Misfortune, adversity, and sorrow will be part of our lives…whether we profess Jesus as our Lord and Savior or not. But what we can do is look at our sufferings through enlightened eyes… that by sharing in Christ’s suffering it becomes a pathway to sharing in His glory. (Philippians 3:10 & Romans 8:17) Besides, the Church is called to suffer for and with Christ. (II Corinthians 4:7-12 & I Thessalonians 3:2-4) Colossians 1:24 reminds us that we are divinely required to endure suffering as we carry the Good News of the Gospel Message to the world. So ultimately, it will be our decision if we suffer well or are miserable all the time.
Category: Daily Inspirational Devotional
Psalm 97:4 ” His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles.”
Psalm 97 describes when the Lord will return and reign over the earth. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s manifested Presence was in storms. Job 36:30 tells of God’s majestic display of power as He controls the forces of nature. In Psalm 18:7 and 104:32 it tells us that everything we take as unmovable ( mountains symbolizing what is firm and established) can in a blink of a eye be changed by God’s mere glance. For nothing on earth is a match before the mighty power of God.
Zechariah 4:10 ” Who despises the day of small things?’
The people of Judah couldn’t help but be discouraged with the meager progress of rebuilding the Temple. Zerubbabel, governor of Jerusalem, along with a ragtag group of exiles had returned from Babylon to start the rebuilding…but it was slow going…and everyone was demoralized. So God first spoke to Zerubbabel, showing him that his sufficiency must rest in God and not in his finite and limited human abilities. “It’s not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6) In addition, God reassured Zerubbabel that he would not only complete laying the Temple foundation, but finish it. (Zechariah 4:9) God then reminds the people that they could not judge His work by human standards, for even though it may look like insignificant progress,(small things) the real power to complete this monumental task would come from Him and no one else.
Proverbs 11:3 ” The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”
Integrity is a learned behavior. It’s about making morally good decisions, even when no one is watching. Integrity starts with a right relationship with God as you allow Him to lead you on the good and wise path of life. However, when you choose a lifestyle of dishonesty, deception, and false intentions, you’ll find that it only leads to a ruined life and devastation.
Jeremiah 36:1-2 ” In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now.’ “
In order to encourage the people towards repentance, Jeremiah was directed by God to write down more than 20 years of prophesy he had been given. But when Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch, read it out loud to king Jehoiakim…rather than tearing his clothes in repentance….the king burned the scroll piece by piece in a shocking display of defiance, and total rejection of God’s Word. But undeterred, the Lord demanded Jeremiah to rewrite it…for His Word could not be invalidated by the destruction of a mere scroll…neither could it be silenced or erased by one man. That’s because God’s Word will ultimately prevail… regardless of human opposition… as it accomplishes His sovereign plan and purpose.
Luke 11:35 ” See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.”
In this teaching of Jesus,(Luke 11:33-36) He was speaking of the light within us as the lamp of our soul…harkening back to Psalm 18:28 which says, ” You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.” When we’re filled with His light, our soul will be filled with wisdom and happiness. So it should be our focus to seek out the “light” of spiritual perception. It says that our eyes are the window to our soul…radiating God’s light…and a mirror of God’s goodness & grace. This inner light then, becomes a beacon shining in the darkness…guiding others towards Him.
You’ll not impact the world by faithfully warming a pew in Church. You will impact the world by going outside the Church walls and being Jesus to someone.
This so reminds me of the story in Luke 10:29 where after Jesus had said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” A man wanted Him to give a comprehensive definition of just who constituted a neighbor. That’s because first-century Jews had various ideas about who was included in the category of neighbor…limiting the term to community, clan, or religious affiliation. And the same goes for today…it’s easy to love people within familiar groups. It’s a lot harder to move outside the comfortable confines of what we know and tell the world about Jesus. But just warming a pew every Sunday will never fulfill The Great Commission…for Jesus said “Go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19)
Righteousness is what God does. Holiness is what we do. God deals with our character. We deal with our conduct.
As Ephesians 4:24 tells us, righteousness and holiness go hand and hand, for we are to, “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” And this righteousness of God comes to realization only through faith in Jesus Christ and His work. It can’t be achieved by any of our actions, but only through obedience to Christ. It tells us in the 23rd Psalm that “He leads me in paths of righteousness”…but we need to follow…which is what holiness is all about. You may know it as sanctification – the deliberate decision and process of becoming holy like God…a being set apart for His purpose. (Romans 6:19) And as we follow Him, God works on our character. (Romans 5:4) All the while as we deal with our conduct…bringing it into alignment with the Gospel. (Philippians 1:27)
I Peter 5:7 ” Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”
Overthinking is the process of going over and over something in our mind…it’s the hamster wheel of anxiety that traps us in an excessive, repetitive cycle of “what if”, that can only feed our fears and worries. But this verse is very clear…we are to throw our burdens onto the Lord, for only He can sustain, protect, and support us through any difficult time. (Psalm 55:22) This starts first by surrendering all those worries and trusting the Lord to handle them. It then requires humility and reliance on our part…trusting God’s strength and wisdom as our deliverer. (Psalm 40:17) Now I admit, it’s hard to jump off that hamster wheel…but if we do, we can find peace, comfort, new found strength in Him.
Isaiah 12:2 ” Surely God is my salvation; The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.”
This is a song of praise, deliverance, and hope…a victory song sung by Moses and the people of Israel as they celebrate a God-given rescue. A deliverance so certain and sure that fear melts into faith…and trust blots out anxiety. This great song of praise turns their weakness into strength and reminds them that, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10) And as this song continues and unfolds, so does the vivid realization that salvation comes only from the Lord and, “Blessed is the man who trusts in You.” (Psalm 84:12)
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