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Dreams, Visions, and Messages from God

Jan 27
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Revelation 1:9–13

9 I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” 12 Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest.

During this coming Lent, on Thursday evenings, I will be teaching about the book of Revelation.  I am excited about the opportunity and am studying for it.  John had a revelation, a vision, but he also heard a voice, as this passage makes clear.  I have not received such a vision from God.  I hear God’s voice speaking to me, but not in a way that resembles how I hear human voices.  More than anything, I receive ideas that I believe are from God.  They are ideas for sermons or for these devotionals.  They usually come as I wake up from sleep.  They may be part of my dreaming, but they are very real. (more…)

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Moses and Mt. Pisgah

Jan 26
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Deuteronomy 3:23–29

23 At that time, too, I entreated the LORD, saying: 24 O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your might; what god in heaven or on earth can perform deeds and mighty acts like yours.  25 Let me cross over to see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and the Lebanon.” 26 But the LORD was angry with me on your account and would not heed me. The LORD said to me, “Enough from you! Never speak to me of this matter again. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and look around you to the west, to the north, to the south, and to the east. Look well, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. 28 But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because it is he who shall cross over at the head of this people and who shall secure their possession of the land that you will see.” 29 So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

In this passage we have a description of Moses explaining that he will not enter into the “promised land.”  He will only be able to see it from the top of Mt. Pisgah.  I get to sing about Mt. Pisgah with the senior citizens at Three Links Care Center.  It is in the hymn, “Sweet Hour of Prayer.”  The thought in the hymn is that our worship sustains us until we are carried away into eternal life.  Here are the words from the hymn’s fourth verse:

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation share,
Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home and take my flight:
This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise
To seize the everlasting prize;
And shout, while passing through the air,
“Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!” (more…)

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Being Disciples for Jesus

Jan 25
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Mark 3:13–14

13 He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message.

The twelve disciples of Jesus are now to be called apostles.  A disciple was a learner and a follower.  An apostle was a messenger and an ambassador.  While I never want to equate us in this century with the apostles/disciples in the first century, we do need to understand ourselves as both disciples and apostles. (more…)

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One Last Visit

Jan 24
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Genesis 45:25–28

25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 And they told him, “Joseph is still alive! He is even ruler over all the land of Egypt.” He was stunned; he could not believe them. 27 But when they told him all the words of Joseph that he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 Israel said, “Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I must go and see him before I die.”

Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers.  His father, Jacob (also known as Israel), was very sad.  He mourned for many days.  This passage suggests that Jacob never fully recovered, not even years afterward.   However, when he hears that his son is alive, his spirit was revived, and he says, “I must go and see him before I die.” (more…)

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Abraham and His Descendants

Jan 23
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Genesis 12:1–3

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

My father’s family was from New York City and nearby parts of Connecticut.  My mother was from Kansas City, Missouri.  During their married life, they lived in his home area for three years, and in her home area for four to five years.  The rest of their married life, the majority of it, was spent in other places.  They went where my father’s job took them.  When I think of all the moves and relocations of my parental family and my own family, this passage becomes personally meaningful. (more…)

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Jonah and Forgiveness

Jan 20
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Jonah 3

The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you. 3 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. 6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. 8 Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. 9 Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

Jonah did not want to go preach to the Ninevites.  Finally, he did.  And, as the story unfolds in the rest of the book of Jonah, he did not like that God changed his mind about what he was going to do to the Ninevites.  Jonah did not want the Ninevites to be forgiven.  They did not deserve to be forgiven, at least in Jonah’s mind. (more…)

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Focusing on the Important Things

Jan 19
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Revelation 18:11–15

11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, all articles of ivory, all articles of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, choice flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, slaves and human lives.
14 “The fruit for which your soul longed
has gone from you,
and all your dainties and your splendor
are lost to you,
never to be found again!”
15 The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,

This text was written about the great Roman Empire, the “Babylon” of its day.  It should be a warning to all of us who live amidst wealth and splendor.  Jesus has advised us to focus on “heavenly things” and not on the things of this earth.  Those in the congregation I serve received a reminder of that in the last few days. (more…)

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Abraham’s Offspring

Jan 18
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Genesis 16:1–6

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, 2 and Sarai said to Abram, “You see that the LORD has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave- girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her.

This text points out the importance of continuing the family line.  I remember from my first anthropology course in college that the ancient Israelite culture would be described as patri-lineal and patri-local.  That means that ancestry is traced through the father and the wife relocates to the husband’s home area.  There are cultures that are matri-lineal and matri-local, with ancestry and relocation occurring through the wife’s family.  What we don’t know is if their culture was really patriarchal or matriarchal.  That is a question of power and authority.  In this text it seems that in one place Sarai is the authority, and in another place that Abram is the authority. (more…)

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The LORD Needs a New King

Jan 17
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

1 Samuel 15:10–11

10 The word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not carried out my commands. Samuel was angry; and he cried out to the LORD all night.

This is part of one of the texts appointed for the day.  The rest of the story unfolds in the next verses.  Saul has been rejected as the king.  Samuel will have to anoint another.  The new king will be David.  The reality of our lives is that we all have regrets.  We think, “If only I had…”  Despite our regrets and despite the mistakes we have made, life goes on. (more…)

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Dr. Martin Luther King Day

Jan 16
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Mark 8:34–38

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

This is the text for any day that is commemorating a martyr for the faith.  I chose it because of the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, today.  I do consider him to be a martyr, killed because of his witness for justice and peace.  He was killed while in Memphis in support of a class of workers, sanitation workers, who are usually not regarded highly by the rest of society. (more…)

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