have to have known it in the first place. Over the next few months I want to take some time with you and dig into the very depths of the heart of God. 1 Corinthians, Chapter two says, "we can know the things of God, yea, even the deep things of God." Isn't that profound that you don't have to live with a superficial knowledge of the Holy one. That you don't have to just kind of get little trinkets, little tidbits from the outskirts of His grace and His mercy. You can know Him in depth and in power. I want you to join me as we look at 21 different attributes over the next few months, and that's going to give us a deep knowledge of God. And if we'll use that knowledge of God to build our faith we'll be like Daniel. "but the people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits." I pray these 86 second messages will make you strong in the Lord, powerful, Holy, full of love and grace and truth so that you could be a young man, young woman, old man, old woman raised up in this hour to be a vessel for God's purposes.

The two ways we respond to criticism, fight or flight, we fight back at people who criticize us, or we run from them. Not too long ago, I made a list of-- Somebody suggested this. They said, "Write down everybody that you know, that you remember from the time you were 0 to 5 years old, from 5 to 10 years old, from 10 to 15 on and on till your present day. Just write a list of all those names, and then look through all those names and find people that you're still in good relationship with and ones that you've sort of cut off, ones that you've moved away from, ones that you may be offended or they offended you and you're no longer in relationship with." Sadly, as I looked at this list, I had a lot larger group of people that I'm no longer in relationship with. Many of them, I had hurt or they had hurt me, so we just lost contact. Not big blowups but just distance. Just a lack of close relationship. That's what God intended. He wants us to have relationship. I look back over that, and I realized I had allowed small offenses, little foxes that spoil the vine. I had let little things like that ruin it. Well, for me, my agenda now is to go back and begin to try to reconcile and to begin to restore things that were broken to build back up what the enemy tried to destroy. I want to encourage you to do that as well, to take some time to assess wherever your relationships been broken, wherever been broken in an unhealthy fashion and where can you be an agent of peace in the midst of a troubled world.

What do you do when someone criticizes you? It could be a real deep criticism, or it could just be something like don't park your car there. Do you find yourself going one of two routes? I, sometimes, do this. They call it fight or flight. One of them is to run away from that person and say, "They're so critical. I don't want to be around them." The other is to fight like, "Oh, yes? Well, you're like this too." Instead of receiving the criticism that you might learn from and grow from, instead, there becomes a brokenness of relationship. Whether it's through your own returning of anger. Somebody emailed me recently and it was a bit of a critical email. My first response was to fight back and say, "Oh, yes, I can't believe you think that because you're like this." It was taking it the wrong direction. Instead, I wrote back a nice letter, "I understand where you're coming from. That makes sense. Thank you for bringing that to my attention." This person wrote me back and said, "I'm in tears. I thought you were going to be all angry at me. That really changed my perspective on some things. Thank you so much." You see, that fight or flight that that criticize back or run from that it's going to destroy relationships. You'll look back on your life and you'll have a trail of people that you've broken relationships with over something that didn't need to be broken. Be cautious, be careful and look to love rather than to divide.

Years ago I was watching my son do his homework and the assignment asked the question, "Do you get offended easily?" His answer, as I was looking over his shoulder, was, “Absolutely not.” I said, "Son, come on, you get offended pretty easily." He turned around with an angry look on his face said, "Dad, I don't get angry easily." Confirmed my suspicions. What happens to us? What happens to me when I get angry? When somebody criticizes me? I find myself sometimes getting resentful to a larger degree than the constructive criticism merits. What is that? What is the power behind that? Well, I would suggest to you it's not that actual event. It comes from something deeper inside, from old wounds, from your history. For me, it has a lot to do with not feeling like I'm enough, never being perfect enough, never been good enough, never being sufficient enough, never being powerful enough, never being lovable enough. Out of that, when somebody criticizes me, I don't take it just as the surface level, I take it at a deeper level, that maybe they're actually confirming my suspicions about who I am. That's not really what they mean. They just want to try to help in the particular circumstance. I want to encourage you not to look at people's criticism, but what we need to do is look at the deeper root issue. What is the wound? What's the core issue there? Let Jesus heal that. Take an internal look and when you see healing, you're going to start seeing that you relate to people in a different way. Not so offended so easily, not so willing to reject people when they criticize you, not so willing to fight fire with fire, but finding peace in the journey.

