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Reveration Blog

5/16/2025 1 Comment

To Be Entrusted

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Padel Code
Beth* walked off the court before our game started, sat down by the chain-link fence, and sobbed.  Then she grabbed her gear and left the pickleball courts. Candace caught up with her and tried to comfort her.  While that was going on, Jimmy (who was going to be her partner) came over and explained what had transpired.  He commented to her that he did not enjoy playing with her in a previous game because she was too loud and excitable. Beth was already aware that her behavior might be too much for people, so Jimmy’s words increased her insecurity and hurt her feelings.

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9/17/2024 0 Comments

With My Eye on You

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It did not make sense. John needed to make a difficult financial decision, and the smart move, according to his advisor, was to invest in a quality dividend growth fund to gain more financial stability. But as he prayed about this, he did not have peace. More unsettling, He felt God leading him to give to a single mom in his church who was facing eviction from her apartment along with her two young children. He knew she could not pay him back if he gave her the money; to his surprise, his wife was okay with that.  She agreed with what John felt God was leading.  So, they gave Steph the money. ​

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7/23/2024 1 Comment

Frivolous

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​My West Point classmate Larry Turrentine recently shared this wisdom with our weekly prayer team:
A week ago, I passed through Detroit's Metro Airport after attending a funeral and a repass. As I walked through, I spotted a curious name for a shop. It was called "Frivolous," with a subtitle "wonderfully necessary." Clearly, it was designed for those with extra time and extra money. It fit the former. So, with my extra time, I went in and looked around. 
Nothing really caught my interest, and moments later, I was gone. It occurred to me that my experience was a microcosm of a Christian Pilgrim's progress through life. Why do many of us spend significant amounts of time in the shops of our lives called "Frivolous"? If it is true that only what we do for Christ will last, why do trivial pursuits (frivolity) fritter away our lives? If the airport were on fire, would we patronize the shop called "Frivolous"?
We are the ecclesia, the called-out ones, and our call is to be Ambassadors to a lost and dying world, to a world on fire. Our call is purity and holiness. But as long as the shop called "Frivolous" exists, so must our mandate to pray. ​

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6/5/2024 1 Comment

Humiliated

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Chester* and his team of five saw that their boss, Attila, was in trouble.  Without consulting his managers, Attila hastily overcommitted his company to fill an order of 1000 Demoplastique to a client with zero patience for lateness.  Attila’s company experienced 600% growth since COVID and shipped to over 120 countries. Lately, however, they had more orders than they could fill in time, and a missed deadline with BroadStar could result in a slew of lawsuits because their CEO was a cutthroat, unforgiving leader. ​

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5/27/2024 1 Comment

When in Doubt, Ask Twice

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In God’s Workmanship, Oswald Chambers wrote, “We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.” Sometimes, our difficulty surpasses the faith we need to trust God’s voice.  In this season of doubt, what are we to do?

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10/10/2023 0 Comments

Pressure is a Privilege

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The guest speaker on Sunday said, “Pressure is a privilege.” That got my attention.  What?!  Is pressure really a privilege?  Pressure causes stress.  Stress can be debilitating both physically and mentally. Pressure is synonymous with anxiety, burden, and difficulty—three words hardly appealing. So, how in the world is pressure a privilege?

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9/9/2023 1 Comment

Bent Over

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​Meditation
Luke 13:10—11--As He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for over 18 years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. ​

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6/19/2023 0 Comments

Using Discernment

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Ann faced a challenging situation in her new supervisory role with a nonprofit company that recently hired her.  One of the employees, Calista, who worked on a different team, was giving her a tough time.  Calista had applied for the job Ann now held and resented that she was not chosen.  She used Ann’s inexperience to belittle her on calls (shared by others in the organization) and was rude when speaking to her.  Ann realized she needed Calista’s help, but she first had to figure out a way to win her over, and that did not seem easy. So she asked for prayer from her close friends and asked God for His assistance.

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4/30/2023 1 Comment

What Do You Want?

