Sometimes we need to take a fresh hold on God. Our once normal life seems to be disintegrating away into dust before our very eyes, as daily turmoil within churns our stomach & agitates our mind. And before we know it, discouragement & despondency have taken up a dark residency in our soul. That’s the time we need to be our personal cheerleader, advocate, and counselor…for no one knows what we’re going through like we do. So, shake off the dust of despair…throw open the curtains of your soul and allow the Sonshine to penetrate the darkness and grab ahold of God’s hand anew…for in Him you will find the ultimate hope to endure.
Category: Daily Inspirational Devotional
Matthew 7:2 ” For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
The saying goes something like this, “The way you pay is the way life will pay you back.” Now some may call this Karma, but according to Psalm 18:25-26, this is the Eternal Law of God. That’s because much of our relationship with God is reciprocal. But Jesus also told us not to judge others lest we be judged. (Matthew 7:1) But judging others is a favorite pastime for many, and the reason we’re so good at it is because we can often see hypocrisy, deceit, and lack of genuineness in others because all these things are living in our hearts. When we condemn others for their faults it’s a failure on our part to exercise forgiveness…for only a gentle and humble correction that first and foremost recognizes our own greater faults (think of the splinter & the log in the eye) can truly be beneficial.
John 13:1 ” It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own, He now showed them the full extent of His love.”
Jesus knew exactly when He was to die…so I ask you this question, if you knew that you were going to die tomorrow, how would you spend today? Would your day be crammed with every self-indulgent desire & delicacy? Would you allow your inhibitions to run wild with no restraint, no self-control, and nothing off the table morally? Yes, Jesus knew that He would die the next day, yet He chose to wash feet (John 13:5) … showing His love for His disciples, His dear friends, His beloved brothers. Jesus took this very menial task of foot washing and elevated it to the very pinnacle of servanthood…demonstrating what self-sacrifice & love truly was.
Matthew 22:37 ” Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
We are to love God with all our being…seeking first His Kingdom daily rather than what we want. We are to desire to do His Will with heartfelt obedience, for “Earth has nothing I desire besides You.” (Psalm 73:25) Finally, we are to love, revere, and obey God…risking all for Him, knowing that He will fulfill the desires of those who fear Him. (Psalm 145:19) For in the end, our prayer should be that God would mean more to us every day than anything else in this world.
Psalm 77:11-12 ” I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all Your works and consider all Your mighty deeds.”
There will be many times in your Christian Walk that you will only appreciate everything God has done for you when you look back and reminisce. That’s because, when you are knee deep in alligators the challenge is to just survive. David reflected on God’s goodness to him in Psalm 63:6 when he wrote, “On my bed I remember You; I think of You through the watches of the night.” Remembrance of what God has done can be very healing…for we bring to mind God’s gracious acts of the past so we may move from the past to the present with renewed confidence and trust in Him.
Mark 12:14 ” They came to Him and said, ‘Teacher, we know You are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but You teach the way of God in accordance with the Truth.’ “
The scribes and chief priests had sent men to try and entangle Jesus in His words. They employed a flattering approach, doubtless meant to put Jesus off-guard. But they also had been around Jesus watching and listening for a while now, so even though their words were insincere, they rang true and accurate in describing Jesus’ character. They also couldn’t deny that He was an authority in the interpretation of the Scriptures…thus addressing Jesus with the Title of respect, “Teacher”. So, in a way their backhanded compliment was more of a proclamation to all of Jesus’ honesty, integrity, and unswerving detail to the Truth of the Holy Scriptures.
I John 3:16 ” This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
Self-sacrificial love in the fellowship of Believers is evidence of our new life in Christ. It’s based on the selfless love of Jesus Christ, who “laid down His life” in our place. But self-denial is contrary to our human nature, and the giving up of our interests or wishes in order to help others is downright difficult. So, consider this…Salvation is easy for us, for it cost us nothing, but God so much. Whereas the exhibiting of Salvation in our life then becomes the difficult part of daily making a deliberate decision to lay down our life for others. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
Psalm 109:22 ” For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.”
Charles Spurgeon once wrote, “There are many sorts of broken hearts, and Christ is good at healing them all.” Our heart may be hurting from personal loss…of a loved one, a beloved pet, or a job. But our heart can be just as broken as we share in a good friend’s grief or misfortune… commiserating with empathy and compassion as we help them through tough times. However, we don’t need to be intimately involved with something to not hurt for that person or people group. For example, our heart can break as we see or hear about the ravishes of war, famine, or pestilence on innocent people across this wide world. But the Lord remains steadfast at healing all forms of heartache as we take our petitions to Him. (Psalm 34:18 & Psalm 147:3)
Psalm 138:8 “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.”
Think of it…God had a plan and purpose for your life long before you ever had a plan for yourself. And if we’re honest and admit it, our feeble plans tend to be fickle, easily changed, and very often influenced by other people. While God’s plans were set securely into place before the beginning of time, or as He said in Isaiah 14:24, ” As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.” So, we can be absolutely confident and trusting that no power in earth or heaven can stand against God’s Sovereign Will of accomplishing His perfect plan & purpose in our life if we allow Him.
Isaiah 30:15 ” In repentance and rest is your Salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”
Just because God seems to be silent in an area we’ve been praying for, doesn’t mean He’s indifferent or absent. And we would do well to imitate that same quietness…secure in the knowledge that He is indeed there with us. Elsewhere in Isaiah, it tells us, “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence.” (Isaiah 32:17) God’s silence can be looked at as Him quietly & calmly working behind the scenes in things we have no idea about. And so, it behooves us to readily grasp the same serenity and use it to quell all the negative noise in our heads.
Safetypinlove 