Taken from HGC Staff Devotional.

Genesis 3:8

The man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Psalm 89:15

Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.

BRING ME YOUR MIND for rest and renewal. Let Me infuses My Presence into your thoughts. As your mind stops racing, your body relaxes and you regain awareness of Me. This awareness is vital to your spiritual well-being, it is your lifeline, spiritually speaking.

There are actually more than four dimensions in this world where you live. In addition to the three dimensions of space, and the one of time, there is a dimension of openness to My presence. This dimension transcends the others, giving you glimpses of heaven while you still reside on earth. This was part of My original design for mankind. Adam and Eve used to walk with Me in the garden, before their expulsion from Eden. I want you to walk with Me in the garden of your heart, where I have taken up permanent residence.

Have a blessed day!

Daily Devotional by Hank Botts

John 10:10b “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” NKJV

I never used to like the term, “Memorial Day Celebration”.  “Happy Memorial Day” also doesn’t quite seem appropriate to me.  And don’t get me started on Memorial Day Sales!  After all, Memorial Day is supposed to be a solemn day of remembrance and a day set aside to honor those who gave their lives in defense of this country’s freedom.  The day should be marked with reverence, and their memories should be treated with the utmost respect. But, at the same time, it should be a day to celebrate life! 

In today’s passage of Scripture, we see that Jesus came and gave His life so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Just as He sacrificed for our greater good, so also did those brave men and women who laid down their lives for all of us. It is my firm belief that they would not want us to go around being somber all day long as a way to remember their sacrifice.  On the contrary, I believe they would want us to enjoy our lives and the freedoms they so courageously defended.

So, while we most definitely should take the time to remember and honor those who have given so much, let us also take the time to celebrate the life and the freedom that we enjoy because of what they were willing to do. Spend time with those you love, do something sacrificially for someone in need, grill up a delicious meal, and even take advantage of those sales, if that is something you would enjoy.  But by all means, please take some time out to raise a toast in remembrance of and gratitude for those who paid that last full measure of devotion.  Pray that God would comfort their families as only He can. May God richly bless you on this Memorial Day as you honor our best and finest!

Love in Jesus,

Hank

Daily Devotional

“Holy Worship”

Psalm 99:5 "Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool---He is holy."

The posture of worship is interesting to me. For me, it is often easier to exalt the LORD our God from a surrendered position; on my face or knees, or head bowed or arms outstretched or eyes closed or hands crossed across my chest. Or, some variation or combination of the above. Something to somehow lift Him up and put me in check somehow. That is me.

When I think of His footstool I think of my knees bowed or my head lowered totally recognizing my position before His throne. I don't see myself barging in and shaking my finger or making demands. If my position is reflective of my attitude, I feel like I am closer and humbled appropriately.

In every instance of being aware of God I must consider His holiness and my utter gratitude for being able to approach Him at all. He is holy. I exalt the LORD. I worship Him now for He is holy. Lord, instruct me about my position and yours that I might always be aware of Your Holiness and your footstool.

Bowed before Him,

Pastor Fred

 “More Good News”

Micah 7:18b-19a "He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities."

Let me respond phrase by phrase.

1. "He does not retain His anger forever.."
I am convicted that I give Him any reason for anger, and forever is a long time, an awfully long time or a wonderfully long time.

2. "He delights in mercy."
I can see better why He would be delighted in me at all, because of how much mercy I need.

3. "He will again have compassion on us"
And again and again and again... I see a pattern here. How good is my God.

4. "And will subdue our iniquities"
Glad for the ongoing help. I obviously need it. Lord help me.

I encourage us all to personalize His Word. Makes it much more relatable to our everyday experiences and struggles.

Wiggling in His Grip more than I'd like to admit,

Pastor Fred

“Our God is a Consuming Fire.”

Hebrews 12:29 "Our God is a consuming fire."

