Michael
Plemmons
Contributing Writer
Michael Plemmons has been in active ministry for more than 30 years. He resides in Virginia Beach.
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Four Little Words
Day by day our world seems to endure one shock wave after another. The headlines present a bleak assessment of terror attacks, economic uncertainty, and danger on every side. My heart is moved by the suffering that so many are enduring in these desperate times. Yet in spite of it all we can have hope because of the perfect love of Father God.
Perfect love will by its very nature overcome evil. For within Father’s heart dwells the divine ideal of love and sacrifice for which evil has no ability to withstand or even comprehend. The fall of man has produced in the human heart a crop of selfishness driven by lust and ruthlessness. Into this maelstrom of evil a new ideal was born. It was a simple ideal in its conception but one that would bring eternal consequences for the world of mankind.
Satanic forces had been unleashed in the world and had for thousands of years corrupted the human race. Yet in spite of all the ambition and plans of evil that we see all around us today, evil shall ultimately be destroyed by the force and power of one simple ideal. That ideal radiates from the heart of the greatest force of love and compassion that can be known. John wrote it down in his gospel and he said it with four little words.
To that poor suffering soul looking for answers today, I would like to share with you this greatest principle that has ever been released in the world of men. It was a principle that led to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ and ultimately to the cross. Four simple words that John encapsulated so beautifully have forever changed the world of man because of their divine origin in the heart of Father God.
These four little words stand as an eternal monument to the power, glory, and authority of almighty God. Four words expressed as only Father God could say and feel them. Four words that destroyed the kingdom of darkness - for captured within them are expressed the greatest principles of love and virtue.
These four words were the driving force in the heart of Jesus Christ for all he did in his earth walking in the world of man. These four words are so simply said, but their power and force have to this very day shaken the forces of the kingdom of darkness to the lowest hell. In these four words any and all seekers of truth can take refuge. By the power of these four words evil shall at some point be vanquished for all time.
These four words whose force once unleashed established the kingdom of God on earth are these, for God so loved. The love of Father’s heart is the greatest force the world has ever known. Evil by its very nature is ruthless and self-centered. Jesus Christ as a divine expression of this divine love, gave his life on the cross, to purchase freedom for all, from the darkness evil had produced in the human heart.
Evil shall forever be vanquished because it has no answer for the power of divine love that God has given the world through the sacrifice of his son. Yet Jesus death was far more than just a heavenly expression of love. It brings with it the ability to transform a human heart. To the wounded heart, to the broken, to the man, woman, or child desperately looking for answers: because God so loved, he purchased for you freedom and deliverance.
All of us looking for answers to the problems surfacing in our world can take great comfort in these four little words. Whatever may come our way, the force and power of God unleashed at the resurrection of Jesus Christ is as powerful today as it has ever been. God not only so loved, but it can truthfully be said that God so loves. His love and compassion for any and all has never changed. No matter what you may be dealing with in your life, he longs for you to turn to him.
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ( "> NLT)
The Fullness of Time
CBN.com This month in the midst of so much uncertainty in our world we take time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. I think for many of us the true meaning of this event has been lost in the over commercialism that Christmas has become. Today I would take us back in time to a small village called Bethlehem to remind us one and all of not only the true meaning of a holiday, but to receive a new understanding in our hearts of the wonder that this birth was to bring to the entire world.
Thousands of years had passed since the beginning. Man whom had been created by God in his image had lost his way. Man, who was created to walk in the light and glory of his creator, had become a slave to his passions.
Entire nations were engaged in the slaughter, slavery, and conquest of each other. The word of God says that as God searched the entire world for one righteous man he could find not one.
Then in the council chambers of heaven God the Father prepared a divine response. He sent an angel to a lowly handmaiden in a glorious visitation. There he informed Mary that the power of the Holy Spirit would over shadow her and that holy one he would place in her womb was the Son of God. John the Baptist yet unborn leaped for joy in his mothers womb when Mary came to visit her cousin Elizabeth and one and all praised God for what he was about to do.
Simeon the devoted one was about to see the Savior with his eyes and die contented with the Lord’s promise to him fulfilled. Wise men from the east began a journey that would take them they knew not where. They only knew they were being led by the hand of the unseen God. For a new hope was about to be birthed in the human race as the Son prepared to make his appearance on the human stage.