Have you ever felt cheated when you hear the promise of abundant life and you go, "I'm a Christian. I know the promise of God but I don't seem to have that abundant life?" Well, I've had to learn to redefine abundant life where it no longer means a big house and a car and perfect health and straight teeth and kids who are 4.0 grade point average in school. Those are external things. God cares about those and he wants us to have them but abundant life is much more than just the externals. It's something that comes from inside the heart. No matter what's happening around you, no matter what kind of circumstances are taking place in your life, the abundance is coming from the inside of your heart. Out of that comes the issues of life. You're finding life even in the midst of the worst storms, even in the midst of a bad diagnosis, even in the midst of kids who are in trouble. You're finding that there is abundant life. If you define it based on the American Dream, you're going to be disappointed. You're going to say, "Hey, wait a minute God! I thought you promised me the house and the car and the wife and the kids and I'm alone and missing out on life." If that's how you're defining life, you're defining it based on the American Dream. In that case, even Jesus himself wasn't living in abundant because his friends rejected him when he was troubled in many different ways or had external trouble in his life but inside, he was full of peace and life and joy. You and I can do that as well when we find the true definition of the abundance, the grace, the life that Jesus has for us.

The Bible says that we love because he first loved us. Oh the great, great love of God that he has for you today. Don't forget it. If you'll remember how much he loves you, it'll change your whole day. The 86 seconds of this devotion today can set the trajectory of your day of one of knowing that you're loved, loved deeply by God, and the result of that is we love. It doesn't say we love others or we love ourselves or we love God. Although those things are all included, it simply says we love because he first loved us. In other words, love, the residency of love in our heart and our life, is there because we realize how much we're loved. Strangely enough, the magnetic pull on the other side, Jesus in Matthew 24 teachers that because the world will hate you, the world hates, because of that the love of many will grow cold cause these two polarizing ideas. One is basking in the love that the Father has for us. We'll create a heart of love. Looking at the world and trying to gain its approval and its acceptance, its applause, wanting to be loved by that is going to cause our love to grow cold. You have a choice today. Let your love get more on fire for God or let it grow cold. Who do you want to love you, the world or Jesus? I vote for Jesus.

I'd like to ask you a question here this morning: Do you focus more on what people think of you or what God thinks of you? You see the one is living for the approval of man, the acceptance, the applause. And that's very costly. It'll cost you compromise. It'll cost you giving into the world's standards, to live as someone who's fitting in with culture. Or do you look for the approval of God, which is given freely to us when we just live as sons and daughters of the most high God. You have a choice today. Who are you going to live for? When I'm making these videos for you, these 86 second videos every morning to help stir and challenge your life, some of you might ask, “Why are you putting your picture up on the screen every morning? I think you're looking for approval or applause.” Well, I hope I died to that. I hope I died to that a long time ago. I hope I'm doing this, and I pray that I'm doing this, not so much for any kind of applause of man or approval, but I hope I do this to stir your heart and to encourage you. There in lies the difference between a self-centered life and other-centered life. A self-centered life is a life that wants self to be a glorified and exalted in the eyes of man. Where an other-centered life is one that says, “I died to myself and I'm going to live fully for Jesus and living for Jesus makes me want to give myself away to other people.” So I hope these short videos help you think today about giving your life fully to Jesus.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find it far too easy to do something that the scripture admonishes us to avoid and that's losing your first love. The things that stir those negative responses in my heart, why I might tend to lose my first love, is number one: getting distracted by the cares of this world as Jesus called them. They become more important to me sometimes. Priorities crush the, the main priority of seeking his kingdom first. And I just lose track. I lose thought. And so, I want to be challenged and want to challenge you today to keep that first love. I'd say the second thing that causes me to lose first love is, it’s very sad, sometimes having an offense at Jesus. We read of his promises, we read of his plan for our life, and sometimes it doesn't seem to be happening. We seem to think that he's kind of a passed us by. Truth is he hasn't passed us by, he's working in a heart. If you're having troubles today, trials, tribulations, those aren't things, those aren't signs of God rejecting or neglecting you. Those are signs of his care for you because he's training you to be patient and that patience has a perfect work that it does in our lives. Don't get discouraged today. Don’t get angry at God if things aren't seemingly going your way because he's for you and not against you. Therefore, he can keep you from getting distracted or losing that first love that he wants you to live and that you want to live as well.