Short and sweet today. Well, maybe not so sweet. Let's think about this. This last verse of Hebrews 12 follows inspirational words that encourage us to be grateful to serve God. When we think of God as a consuming fire we at first think of a destructive force that wipes out everything. What does God desire to consume? Not nature or humans, or the universe. God feeds on glory. Because He deserves it all. Because He is who He is and He wants all things to glorify Him. Nature does, the universe does, so that leaves us. We choose to or not. God wants to be glorified. When we praise Him, serve Him and are grateful, that glorifies Him. When we talk about Him, that glorifies Him. Today, God is a consuming fire. Give Him what He wants, your undivided servant heart. I should be consumed by what He desires.

Glory to God,

Pastor Fred

 “How to Show Gratitude”

Hebrews 12:28 "Since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe…"

God has indeed given us two wonderful things, an eternal kingdom in which we will dwell forever, and to be part of His earthly kingdom, where we can serve Him here, before we go there. Therefore, our attitude should be one of gratitude as we do here what He has called us to do.

The two words the writer of Hebrews uses to describe what that attitude of gratitude should be are reverence and awe. They work together. What great reciprocal words. You can either revere God because you are in awe of Him, or you can be in awe of Him because you revere Him.

I can work that both ways. Some days my sheer awareness of God and how awesome He is leads me to be reverent. Other days my reverence for Him out of a humbled heart leads me to be in even more awe of Him. Today I am humbled and therefore tremendously in awe of Him. That He would use me in any way is just a little overwhelming to me this particular morning.

So I will serve Him with an attitude of gratitude.

Pastor Fred

Daily Devotional – By Faith Peay

May is certainly not a merry month for me.  It is full of demands, deadlines, end of the year stuff for students, teachers, and the dreaded Open House.  As I am writing this, it’s the anniversary of my father’s death, and my cousins as well. This day brings up so many sad memories.  There are so many things that happen that demand our time and attention, and then there are those things that come up unplanned, unexpected, and sometimes a disaster.  I don’t know how you handle all of this but I tend to react first and cry out to God second. This May is no different. 

And then it happened; a phone call came from our accompanist Corey.  He called to say that Jan, one our members from the community choir Voices of Tustin, only has about four days left to live.  We saw her two weeks ago in rehearsal, smiling, singing and enjoying life.  I knew she had been battling breast cancer, but I thought she was beating it, and that she would be ok.  Cancer has gotten the best of her body and it is shutting down.

Now, all the things that seem all important, stops for a moment in time and we go to say goodbye.  We go to pray with her and try to lift her spirits up and there she sits.  She is very thin and frail, and can only eat ice chips, but she is aglow with the prospect of seeing Jesus soon.  It took my breath.  She was so uplifting to us.  She was so positive and resolved to say her good byes and give hugs and kisses before she leaves this world.  The last thing she said to me was, “In the blink of an eye, I will see you again.” That has been playing over and over in my head, “A blink of an eye. 

” 1 Corinthians 15:52 …in a flash in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

"Enduring Love"

1Corinthians 13:7c "Love endures all things."

This well-known chapter of scripture (The Love Chapter) says that three things will always abide; faith, hope, and love. I can certainly make an argument for the greatness of hope and faith, but not as the greatest. The greatest is really love.

Think about it. God loving us really does a lot more for us than faith or hope. Love, and here meaning God's unconditional love, agape love, is the thing I want from Him at the beginning and end of each day. I hope and have faith that He loves me. That is enough for me. I can trust that. No matter how I falter or give up, even if I am unfaithful, His love covers it all.

Me responding to that love and passing it on is very key. To change or deal with all of my life challenges and obstacles, just thinking about His love for me and others does so much more for me than trying to hope more or have more faith. I can have more faith and hope knowing He loves me and that I can love others with His Love. His love increases my faith and hope. So today, keep enduring because His love endures, it is the greatest.