Heaven bent down and kissed the earth with its best, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and placed him in a manger. The skies filled with angels all singing in a spontaneous outpouring of love and Devotion. How appropriate that it was shepherds tending their flocks that heard this joyous pronouncement. For it was a message to shepherds of every kind that a deliverer had been born who would save the world from the darkness in the human heart.
As the echoes of the angelic chorus died away, shepherds made their way to the cave to gaze in wonder at the tiny babe lying in a manger. The sense of glory and awe that filled that stable that night we can only imagine. The king of kings, the very God had by his birth become ever linked with the human race. He was the word who spoke the worlds into existence. His was the voice that communed with Abraham, and stirred the heart of the sweet singer of Israel as David played his harp.
Jesus Christ was a shower of spring rain in a world that had grown crusty and dry because of sin. His was a voice of divine glory leading mankind back to the promise of Eden and beyond. In his birth as throughout his life he reached out to the simple and common as seen in the shepherds, the wise and powerful as seen in the wise men, and the holy and devout as Simeon would demonstrate in the temple. The message of this divine birth is that we all are welcome to rejoice in the wonder that his birth represented.
Our world today is facing so many potential dangers that threaten us one and all. Yet in the midst of it all let us take the time to in our hearts visit the stable in Bethlehem, and as we behold the babe in a manger, let us everyone take hold of the hope and promise his birth released. No matter what may come let us take heart in the message of the angels. A savior has been born and by that birth the world of that day and today has never been the same.
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. ( NLT)
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Michael is a Partner Service Representative at CBN, and has been in active ministry for more than thirty years. He resides in Virginia Beach. Send Michael your comments.
The Heart of God
CBN.com -- I would like to address today all the hurting, desperate, souls looking for answers. In a world growing ever more complex day by day, it is vital to be reminded of certain realities. One of many things that each and every one of us shares is the reality of pain. Right now there are millions of hearts, all over the world, for which the challenges of life are more than they can bear.
I would address the single parent, faced with the pressures of every day life. There are so many things to worry about. The inner city mother who worries from day to day how she is just going to provide the basics of life for her children; the fears that daily clutch her heart as she gets her children prepared for school and sends them out into a world that is so potentially dangerous and uncertain. No one knows the pressures she faces each day. No matter how hard she works, there never seems to be enough time or money to cope with all she has to deal with.
There are so many others who simply cannot cope at all. These are the wounded ones who turn to drugs or alcohol in a desperate attempt to deal with the pain they carry in their hearts. So many in our world have never experienced compassion, or love, or understanding. They carry within their hearts the memories of a lifetime of abuse in one way or another. In a world inhabited by billions, they live out their lives in isolation. They walk through life in a chemically induced emotional coma. Their pain is so great that the only way they have found to cope is to not cope at all.
I would speak to these and all others who feel like they have slipped through the cracks and whose hearts each day are filled with so much pain and uncertainty. There is one to whom you can turn in your desperation, one who knows your pain and weeps for the despair and hurt that each and every one of you carries. Jesus Christ two thousand years ago underwent a death unlike any other before or since. He was God in the flesh and he came to earth on a divine mission. He said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” ( NASB)
He, like so many of the hurting around us, suffered alone. He was crucified for no crimes that he had committed. He had lived a life of compassion and understanding. He reached out a hand of mercy to one and all that came to him for help. Yet the very ones he loved cried out at his trial, “Crucify him!” His heart was tender, loving, and full of mercy. Yet, he knew that by dying he would bring a new hope to all suffering humanity for all time to come.
Jesus rose from the dead and by so doing opened the door for all who would ever live after Him to the heart of God. His message has never changed. To that wounded heart that has never known compassion, His voice is calling out to you wherever you may be. I speak not of a religious icon, or a figure from history. No, my suffering friend, He is reaching out to you even now. His great desire is that you would come to Him with all your faults, and all your cares. He wishes to share your pain that He may give you His love.
For His is a voice of compassion and understanding. He will lift from you the pain and suffering that grips your heart. He died for all your wounds and hurts. He promised that any that would come to Him, He would never turn away. Open your heart to Him, trust Him with your pain and sorrow, and He will wipe away all your tears, give you answers for your despair, and hope that will last even beyond the grave. To the wounded, He says come and I will give you life and love.
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ( NLT)
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Related Links:
- Read more Daily Devotions on Spiritual Life
- Read more Devotions by Michael Plemmons
- Get More Guidance from Spiritual Life
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- Jesus The Carpenter
- Jesus Wept
Michael is a Partner Service Representative at CBN, and has been in active ministry for more than 30 years. He resides in Virginia Beach. Send Michael your comments.
