Rev. Ray and Pat Amos
Rev. Ray Amos Devotions – May 11, 2017 – Revelation 2:17 – John 11:28
“I will give that person a new name known only to the one who receives it.” Revelation 2:17
“The Master has come, and He is calling for you.” John 11:28b
Cars were blowing horns and making sudden stops along a busy street. In the middle of the road was a frightened dog. It ran in circles while many voices called for it. The little guy didn’t know which voice to listen to. Then he heard the one that got his attention. It was the kind voice of his master, who knew his name. Trembling, yet happily, he went to the arms of that voice. This was his master; now he was safe and going home.
Have you ever been like that dog on the street? We can, at times, feel so lost and confused. There can be many voices calling for us to do this and do that; there is no shortage of advice, yet not one of them is the dominant voice we long for.
To know a name is power. In this crazy world where technology is running ahead of our soul we are constantly hearing about identity theft. No one has privacy anymore. The voice on the phone calls me “Raymond” as though he is my best friend. If he is not family, or home town, I know he is a salesperson. For some reason Raymond changed to Ray when I was in the Air Force.
Jesus spoke of a day when we would have a name known only to us and Him. The meaning is that no one will ever have power over our life anymore, but God. The voice of Love will be the leading voice. That will be Heaven.
“The Master has come, and He is calling for you.” That is the voice that I want to hear, the dominant voice of Jesus, the good Master, who calls each of us by name. No one has ever gone wrong following the voice of Christ who calls us to His arms of safety, and who leads us home.
Grace and Peace, Rev Ray
Rev. Ray Amos Devotions – May 12, 2017 – Matthew 19:13-15
I wrote this last year, but I think it is worth repeating this time of the year. I have been to a lot of awards programs over the years, and I have been very proud of those that achieve the honors. I also feel sad for those who deserve the awards that can’t be given. I know that you know some of these.
“Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. After laying hands on them, He departed.” Matthew 19:13-15
God bless anyone who looks into the eyes of a little child with tender Christ like love. May God bless the heart of every teacher and school staff member who have tears in their eyes most days just because they know that there is fear, hurt and pain that no little one should have to endure.
It is that time of the year again when schools will pass out awards for achievements. There are many well deserved awards that will be received. I know that there can’t be awards for some of the ones who need them most. They are the ones who went hungry through the nights, who cried for a hundred different reasons, who had no one that cared if the homework was done or not, who even tried to cover the bruises on their own body and soul. What trophy is there for that?
Many of you are already giving out those awards every day. In your kindness, hugs of love and encouragement, the “little-big” extra things you do. Some of you buy and give, even though you really can’t afford it yourselves. Once when Jesus healed a woman, He said that He could feel virtue going out of Him. Love and caring is costly, it drains our soul of virtue; but, isn’t it amazing how day after day, year after year it gets put back by the very little ones you tried to help.
“After laying hands on them, He departed…” And He went with the joy of knowing that He had not religiously ignored them because He had important things to do. He had looked into their eyes as one looks into a window. He saw their hopes and fears; and who they could be. And they looked into His eyes: There they saw that God is Love.
Grace and Peace, Rev Ray
Rev. Ray Amos Devotions – May 13, 2017 – Acts 7:33 – Isaiah 52:7
“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Acts 7:33
It is official. If you live in the Appalachian Mountains you can go barefoot outside as of this week. Wednesday May 10, was the day of freedom. That is when the ground is warm enough for feet and new plants.
We once had a sunrise service in the Grandview Cemetery on the Bluefield Tazewell road. It was to be a reenactment of the crucifixion and resurrection. As could be expected it snowed on Easter Morning. I can still see the barefooted young man who played the part of Jesus on the cross. He was stepping high and fast in the snow.
