My husband and I pray together every night, and I’ve noticed that we’ve seemed to have gotten into a rut. Our prayers are the same old thing…same concerns…same people…same old same old. So when I read the verse this morning I was convicted of my mindless, almost robotic prayers. God doesn’t want my monotonous prayers where I’m only reciting the same words over and over…He wants something fresh, new and different, where I am celebrating and exalting Him with joy and glorifying His name. He wants me engaged and mindful of what I’m praying…not repeating words verbatim.
Tag: Daily Inspirational Devotional
I Thessalonians 3:12 ” May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”
Paul’s letter to the Church in Thessalonica encouraged them to love each other by following the example of Jesus. For the past year we have been part of a brand new Church plant…bringing people together from several Churches to form a new one. And today was our second service, with many new faces among us. So as I look at this verse, I’m reminded that for the past six months we’ve bonded together as a small group, but now the time has come that we must turn ourselves from our tight circle to welcome those coming in through the doors. For the agape love of Jesus can only be demonstrated by His Believers when we love others. And we can only be His hands and feet when our caring shows.
I Chronicles 28: 2-3 ” David rose to his feet and said: ‘Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. But God said to me, You are not to build a house for My name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’ “
It was back in II Samuel 7 that David first considered all he had and how the Ark of the Covenant was still residing in a tent. But from the start, the Lord told him it would not be him to do the actual construction of the Temple. (II Samuel 7:12-13) What God did permit David to do was preparation, planning, and stockpiling of materials. Now David could of been offended by this…but he wasn’t. He understood that he was a warrior with blood on his hands and that Jerusalem wasn’t yet secure enough to begin construction. What it all boiled down to was appropriateness and proper timing. All during our Christian life there will be times when we’ll plow the hard ground…someplace else we may plant seed…and another time will find us watering the seedbed. All these things are vitally important for a harvest…but it is only God that brings it about, for only He can make it grow at the perfect time. (I Corinthians 3: 6-9) We all want to see immediate results in people’s lives, but we also need to be content in whatever the Lord gives us to do…for at the proper time He will make it happen.
I Corinthians 14:20 ” Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.”
One of the biggest differences between children and adults is the ability to control our thoughts, attitudes, and emotions as grownups. We rarely see a 40 year-old having a temper-tantrum! Yet in this verse, Paul is exhorting us to be child-like regarding evil. Now he doesn’t mean that we should be ignorant, naive or easily exploited by evil, but rather, we should be innocent in our motives and thinking about it…not allowing rationalization or deception to creep into our mindset. This comes, Paul says, from growing up into spiritual maturity and taking all of our thoughts captive to make them obedient to Christ. (II Corinthians 10:5)
Job 30:20 ” I cry out to You, O God, but You do not answer; I stand up, but You merely look at me.”
A few verses down in Chapter 30 Job complains again to the Lord when he says, “You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; You toss me about in the storm.” (Job 30:22) Have you ever felt that way? Disheartened, fearful, or left feeling that your prayers are being shut out by a God who just stares at you in response to them? This is not coming from the Lord. For Psalm 34:17 tells us, “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles.” Or Proverbs 2:3 goes on to say, “He is near us when we pray.” We can’t rely on raw feelings during stressful times, nor can we succumb to Satan’s taunts of, ” If God really loved you, He’d be helping you right now.” No, like Job, we must acknowledge God’s sovereignty, His control and perfect timing in all things. For no matter how abandoned or far away from God we may “feel”…God hasn’t gone anywhere…nor will He.
Colossians 2:6-7 ” So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Our journey with the Lord is not a one and done event. Ours is not to be a stagnant life once we say “Yes!” to Jesus Christ. No, our Christian walk is suppose to be a always advancing, ever increasing effort to become more Christ-like. This progressive sanctification is simply growing in the knowledge of God, (Ephesians 3:17) and applying the truths of the Gospel into our everyday life. And as we continue to live in Him, He is faithful to continue to fill us…for our walk with God will never be fully realized until that day we walk through those Heavenly gates.
Psalm 19:9 ” The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous.”
Fall in Illinois is beautiful foliage…for the trees are ablaze with red, yellow and orange leaves. Fall is also harvest time for the farmers…bringing in the crops of corn and soybeans out of the fields. As I look at the beauty around me, I can only thank God for His majesty and creative work. And as I stand in awe and reverence of His faithfulness and love for His people, it reminds me it’s this reverence…this fear of the Lord that is crucial in our Christian walk. For it tells us in Isaiah 33:6, “He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.” Being in awe of God’s creation and thanking Him for it is not groveling at His feet…it’s simply admitting there is Someone a whole lot bigger than me in control!
Hebrews 11:7 ” By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. “
God’s heart was grieved and filled with pain as He looked upon the wickedness of mankind. But there was one righteous and blameless man among them…and his name was Noah. Now when Noah heard this divine warning he could of brushed it off as imagination, but he didn’t. That’s because God touched the basic nature and characteristic found in all men. He offered Noah a way to preserve his immediate family from the flood. God also keyed in on what a husband and father’s strongest attribute and desire is for his family. Men want to “fix” things… and building a ark was a way that Noah could “do something” about the impending situation, while taking care of those he loved.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 ” He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
God is always on time and always at the proper moment. His creative activity is unfailingly right on time…never too early, never too late. That’s because He knows all events that have transpired in the past as well as all things that will occur in the future. Romans 11:33 says that the depth of wisdom and knowledge of God is incomprehensible, and Job echoed this sentiment when he asked, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of The Almighty?” (Job 11:7) So even though we are totally incapable of understanding all this, we can grasp the idea that God has set eternity in our hearts…filling that “God-shaped” void by His Son, Jesus Christ, who came and died for our sins that we may have the gift of eternal life.
Revelation 5: 1-3 ” Then I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?’ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.”
The angel was asking, who is worthy? Who is deserving enough, with the power and capability to loosen the seals of the scroll? And it says… there was no one. Certainly it couldn’t be sinful man, for like Isaiah when he saw the Lord, we’d all have to exclaim, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.” But there is One that is worthy of opening the scroll. Only one that lived a perfect and sinless life here on earth. His name is Jesus Christ, the Worthy One.
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