Hidden Glory
CBN.com -- We live in a world where each and every one of us faces the challenge of constant change. Recent events in our world are filling the hearts of millions with fear. The world’s economy seems to be hanging by a thread, as world leaders grapple with the complex issues of our day. Is it possible to face the future with confidence in a society that every day seems to challenge us one and all with so much uncertainty?
I speak today of the hidden glory. Two thousand years ago on the night before his death, Jesus Christ told his sorrow filled disciples that he was leaving them. His time had come to die as the eternal sacrifice for all mankind. Yet in the midst of the fear that clutched the hearts of every one of them he made a profound promise. He said I will not leave you comfortless but I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit that he may abide with you forever.
The hidden glory of which I speak is a life changing presence or person who inhabits the hearts of every believer in Jesus Christ. When we confess him as Lord and Savior the Holy Spirit of promise changes our hearts and cleanses us from sin. Our hearts and lives are changed because we come by faith into contact with the living God. From the moment we accept Jesus as our lord and savior the Holy Spirit sets up residence within us. It is that hidden glory of the person of the Holy Spirit that gives every believer hope today.
We carry within our hearts the power and glory of God. This is the manifestation of God living within the hearts of all who have been birthed into Jesus Christ by our faith in him. My heart is flooded with images from my past where the Spirit of God has spoken to me and given me the guidance or direction I needed. His is the most gentile of hearts. How many times have I been reading the word of God and had him speak to my heart just what I needed to hear. How many times has my heart been stirred as he has spoken a word to me from the lips of some minister or teacher.
So many times in my life the Holy Spirit has imparted to me a life changing, life altering revelation. As believers in Christ our lives are not a series of events of random happenstance. No, the Holy Spirit is leading and guiding our steps not just from day-to-day but moment-to-moment. In our times of joy and our darkest hours He has always been by our side. When in desperation a believer cries out to God, it is His voice that speaks to the heart, dries our tears and calms our fears. He, by His wisdom gives us the direction to see beyond the given situation with love and understanding.
I do not mean to minimize the dangers facing our world today, but I do know that whatever dark days lie ahead He will be there sustaining us with what we face. For the Holy Spirit is a divine link to the heart of Father God. His is a mission of compassion to all hurting souls where ever they may be found. The church of Jesus Christ is the greatest force of life and change in the world today. We offer the world hope because the Holy Spirit has given us His heart, compassion, and love. When faced with the onslaughts of hell, He fills our hearts with the faith and inspiration of Jesus Christ to minister to the needs of the hurting all around us.
We do not face the future alone, for as followers of Jesus Christ the hidden glory of His life and nature resides in every one of us. Do not get caught up in the fear and dark days ahead. It would seem the events foreseen by John, Daniel, and others can be seen just over the horizon. Yet Jesus has promised that no matter what may come we can take hope that He would abide with us forever. We can have confidence in this promise because of the Holy Spirit, that inner glorious one who fills our hearts and destiny with the assurance that God’s words are true.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.
( NLT)
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Michael is a Partner Service Representative at CBN, and has been in active ministry for more than 30 years. He resides in Virginia Beach.
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The Cry of the Desperate
Ours is a complicated world. We live each of us side by side beside the wounded of heart. All around us are the desperately lonely. There are hearts and souls whose life is filled with a sense of isolation, despair, and pain. Who can understand the pain of the terminally ill? Day after day they grow weaker and weaker; their bodies wracked with pain. Each day is just a battle to survive; for millions life is as basic as just finding the strength to take the next breath.
The cries of desperate hearts can be heard all around us. The grief-stricken widower, the abused child, the prisoner in jail; the list goes on and on. All around us and from every walk of life millions of souls face each new day with voices of desperation. They each have a story. No one but them can truly understand the daily turmoil they encounter with every sunrise.
Pain in all its forms is the common universal human denominator we all share. Tens of thousands of families have lost their homes in the current economic downturn. For these families life has become a struggle just for survival. Daily they face the task of finding food, shelter, and hope for their families.
Indeed, throughout history we hear the voices of the desperate crying out for deliverance. In this timeless menagerie of pain and suffering, seen in every age and time, can someone be found who has heard and hears the cries of the desperate?
