Weekday Devotionals

FINDING FREEDOM – Being a PILLAR in the Church!
 
VERSE:  
Luke 6:48 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?  
Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is
like:  He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.
And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not
shake it, for it was founded on the rock.  
 
THOUGHTS:
It’s Wednesday 6:15 PM.  I have bits and pieces of a devotional, but nothing is really
coming together.  All I hear is “speak to the points of the message and what it said to me.”  It
is interesting that the verse I selected, Luke 6:48, came to me early.  My key point was, and
still is; “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them.”  So here I am; I have
come to you Lord, I hear what you are saying, and I am doing it.
 
Pastor Pete opened with Jeremiah 1:18 “Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron
pillar and a bronze wall.”  He followed that up, saying that a pillar is immovable, steady, and
foundational.  I liked the word foundational.  As a pillar I want to be secured to a strong
foundation.  Jesus is the cornerstone of that foundation.  I liked steady, but the word
immovable brought this thought.  I want to be immovable for God, but not immovable to
God.  In other words, I want to stand for God, but not to be resistant to God’s directing.  
Anne-Marie made a statement that explains it.  “A pillar remains firmly planted until God says
otherwise.”
     
The next statement was that “pillars stay strong in the middle of a crushing or pressing.  It
is God’s greatest desire that we would grow and be pillars in His house.  This takes spiritual
depth and maturing.”  Anne-Marie said that she had been walking with the Lord for over 60
years.  It has been about 32 years for me.  I cannot imagine all of the crushing and pressing
she has depended upon the Lord to carry her through.  I have three verses for you to
remember for those times.  One of them is from the message on Sunday.  
-Jeremiah 17:7 “But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their          
hope and confidence.”  
-Psalm 37:3-4 “Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His
faithfulness.  Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your
heart.”  
-Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own
understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.


Pastor Pete then talked about pillars using their spiritual gifts to serve others.  They live for
 a cause, a cause bigger than themselves.  Pillars serve because that is what they are called to
do.  John bows to the angel guiding him in heaven, in Revelation 19:10 “And I fell at his feet to
worship him. But he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of
your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is
the spirit of prophecy.”  The angel reminds us who we are to worship, and that we are all
servants.
 
I did cringe when in James 4:6-7 we are told to “be humble. To submit ourselves to God.  
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  The pastor said that we need to have some Bible
verses in mind for when the enemy attacks.  That was a moment of conviction.  I struggle
quoting verses.  I can recall a lot of the topics and hold a discussion, but outside of John 3:16
and a few others, I am weak.  So here I am saying, Lord, I am not too proud to learn Bible
verses.
 
We were told that pillars take lifelong next steps.  Let me point out that as a believer in
Christ, you have already taken your first lifelong next step.  You submitted/surrendered
yourself to the Lord.  Don’t stop there, God has more for you.  One of my lifelong next steps
is the verse memorization I mentioned above.
 
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
The use of the pillar was great imagery for me.  The word pillar brought images of great
marble columns in front of old banks, old post offices, and the Roman Coliseum.  Originally, I
thought that columns and pillars were basically the same, but they are not the same.   All
pillars are columns, but not all columns are pillars. This is because all pillars must serve a
structural purpose in addition to any aesthetic purpose it maintains.  A pillar commonly has a
load-bearing or stabilizing function.   So as Christians we want to serve a structural purpose,
to be load-bearing, and to provide a stabilizing function.    

In contrast, a column can only serve aesthetic purposes if they are not needed for weight-
bearing purposes.  In other words, a pillar works, while a column is decorative only. As a
follower of Christ, I would rather serve a purpose, instead of just looking good.  
     
One last thought.  In Jer. 1:18, who made Jeremiah a pillar?  It was God/Jehovah.  Make
yourself available, and let God make you a pillar in His church.
 
Steve G.