The prodigal son must have been barefoot. His Father ordered shoes to be put on his feet. Going barefoot can be painful at times. Many people have the scars from childhood to prove it. The greatest barefoot story in the Bible has scars. They nailed Jesus’ feet to the cross. The scars remain to this day. In Heaven Jesus is described as a Lamb that bears the marks of sacrifice. It has been pointed out that the only thing in Heaven that has been made by human hands are the scars on Jesus’ hands and feet.
The last earthly act of divine love that Jesus did before the cross was to wash the dirty and scarred feet of the disciples.
She was simply described as a sinner, but she kneeled at Jesus’ feet weeping, and began to wash His feet with her tears. Throughout the New Testament there is great advantage to being at the feet of Jesus.
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7
Grace and Peace, Rev Ray
Rev. Ray Amos Devotions – May 15, 2017 – 2 Kings 5:13 – James 4:10
A camel must get on its knees to have its burdens removed. We also carry burdens that will only be removed when we get on our knees and pray.
Naaman was described as a great man, but he had leprosy. Even though he was a friend of the king, and had all the resources of the kingdom, he could not be cured. Then he went to another kingdom to find Elisha, a prophet of the Living God. When he was told to dip in the Jordan seven times he refused. His reason was pride, He was too important to be humiliated this way.
Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean ‘?” (2 Kings 5:13)
Naaman was healed when he humbled himself before the Lord. Many are just like him in similar situations today. There are those who would do something great when asked, but who would never bend their knees before God. How many burdens do we carry because of our pride? How much Sin?
Even in the church some can believe that personal greatness, influence, and talents are enough to merit God’s attention. Can’t we see that Christians dwell in another kingdom that is unlike this world, and its pride. In this kingdom the humble are exalted, the weak find great strength in the Lord, the last are made first, and servants find joy.
I once heard George Beverly Shea tell of his conversion to Christ. He said that he was a young man who kneeled at an altar on one knee, but nothing happened. After some time a person whispered in his ears, “Try both knees, George.” He did! The world has been blessed by the voice of the man, who never stopped singing, “My God, How Great Thou Art.”
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” James 4:10
Grace and Peace, Rev Ray
Rev. Ray Amos Devotions – May 16, 2017 – Exodus 20:17 – 2 Kings 5 – 1st Timothy 6:6
“Thou shalt not covet…” Exodus 20:17
Yesterday we looked at the story of Naaman being healed of Leprosy (2 Kings 5). He had experienced a great lesson of the power of God. He had also experienced GRACE. That was something new to a man from a world where wealth and power were the means of obtaining; at least until you stare death in the face. One more point is to be made before we bid him a safe journey back to his home.
After his healing, Naaman offered considerable wealth as payment to the prophet Elisha. It was properly refused with the words, “As the Lord lives, before Whom I stand, I will accept nothing.”
Elisha had a servant who saw an opportunity for unlawful gain. Catching up with Naaman on his journey, he said, “My master sent me” (He had not). Then he told him that Elisha had changed his mind, and would accept the treasure.
“You shall not covet…” It is a sin that never travels without its companions of lies and deceptions. It often gets a person what he/she wants, but then, they soon don’t want what they got. He received some of Naaman’s wealth; he also got his Leprosy.
It is easy to look at what someone else has, and to think they have it all, they have it made. I have been a pastor a long time, and I can tell you without hesitation that no one “who has it all,” has it all; and no one “who has it made,” has it made. When we covet, we might also want to consider that person too has troubles and sorrows in life that we may not imagine; and we may not want.
The Bible says that godliness with contentment is great gain. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either (1st Timothy 6:6).
Paul once said, “I have learned to be content…” If we have someone to love, someone to call us friend, and a few of life’s blessings to live on, then we can be content because we already have the greater wealth.
Grace and Peace, Rev Ray
Rev. Ray Amos Devotions – May 17, 2017 – 2 Kings 6:5 – 2 Kings 5 – 1st Timothy 6:6
“As one of them was cutting down a tree, the ax head fell into the water. He cried out, ‘Oh no, master! It was borrowed.” 2 Kings 6:5
I don’t like to borrow things. I have borrowed things that evidently were about to break down, and did about ten minutes after I got them. It is easy for some of us to identify with the man in this story. There is something else that I believe with all of my heart. God cares about the ups and downs of our daily life.