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​Oswald Chambers wrote a devotional entitled “What Do You Want?” The point of his message was that God is more concerned about us having a close relationship with Him than in our receiving gifts from Him. “There is nothing easier than getting into a right relationship with God except when it is not God Whom you want but only what He gives.”[1]Getting what we want may directly oppose what God knows we need and will provide in His perfect timing because it will have greater work not just in our lives but, most importantly, in our relationship with Him.

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12/16/2022 0 Comments

Grief

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Grief is a day shrouded in fog and icy rain fed by a howling wind. It is spoiled fruit no longer fit to be savored. Grief makes its exhausted bed in a hidden cave on a barren mountain ridge called Sorrow.  It rests in rare moments of silence and grows weary amidst mindless laughter. Its tears leave furrows unfilled by platitudes. When its memories are roused, new rivers flow, and expectation is uprooted, torn, and damaged. ​

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10/31/2022 0 Comments

Bad Advice

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I walked to a church near my home to learn more about it. The service was attended by about thirteen people. Three of them were wearing masks, and most of them were elderly women. Several of them warmly introduced themselves, and after I sat down, Phyliss* came over and gave me a brief history of the church.  “We are very small . . . the church split before Covid and over half of the congregation and the pastor left . . . Covid really did a number on us . . . . many still watch the services online.” At least they were blessed with a Liberty University professor who accurately preached the Word of God.   ​

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2/13/2022 0 Comments

Explain This

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​Meditation
Proverbs 30:2-3--I am more stupid than any other man, and I lack man’s ability to understand. I have not gained wisdom, and I have no knowledge of the Holy One.

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12/1/2021 1 Comment

Fire

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When was the last time you sat beside a fire, alone, and able to think and meditate? The previous home owners left me a gift of numerous piles of dead branches all over the property. I guess they didn’t have time to burn anything but I still would label their actions a gift because they gave me plenty of reason to clear away brush piles and, in the process, burn.  There is something mesmerizing (and therapeutic) about sitting next to a fire and watching it reduce large masses to smoldering ashes. No branch escapes. All that feel the hot fury of flame are engulfed and reduced to residue. 

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7/18/2021 0 Comments

Moving Past Crisis

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​Meditation
Matthew 14:12-14—Then his disciples came, removed the corpse, buried it, and went and reported to Jesus. When Jesus heard about it, He withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed Him on foot from the towns. As He stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd, felt compassion for them, and healed their sick.

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5/1/2021 0 Comments

No More Work to Do

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Occasionally when I’m reading my Bible a statement will just jump off the pages and grab me. It happened this week while I was studying Romans chapters 13-16.  Look at the two verses below and see if anything strikes you.
 
Meditation
Romans 15:23,24—But now I no longer have any work to do in these provinces, and I have strongly desired for many years to come to you whenever I travel to Spain. For I hope to see you when I pass through, and to be assisted by you for my journey there, once I have first enjoyed your company for a while. 

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1/14/2021 0 Comments

Spiritual Warfare

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The first evidence of physical battle dates sometime between 4000 and 3500 B.C. from the ancient city of Hamoukar located in modern northeastern Syria.  Historians believe the Uruks of southern Mesopotamia invaded the region.[1]Battles around the world have been fought for a long time and their spreading evil caused God regret for even creating man (Genesis 6:6). 
 



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10/26/2020 1 Comment

Don't Be Exploited

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Alicia listened with rapt attention as Brother Berrie* encouraged his listeners to send as large a gift as possible to his ministry.  She was amazed at the number of people healed by Berrie’s touch and their stirring testimonies.  He was a magnificent speaker and she was certain he carried the blessing of heaven. Berrie told his listeners that by giving to him they would ensure themselves health—no sickness would overcome them. He said that God personally told him that the larger the gift his donors sent him guaranteed them a higher rewarded position in the afterlife because of the impact of his ministry.  Though she was barely managing to keep her home together as a single mom, Alicia eagerly went online and gave $150 hard-earned dollars.

