The AMI QT Devotionals from October 30-November 5 are provided by Emerson Lin. Emerson, a graduate of University of California, San Diego, serves as staff at Kairos Christian Church, while studying at Talbot School of Theology. He is married to Annie. They will soon leave for E. Asia to serve as missionaries.
Devotional Thoughts for Today
“A Friend in High Places”
Genesis 18:1-7
The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. 3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,[a] do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.” 6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.” 7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
If someone were to ask you to name your three closest friends, would it be difficult to list off, or easy? Regardless of whether we are introverts or extroverts, friendships are one of the most important things in our lives. Good friends celebrate the joyful times and walk with us through the tough times. So, in order for people to become friends, they need to genuinely enjoy spending time with one another.
In this passage, Abraham receives a visit from the Lord and two angels. He humbly requests them to stay and rest before they continue their journey. This next part of the story is a little comical: Abraham requests the finest flour for the bread and slaughters the choice calf—what was supposedly a humble meal turns into an extravagant meal that most likely took hours to prepare!
While it is debatable when Abraham knew that the visitors were the Lord and His angels, his eagerness to host them cannot be overlooked. The God who called him out of Ur finally comes in a tangible way to spend time with Abraham, His friend. In fact, James 2:23 says, “And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend.”
As we read this passage, some of us covet Abraham’s experience. We long for that same tangible experience and intimacy with the Lord. However, I would like to encourage you that we have a greater friendship with the Lord than Abraham could have ever had—we have the Holy Spirit living in us! Wherever we go, the Spirit of God is there to encourage, teach, and comfort us. John 14:16 says, “16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.”
Knowing that we can have such an intimate relationship with the Lord, like Abraham, are you eager to host the Spirit of God in your life? Does your life reflect that excitement? Take some time to reflect on your actions and attitude. God calls us His friends. Let’s strive to become believers who genuinely enjoy spending time with the Lord!
Bible Reading for Today: Acts 27
Lunch Break Study
Read John 15:9-17: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 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. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”
Questions to consider
- How do we remain in Jesus’ love? (v. 10)
- In this passage, what does Jesus say is the greatest act of love? (v. 13)
- What is the difference between a friend and a servant? (v. 15)
Notes
- We remain in Jesus’ love by obeying His commandments. In yesterday’s devotion, we learned that we love God by actively obeying the commands He has given us.
- The greatest act of love is when one person is willing to lay down his life for his friend. We learn, later, that Jesus does this for us on the cross.
- A servant simply does the master’s bidding, while a friend knows his friend’s desires.
Evening Reflection
“The time you spend alone with God will transform your character and increase your devotion. Then your integrity and godly behavior in an unbelieving world will make others long to know the Lord.”
- Charles Stanley
Arabian horses go through rigorous training in the deserts of the Middle East where the trainers require absolute obedience from the horses. As a final test of their obedience, the trainers deprive the horses of water for a week; afterwards, the trainers release the horses so they can run toward the water. However, as they get close to the trough, the trainers blow their whistle. The horses who have been completely trained and who have learned perfect obedience stop in their tracks; in fact, they turn around and gallop to their trainer. Then they stand in front of the trainer, desperate for a drink of water. Once the trainers blow their whistles again, the horses return to the water to drink.
When I was in 5th grade, I attended a Chinese Vineyard Conference in Los Angeles that opened my eyes to the reality of God’s power. During the last session, the speaker preached on Mark 11:23: “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.” I was so inspired by this message that when I went home, I faced the Santa Cruz Mountains and screamed, “Move, in Jesus name!” Unfortunately, nothing happened.
In elementary school, my friend and I would make pacts with each other. We promised to be best friends forever and to write letters if one of us moved away. To seal the pact, we drew a picture of our favorite superhero and gave it to each another. Unfortunately, both of these promises were broken by the time we moved onto middle school.
Growing up, I disliked my name Emerson because it was so different. I wished that my parents named me John, Kevin, or even Michael, like my other friends. In elementary school, I convinced my entire class to call me “Em,” because I was so embarrassed by my full name. One day after school, I asked my mom why she named me Emerson. She took out a baby name book and explained that Emerson meant courageous and strong. When I was in her womb, God told her that her son would walk in courage. After hearing her story, I slowly began to appreciate my name.
The AMI QT Devotionals from October 23-29 are provided by Pastor Charles Choe of Tapestry Church, Los Angeles. Charles, a graduate of UC Riverside and Fuller Theological Seminary (M.Div.), is married to Grace, and they have three children: Chloe, Noah, and Camden.
I pastor a church in Los Angeles, and we recently had the privilege of moving into a larger building just a couple months ago. But with a new and bigger building, we’ve come to see unexpected needs rise, including the need to install a vastly improved and expensive surveillance system to monitor the spacious structure. We are hoping to have it up and running soon, because we’ve already had a few things go missing. At those very moments, I wish I was able to see what happened or who may have taken it.
In one of his books, author Gary Smalley says, “If a couple has been married for more than five years, any persistent disharmony in their marriage is usually attributable to the husband’s lack of understanding and applying genuine love.” He adds, “After five years of marriage if a husband has failed to understand or seek help for the major causes of disharmony, either he doesn’t understand what genuine love is, or has chosen to ignore God’s command to shepherd his family wisely.” In other words, initially, the wife can be responding and acting out of the way she was raised, but after some period of time, she is responding to how her husband treats her.
In a Saturday Night Live commercial spoof, a woman discusses taking Chantix to end her smoking addiction. While the benefits of the drug may have helped her to quit smoking, the unintended side effects— which is listed between nausea and her desire to kill her own husband— is rather comical. The spoof seems to be saying, “The goal to quit smoking is met, but at what price?”
Sometimes we can be become obsessive over something: Maybe it’s something that happened at work, or it’s something someone said that kind of irked you—you keep replaying the scene in your mind over and over again. You’re thinking about the perfect comeback you wish you had, or what you need to do next. Why do we sometimes let things bother us long after they happen, and why is it so difficult to stop the cycle of stressing, obsessing, and stressing and obsessing? Why is it so easy to fall into this negative cycle?
An early crush I had in the seventh grade was a young blond name Tammy. She, to my shock, reciprocated my feelings. So we started passing notes between classes and eventually started “dating.” (I had no idea what that meant; I just knew it meant we had feelings for each other.) Things were going well, until one day after school—on a public bus no less— I heard the crushing news that she was beginning to develop feelings for one of my closest friends. It was devastating; I had never felt so much heartache before. It wouldn’t be the last time I would be disappointed with unrequited “love,”— but this first one really stung.