The Word of God tells us to fear not. What a great encouragement because there's so much stuff in the world today that can cause us to want to move into the realm of fear. Fear is born of unbelief. We don't really believe that God is going to take care of us. We don't really believe his promises are true. And out of that unbelief becomes worry and anxiety and stress. Out of that stress and anxiety often becomes tension in our relationships, tension in our heart and even tension in our relationship with Jesus Christ. We begin to doubt him and begin to live in unbelief and that just stirs up even greater fear. It's exactly what the enemy's after—trying to get fear to be like a cycle that just comes back around and causes even more fear. And so I want to encourage you today. I want to challenge you in these 86 seconds we have together to tell you there's a better way. There's the Jesus way and the Jesus way is saying, Jesus, I really trust you. You gave your all for me. So why would I ever doubt that you are withholding any good thing for me? And if you're not withholding any good thing from me, what do I have to fear? I don't fear, man. I don't fear giants. I don't fear trials and tribulations. I know that these things work for my good in the long run, that all things work together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purposes.” I know I am, and I know you are as well. You're loved by God. You're called. His plans for you are good. So don't fear. Nothing can harm you because you are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Remember that and you'll have an amazing day.

We're looking at these a 86 seconds, 1/1000th of your day, 864,000 seconds in a day. We're going to take a little bit of those 86 seconds just to focus in and center in on Jesus. I was looking at Matthew 6: Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He said something disturbing here, “Don't lay up treasures on earth.” When I think of that, I think of my responsibility as a father and I say, “But I have to have insurance and I have to have a retirement. I have to have a savings account and I have to have a car and house payments.” So it seems like there are some treasures that I need on earth. Well, Jesus goes on to say something later on that brings the reality and the fullness of this when he says, “but seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these other things will be added unto you.“ So when he’s talking about treasures, he’s not saying don't have any treasures. He’s saying don't seek them first. Don't store them up in your heart, because where your heart is there your treasure will be. There's something more important than the treasures of the riches of the earth, of your home, of your car, even of the security for your family, because our security lies in Jesus. He closes off this section by saying that in the last days there's going to be difficult times. He goes on to say that “sufficient is that day for its own trouble.” So there's going to be trouble tomorrow. And if you have your eyes focused on the treasures of this world, that trouble is just going to increase. But if you keep your eyes focused on Jesus, he adds all these other things to you and you don't have to worry about them. All you have to do is focus in on him. You seek first, then your good, good Father takes care of all your other needs, but your heart is focused on Jesus first.

Have you ever had circumstances in your life get you to the place where you're maybe even beyond discouraged and flirting with, if not downright, being depressed? I want to tell you something. Don't despair in your depression. Don't give up in your discouragement. We all face those circumstances and situations that seem to press us down. I want to encourage you today to listen to the voice of the Lord and not listen to your own voice that might tell you what to do when you get depressed. If you make decisions when you're depressed, you're probably going to make the wrong decision. The only decision I would like to make if I’m depressed is to turn to the Lord and say, “Lord, I need your voice. Lord, I need your presence. Holy Spirit come into my life right now. Refresh me once again and give me not just a direction, but give me your presence. Show me your face. Don't just tell me what to do, but show me once again who you are.” And that makes all the difference in the world. So here's what I'm saying. External circumstances could get you to the place where you get discouraged and maybe even depressed. But who you turn to in those moments are the most essential thing, the most important decision you might make in your life. One can seem to get you out of depression by selfish ambition, but in the long run, it'll destroy you. The other is waiting on the Lord, trusting him, in him, and as a result of that is peace, undisturbed composure, and the Kingdom of God expanding in your life and in the people around you. Joy will come in the morning. Don't give up. Don't surrender. God is on your side. He's working about listen to his voice.