It was just an old rag by the side of the interstate, but it was an answer to prayer. It happened several years ago. We were returning home to Kingsport from taking our son back to Langley AFB in Virginia. The car engine had been heating up and after several stops at auto repair places we thought that it was fixed. I carried extra water in the car just in case. Things were going ok and it looked like I was going to get back in plenty of time to conduct a funeral that evening.
Then the heat gauge started to climb and we pulled over. I needed to release the radiator cap to let the pressure off so I could put more water in it, but it was just too hot and I did not even have a rag to hold the cap with. “Lord,” I prayed, “Please help me to make it back in time for the funeral.” Then I saw a mechanic’s rag on the road beside the car. That rag represented God’s answer to my prayer.
I put water in the car, and had to stop and do it again about every fifty miles. Each time I used that old rag. I made it back thirty minutes before the funeral was to begin. God is faithful, and He cares about those personal situations we find ourselves in.
In the text above, a man who was chopping a tree when the ax head flew off and went into the water? He was upset because he had borrowed the ax. The prophet Elisha took a stick and threw it into the water and caused the ax head to float so it could be retrieved. Call it what you wish, but I believe it was a miraculous event that reminds us that God is interested in our daily lives. Whatever is going on in your life today, know this: JESUS CARES.
Grace and Peace, Rev Ray
The greatest Christian testimony is not with spoken words but by the way we live out our faith. We have heard enough good words on Sunday that went down the drain on Monday. The Apostle Paul got it perfect with these words, “Now, I will show you the more excellent way.” (1 Corinthians 12:31)
At a funeral it isn’t unusual to hear someone say, “I wish that I had done more, visited more, called more often,” or something like that. The devil is skilled at throwing guilt darts into our hearts. Don’t let him get away with that.
There is a guilt of the worst kind that we can create ourselves. The pain it inflicts is the hardest to cure. What makes it worse is that it is 100% preventable. I am talking about what happens when loved ones and one time friends part this life on bad terms, or with hard feelings. Forgiveness is easy, but stubbornness is a heart killing disease.
There is a more excellent way, and it is the way of Love. “LOVE KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS.” We can’t go on talking about how we love if we are keeping even a small list of transgressions. We dare not teach another generation that it is okay to not like people who don’t agree with us. What hope would we have if Jesus had felt that way?
The older I grow, and the longer I serve as a pastor, I want to beg friends and family to get along and genuinely love each other. It doesn’t matter how much we die with, if we die without love we die in poverty. Out of all that we ever achieve, all that we ever have, and all that we ever do, THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE. Everything else stops at the grave, but love continues with us throughout eternity.
Grace and Peace, Rev Ray
As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4
We all have things that have been given to us that are priceless treasures. It is not because they are of value down at the bank, but in our heart. Someone bought it, made it, gave it because they thought of us. Can we begin to understand what that means?
The heart of the giver makes the gift dear and precious. Sometime we think it is the size of a gift or its material value that counts, but we are wrong. Love is the greatest thing in the world, and the gift of our self is priceless.
It is human nature to do the math, count the value, and weigh the worth of a thing. Who but God counts the leftovers? The text isn’t a judgment against the wealthy, but an affirmation to the poor and struggling that their gift not only is noticed; it is celebrated. What God counted on that day wasn’t two cents, but a life of her everything. Can we give less?
Our Gracious Father, You have given us the gift of a new day. It has come to us clean, and may we keep it so. When the shadows of the evening come may our hearts be glad that we walked in your presence all the day, and that from your unending supply we have given away to others the treasures from Heaven. Freely you have given to us, teach us to give in the same manner.
Grace and Peace, Rev Ray