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6/26/2020 4 Comments

Justice

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​Lately you can feel it in the very atmosphere - the weight, the tension, the sorrow, the accusation, the desperation, the flickering hope. In the course of a few weeks, pastors from pulpits around the country have turned their focus to themes of justice and the oppressed. Their message is all around us, and most people are desperate for change of some kind, desperate to do the right thing, or desperate just to survive another day. ​

I live in Atlanta, one of the current “hot” cities.  Justice is a buzzword, and I’ve increasingly wondered how many of us truly understand what it means. I know I’m just beginning to scratch the surface.  See, it’s easy in times that are hard to be quick to speak; to be quick to think that my perspective is right; my solutions are the ones everyone else needs to heed. But if everyone has the “answer,” surely that means no one does.

My family and I participated in a march with a truly inspiring Christian organization committed to racial reconciliation in Jesus’ name here in Atlanta.  There was beautiful expression of unity and exhorting one another to put aside bias, humble ourselves, and love wholeheartedly. There was much good yet, even a noble march is not immune to the pointing of fingers and divisive statements.  Some demonized certain groups of people, others exalted human strength rather than trust in God. {These were not statements by the organization but rather that of the signage displayed by individuals}. I found myself encouraged by the expressions of unity, but also discouraged to see how far we still have to go to answering Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that we would be one. How can there be unity/change when we can’t even agree on what “justice” looks like?
 
Meditation
Isaiah 40:13,14—Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? (ESV)
 
These verses leave me in awe. While I am wading through the sin and error of my culture and own human bias, I have communion with One who founded the very way of justice. As long as I look to the right or to the left, expecting politics or individuals to have the answer, I am missing looking up, into the eyes of the One who judges perfectly. I clearly see in the struggle around my city/nation, that we are all desperate for answers, for change, for hope. Yet, the vast majority of the time we are missing the One who actually sees rightly. 

No one taught God the “path of justice,” as Isaiah writes. The very idea is absurd! How foolish we humans must look when we are quick to speak, to assign blame, to tune into our news stations instead of poring over the Word of God, and crying out for wisdom and understanding. For God has not withheld understanding from us. Proverbs 28:5 says, “Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely” (ESV).  We don’t have to flail about in confusion or arrogantly claim to have the answers. We know the One who does, and when we look to Him, He in turn is faithful and supplies wisdom and understanding.

I have hope that in these trying times, God is faithful to keep His promise. For too long, many of us have been apathetic about justice. I know I have been. God is not apathetic. He is zealous for His bride to be one. Let us not waste this hour, this opportunity to contend for true reconciliation in Jesus’ name! But may we be slow to speak, quick to humble ourselves, faithful to sit before God and to learn His way of Justice so that the prayer of Jesus may be answered!
 
Inspiration
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.—Martin Luther King, Jr.
 
©2020 Sarah Tegtmeier ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.     

​{Sarah is the daughter of Dan York} 



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12/31/2019 0 Comments

Time and Chance

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It is the last day of the decade and a gazillion thoughts cascade through my mind: 
  • What did I learn the last ten years that brought growth and will help me be a better leader?  
  • What mistakes did I make that I dare not repeat? 
  • What were the significant milestones, blessings and joy-makers?
  • Did suffering and setbacks shape me to be even more in love with God than ever before?  
  • Does technology seem out of control? People spend so much time on their smart phones and devices that healthy social interaction is seriously diseased.

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12/18/2019 0 Comments

Futile or Fulfilled?

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​Ecclesiastes is a wisdom book written almost certainly by King Solomon.  The book title in Hebrew is Qōheleth and translates “Teacher.”  A predominant theme of Ecclesiastes is that “under the sun, all is futile.”  Futility comes from the Hebrew word hevel which stresses that which is empty and transitory.  This key word occurs 38 times and is used to describe outward, physical things as well as inward thoughts. [1]   It is often paired with the phrase “a pursuit of the wind.”  ​

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