With His Love,

Pastor Fred

 “But As For Me”

Psalm 59:16-17 "But as for me, I shall sing of your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your loving kindness in the morning, for you have been my stronghold and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my strength, I will sing praises to You; for God is my stronghold, the God who shows me loving kindness."

David speaking in this Psalm. Fred speaking in this devotional. Me too, I agree with David. God is my strength and my stronghold. He is my all in all. His loving kindness is better than life. His loving kindness makes life meaningful. I seek His refuge on this adventure. He is my source and my guide. My map and my oasis. My rest and my awakening. He is everything to me.

The more I declare that and sing it and share it, the more my distress diminishes. The one who provides for me, strengthens me, and gives me hope and life to live for Him. To exalt Him, to serve Him and to have joy in it. Day after day, week to week and year to year I will trust in God.

As for me too, this is my life and quest, my purpose and joy, my truth and hope. May He guide your life and day, and stressful moments.

In Him,

Pastor Fred

“Where Does Bad Stuff Come From”

Mark 7:20 "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man."

Sin emanates from within not from without. In the following verses Jesus gives a list of just what kind of stuff comes out of our hearts. This whole list does not originate from outside of us, and work its way in. It begins in us and finds it's expression outside of us. When we choose to give it expression. The list is not a fun list. Some of it is repulsive and some of it is every day stuff we do. Just receive what the Spirit would convict you of from this list. Remember, these are Jesus words. This is His list of the bad stuff that starts in us. I have given parenthetical examples(?) to make the list more personal to you and me.

1. Evil thoughts  (gossip?)
2. Fornication  (perversion?)
3. Thefts  (cheating)
4. Murders  (character assassination)
5. Adulteries  (betrayal)
6. Coveting  (obsessions)
7. Wickedness  (worldliness)
8. Deceit  (exaggeration)
9. Sensuality  (flirting)
10. Envy  (jealousy)
11. Slander  (un-forgiveness)
12. Pride  (self-consumption)
13. Foolishness (recklessness)

Of these things Jesus says... "All these things proceed from within and defile the man." Just in case anyone ever asks you, where bad stuff comes from. It comes from the hearts of human beings. Lots of food for thought.

For me too,

Pastor Fred

Mark 7:8 "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men."

In order to find order in our lives we must begin with God's Word. His fundamental command is twofold. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Yet, we can take the interpretation of that simple truth and turn it into thousands of rules and all the traditions that come with that. We as humans really struggle with keeping it simple, following God and being obedient. When we neglect the study of and subsequently forget the Word of God, we immediately and by default resort to our own thinking and traditions.When we in effect lose our grip on The Truth we automatically cling to our own ideas and practices.

Our biggest problem is ignorance of His Word. Our enemy, the devil loves this. He fills our gaps of understanding with all kinds of human thinking. If we seek Him and hold on to His Word, then we don't have to grasp at other things or thinking. Alas, our neglect creates false needs. The solution to being stuck is to cling to something that is Rock Solid. That is only Christ and His Word. Love is such a key. Love Him so much you desire to read and reread His love letter to you. Then you won't drift from your one true love. Love Him, love His Word. Let go of everything else and He will give you all you need. 

In Him,

Pastor Fred 

Daily Devotional by Betty Pinto 

I’m feeling so blessed with reminders of Jesus’ unrelenting love. I see signs of God every day in sunsets and beautiful skies, the plants in bloom and birds frolicking, all in my own backyard.  Not only do I see, God speaks to me - through song, through devotional readings and bible verses, through photos. He definitely speaks to me through others (a phone call from an old friend, that encouraging smile from a coworker, a simple hello from a stranger as you pass each other, cooing with a baby or watching a child at play). All these riches of Christ are reminders that He is with me at all times.  I know he’ll never let me go. His promise is true.

Have a beautiful day Grace Harbor family!  

Elizabeth “Betty” Pinto

“Reproof”

Proverbs 15:1 b "He who hates reproof will die."