Everybody gets discouraged and depressed at some time. You might try to confess it away or to affirm yourself away from it. But the reality is sometimes external circumstances get your heart to a place where you begin to be depressed and discouraged. The question is, what do you do when you get depressed? That's what makes the difference between a righteous man and an unrighteous man. It's not that one will get depressed and the other won’t. It's what they do when they get to that place. Maybe a more important question is who do you turn to when you're getting downcast and despairing and even depressed? You see, when you're fighting depression and discouragement, you're going be listening to something. Maybe it's yourself, maybe it's selfish ambition to try to get you up out of it and to take and chart a course of action in your life that is full of self-will. On the other hand, you can listen to the voice of the Lord. Begin to trust him and say, God, what is your way? God, in that still small voice, gave Elijah direction. But not only that, he gave him peace and a sense of his presence. And once Elijah had that presence, he's back up and running again. That same thing can happen for you and I. We don't have to be stuck in depression, nor do we have to fight it in our own strength with our own self-will and self-ambition. We can defeat discouragement. We can defeat depression. We can rise up out of it by waiting on the Lord, by hearing his voice, but not just his voice, but looking to his face saying, "God, restore to me the joy of my salvation. God restore to me that sense of your presence." Because when you have the presence of the Lord, you have everything you need.

We've been looking at Matthew 6, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and he's talked about the beatitudes, the lifestyle that we should live. In the end of this, He says, “Don't worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will have worry about its own things. Sufficient is the day for its own trouble.” If you're like me, your circumstances have you thinking about a lot of the troubling things in your life. You could be thinking about family crisis. You could be thinking about financial difficulties, health needs, health situations, relational problems. Sufficient is the day for the trouble. What does Jesus say is remedy to the troubles of our circumstances, to concentrate on them, to worry about them, to be anxious about them? Absolutely not! It's the opposite. He says, seek first the Kingdom of God. You're going to have trouble. He doesn't say seeking first the Kingdom of God would release you from trouble, that to live a seeking-first lifestyle is one that absolves you from the problems of life, but what he teaches us is that as we focus on him rather than our circumstances, if we have an internally focused heart after Jesus rather than externally focused, looking to the things that cause trouble and then we're going to get trouble if we look for it. If we look to Jesus, we're going to find peace and joy. Enjoy these 86 seconds of seeking Jesus.

There are 864,000 seconds in every single day. That goes fast, doesn't it? What if you were to take 1/1000th of that, 86 seconds of your day, and you begin to focus on Jesus, just center your mind on him. Just to let your heart adore him. Begin to think of him and spend time with him. That 86 seconds could change the rest of the 864,000 other seconds of your day. It's a small amount of time, 1/1000th, but I believe if you'll give that to Jesus, you'll see some significant things take place in your life. I want to spend some time with you over the next few days in these daily devotionals to take 86 seconds or so of your time and begin to challenge you, to charge you up, to build you up, to encourage your faith because we need Jesus. We need him more than we need anything else. We need more than the air that we breathe, the water that we drink, the food that we eat, and oftentimes we get so distracted, we don't really focus in on Jesus. So I'm calling your attention today to focus your heart, on the one you love. Like the Song of Solomon says that your heart would chase after him, that you would long for him more than you would long for the morning air, that you would long for more than anything else, that he would become our first love. It's so easy to lose that first love. Get distracted by many things. So take 86 seconds today and just focus on Jesus because he loves you and you can love him back.