CRUSADER’S DEVOTIONAL
TUESDAY, JUNE 4TH
Hey everyone! I’m glad you’re
reading the devotional and even though it’s been some time since I’ve seen some
of you, you all are on my mind and in my prayers. I’m working graveyard shift
right now and it is sometimes strange what comes to a man’s mind at 3:15 in the
morning. Ya see last week, I was cleaning out my study room when I came across
a box, long forgotten. Now, in this box was a letter dated 05-01-1981. It was
written from an old horse trainer I knew growing up in southern Wyoming. His name was
Tom Steel. We just called him “Dusty” because it seemed like he was always
covered in a layer of dust and mud. Never did I see him in him in church, and
there was only one in town, but I remember him saying, “I know where God is and
he knows where I can be found. He knows what’s in my heart; I’m right where he
wants me to be and I’m just what he made me to be.” I remember he could name
all sixty –six books of the bible in order, this always amazed me. He was a man
that just felt more at ease with the mountains and open pastures than in town.
He was a man that always gave respect to all he came in contact with whether it
be land, animal, or fellow man. He deserved respect. The letter had these final
thoughts written “Watch your thoughts, they become your words; Watch your words
they become your actions; Watch your actions, they become your habits; Watch
your habits, they become your character.” Tom must have in his mid-sixties and
I was seventeen. I was, and to this day, proud to call him my friend. Tom is
gone now, but to “friends”, we know where he is and so does God. He is right
where God wants him to be.
Thinking of friends-- my best friend
is Jesus. “Since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son
while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal
punishment by his life.” (Romans 5:10). We were to live in God’s presence, but
due to sin, fear of God, not friendship was more common in the Old Testament.
Only a few people in the Old Testament were called “friends of God” -- Moses,
Abraham, Job, Enoch and Noah. David was called “a man after God’s own heart.”
Jesus changed all that. Sins were paid
for. The veil in the temple that symbolized our separation from God was split
from top to bottom, meaning that direct access to God was once again available.
Unlike the Old Testament priests who spent hours preparing to meet him, we can
approach God any time. Friendship with God is possible only because of the
grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus. “All this is done by God, who through
Christ changed us from enemies into his friends.” (2 Cor. 5:18).
Like any friendship, we need to speak
and listen. What hinders us from doing these things is our attention to other
things. Not being devoted in the right areas. A cloud, a tree, or a servant of
God may convey a message from God. As a child of God, our attitude should be
“Speak, for your servant hears.” Place all your love in him. Trust him more
than you trust yourself. God is the father to all believers. Jesus Christ is
our most important relationship, not a religion. As for me, you can place
“religion” on the fastest horse in town, point her straight down Main Street,
slap her on the rump and say “let her buck.”
Jesus said, “I no longer call you
servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I
have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have
made known to you.” (John 15:15).
Remember: When you give a lesson in
meanness to a critter or a person, don’t be surprised if they return the lesson
well learned.
Lord our Father, bless the
poor in spirit, the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
May your hand of blessing
and grace touch the people of Oklahoma.
There, but for the grace of God go I.
In the name of Jesus Christ
of the Nazarene.
Cowboy Pastor: Ty
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