Proverbs is full of warnings of how to be wise and avoid foolishness. This phrase has an interesting message in it that on the surface could be missed. First of all, I don't need to remind you that we are all going to die. Well I just did. God in these words is not threatening to take our lives if we refuse to be corrected. But, what is inferred here is that we bring upon ourselves a slow dying of the Spirit and heart when we foolishly will not accept the counsel of God's wisdom.

We can get so sick of heart that we cannot hear God's words. Our foolishness can so numb us that we can seemingly no longer be touched by the truth. Note that or is the hatred of reproof that kills us. It is refusal, avoidance, disdain and unwillingness that takes our spirits and hearts down. Hating reproof is suicidal. We, all need correction. Do not let your pride or weakness take your life away. Love correction, seek His counsel and wisdom. Resist foolishness, pursue righteousness. Live. Love truth.

In Him,

Pastor Fred

“Too Silent Souls”

Psalm 31:11b-12 "You gave loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, that my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever."

I sense we are missing part of our main purpose. God gets us turned around not only so we can feel better. He wants us to share that. We do not share the gladness of our blessings enough. Our souls should laugh and sing and praise and glorify God. With words. Out loud. We sure give our misery and complaints a voice. Why not our gladness? Why not our blessings? Why not speak up about the goodness of God? When His Word says we should sing His praises and give thanks to Him forever, that is not just reserved for eternity. Let's begin now.

We are too silent about God in general. Particularly though we should be sharing His blessings when He turns us around. Hey everybody, God has turned me around, and I sing His praises for that. Will you join me in not remaining silent about the goodness of God and the gladness that comes with that blessing?

Forever begins now,

Pastor Fred

“Let’s Dance”

Psalm 31:11 "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing."

Life brings tears and sorrow. That is part of life. But God has a way with me to turn my mourning into dancing. He can change my mood and my attitude in a moment or just a few minutes. Recently I was wearing some big burdens and the weight of my worries was bogging me down. Let me share with you the three things that I believe God did for me to turn my mourning into dancing. 

1. Saw a baby hummingbird in a nest. Wow, amazing.
2. A preschooler laid her head on my arm as we were sitting a the picnic table.
3. Three of my favorite 60's oldies played in a row on an AM station.

Do you see God at work like that? A little advice. Keep your eyes and heart open. Hang around little children when you need love. Feel free to dance a little in your car and pretend only God is watching. Things can only turn if we are willing to be moved.

Let's dance more,

Pastor Fred 

“Be My Helper”

Psalm 31:10 "Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me; O LORD, be my helper.

I know God hears me. I know He is gracious and will help me. The question is, will I talk to Him, will I receive and live in His grace, will I accept His help. My issues are never about God listening, or Him being gracious, or Him helping. My issues, my needs, my troubles and everything that is part of my life comes back to me and my will. I must be willing to tell Him all, even though He knows already, I need to be real with Him. Then, I need to experience the ongoing receiving of His grace, even though that is so humbling, because I know what it cost Him. And, I must follow the directive of the help He gives me. Even though once I am reassured He hears and still extends His grace I am tempted to make my own adjustments. My will, His will, that is the crux of the matters every time. So today I surrender anew grateful to be heard and shown grace and hopefully willing to accept the help I have been, am being and will be given.

Humbly  His,

Pastor Fred

 “Two Masters”  Taken from GHCS Staff Devotionals

Matthew 6:24

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

YOU CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS. If I am truly your Master, you will desire to please Me above all others. If pleasing people is your goal, you will be enslaved to them. People can be harsh taskmasters when you give them this power over you.

If I am the Master of your life, I will also be your First Love. Your serving me is rooted and grounded in My vast, unconditional Love for you. The lower you bow down before Me, the higher I lift you up into intimate relationship with Me. The Joy of living in My presence outshines all other pleasures. I want you to reflect My joyous Light by living in increasing intimacy with Me.