A little over two thousand years ago a Jewish rabbi faced his hour of pain and suffering. Jesus and his band of disciples had shared a last meal together and had made their way out of the city into the surrounding Judean hillsides. The disciples knew this night was different from other nights. As they walked along they must have reflected on the words their master spoke to them as he shared a last Passover meal with them. Their hearts were consumed with grief because Jesus had informed them that night that he would soon leave them.
Passover was a time of grand celebration when all Israel rejoiced in the memory of deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Yet Jesus broke with tradition that night when he spoke of a new covenant he was going to establish in the earth. One can but look with wonder at the life of this gentle Galilean and his journey that had brought him to this time and place. His very birth had been announced by a chorus of angels -- a savior had been born.
For the past three years of his life his mission was one of compassion to all the desperate voices longing for answers. They came to him from everywhere. He healed their sick and spoke words of wisdom and comfort such as never had been heard before. How many times he must have given of himself one by one to all the wounded hearts that made their way to him. No matter how weary in body, he always had time for the wounded heart.
Yet he knew that this effort was not enough. The universal problem of man was that we were broken on the inside. As he and his disciples made their way to the garden of Gethsemane, he spoke of his impending arrest that night and the death that would follow the next day. Their hearts were filled with sorrow; yet by his death and resurrection a new day would be inaugurated in the world of mankind.
Wounded desperate heart, Jesus did not just die a sacrificial death for you to cleanse your heart from sin. No, he opened the heart, love, and compassion of the Divine to the world. He rose from the dead; and no matter what you may be dealing with in your life, he is still speaking words of hope, love, and compassion. He will respond to the cry of the desperate heart wherever it may be found.
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him." ( "> NLT)
The Divine Spark
CBN.com There has never been a day or a time such as this one. Every day seems to bring a new fresh revelation of turmoil and distress. Words cannot express the challenges that each morning’s headlines bring. Confusion, fear, and uncertainty about where things may be headed cloud the minds and hearts of individuals all over the globe.
I would speak today to the wounded heart: there is one who cares and has an answer for you, no matter what you may be dealing with. The truth of the matter is although there may indeed be millions hurting in the world, each individual’s pain is unique. My heart is torn and my spirit is grieved by all the pain and suffering that we all see on display every day.
Millions today are faced with crippling financial suffering. These are the ones who played by the rules. They raised their families, paid their taxes, and through the loss of a job, unexpected medical expenses, or maybe the loss of a loved one, find themselves facing financial pressures for which their seems to be no answer at all. Each and every day is filled with the fear of uncertainty not knowing what to do and seeing no way out.
In a world seemingly spinning more and more out of control there has never been a greater need to find some inner meaning to it all. I would address that earnest soul searching for direction amidst the clutter of everyday life. No generation has ever faced the pressures that are the norm of every day life in the modern world. From every direction discordant voices assail us every day, all claming to have the answer to life’s purpose and meaning.
I speak today of the divine spark. Jesus Christ told his disciples on the night before his death that God had a purpose and a plan. He was God in the flesh and he had demonstrated to the world of that day the heart and passion of his Father. His hands healed the sick and brought deliverance to the tortured souls and minds of the desperate. His message was one of compassion and understanding.
The world of that day had a very different concept of God. The false gods of that day presented quite a different picture than that demonstrated by the meek gentle love and compassion of this Nazarene from Galilee. Yet Jesus had a purpose and plan. He was on a divine mission. To fulfill this mission would cost him the ultimate price. For his purpose was to once and for all bring a purpose and meaning to mankind’s existence.
On the cross he bore the shame, sin, and judgment for all of collective humanity for all time. Yet his purpose was far more than this. He knew by sacrificing himself he would open the way for the human heart to receive that divine spark of life that could only come from God himself. Whatever any of us face in our lives Jesus died that we might by our faith in him receive within our hearts that divine spark of God’s life and nature.
It was and is the plan of God to transform the human heart from the inside out. Jesus said that a mustard seed was the smallest of all seeds but grows into the mightiest of all trees. When we give our lives to him, he not only forgives our sins, but also places that divine spark of his life and nature within us. He longs to fill us with the love and understanding of God himself.
So, poor hurting desperate soul, hear his voice speaking to your heart today. Hear his voice above the clamor and confusion all around you. He will still the voices of desperation and pain inside your heart. He will dispel your fears and bring peace, love, and compassion to your soul. He will turn your pain into joy, replace your suffering with tranquility, and give your life that divine spark of meaning and purpose.
“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. ( NLT)
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Michael is a Partner Service Representative at CBN, and has been in active ministry for more than 30 years. He resides in Virginia Beach.