Revelation 2:4

“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established love…”

“Rescued”

Colossians 1:13-14 "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

What a wonderful transfer this is for all believers. Question.... as wonderful as it is in the kingdom where we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins, why do we keep visiting that domain of darkness where the other guy offers us nothing but trouble? If I have been transferred for my own good, why do I try to transfer back, where I know it is not good for me? Interesting questions.

Another thought and question... seeing as I have been rescued, since I was obviously in danger, why would I go back to where I was at risk? Wow, my old sin nature can sure be strong, how about yours? Thank you Lord for rescuing me, help me to remember why and what for, before I drift back to into what I needed to be rescued from, whatever that might be. Choose His kingdom over that other domain, you won't regret it, I don't.

In His Grip,

Pastor Fred

 “Who Runs the Church?

Colossians 1:18 "He is also head of the body, the church."

In a recent conversation someone asked me, "how long had I been head of Grace Harbor? I said I wasn't. Then they asked, "then who is?" I said Jesus. They said, "No really, who runs everything." I said Jesus. They said, "Seriously, somebody is in charge, a real person." I said, Jesus is a real person and He is in charge and runs everything.

This conversation was going nowhere so I said that when we let Him be the head of His Body, His Church it always runs better. Then they said, "But do you?" I knew what they meant. Do we actually have Jesus as the head of the body, the church? Well... we know we should, and when we don't get into it with each other about who is really in charge and go to Him in prayer or to His Word for guidance, instead of ourselves.

Actually, functionally having Jesus be head of the church is harder than letting Him be head of our individual lives, if you think about it. You know how hard that is. This is a case where two heads or more are not better than one. Anyway, He is head of the church, and me and you. So let's work on that individually and together. 

Amen? Amen! 

Pastor Fred

1 John 3:11 "The message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another."

Yes yes yes. But not just love one another. Here is a list of 14 other ways we should treat one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

1. Rom. 12:16  "Be like-minded toward one another."
2. Col. 2:16  "Do not judge one another."
3. Rom.15:14  "Admonish one another."
4. Gal. 5:13  "Serve one another."
5. Col. 3:13  "Bear with one another."
6. Eph. 4:32  "Be kind to one another."
7. Eph. 5:21  "Submit to one another."
8. Col. 3:13  "Forgive one another."
9. 1Thess.4:18  "Comfort one another."
10. Heb. 10:25  "Exhort one another."
11. James 4:11  "Do not speak evil of one another."
12. James 5:9  "Do not grumble against one another."
13. James 5:16  "Confess your trespasses to one another."
14. James 5:16 "Pray for one another."

This has always been His plan for how we should treat one another. Above all He wants us to love one another. This is a good list of how to do that. 

Let us be In Him with one another, 

Pastor Fred 

“Confidence In Him In You”

2 Cor. 7:16 "I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you."

Paul is often encouraging and convicting at the same time. This verse precedes a chapter about giving, and I must remind myself that in his original letter there are no chapters or verses which means we can sometimes miss connections in the flow of his message. Frankly Paul is rejoicing in reflection about their joyful connection with Titus and in advance about his confidence that when he shares a giving need, they will respond joyfully and generously.

Whenever I have confidence in anyone it is because I have confidence in Christ in them. This is what Paul is referring to also. As Paul says in Philippians 1:6 "He that began a good work in you will carry it on to completion." Though this verse is referring to spiritual completion in the hereafter it is also true of the Lord's work in and through us here too.

We are too "gun shy" to speak enough about giving needs and admittedly the "church" through the years has too often made it too much about that. Paul is trying to warm them up and be tactful because giving needs are never easy to talk about candidly. But I shall take a pointer from Paul and say that "I also rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you." No matter what it is. Eternal or temporal things. Sharing joys or sharing needs you will be obedient to Him who prompts you. He who is in you. If you like, read Chapter 8 for yourself and your will see what Paul is prefacing in our devotional verse for today.

In His Word with you,

Pastor Fred